Around Carnival time in 2024, Esther Rose ended up at Poor Boys to see The Shitty Stones. Rose had moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2020 after a decade ensconced in New Orleans\u2019 singer-songwriter community. But needing \u201ca perspective shift,\u201d she says<\/a>, she came back to town for a few weeks to be around friends, work on her forthcoming album, and continue to write music.<\/p>\n Rose had been in a raw, emotional place, and the crowded Shitty Stones show gave her space to \u201cexcavate my heart,\u201d she sings on \u201cWant Pt. 2,\u201d the closing track<\/a> to her 2025 album, \u201cWant.\u201d She found immediate inspiration for the reflective song in that night at Poor Boys, including the profound lyric, \u201cYour heart will keep breaking until it stays open,\u201d spoken to Rose by folk musician Gina Leslie<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was going through a lot of questions about partnership and what I want from the album, having a lot of doubts,\u201d Rose says. \u201cSo hearing that line from Gina in that moment felt like a touchstone, something I didn\u2019t want to forget.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like that paradox that\u2019s so human,\u201d she adds, \u201cwhich is we all want love and to experience love, but nobody wants to get hurt anymore \u2026 You have to be willing to put it on the line and get hurt and be vulnerable and expose yourself. That\u2019s part of growing and loving other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Rose is again spending time in New Orleans during Carnival and plays a show at 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5<\/a>, at Saturn Bar with Thomas Dollbaum and Sundarta. Rose and Dollbaum also will tour the West Coast together in March.<\/p>\n