This album reflects reality with a poetic honesty seemingly unfound in "these blackest of years that have no sound" (from Fall Dog Bombs the Moon by David Bowie). --Kevin Finn, www.kevinfinn.net
Emily Rodgers draws influence from such diverse plac [+]This album reflects reality with a poetic honesty seemingly unfound in "these blackest of years that have no sound" (from Fall Dog Bombs the Moon by David Bowie). --Kevin Finn, www.kevinfinn.net
Emily Rodgers draws influence from such diverse places as 60s garage rock, folkie lo-fi technicians like Iron & Wine, and the alt-country scene. In her newest project, the 5-piece indie-folk outfit Emily Rodgers & Her Majesty's Stars, Emily embraces a fuller sound as the band takes its cue from more atmospheric influences. ER & Stars have shared stages with Jolie Holland, Magnolia Electric Company, Great Lake Swimmers, and Rebecca Gates and have just realized their first album.
*********************************************************** Pittsburgh City Paper 3/17/2005 Emily Rodgers & Her Majesty's Stars Post-Ruralism Writer: MANNY THEINER
Not having her officially pressed CD yet in hand, songwriter Emily Rodgers gave out a burned copy of her eponymous debut album, its cover adorned with a stark rubber-stamp graphic of a single leaf. That sparseness lends itself well to the music she has recorded with Josh Roman's Mindrocket studio in Sharon, Pa., a brand of post-rural, ethereal alt-country drenched in primo melancholy and reverb.
Rodgers lived in Georgia until she was 5 ("which may account for the fake Southern accent," she says), but spent her formative years in the Chicago suburb of Elkart, Ind. After attending the Mennonite college in nearby Goshen, she moved to Pittsburgh a year after her cohorts Susanna Meyer and Hallie Pritts (both members of country-folk band Boca Chica), and has taken up residence with them in Highland Park, as well as common cause with such local folk artists as Kevin Finn and Megan Williams.
"In college, I listened to a lot of Gillian Welch," Rodgers recalls of her earlier influences. "And I had a radio show, which during the day was classical, and in the evening, folk music. We would always go down to Merlefest, that big Doc Watson bluegrass festival in North Carolina."
Nowadays, for inspiration Rodgers faces away from the boomer-folk camp and more toward the indie-leaning elements of the roots scene, such as Julie Doiron, Richard Buckner, and Bonnie Prince Billy. "I started writing songs when I moved here in 2003,
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