Perhaps
best known as a member of globe-straddling folk-rock band TWO DOLLAR BASH, Tony
Rose now gets around to delivering his first solo album.
Medicine Tunes was recorded in a house in rural
France in the spring of 2017, Tony being joined by long-time musical colleagues
Geir Voie (mandolin), Sean Condron (banjo, guitar, slide, bass, harmonica,
mandola, backing vocals), and Stéphane Doucerain (drums, percussion), and the
album’s producer Mark Mulholland (guitar, mandola, bouzouki, backing vocals).
The songs for the album were laid down in a single session, with all the basic
tracks played live together.
While
the songs evidently deal with feelings of loss, confusion and despair, they
also explore how these can eventually evolve towards something new and brighter
through the healing effects of music, love and friendship.
“I wrote
most of the songs on Medicine Tunes
when I was going through some very troubled times,” explains Tony. “I found
myself alone and falling. It was a case of sink or swim. I needed something to
keep me afloat. Writing and singing these songs became my medicine rituals, a
kind of spiritual healing and a way to keep breathing. It's difficult to
explain. I was in France gigging with Two Dollar Bash and I played the songs
for Mark Mulholland. He thought them worth recording and organised a session at
his studio with some old friends. The finished album feels like the conclusion
of a long journey that started in a very dark place and ended somewhere
brighter.”
Born in
Scotland in 1969, Tony spent his youth busking on the streets of Glasgow and
forming bands with school friends, Brendan O'Hare (Teenage Fanclub, Dark
Globes) and Joe Armstrong. Moving to Edinburgh, Tony and Joe hooked up with
Mark Mulholland, and the three began a life of travel that continues to this
day, criss-crossing Europe, settling sporadically to reconvene in France,
Ireland, Berlin or Holland.
Having settled
in Prague for much of the 90s, Tony eventually hooked up with Joe and Mark in
Berlin where Two Dollar Bash were born. Releasing four albums, the band have
toured widely across Europe and North America, playing SXSW in Austin for three
consecutive years.
In 2010,
Tony returned to Prague, where he continues to play both solo, with The Band of
Jakeys, and as a duo with Geir Voie. His songs have been performed by many
artists in Europe, America and beyond, and a disc of recordings of cover
versions - Roll High & Roll Good
- is included with Medicine Tunes.
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