Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s country music started building a national following, helped by the growing adoption of radio and popular shows like The Grand Ole Opry. Hollywood added their weight with westerns featuring singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Bob Wills. The latter became even more well known for morphing those appearances into his western swing dance hall style. It’s that era that Los Angeles-based country chanteuse Rosy Nolan used as inspiration for her new album, Main Attraction.
The CD slides right out of the gate with Dead On the Vine, a pedal steel-heavy, dance hall shuffle showing off Nolan’s powerful, twangy vocals. It’s an admission that a new relationship doesn’t have a future, but it’s fun for now. Your Kinda Lovin’ also has plenty of pedal steel and highlights Nolan’s vocal range in a ballad about heartache and maybe a little regret. Bad For You is a classic country waltz where recognition that “I crossed the line that split us in two” is the precursor to not being able to get him off her mind. Coming To See You is a waltz that starts off sad, then falls into heart-wrenching when it’s revealed the journey to see his former love is actually a visit to her grave.
The record also includes a few cuts that, while more modern in nature, are standing on the shoulders of those earlier styles. Them’s the Breaks is an almost-bluegrass tune about the life of an 80’s latchkey kid, from the pseudo relationships with TV characters to the fast-food dinners. How It Feels To Fall In Love, a co-write with Ted Russell Kamp, is what country music might have developed into had it been born in the Caribbean. It’s one of two numbers featuring Louisiana legend Dirk Powell on accordion. The other is a Cajun waltz update of Hazel Dickens’ anthem to feminine social justice, Don’t Put Her Down You Helped Put Her There. Get On Me is a bawdy retelling of crude, misogynistic come-on’s Nolan has experienced. Far from being bitter or preachy, you can hear barroom fun in the chorus while imagining her just shaking her head at some of the characters.
There are plenty of records that feature a song or two as an homage to the early days of country & western. Rosy Nolan understands she has a voice built for those single microphone stages and she uses it to send wave after wave of those halcyon sounds to your ears on Main Attraction.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.