Rosie Thomas is bursting with vitality. Answering the phone from somewhere in Ashland, Oregon, she sounds so full of life on the other end of the line, she's practically jumping through the phone — and for good reason. After taking time off to recover from a thyroid disorder that caused her debilitating anxiety, she's back to making music and has a fresh new perspective on life. You can hear it in her voice as much as you can in her new songs. Something's different.
She's also married now, so rather than reflecting so much about lost love, she's basking in the life-changing experience of finding love. While it's been a decade since her debut, Thomas is every bit as affecting of a songwriter today as she was back then. With a highly expressive voice, she still has a knack for capturing the mundane moments of life and making them seem positively profound.
Westword: You've always been an evocative songwriter, incredibly evocative, particularly on songs like "Wedding Day." On that song, there was a certain wistfulness in your voice that [sounded like you were] defeated. The first lines in the song are "So much for love/Guess I've been wrong/But it's alright, 'cause I'm moving on." So it was, like, wistful, but it was resigned.
Rosie Thomas: Totally. That's a great example. The truth is, I mean, you kind of nailed it, because when I wrote that, it really was after a breakup, and I thought that...you know, it's so funny because I have so much more zest about me. I think that's what happens when you grow up a bit more and you like yourself a little bit more and you express yourself a lot more.
You know, and I think at the time — you kind of nailed it — because when I wrote that, it was sort of this false pretending to sort of be tougher than that. So it was sort of like, "Screw you, man. I'm moving on." But it really didn't feel that way. I wanted to pretend I felt that way, like, "I'm good. I'm going to take a road trip. It's going to be awesome." But I don't know if I really, actually — you know, if he would've come back and been like, "Actually, Rosie, let's get back together," I'd be like, "That sounds awesome! Forget the road trip!" But now when I sing that song — it's so crazy because, you know, years go by and you still sing these tunes, and you still give life to them. But now I actually feel what I wanted to feel at the time, which was, "Yeah, I'm good."
