Roz Pappalardo

Artist Information

Biography

Roz Pappalardo and The Wayward Gentlemen

Soaring and committed slide guitar, smooth upright bass, rocking drums, mad keyboard, a vintage Fender guitar ("temporarily" stolen from her Dad), and a sassy front woman who rocks even when she sings a ballad.

This is Roz Pappalardo and the Wayward Gentlemen. Roz's testosterone fueled alt-country side project to her folky festival favourite counterpart, women in docs.

Drawing on influences ranging from Lucinda Williams to Ryan Adams, Roz as a solo act melds her effusive stage presence and endearing songwriting with some good honest country-style secret herbs and spices. And a cheeky little dash of the T-hormone.

Roz released her debut full length album, "This Lifeboat", late 2009, through Brisbane based label, Plus One Records (Texas Tea, The Gin Club), to fabulous reviews and immediate airplay on national and community radio stations across Australia. The album quickly became a fixture on AAA's All Australian Country Charts. The music video to the record's opening single, "I Say Fall" has been aired extensively on Foxtel's Country Music Channel (CMC) and ABC TV's Rage and has also been recently nominated as a finalist in the augural West End Film Festival (Brisbane). She has just been nominated as semi-finalist for the esteemed Nashville based International Songwriting Competition - in both the Adult Contemporary AND Country categories.

Penned in between vigorous women in docs tours, in hotels and on a variety of modes of public transport, the album is, lyrically, an introspective peek at Roz's innermost feelings about love, life and death, wrapped in a concoction of juicy slide guitar, male backing vocals, thick upright bass with a little bit of raucous fun thrown into the mix.

Ably steered by producer, Magoo (Powderfinger, Kate Miller Heidke, Regurgitator, The Gin Club), including some sterling performances from Brisbane legends, Andrew Morris (The Wilson Pickers) and Ben Salter (The Gin Club), the album is an exceptional look at Brisbane's depth of country talent.

She's rocked Woodford Folk Festival (2008, 2009), Gympie Muster (2009), Tamworth Country Music Festival (2010), Festival Cairns (2009) and Urban Country Music Festival (2010) with this act and has left numerous stages across Queensland and Australia wondering what's just happened. It's clear that 2010 is quickly becoming the year of the Wayward.

www.rozpappalardo.com

Instrumentation

Roz Pappalardo - acoustic and electric guitar, vocals. Rob Sherwood - electric guitar and slide. Lincoln Retallack - upright bass. Silas Palmer - mandolin, keys, violin. Aaron Millard - drums

Discography

Album, "This Lifeboat" out Sept 2009 (Plus One Records / Shock).

Official Website

http://www.rozpappalardo.com

Audio

• I Say Fall
  Listen  
• His Face
  Listen  
• Broke
  Listen  
• This Lifeboat
  Listen  
• Here You Come Again
  Listen  
• No Mountain
  Listen  

Lyrics

• I Say Fall
• His Face
• Broke
• This Lifeboat

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• A woman in docs uncovers her inner-country rocker [+ Show ]
  

  (+1 Records/Shock) A Woman In Docs uncovers her inner-country rocker Roz Pappalardo is most know...(+1 Records/Shock)
  A Woman In Docs uncovers her inner-country rocker
  Roz Pappalardo is most known for her work with Chanel Lucas in one of Brisbane’s most enduring folk acts Women In
  Docs. However, with her new solo record, Roz is clearly interested in covering some different ground. For latest album
  This Lifeboat, Pappalardo has teamed up with a band of boys most noted for their work with the likes of Kristy Apps and
  Daybridges, and delivers a range of nine new originals and two covers (Dolly Parton’s Mann/Weil penned Here You
  Come Again – with a cute Rainbows Keep Fallin’ On My Head banjo intro – and a loose, ragged country waltz take on
  Malvina Reynolds’ suburbia satire (and Weeds theme tune!) Little Boxes). As excellent as her cover versions are, her
  originals are also of a very high standard. Lifeboat is a great track that moves from country/folk minimalism to stinging
  guitar solo and back again. Best of all is seasoned singer Pappalardo’s vocals – she’s been blessed with one of those
  unforced, melodic, seemingly effortless and just so darn purrty voices. She also duets with Gin Club’s Ben Salter in His
  Face and Andrew Morris in Broke, while the rollicking strummer Playground, the soaring Hammond organ of Magnolia
  Café and the tuneful indie-country rock of I Say Fall (complete with big, big chorus) ensure the quality never falters.
  ***½
  MATT THROWER
  

• Entrepeneur - Roz Pappalardo [+ Show ]
  

  Entrepreneur - Roz Pappalardo Aug 19, 2009 You may know Brisbane musician Roz Pappalardo as hal...Entrepreneur - Roz Pappalardo
  Aug 19, 2009
  
  You may know Brisbane musician Roz Pappalardo as half of folk festival favourites, Women In Docs. Roz has more than one string to her bow and she joined Steve this evening to talk about her new solo project (backed by The Wayward Gentlemen), an album called This Lifeboat.
  Roz explained how she's managed to live the dream and make a living as an independent musican - serving up sound advice for anyone hoping to do the same.
  
