finetune artist: Rosie Flores

b. 10 September 1950, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Flores' background accounts for the strong Mexican influence in her brand of country music. When she was 12 years old, her family moved to San Diego, California, and in her mid-teens Flores became part of an all-female psychedelic band, Penelope's Children. She was then backed by a punk band, Rosie And The Screamers. Next came another all-female cow-punk band, the Screamin' Sirens. In 1985, she was part of a compilation album of new country artists, A Town South Of Bakersfield, on which she sang "Heartbreak Train" with Albert Lee. Her first album for Reprise Records, Rosie Flores, was produced with Pete Anderson and Dwight Yoakam, but her biggest single on the US country charts, "Crying Over You", only reached number 51. Dropped by Reprise, she re-emerged five years later on Hightone with After The Farm. Flores remains one of those Texas artists more popular as a cult performer in Europe than in her home country. In 1994 she toured the UK as lead guitarist for Butch Hancock, but during the visit she broke her right arm, which ultimately delayed the recording of Rockabilly Filly. The album included duets with two of her rockabilly idols, Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin. She collaborated with cult rockabilly singer Ray Campi on her 1997 album, which featured tracks recorded over the previous seven years. Flores manages to successfully create an evocative sound of innocent rockabilly mixed and the nostalgia of Les Paul and Mary Ford together with contemporary pop with a strong country and folk influence.

Listen to Rosie Flores at Finetune.

West Texas Plains
Rock Your Baby
'59 Tweedle Dee
Blue Highway
Crazy Mixed Emotions