Deborah Rose

“Atlas”

(Abracadeborah Records)

Deborah Rose - lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (all tracks), guitar (2,6,8), co-production (all tracks) with;

Ben Walsh - guitar, violin (1); guitar, fiddle, harmonium, sound design, production (9)
Majid Bekkas - oud (1)
Jeremy Jameson - drums & bass (1); production/mixing (1, 6, 10, 11, bonus) cello (bonus)
Boo Hewerdine - electric guitar, keys, harmonium (2); acoustic/electric guitar, piano, dulcitone (3); farfisa organ (7)
production (2, 3, 7)
Chris Pepper - keyboards (2, 3, 7); drums,
percussion (3); co-production/recording/
mixing (2, 3, 7)
Gustaf Ljunngren - lapsteel (3)
Richard Wood - production /mixing (5)
Christina Nichols - co-writer (5)
Martin Riley - piano/arrangement (5); co-writer (5)
Rela Spyrou - clarinet (5)
Tim Kirby - guitar (5)
Drew Armstrong - guitar (6)
Jon Thorne - double bass (1, 6)
Emily Barden - piano (7)
Pete Harvey - cello (7) Sonia Hammond - cello (8)
Mike West - production/recording/ mixing (8)
Kenny White - guitar, wurlitzer, keys, bass, backing vocals, co-production/mixing (10)
Giulia Nuti - viola (10)
Mari Randle - backing vocals (4)
John Reynolds - drums, keyboard, production, mixing at
New Air Studios, Kilburn (4) Graham Kearns - guitars (4)
Clare Kenny - bass (4)
Stavros Kokkinos - bouzouki, baglama, guitar and violin (bonus)

Released in November 2025 on her own Abrocadeborah imprint “Atlas” is the fourth full length album release from Deborah Rose, a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter based in Ludlow in the Welsh Marches.

Following a number of self produced EPs Rose released her debut album, “Song Be My Soul”, in early 2014, a charming collection of self penned songs combined with settings of the words of poets and authors such as Tennyson, Shakespeare, Dickens, Blake and Christina Rossetti. Review here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/deborah-rose-song-be-my-soul/

The follow up, “Wilde Wood” (2015), was very different as Rose abandoned her literary leanings to explore the world of Celtic folk music in the company of locally based musicians from two different groups, The O’ Farrells Frolicks and Grey Wolf.  The album also features backing vocals on three numbers from a certain Robert Plant, who also made a cameo appearance at the album launch event at the Artrix in Bromsgrove. Gig review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/deborah-rose-the-ofarrells-frolicks-grey-wolf-artrix-bromsgrove-worcs-05-03

Rose’s third album “The Shining Pathway” (2020),  was released shortly before the first Covid lockdown. Largely comprised of new self penned songs, plus the occasional cover and collaboration it was variously recorded in Nashville, Tennessee and at home in Ludlow. The songs are inspired by travel, literature, personal experience and her Christian faith. My review of the album can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/deborah-rose-the-shining-pathway

A musician with a social conscience Rose has championed women’s issues, worked on teaching and song-writing projects with prisoners, children and dementia patients, and travelled to Africa to work for the charity Planting for Hope in Uganda. She has also performed fund-raising gigs for the charity in the UK. Her work has also won the approval of the American Democrat politician and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.

Blessed with a stunningly pure voice Rose is a consistently excellent live performer and I have witnessed many of her local appearances over the years. No two shows have been exactly alike and I have seen her sing and play both solo and with a variety of accompanists. Several of these live performances are reviewed elsewhere on this site.

Rose’s work has attracted the attention of many celebrity admirers including Plant, US singer / songwriters Mary Gauthier, Jimmy Webb and Kenny White and American folk doyenne Judy Collins.

Rose is also a great organiser and facilitator as well as being a significant musical talent.

Rose has travelled widely and the “Atlas” album is partly influenced by her global wanderings with the title track written in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Other sources of inspiration include art and literature, the natural world, and Rose’s Christian faith.

