The Roseline 86 Gumption
The Roseline is a band from Kansas – at the heartland of America – fronted by songwriter guitar player Colin Halliburton. Their new album is 86 Gumption, ten tracks of thematic melody-based songs that blend optimistic tones with invariably painful and hard hitting observations about life, society, sobriety, mortality, stark freedom, adulthood, and heartache – and often a blend of several or even all these themes at once. “86” is slang for cancelling out, so the title also spotlights the touch of defeat and cynicism in evidence – and it does carry that feeling that the gumption we held in our youth is being extinguished through the challenges.
The album opens with a bright sounding acoustic guitar instrumental before widening into a sunny Americana style song with piano “Heart of Oak,” but there’s an unmistakeable ache underneath the music: “Never a doubt – you won’t ever know the whole truth Don’t call me out, I’ll do anything you want me to / Take a bow, let the roses fall around you / Easy on my bloodshot eyes, you’re always on my goddamn mind.”
“Wet Black Fin” continues the trend of struggle by observing how shallow and absurd social conventions can be, particularly when it comes to pain and grief: “Whaddya get for a grievin’ heart / A grocery store bouquet and card / Her favorite chocolate cake or a dog / Yea whaddya get for a grievin’ heart? It all seems wrong / Tasteless and in bad form.” This is a heavier number with punchy pulsing rhythms to push at the gnawing pain.
The harmonies in “Metal Mouth” offsets a heavy beat with runs of elegant piano melody while the songwriting is much deeper and more cynical than the usual fare, as love affairs are exposed as shallow and ultimately absurd: “I couldn’t love you more” is such a sad turn of phrase,“Nothin compares to you” is pretty awful and vague / As they awake to the gauzy dawn of gradient grays, A flame to high-proof liquor on the vows that they made No time to dream about what they could become ohhhhh, Drunk on apathy and rendered numb, They’re both addicted to the chew of their tongue ohhhh Tastes of metal, waste of good blood….”
“Tooth and Claw” flexes in the direction of old time country / honky tonk and includes low baritone guitar and pedal steel too, but the lyrics are anything but traditional, and far from simple as Colin tackles depression and addiction: “I don’t know if I can joke my way outta this one / And I ain’t sure that I can charm the cobra tonight / I don’t think that I am on the brink of a breakthrough / When a thousand pink sunsets don’t please the eye.” “Balance of Beauty” continues the dive into depression with lines like this: “I can’t imagine I’m long for this world / A pleasure-seeker and to a fault / Everything’s wrong but for my girls / They are the whole of my beating heart / I am the mollusk and they are the pearls.” There’s agony here, and the kids are the reason to keep going.
Further down in the album, “Apex” is a pretty acoustic guitar based song, with electric guitar riffs in turn. It has an easygoing heartland rock feel and then the mic drop lines: “There’s an apex in your flight / A weightless stage of middle age / A calm before the fall / I’ll embrace these old end times / The faceless pain of the everyday, all beige and gray / The throttled throats of all… the sheer freedom is deafening.” A truly beautiful song that confronts divorce, middle age and the open road ahead.
Halliburton’s vocals are piercing and frank through it all, as his songwriting is always sheer honest intensity. The music occasionally flexes the band’s range through a variety of related genres (honky tonk, indie rock) but overall it feels best when it sits in the Americana heartland sweet spot – a mournful space ready made to explore the pain and heartbreak of navigating the unfortunate travails of real life. The music disarms you and the lyrics pierce through to the agony of being middle aged and piloting your way through divorce within the dismal state of society, its demands, and the constant reminders of the meaninglessness that is, quite simply, all too omnipresent.
The Roseline offers an album that’s exceptionally well worth listening to.
Find their tour dates and more information here on the Roseline website: https://roselinemusic.com
Musicians on 86 Gumption are Colin Halliburton on acoustic guitar and vocals; Bradley McKellip on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro, and field recording; Heidi Gluck on keys, bass, and vocals; Colin Jones on bass; Jim Piller on drums and aux percussion; and Lynn Piller on pedal steel.
The album was recorded at Element Recording Studios, The Green Lodge, KPR, and the homes of Bradley McKellip, Heidi Gluck, and Jim Piller. It was engineered by Joel Nanos, Jim Piller, Bradley McKellip, Heidi Gluck, Jason Slote, and Rob Pope; and mixed by Jim Piller.
All songs written by Colin Halliburton ASCAP (LFK TOWNIE). Album design was courtesy of Emily DeMarchi and band photo is by Anders Johansson.