Kent Rose
If You Know Love
Self Release
Classic Country For Modern Honky Tonkers
When you first hear Kent Rose’s delightful and distinctive voice singing his timeless Country songs; you’d never guess that he comes from Illinois and has lived in Chicago most of his adult life; as he sounds like he born and raised in Texas or Tennessee or somewhere that the cowboys roam the prairies.
To the uninitiated, if Kent evokes thoughts and memories of any other musician … it’s the young Willie Nelson, the way he effortlessly uses the ‘burr/warble’ in his voice as a secret instrument alongside the sleek and gentle musicians backing his heartbreaking songs.
We’ve been Twitter friends for quite a while now, so I’ve been aware of this recording in all of its pre-release stages, and couldn’t have been more excited when I finally received the finished article if it had been that Country album by that Beyonce lass!
I don’t want to be one of those old fogeys who grumble about ‘Country Music not being what it used to be’ … and it’s not if the radio is anything to go by; but it has to progress … which is a good thing; while at the same time there has to be room for music like this, and not least the gorgeously charming opening song If You Know Love which will send a shiver down your back while you grin like a ninny!
Kent Rose has a fascinating and slightly checkered background, playing in a wide variety of bands and combos and that leads me to the opening of Oklahoma Rainstorm 1975 where Kent very cleverly describes an evening on the tour bus when he was a member of Tanya Tucker’s band in a very romantic manner.
Rose reminisces in a way that makes the listener feel that they were alongside him on the intimate The Same Old Carolina Moon, Teardrop Town and especially This Is The Border …
“This is the border I know
The wall that I can’t climb
Even though the wall is all in my mind
They’re making us work on Sunday
I can use the overtime dough
Walking blind through a blizzard
This is the border I know”
Kicking back with a mug of coffee to hand, it’s easy to get lost in Kent Rose’s world, picturing your very own videos as his voice sounds like a man who has lived a life and has evocative stories to tell. Perhaps it’s just me (though I doubt it) but I can picture the characters and their stories build like condensed film scripts in Houston Lullaby and Everything Falls Apart.
I’m not sure if it’s a form of poetry but tucked away in the middle Kent narrates The Water Witching Wizard of Springer New Mexico, and at the end something similar and chucklicious, The One About Hank while ‘different’ and totally unexpected … they are both 9 carat gems.
On an album like this it’s virtually impossible to select a single Favourite Song as just about everything has its own merits and has the capacity to stop you in your tracks if you heard them on the radio or a jukebox; but as time slides by I’m erring towards the tragically beautiful Are We Slipping Away and/or Silence Speaks Louder Than Words which are both timeless Country Songs Deluxe that will knock you sideways.
In a world that is falling apart around us, this album has been a huge surprise and has made my life a little bit better than expected and it will yours too.
*PS The album cover is fabulous too and designed for the casual music fan to pick up in a record store and feel a subconscious need to hear the contents.
Kent Rose lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Steve Dawson acoustic, electric,bass, and lap steel guitar (all harmony vocals)
Alton Smith, piano
David Sims drums and percussion
John Rice, dobro on Are We Slipping Away, mandolin on Houston Lullaby.
Released May 2024
https://kentrose.com/home
BUY DON’T SPOTIFY
https://kentrose.bandcamp.com/album/if-you-know-love-2
The Rocking Magpie 