Interview with Whitney Rose

Continuing to build on the acclaim of her self-titled debut album, PEI-born, Toronto-based WHITNEY ROSE joined reunited Americana legends The Mavericks this month for a number of dates on their current Canadian tour. Whitney began attracting attention from the moment she started appearing on Toronto club stages, gaining support from Blue Rodeo's Bazil Donovan and Bob Egan. Donovan and David Baxter co-produced her debut album, striking the perfect balance between her reverence for classic vocalists such as Patsy Cline and the emotional content of her songwriting, often drawn from personal experiences. Along with Egan on pedal steel, the album also features Devin Cuddy on piano, guitar virtuoso Nichol Robertson, and Justin Rutledge and Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti on backing vocals. Bazil Donovan explains: “The reason I was drawn to Whitney was because she was playing real legitimate 1960′s era country music, because there is none of that around on the radio anymore – there’s nobody that I know of that is making honest…what I call real country music. When I heard her songs, I heard what she was doing, I went hey – that’s real country music and I’m glad somebody’s interested in it.” Whitney's style and sound began early in life:  "My grandparents ran a bar in PEI and hosted a lot of kitchen parties. When I was four years old and would hear them, I would get out of bed and they would give me a loonie to sing a Hank Williams song."