28 July | Open Air Theatre, Wiltz | Alt country, Rock, Americana

Eileen Rose, student of criminal law, got it into her head in the early nineties that she was going to be a rock star. She packed in her studies in Boston and set up camp in England, where by the end of the decade she’d secured a recording deal with super hip label Rough Trade and released her debut album ‘Shine Like It Does’ (2000). Both ‘Shine…’ and it’s follow up in 2002, ‘Long Shot Novena’, received ecstatic reviews in the British music press and word was starting to filter back home to the states with even Time Magazine rating the songwriter as “sensational, powerful, genuinely moving, and mesmeric”.
After the attacks of 9/11 Rose felt that the time had come to be nearer to her family and moved back to the US in 2003. Two years later she released her third ‘homecoming’ album ‘Come The Storm.’
Which brings us to last years ‘At Our Tables.’ Generally accepted as her most accomplished record to date, it really is a peach of an album. Reviewers were falling over themselves to heap praise on it.
The Times said:
“Her passionate delivery and bluesy, stripped-down sound recalled Dylan in his protest days…Stunning”
While the NME raved:
“Dirty, drawling interpretations of the country she loves. Its Nashville with attitude for the 21st century. Not Sheryl Crow, in other words.”
The album drew comparisons between Rose’s vocal delivery and that of “a female version of (The Black Crows) Chris Robinson”, also with Stevie Nicks, Lucinda Williams and PJ Harvey.
Over the years Rose hasn’t been afraid to work with people who maybe you wouldn’t think were that connected to the kind of country based, rootsy idiom she revels in. Members of Del Amitri, The Sex Pistols, and The Ruts have all guested or played on her albums and her current line-up of the Holy Wreck features the near legendry guitarist Rich Gilbert, whose previous employers include Frank Black and Throwing Muses. It’s precisely this fearlessness which makes the music fresh, bold and contemporary, yet at the same time, timeless.

Providing support on the night are Claudine Muno and The Luna Boots, about whom I am not going to wax lyrical anymore because if you’ve already seen them, you don’t need me to tell you how good they are, and if you haven’t, well, you really should make sure to get there early.

Doors 18h30 - Starts 19h

€20

Eileen Rose and the Holy Wreck - Claudine Muno and The Luna Boots9.0102