Eileen Rose was thrilled to be given permission to record at the historic Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Alabama and enthuses over how "the sound of that room is an instrument in itself”.
As well as recording a batch of new songs she took the opportunity to re-visit a clutch of older tunes. The best of these is Stagger Home is from 2005's 'Come the Storm' .
Now in her mid-50s, Rose's are songs of experience. Some, like Get Up and Shining, seem to apply to themes from a self-help guide (The Habit Fix) she recently wrote.
While it is clear that she and her band (The Holy Wreck) had a great time, the result is still a little lackluster. The assembled musicians, described as "Nashville veterans", are, "The Legendary" Rich Gilbert on guitar and pedal steel, Chris Maclachlan on bass, and Steve Latanation on drums. I have no doubt that they are a talented bunch but here they merely give the impression of being content to go through the motions with some country-by-numbers arrangements
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Rose's untrained vocals lend the tunes a homely quality but, in consequence, they lack any real edge. Perhaps she should have invited more guests. Fiddler and singer Joshua Hedley appears on Old Time Reckoning and this track has significantly higher level of drive and energy.
Overall, the record sounds like a bluesy, countrified version of Patti Smith albeit minus the poetry or charisma.
Eileen Rose's website
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