ROUTES & BRANCHES:
DEPARTURES

On R&B Departures, I touch base briefly with artists I play on the show.  Today, we hear from the great Rosie Flores, whose Working Girl's Guitar brings the blues, the rockabilly, the rock and a whole lot of guitar. Ms Flores also appears behind the scenes as producer of Janis Martin's posthumous release, Blanco Sessions.  Earlier, she played a part in returning the Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, to the spotlight.  Both legends honored Flores by adding their voices to her Rockabilly Filly record in '95. 

Working Girl's Guitar marks Rosie's 11th album, having released her self-titled debut in 1987.  The heart of the CD lies in Flores' guitar, which is mixed way up front on nearly all the tracks here.  I've always been of the opinion that if she were a man Rosie Flores would be held in the same esteem as Dave Alvin or Alejandro Escovedo.  Her own career as an early country punk mirrors that of either gentleman, and she came to prominence alongside Dwight Yoakam during LA's "new traditionalist" period.  With elements of surf guitar, country ballad, an early rock-style tribute to Duane Jarvis and a cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Working Girl's Guitar could just be the most diverse album in Flores' legendary (but underrated) career.

As you might expect, her answers to our questions tend to point back to the formative years of her music:


ROSIE FLORES
Working Girl's Guitar

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

Favorite music as a youngster: Jazz and Rock n Roll. My parents collected alot of jazz records form the Mills Brothers to Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, also early rock n roll Buddy Holly and Elvis and well as Brenda Lee records.

Your 5 favorite albums: tough questions: Not in this order just where my head is at today. Dusty Springfield-Dusty in Memphis, Rolling Stones-Sticky Fingers, Beatles-The White Album, Jeff Beck Group-Truth, Gram Parsons- Sleepless Nights

Lyric you wish you had written: "I Shall Be Released" - Bob Dylan

Best concert you've seen: Jeff Beck Group 1968 at the Paladium in Hollywood, I even climbed up on stage and took a pic of Jeff Beck and escaped being kicked off, still have the pic!

What's in your CD player these days: The Ventures- Walk Don't Run

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 ... Big Thanx to Rosie Flores for taking the time to answer these questions for our blog!