Western Massachusetts doesn’t exactly have a huge country music scene, so when homegrown talent Rosie Porter left for California two years ago, it left a pretty big hole.
Porter had played relentlessly all around the area and had gathered a posse of great musicians for her band. Luckily for local country music fans, she will be back in the area for a series of gigs over the next month with her duo, Nick & Rosie, including at The Big E on Sept. 26, which opens this week. A complete list of the duo’s local shows can be found at the end of this column.
Porter talked about her musical roots and journey in a recent interview with The Republican.
Q: My understanding is that the first bands you were in were very different from what you’re doing now. How did your musical style evolve from the early days to your current situation?
A: I started gigging on keyboard and bass in 2007 — my first gig being the talent show at the Three County Fair — and spent my teens playing rock, metal and punk. By 20, I was longing to explore a softer, more melodic side. I formed an indie-rock acoustic band, slyly slipping in a Hank Williams cover here and there.
Then one night at the World War II Club in 2015, Mark Hershler called me up to sing with his band. This sparked a project where I learned a repertoire of Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith. This exploration of old jazz led me to Bob Wills, who was heavily influenced by Bessie Smith. By the following year, I was the “girl singer” of the band Dave Pike and the Good Ol’ Boys, my first country band.
Q: When you played around here, you had a fantastic band filled with great players. How hard was it to recruit local players to play straight-up country music in an otherwise “alternative” music scene?
A: Over the years, it’s been a process of combining experienced, mature players of that genre with younger folks who were willing to learn. I’ve been lucky enough to work with not one but three prolific steel players from Massachusetts — Tim Bowles, Doug Beaumier, and Pete Adams.
Q: What first made you so passionate about playing country music and writing your own songs in that style?
A: I was always tuning in to Bear Country 95.3 after school. I began piano lessons at age 6 and immediately put that knowledge to use composing my own songs. I remember seeing a live country band at the Cummington Fair as a child; that was my first experience seeing and hearing a pedal steel guitar live.
Q: Who are your biggest influences as far as singing? Writing?
A: Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard will always be my two greatest vocal influences. Lately I’ve been finding myself listening to Emmylou Harris and Don Williams, and drawing inspiration from their sweet and mellow songwriting. The live albums of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen have been frequent soundtracks on the way to gigs!
Q: What prompted the move to California?
A: I came to visit for three days in October 2023. I spent time with my uncles, with whom I’m very close, who live in Los Angeles. My friends Marty and Kate (of the band Tart Vandaley) moved here a few years ago to pursue music, and were very encouraging of me doing the same. They took me to Malibu and as we sat on the beach, I felt as though I had found my new home. I returned to Massachusetts with a fierce determination to make the move.
Q: What’s the country scene like out there? Is it competitive?
A: I have found it to be the opposite. Once I began booking, more opportunities would follow, and an abundant landscape of venues revealed itself. I’ve met many wonderful musicians who have been kind, inspiring, and surprisingly inclusive towards a transplant from the east coast. Booking isn’t treated like a zero sum game here, in my experience. I have been pleasantly surprised to find community here!
Q: Do you have a band out there?
A: Most often I’m performing as half of the duo Nick & Rosie with Nick Green on pedal steel. We have a trio, The Scrub-Jays, with our friend Chuy Holguin on upright bass. Since coming to California I also have been recruited to sing backup vocals in two established bands – Bordertown, and Feathers & Arrows.
Q: Who will be playing with you on your trip back here?
A: Nick Green will be flying in with me. AJ and Tom Del Negro (of Sunny D and the Tangy Originals) will be joining us on bass and drums. We’ve named our Massachusetts pickup band The Hay Wires – coined by Nick.
Q: What are your overall career goals?
A: Making memories I can cherish for the rest of my life.
Q: Any new recordings coming up?
A: Yes! Over the summer Nick Green and I recorded a full-length album. The first single, “Morongo Valley” by Nick & Rosie, was released on Aug. 1. We will have CDs available for sale during this upcoming tour.
Nick & Rosie will play the Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton on Sept. 26; The Big E on Sept. 26; Valley Free Radio on Sept. 27; Marigold in Brattleboro, Vermont on Sept. 28; Incandescent Brewing in Northampton on Oct. 3; the Hardwick Vineyard & Winery on Oct. 4; The Brewery at Four Star Farms in Northfield on Oct. 5; The Pub in Philmont, New York on Oct. 8; Red Apple Farm in Phillipston on Oct. 10; and Agronomy Farm Vineyard in Oakham on Oct. 12.
Read the original article on MassLive.
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