With the exception of two co-writes, plus a couple of covers, the majority of the songs are Rose originals. Several of these were written during the Covid pandemic, a period that Rose prefers to call “the quiet time”, and have featured in her live performance repertoire since 2021.

The album features a large cast of collaborators, as detailed above, and was recorded at a variety of studios and other locations, with some of the recordings dating back to 2020.  Rose works together with a number of co-producers, who all make their mark on the recording, as do the supporting guest musicians. The album booklet offers valuable insights into the inspirations behind the individual songs.

The recording commences with the title track, written during a visit to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco in 2022. Rose’s already evocative vocals and lyrics are further enhanced by the guitar and violin of regular collaborator Ben Walsh, the double bass of Jon Thorne and the oud of Majid Bekkas, the latter representing an additional layer of authenticity. Jeremy Jameson, the producer and arranger of this track and the owner of Chapel Lawn Studios where this piece was recorded adds rhythmic impetus by performing on both bass and drums. Words and music combine effectively to express Rose’s love for the region and her yearning for a return to it.

“Anam Cara”, a Gaelic phrase meaning “soul friend” was inspired by the writings of the late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue (1956-2008) and particularly O’Donohue’s highly influential book “Anam Cara;  A Book of Celtic Wisdom”, his first published prose work. Rose’s song, which dates back to 2020, is centred around the phrase Anam Cara, the lyrics addressing both Christianity and a wider Celtic mysticism, O’Donohue was ordained and spent a number of years in the priesthood. Again it’s a beautiful, evocative and atmospheric song with producer Boo Hewerdine augmenting the sounds of Rose’s acoustic guitar with his own electric guitar, keyboards and harmonium and with co-producer Chris Pepper adding further keyboards.

From the same session “Rings of Saturn” was originally written in Nashville when Rose was attending a songwriting retreat led by the American singer songwriter Mary Gauthier, a considerable source of inspiration for Rose. The retreat was held at an observatory and seeing the planet Saturn through a telescope plus a chance meeting with the son of Johnny Cash, combined to find their way into a lyric that takes its original inspiration from Robert Browning and the line “How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways”. It’s a song about the difficulty of counting both the “rings of Saturn” and the “rings of fire that Johnny sings to me” and cleverly signs off with the line “but I can count on you”. It’s the bounciest, most upbeat song on the album thus far with Hewerdine adding guitars, piano and dulcitone and Pepper providing further keyboards, plus drums and percussion. But it’s the distinctive pedal steel guitar of Gustaf Ljunngren that gives the piece a real country rock flavour.

“Night with her Train of Stars” takes its title from a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914) that is housed at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. In turn the painting was inspired by a poem by Hughes’ near contemporary William Ernest Henley (1849 -1903). Rose was commissioned by BM&AG to write a song to be performed beside the painting and in addition to her playing it live at the gallery it was played on a loop through headphones next to the watercolour for several additional months. The suitably poetic lyrics draw on Henley’s words and he receives a co-writing credit. Produced by John Reynolds, who also plays drums and keyboards the piece has a lush arrangement that also includes the guitars of Graham Kearns, the bass of Clare Kenny and the soaring, ethereal backing vocals of Rose’s old acquaintance Mari Randle, of O’Farrells Frolics fame.

Writing this review in January I’m really a couple of weeks late to be addressing a song titled “On Christmas Night”. Rose’s lyrics are inspired by her young niece Ffion, but are also informed by her Christian faith. The song is another co-write, with Christina Nichols and Martin Riley, the latter also the pianist and arranger. It’s another lush production, this time courtesy of Richard Wood, and the instrumentation also includes the clarinet of Rela Spryou and the guitar of Tim Kirby. It’s a song with a genuine anthemic quality.

