As many are already aware, Caitlin Rose’s Own Side Now was just released in the U.S. March 15 after it debuted across the pond, and good lord – you may need a drink after hearing this one. There’s not a trace of fluff in these 10 tracks, though emotion spills over like a shot on the bar as Rose compares horses to lovers and weighs whether it’s better to brave a train wreck love or spend the night alone.
Rose simultaneously looks down her nose at love and won’t say no to it throughout these songs, and the fact that they are lyrically untethered makes for some beautiful lines. “Love is just one more useless thing you don’t need but you don’t throw away” in “Spare Me” may seem jaded, but it sounds good on her. And it doesn’t hurt that the album oozes the influence of Patsy, Loretta – the whole gang – and maintains a sound so vintage it almost plays out in black and white.
Both simplistic and bouncy numbers like the opener “Learnin to Ride” and those with a heavy heart like “Own Side Now” (“It’s not my right to always push you around/I’m on my own side now”) share a spot on the recording and are delivered in vocals that are sweet like honey, pierce like a dog’s bark and cut like a razor’s edge.
Singing about cigarettes and channeling Stevie Nicks come naturally to Rose as well as shown in “Shanghai Cigarettes” and a more countrified version of “That’s Alright,” the beautiful, folky gem from Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage. Those who aren’t interested in Nashville’s roots may not be interested in Own Side Now, which is a salute to more than a couple Country Music Hall of Famers. But Rose paints her own stories over the heritage – stories of a drink, a smoke, the possibility of love – arguably some of the best things in life. – Jessica Pace