There we were messing around with our favorite toys in our parent’s basements, and then here we are again years later sifting through those very same items packed away in boxes. This time, though, they’re just souvenirs from a bygone era stuffed in a storage container. Singer-songwriter Rose Gerber’s latest release, the four-song EP Memories Someday, out September 29th, is a mediation on moments like these. Within a framework of eclectic Americana musicality and poetic insightfulness, she unpacks the heartache of life’s impermanence.
Rose is an intrepid American roots explorer, incorporating country, folk, rock, alt-rock, and alt-country into a seamless signature aesthetic. As a writer she’s both sensitive and sassy, equally gifted penning Heartland rock n’ roll and heartbreaking balladry. Her songs are snapshots of everyday living that show the meaning in the seemingly mundane, and they also function as courageous self-talk. Rose’s vocals are elegantly emotive, and she has been favorably compared to Natalie Merchant, Gillian Welch, and Patty Griffin. Trademark to many of her songs is the high-lonesome whine of the pedal steel, showing that no matter how far outside of the box she colors, country music is still an artistic home. To date, Rose has released one full-length album, an EP, and a bevy of singles.
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the EP’s leadoff single, the jaunty and sweetly nostalgic title track. Channeling a distinctive 70s country-rock sound that brings to mind artists like Neil Young, The Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rose lends her expressive vocals to this twangy and bouncy morsel. With a chorus that is irresistibly catchy and timeless, Rose exudes a country yearning that simultaneously evokes the crying vocals of early country and the emotive hard-luck balladry of modern alt-country. With that, we get a healthy dose of twangy pedal steel and sharp guitar soloing to round it all out. This writer has long championed the bustling and talented alt-country scene of the Pacific Northwest that includes acts like TK & the Holy Know-nothings and Margo Price, and “Memories Someday” is proof that Rose Gerber is a worthy member of those ranks.
Rose describes the inspiration behind the tune:
I was inspired to write Memories Someday after a dream I had. In it, I was staying in a house with beautiful expansive views of surrounding mountains. I was mesmerized by the amazing view out the bathroom, which had mostly glass walls looking out over the mountains. Then, I noticed some flames off in the woods. I headed with some alarm to the front of the house and realized the house was starting to be surrounded by fire and needed to flee to save myself. Despite my best judgment I still stopped to grab my guitar to save it and then woke up.
In reflecting on the dream for the song I got to thinking about how quickly everything can change and disappear, but also what is really important to us when it comes down to it. I also saw in the dream a fear of the thing I love most in life, music, under threat. At the time, I was experiencing music going away as a result of COVID and there were also horrible wildfires then, so I think my dreams were spinning all of that together.
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