Selena Rosanbalm has taken a break from making music for the past few years while processing a traumatic loss; she’s returned with a new perspective, and her songs are more open and honest than ever. Sonically, she’s also introduced an edginess that wasn’t as present in previous work. It’s all on full display on her new self-titled album, her first solo record, out today.
Within the ten tracks on Selena Rosanbalm, she deals with grief -- the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, shifts in relationships between adult children and their parents. Rosanbalm introduces listeners to more of who she is, showcasing heartbreaking candor while remaining unafraid to approach difficult subject matter.
The album is Rosanbalm’s first record under her own name after performing for several years under the moniker Rosie & the Ramblers. The album has received early praise from The Bluegrass Situation, Wide Open Country and Americana Highways, among others, including hometown attention from Good Day Austin and KUTX which noted Rosanbalm “taps into renewed energy and newer inspiration...vibrant vocals reveal not only the heartbreak, but something strangely hopeful on the horizon."
“How Would You Paint Me” discusses the way women are perceived by society and by men, about the way they are portrayed throughout history. “Divide” and “We’ll Catch Up” examine the relationship between parents and adult children, and how they can change.
“Can You Really Be Gone” was sparked by a photograph. “It’s funny how grief affects the mind — it shows you faces that you know are gone, confuses memories with the present, allows you to expect the impossible,” she says. “I think it’s a universal thing that when someone close to you dies, you hold onto any part of them that you can, a shirt, a photo, their ashes, to keep them close.”
“Inventory Your Life” is a reflection on grief and the paradox of how the end of one person’s life can mark the beginning of a new and positive chapter for someone still living.
“Making this record was really cathartic for me. It had been too long since I’d had a significant musical project to focus on, and it was so fun to be back in the studio again. I loved being able to branch out - exploring some new sounds was so freeing, and such a great reminder that the point of all this isn’t to be someone’s expectation, the point is to be me, in whatever iteration.”
Rosie and the Ramblers, formerly fronted by Rosanbalm and founded in 2011, toured the western US, recorded two EPs, and released Whatever You Need to acclaim in 2014. Rosanbalm has helped keep the tradition of Western Swing alive, singing and recording four albums with Hot Texas Swing Band over the last nine years, and is a member of Fancy, a cover band featuring women’s country music from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Selena Rosanbalm Track Listing:
1. Gut Punch
2. Divide
3. The Old House
4. Not In Albuquerque Anymore
5. Forever and Evermore
6. How Would You Paint Me
7. Inventory Your Life
8. We'll Catch Up
9. Patriot
10. Can You Really Be Gone
