Rosehill

Bluegrass music has had a major revival in the last few years, but ask any deep fan of the music and they'll tell you it's been a long time coming. The diehards will tell you that it's never left, it's just been relaxing and watching the foolishness of the music of the big cities. Personally, I have always preferred the old styles/variations of country music, and a group from Texas are making an attempt to bring their vocal harmonies to the forefront. Lisa Bonnett and Jodi Adams make up Rosehill. Despite the name Bluegrass In Waltz Time (Lil' Red Caboose), not all of the songs are bluegrass and not everything is done in 3/4 time. Instead, the ladies of Rosehill sing together, with each of them alternating on lead for a particular track, and these are the kind of harmonies you rarely (if ever) hear in country music today. Instead, you'll have to head over to bluegrass, or every now and then the Americana genre, to hear a touch of the old moving into the new times. In songs such as "Fighting Battles Nobody Wins", "I Have To See What's Over The Hill", or "I Might Not Get Over You Leaving Again", you are on their life journeys, going through the sadness and pain, as well as optimism, through their singing (and of course the backing musicians who provide that extra tug of the heart). What I like about these songs (all composed by Cliff Worrell is that it doesn't matter when they were written, who they were written for, or why, what you hear is life experience through melody and song, and some of the best country and bluegrass music goes through the emotions like no other style of music. Rosehill would be perfect playing at any bar or tavern with the downtrodden, or a beautiful hall with everyone dressed in their finest clothes, ready to be moved by what they sing. The cover art features both ladies, kicking it on the front porch, jamming and welcoming anyone who is willing to listen and perhaps share a cup of tea. It's very moving. The recording itself is well done too, and I hope they'll shop it around to such labels as Sugar Hill or Rounder, so they'll not only be able to take this to a wider audience, but to be able to find other like-minded musicians and singers who wouldn't mind entering Rosehill's world once in awhile.
- John Book, Music For America

Rosehill’s debut CD, “Bluegrass In Waltz Time” is an eclectic blend of bluegrass, Texas swing, country and acoustic musical genres. Country music fans may take to several traditional lyrics that are delivered by Adams and Bonnett’s two-part harmony as pure, sweet and unexpected. Even though “Bluegrass In Waltz Time” has barely hit the public market, the ladies known as Rosehill have captured the hearts of many Bluegrass and Country fans throughout the area and are sure to gain attention in a bigger arena.
- Tana Ross, The Potpourri Newspaper

Playing Time – 39:56 -- Hailing from Tomball, Texas (ten miles north of Houston), Jodi Adams and Lisa Bonnett have been friends since fourth grade. Within a few years, they were singing together and even recording to learn how to seamlessly blend their voices. About 1996, the two mountain songbirds met some bluegrass jammers at a retirement community who subsequently introduced them to a man who would become a special friend. Originally from Waco, Texas fiddler Cliff Worrell (now 83-years young) had a body of original songs that he wanted Adams and Bonnett to record. A decade has passed since this project’s seed was first planted in 1997, and we should all be happy that it has blossomed and come to fruition. Now known as Rosehill, the duo has achieved bountiful rewards with the release of “Bluegrass in Waltz Time,” an album that manages to capture an ethos and rustic purity of yesteryear’s bluegrass music. While only a third of the twelve tracks are in ¾-time with that upretentious old-style flavor, the rest of the pleasant songs also convey strong messages of easy-going, good-natured original bluegrass. While we might be more accustomed to hearing material like this years ago from the Delmores, Monroe Boys, Blue Sky Boys or Louvin Brothers, who’s to say that a couple of Texas canaries can’t reinvigorate the same kind of sound with numbers like “He Hung The Stars” and “Dream World Waltz”? “Blue Sky Over Texas” would have been a good song for Bob Wills to cover. Three instrumentalists provide engaging and consummate accompaniment include the album’s producer Randy Powell (fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass), Bobby Nichols (guitar), and Brent Wernick (banjo). They know when to keep the playing understated and respectful in the gospel or waltz-time material, but they also get a chance to cut loose with some tasty western swing and country licks. While it might have been nice for a few songs to incorporate one of the men singing a third harmony, that’s a minor production suggestion. Rosehill is an appropriate name for the Lisa Bonnett and Jodi Adams duo. Roses come in a variety of colors, and the flowers are often beautifully fragrant like their sweet tunes. Powell’s multiple fiddles planted in “A Bed of Roses” reinforce the song’s inspirational message to face each of life’s challenges as we journey towards the joys of Heaven. In “He Hung the Star,” the women reverently sing “He made the roses kissed by the dew, and he gave his life for you.” Another song that references their namesake, “Anniversary Roses” speaks of a parting, but the song mentions the jilted lover’s habit of still sending a dozen red roses, “one for each year that we had known.” With this debut album, Rosehill’s music is sure to bloom far and wide. And while the two young women of Rosehill refer to their restless hearts in “I Have To See What’s Over The Hill,” we’ll just have to see where their musical journey takes them. Wherever the road leads, I expect they’ll always be on the sunny side of it with their dewy petals glistening. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
- Bluegrass Now Magazine -Reviewer Joe Ross