Thanks to Dale Watson for giving me a chance to win 2 Ameripolitan Awards last week! ROCKABILLY AND HONKY TONK FEMALE~There is a wave of appreciation pouring out to me for the years that I’ve been out here promoting women in Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin, Marti Brom, to name a few. Thanks for the #2 spot, but I do not feel that I deserve a number 2 spot here, maybe 8 or 9?. I thought I’d explain a little here where I come from to the younger audiences out there who may also disagree with my spot as number 2. I started a rockabilly band in San diego in 1979 called the Reboppin’ Screamers and it was so difficult to find players there who understood the genre and the sound, the dress etc… I then moved to LA and started searching out others who were in it and found Levi Dexter and his band the Rockats, Ray Campi, last but not least James Intveld. I found a home at the Palamino club and after being influenced by Gary Stewart the Honky Tonk singer from Kentucky/Florida, I found my voice somewhere between Tanya Tucker and Gene Vincent. I became a Screamin’ Siren and played smash up rockabilly guitar for Pleasant Gehman and learned more about the British Rockabilly bands and went out on my own from there landing a deal with WB/Reprise Records out of Nashville. The label told me that rockabilly was the kiss of death on radio (this was just before the Stray Cats broke out) so they tamed me down to a clean country sound but I recorded with Pete Anderson as a producer ( Dwight Yoakam) and James Intveld as well as Greg Leisz and Donald Lindley so my sound was appreciated all around the world and here in the states. I recorded a country Wanda Jackson and Carl Perkins song so I could still pay tribute to my influences without stirring up too much trouble. Before long the label dropped me anyway for being too different even though the James Intveld song “Crying Over You entered the Billboard Charts and gave me a name in Europe and here. The label decided to push kd Lang instead of me and the rest is just rosie history. I’ve stayed on the road never giving up my career in music. I’ve played just about every dancehall and honky tonk, festival, European markets included, ever since. I’m over 60 years old (hush hush cause I don’t look it) but I still feel like I’m the 16 year old girl who started Penelope’s Children in my parents garage in the late 60’s using my brothers gear. So I’m happy to be appreciated because lord knows how long I’ve been doing this. However with the musical influences that have crossed my life, starting with Jazz, Rockabilly, Motown, Surf, Blues, Pop, Punk, Country and Honky Tonk. I don’t want to be put in a bag of one sound…even though I so appreciate the rockabilly category #2 spot, it is just part of who I am and there are other female’s out there who are probably more deserving of a higher mark here especially the early pioneer women as well as the newer Marti Brom, Imelda Mae and Kim Lenz. Thanks for following, appreciating and digging my sounds. sincerely, Rosie Flores