  Listen to Roz here:
  
  http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/roz-pappalardo-web.mp3

• Courier Mail Review, "This Lifeboat", Country with Soul. [+ Show ]
  

  Whoah, the horses have bolted. Queensland's roots / country /folk-rock scene has been thriving since...Whoah, the horses have bolted. Queensland's roots / country /folk-rock scene has been thriving since Bernard Fanning's Tea and Sympathy album kicked open some doors with artists such as Texas Tea, Timothy Carroll, The Gin Club, Andrew Morris, Danny Widdicombe, The Wilson Pickers (an acoustic band featuring Morris, Widdicombe and The Gin Club's Ben Salter) and now Roz Pappalardo's first solo recording.
  
  Pappalardo already has a strong following from a decade of work in the duo Women In Docs. Here she explores a direction that's a little more country-rock flavoured than WiD thanks to her band, with some lovely slide guitar and dobro from Rob Sherwood and mandolin, violin, harmonica and Hammond organ from Silas Palmer.
  
  The Wayward Gentlemen provide the perfect setting for Pappalardo's voice and songwriting to shine. This Lifeboat really shows what a strong singer Pappalardo is, from the opening folk-rock anthem I Say Fall through to sweet country slow-burner His Face, with guest vocals from Ben Salter, a song which pays tribute to Cape York indigenous singer Freddie Shortjoe.
  
  The overall tone of the album is upbeat and positive, with the shimmering escape form a country town tale of Magnolia Cafe and the everyday observations of Playground.
  
  Pappalardo and friends are having such a good time that they even take on Dolly Parton's Here YOu Come Again and come up trumps...

• This Lifeboat Review [+ Show ]
  

  Woman in Docs singer Roz Pappalardo has rested her female band for a moment and embarked upon a coun...Woman in Docs singer Roz Pappalardo has rested her female band for a moment and embarked upon a country-themed record featuring The Wayward Gentlemen. This time she is dabbling in country-folk music and taking it to the hills and back again to explore her new solo sound and she wants you to come along for the ride.
  
  This Lifeboat adds The Wayward Gentlemen [Lincoln Retallack on bass guitar, Rob Sherwood on electric guitar and slide guitar, Silas Palmer on keys, violin and mandolin and Aaron Millard on drums], all Brisbane folk brought in from some the finest drinking establishments Brisbane has to offer and what fine music they do offer for this album.
  Whilst Roz's sound has been compared to Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, I can’t help feel that she also sounds like Deborah Conway and Wendy Matthews (if they were to sound country)!
  
  The album opens with I Say Fall; “What are you made of/ what are you afraid of/ I say fall” and it's a quieter song from the album bringing together the lyrics blended with some magic guitar. The slide guitar in Broke is stunning, using the instrument to its full bloom and Andrew Morris (The Wilson Pickers) lends a helping hand in this beautiful tune. Here You Come Again (a Dolly Parton tune) has some cute banjo and a toe tapping sound; it's a real country tune with some keys that tinkle with delight.
  
  His Face has a sneaky vocal performance by Ben Salter (The Gin Club), and features more keyboard action. The slide guitar in this tune is reminiscent of some good ole' country tunes and the drums here are so uplifting. Magnolia Café incorporates tambourine throughout and displays a mature approach, ending with rapturous sounds complementing the whole album. The finale Little Boxes has another happy melody, rich with banjo and guitar and backed up with drumming and strong keyboards that gives one that warm and fuzzy feeling.
  
  An album with crisp unforced vocals, and a professional finish. Country is alive and well within this album and it’s a great start for Roz and her Wayward Gentlemen.

• Time Off Review [+ Show ]
  

  Time Off Review! This Lifeboat (Plus One/Shock) It’s the debut solo album from Roz Pappalar...
  Time Off Review!
  This Lifeboat
  (Plus One/Shock)
  
  It’s the debut solo album from Roz Pappalardo, one half of Brisbane’s Women In Docs, and she’s pulled off a difficult task – she’s managed to record an album full of introspective musings, high emotion and sometimes bleak subject matter, while still managing to make it all sound powerful and uplifting instead of depressing.
  
  Although Pappalardo has claimed that the male members of her new band The Wayward Gentlemen gave this album a cheeky dash of testosterone, it’s clear that her songwriting is still the star of the show here. The vocalist/guitarist has kept the folky pop sensibilites of Women In Docs and expanded on the country element, creating a fresh-sounding collection of songs that explore matters of the heart in an accessible way. She’s joined by some pretty decent Queensland country talent, including Rob Sherwood from the Kristy Apps Band, Aaron Millard from Jeremiah and Silas Palmer from Spot The Dog.
  
  The album kicks into high gear straight away with the tough but tender opener ‘I Say Fall’ and the driving beat of ‘Not Enough’. ‘Broke’ (with Andrew Morris) is an emotionally charged ballad given extra power by some excellent electric guitar. ‘Playground’ is about sitting in a playground and noticing what the people around you are up to – on the surface. Ultimately it’s a song about freedom. Another standout is the folky acoustic ballad ‘No Mountain’.
  
  Pappalardo’s earthy sound is a charming antidote to the nasal whine of the modern-day country singers regularly heard on commercial radio. It also nicely evokes images suited to both Brisbane city and it’s more regional neighbours. Take this with you on your next big road trip.
  
  HHHH Daniel Wynne

Setlist

Roz's original songs.

Basic Requirements

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