Are your ears craving big, lush sounds, tired as they are from tiny speakers and lossy mp3s? Do you feel pangs of nostalgia for the days when concerts were “had to be there” experiences? Luckily, there’s a cure on offer at Southam Hall on Friday May 6 when the ever dapper Royal Wood and special guest Rose Cousins join the NAC orchestra for an evening of singer-songwriter pop on a grand scale.
I caught up with Rose over the phone from Nashville to learn more about what it’s like playing with an orchestra, her friendship with Royal and the song they will be premiering at Friday’s concert.
For the unfamiliar, Royal Wood and Rose Cousins are two of Canada’s most respected songwriters. Though Royal’s sound is smoother and poppier than Rose’s folkier leanings, they both have a gift for emotionally affecting songs with a sense of spaciousness and drama. This is also what makes their songs such good fits for TV placements. Royal and Rose have both had success having their songs soundtrack dramatic scenes in shows like Grey’s Anatomy. Rose’s phrasing in particular has a similar effect to the play of light in late afternoon, revealing facets of a lyric or melody that other singers don’t find. This quality makes her cover versions especially compelling, whether she’s doing Springsteen’s “If I should fall behind,” or Tina Turner’s “What’s love got to do with it?”
Asked what she thought made hers and Royal’s music so well suited for the orchestral treatment she says, “It already has cinematic qualities so string and wind instruments really do expand and elevate that quality. Both Royal and I love to have strings on our records. That element is kind of already there. It’s just going to be bigger.” A case in point is the devastating sadness of Rose’s song “Go First,” made all the more poignant with the presence of strings.
Royal and Rose met through mutual friends in the East Coast music community. They hit it off and recognized right away that there was something special about the way their voices sounded together. “He’s an incredible singer and an incredible writer,” she says. “It’s been fun to watch each other and kind of collide in a few different ways over the last ten years as our careers have grown.”
Funny enough, it was only recently that they tried writing together. The result is “Go,” a haunting breakup song tinged with hope which they will be premiering with the orchestra at the show Friday. “Go” came about when Royal invited Rose out to L.A. where he was working on a record to try writing together just to see what would happen.
On the making of the song Rose says, “We both had this moment when we were finishing the vocals for it and we were like man, I can really hear this on a big stage. Very shortly after he was invited to the show at the NAC so it made sense. We did a little bit more work on it and then decided to release it in the lead up so that the first time we would perform it together would be in this ideal circumstance. I’m really proud of the song and I’m glad to have collaborated with someone who I love so much and who is such a good friend. It’s a really fun way to show our partnership as friends and musicians.”
Rose is no stranger to working with symphonies having performed her songs with the Nova Scotia and P.E.I. symphony orchestras in the past. So she’s not at all fazed by the idea of performing with such a huge band or the lack of preparation time that comes with it. “When you play with symphonies you don’t often get much rehearsal,” she says. “In this case, we get to rehearse that day. It’s this thing where the train is on the tracks rolling and anything that you can do you just have to lean into it.”
As for Royal this show will mark his Southam Hall debut though the NAC’s other stages have become a kind of home to him over the years. Since his first performance on the Studio stage in 2010, he’s returned twice, moving up to bigger rooms and still bringing out sold out crowds. Recognizing the NAC’s role in growing his career, Royal’s set Friday will feature songs from across his discography, even though he’s just released a new album called Ghost Light. Cross-genre violinist Drew Jurecka who’s worked with everyone from Jill Barber to Stevie Wonder has arranged Royal’s songs for the show.
When I ask Rose if she’s heard any of them yet she says, “I love that I don’t know what his arrangements are going to sound like and I know they’re going to be amazing because his longtime collaborator Drew Jurecka did them and he’s incredible.
When asked if there’s any song in particular she’s looking forward to with the big, orchestral sound Rose says, “I’m looking forward to the whole thing. Anytime Royal and I get to sing together is always a thrill but I just think simply for the fact that it’s an orchestral show it’s going to make the entire thing thrilling. Watching the symphony, it’s a sensation. It’s not just listening to music. You really feel it all around you. It’s going to be a really beautiful night.”
Royal Wood performs with special guest Rose Cousins and the NAC orchestra in Southam Hall on Friday May 6, 2016. Showtime is 8pm. Tickets are available online.
