Husband-Wife Duo White Rose Motor Oil Brings Cowpunk to the Skylark

The DeSomers’ loving relationship has always been a mutual musical endeavor. Ever since Eryn DeSomer and Keith Hoerig-DeSomer began their romance, they’ve been starting bands together, including Denver’s The Hollyfelds and The Jekylls. “We started playing when we were dating almost immediately, doing a bunch of different things,” says Keith.

But it wasn’t until 2018, after the previous two groups disbanded, that the couple decided to start a solo husband-and-wife project. The result, White Rose Motor Oil, is all alt-country and cowpunk, which makes for a hootin’ and hollerin’ good time.

Eryn plays guitar and commands the mic with swooning vocals, while Keith provides the steady backbeat and rhythm behind the kit. The two recall being initially wary of that setup, particularly Keith switching from bass to the drums, before agreeing that they ultimately just needed to get back to making music.

“We really wanted to play music. We missed it, but we weren’t sure if we wanted to do the whole band thing anymore. We wondered if we could figure out a way to just do this as a two-piece,” Eryn recalls. “We started playing around with the idea of Keith picking up drums. He bought the cheapest drum set – it was like 100 bucks – and started learning how to play drums.”

From there, she adds, the two “started goofing around” with some of Eryn’s solo material. “We just started by learning those [songs],” she says, “then it kind of took off. We started adding some different things.”

Since then, White Rose Motor Oil has released four EPs and an LP, You Can’t Kill Ghosts (2020). The Gift of Poison, the band’s latest record, will officially be released everywhere Friday, April 14, but White Rose Motor Oil is also playing an album release show on Thursday, April 13, at the Skylark Lounge. Casey James Prestwood and Chella & the Charm are also on the bill. Physical copies of The Gift Of Poison will be available as well.

White Rose Motor Oil has been described as Loretta Lynn meets the White Stripes, or Tammy Wynette fronting the Ramones. Now, that’s cowpunk – and the duo’s live show reflects that, too.

“You can put that in your head, whatever that means,” Eryn says of the comparisons. “I would say that one of our stronger points is that I’m a pretty okay singer. I think a lot of people hear ‘two-piece’ and they think that we’re going to be this little, gentle acoustic duo. We’re not.”

Eryn’s being modest. They also use two different amps on stage to provide more of a low-end sound to “fill things out.”

“If you like big vocals and energetic music, I would say that we’re a good match for you,” she adds. “We actually sell earplugs at our shows now because people come and think we’re one thing. … We’re not metal loud, but we’re loud.”

To that point, White Rose Motor Oil’s tagline is: “We’re louder than you think,” which is printed on the side of each earplug case. “It’s not quiet, and it’s not mellow. It’s energetic, fast, fun,” Keith says. “Even when the lyrics are little bit dark, it’s still fast and fun.”

The couple’s influences behind the project include Volk, Cheap Trick and Fountains of Wayne, which allows the duo to explore some poppier elements.

“When we were in the band the Jekylls, we did a whole set of Cheap Trick covers for Halloween one year,” Keith says. “I think that we try to take some of those power-pop influences and weave them into some country and some punk.”

Eryn motions to the shelf of records behind the couple at one point during this interview, which she admits is mostly Keith’s collection, and notes that Over the Rhine and Robert Earl Keen are big inspirations.

“He really helped introduce me to a lot of things that I had never really listened to, and it’s been one of the best things about our marriage,” she adds. “He’s like this giant sponge of music absorption, and it’s so fun to be around because he finds all of these interesting things. We have a really good time with that.”

Two singles from the upcoming album – “Meet Me at the Bottom” and “Hateland” – are good examples of White Rose Motor Oil’s unique mixture. In the studio, the musical mates decided to do even more than what they usually employ while preparing for a concert. On the yet-to-be-released song “Mountain State,” Eryn plays her great-grandfather’s ukulele. She’s also a pianist.

“The last time we went into a professional studio, we tried to make the recordings be only what we can do live,” Keith says. “This time we were like, let’s not do that, so we added a lot more sonic stuff. We added things that we can’t do live, but just because we have the ability to do it, let’s do it.”

He references a quote from legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne: “He said making a record is a skill and playing a show is a skill, and they aren’t the same skill. They don’t need to be exactly the same. We gave up on that idea, so I think sonically, we really expanded what we were willing to try. That led to a lot of stuff.”

Of course, as Eryn adds, “It does help if you like each other.”

White Rose Motor Oil, 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway. Tickets are $10-$15.