Pulp country and a world of wonder
Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin bring their gothic Americana to Coffee Gallery Backstage
By Bliss 07/02/2009
“There is no offer I cannot refuse, or threat of reprisal or drug that they can use To cause me to break — this vow I now take … You are the secret I’ll never reveal, and I would not give you up for gold”
Nashville-based singer Kristi Rose, who can sound like a youthful, more full-throated Wanda Jackson, wrote those lines with multi-instrumentalist husband Fats Kaplin for “Gold,” an eerie love song they describe as “a vow written in blood.” Simultaneously affirming and disturbing, it’s a minor-key ballad delivered over somewhat martial-sounding drums that neatly captures their dramatic artistic dynamic as well as their all-American musical influences: country, old-time, rockabilly, blues, bluegrass, pop. It’s featured on “Fats Kaplin’s World of Wonder,” an album otherwise dominated by Kaplin’s richly textured interpretations of traditional murder ballads and folk songs. Those traditionals spring from the canon of public domain material that predates most contemporary pop, so it’s fitting that Rose and Kaplin are performing here during this quintessentially American holiday weekend.
“The tunes have a certain vibe,” Rose acknowledges. “They’re pretty intense, great stories, very high drama. We’re drawn to that.”
Kaplin’s best known as one-third of the award-winning Americana trio Kane Welch Kaplin, his ongoing collaboration with Kieran Kane and Kevin Welch. He’s also an in-demand sideman; this week, for instance, he’ll be flying to San Diego and Oklahoma City to do shows with Pure Prairie League before returning to LA for Sunday’s gig. Since the early 1980s, Rose has been purveying her brassy “pulp country,” a genre-melding hybrid she describes as “this thrash-country-soaring theatrical thing that came out of New York City.”
After growing up on a farm that straddled the river separating southern Illinois and western Kentucky, Rose lived in New York City for 12 years, frequently touring Europe with her band the Midnight Walkers. She and Kaplin, who’d briefly met in New York through Tom Russell, both relocated to Nashville in the early 1990s, where they were reintroduced by a chance encounter at the storied Bluebird Café. Within six months or so, they were performing together. Rose says this December will mark their 15th wedding anniversary. They hope to release a new album, “Gin Water Gold,” this year, and have “a whole lot more recorded.” While some couples are torn apart by the challenges of joining their personal and creative lives, Rose says they’ve just adapted to Kaplin’s busy schedule working with other artists.
“There have certainly been periods of time where we’ve put [our] things on the back burner, maybe sometimes a little more than what we wished we had upon reflection,” she says. “But it’s also all we’ve ever done. We don’t know anything different.”
Dale Peterson ends his “Living Room Series” run and Bucksworth frontman Mark Nemetz opens with a solo acoustic set at Art & Mayhem, 3416 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, at 9 p.m. Saturday; free admission. Call (323) 666-7731 for details. myspace.com/dalepetersonrhythmlords.
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