Inspired by Psalm 91 “Under the Feathers of Your Wings” continues the Christian theme on a song that Rose describes as “a song of protection in a challenging world, where darkness can try to overcome the light”. A sparser arrangement features the acoustic guitars of Rose and Drew Armstrong plus the warm, rich timbres of Jon Thorne’s bowed double bass.

“Sing a New Song” was also inspired by a Psalm, this time number 98. Rose has spent time working with prisoners and this song also draws inspiration from that experience. A kind of ‘modern day hymn’ it features the production team of Hewerdine and Pepper on various keyboards, plus the piano of Emily Barden and the cello of Pete Harvey.

A trilogy of Psalm inspired songs concludes with “I Lift My Eyes to the Hills”. The words of Psalm 121 are etched into the glass of a window at the remote Capel y Ffin in the Black Mountains of the Welsh Borders. Part hymn, part travelogue the song was actually recorded by producer Mike West at Capel y Ffin itself, the performers being the duo of Rose on voice and guitar and Sonia Hammond on cello. Rose and Hammond have also performed live shows as a duo and my review of a 2024 featuring the pair event in nearby Hay on Wye is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/deborah-rose-sonia-hammond-duo-church-of-st-mary-the-virgin-hay-on-wye-24-02-2024

“Bright Field” is inspired by the landscape around Rose’s home town of Ludlow and also by the poetry of R.S. Thomas. It also evokes memories of Rose’s late grandmother and the lyrics are a paean both to the beauty of the Shropshire countryside and an expression of hope for a future heavenly reunion with lost loved ones. Ben Walsh produces and also provides guitar, harmonium and violin plus field recordings of bird song.

Written by Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff “”Boulder to Birmingham” is a song that Rose has previously performed at live shows with the Brooklyn based singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Kenny White, a regular visitor to the UK and an artist with whom Rose has been collaborating for many years. More recently White has been working on a regular basis with the Italian violist Giulia Nuti. White acts as Rose’s co-producer on this track and also adds guitar, keys, bass and backing vocals while Nuti appears on viola. Rose gives a convincing and emotive reading of a lyric that is rumoured to be about the late, great US musician and songwriter Gram Parsons (1946-73), with whom Harris had worked.

The title of “Living Waters” is derived from John 7 ; 38 and the phrase “rivers of running water shall flow from within”. It’s also inspired the rivers of South Shropshire, the Onny, the Clun and particularly the Teme, the last of which actually flows through Ludlow. Rose’s lyrics honour the beauty of these three rivers, plus other locations in Shropshire and the Welsh Borders, all of which are familiar to me, so I can readily relate to her words, and also to those of A. E. Housman, from whom she borrows. Jeremy Jameson’s production multi-tracks Rose’s voice to give an echoing choral effect on what is essentially a solo vocal performance.

Presented as a bonus track the song “Mary, Did You Know?”, written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, was recorded ‘live in the studio’ with Rose joined by the Greek musician Stavros Kokkinos, who variously plays bouzouki, baglama, guitar and violin, with producer Jameson adding a dash of cello. Another modern day hymn it represents a very welcome bonus with Kokkinos making a highly distinctive and very enjoyable contribution.

It’s been five years in the making but “Atlas” has very much been worth the wait. Drawing on a wide range of inspirations the songs are intelligent, poetic and literate and often downright beautiful. I realise that I haven’t actually talked about Rose’s vocals that much but at this time of her career the purity and excellence of her singing is a given.

Although recorded over a considerable time period and at a variety of locations with a large cast of collaborators the album actually coheres very well and can very much be seen as expressing one woman’s multi-faceted vision of the world. Rose sees beauty in many things and in her songs makes that beauty real for her listeners, whether they be of religious faith or not.

It’s an album that represents a worthy follow up to past glories and is arguably her best to date.

“Atlas” is available here;
https://deborahrose.bandcamp.com/album/new-album-atlas-on-sale-now

See also;
http://www.deborahrose.co.uk

 

 

 

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