Quite a lot of stuff happened to Esther Rose within a time span of two years. She broke up in her relationship, moved three times and did a lot of touring. How Many Times is that happening to one person? That’s more or less the story behind her album with that title, which will be released on 26th March 2021.
Esther Rose – About The Artist
Esther Rose is a singer-songwriter from New Orleans. She is typcially assigned to the country or alternative country genre. She is a professional musician since 2013 and so far has already released two albums, her debut This Time Last Night (2017) and her sophomore You Made It This Far (2019). The albums has been recorded together with Matt Bell (lap steel), Max Bien-Kahn (electric guitar), Dan Cutler (bass), Cameron Snyder (drums) and Lyle Werner (fiddle).
Esther Rose – How Many Times – Track by Track
The ten track album lasts 35 minutes.
1. How Many Times
Standing in the shower till the heat runs out
Trash is on the corner where I put it out
Pills to take the pain
Take it all away
Dinner and a movie, scrape the bowl
I’m never hungry and I’m never full
They make pills to ease the pain
But that ain’t the easy way
How many times will you break my heart?
The album starts with its title track, which rather comes with a folk music touch. A bit of dreamy, but also melodic and very present. Nice opener.
2. Keeps Me Running
The presence of the lap steel and the fiddle in the second single, Keeps Me Running, spreads much more country music spirit than the opener did. The guitar and lap steel work lead to a really nice sound.
3. My Bad Blood
My Bad Blood comes with a very classic country sound. Like at Keeps Me Running, the song also has some nice instrumental parts – even though it is just 2:55 minutes. Feels to be perfectly made for an old fashioned saloon stage.
4. Coyote Creek
Coyote Creek comes with a happy sound and a very rhythmic melody. A song which is nice to follow, but certainly not the highlight of the album.
5. Good Time
The third single appearing on the album is its fifth track, Good Time. The song comes with a very straight, hand-made character, which leads to a good listen.
6. When You Go
When You Go definitely adds a new style to the How Many Times album. The song feels like a country ballad of the 1960’s. It however comes with a slow, but very accentuated rhythm. Nice listen.
7. Songs Remain
While in many songs the lap steel guitar and the drums are the key instruments, Songs Remain is mainly an acoustic guitar track. This adds some warmth and intimacy to the sound of the song.
8. Mountaintop
The fast and rhythmic Mountaintop is a lap steel-driven tune again.It is one of the songs I can relate to least on the whole album. I however do like the short instrumental solos and the way Esther Rose is create a nice mood around the song.
9. Are You Out There?
The short stops in the song almost create a soul and blues feeling close to the end of the album. Nice to have a violin solo in this song as well.
10. Without You
The album closes with Without You, which is (not that surprisingly) a love song, but still is one of the most rhythmic songs. It makes you feel to dance at the end of the album. This can’t be too bad.
Esther Rose – How Many Times – Spotify
Here is Esther Rose on Spotify:
Esther Rose – How Many Times – My View
How Many Times is a special album, but it comes with really beautiful moments. I would have loved to have some more variety in the songs, also in the way they are plotted and how Esther’s voice is appearing in them. Still, I like to explore these different styles of country music – the time with this singer-songwriter has definitely been enjoyable.
2021 Women Country Reviews
Here are all my media reviews related to women country music and published in 2021:
All “classic” blog posts
No reviews – just debating and certain topics – these are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging: