Nickel&Rose
Americana
Folk
673576 Records DK
2018
Music
pay tribute to sister rosetta tharpe and reclaim folk music with “americana” singers nickel&rose
“Sister Rosetta made this land for me and you”
If you knew nothing else about the United States, the fact that the whitest genre of music is called “Americana” would tell you basically everything you needed to know. Folk (ahem, Americana) duo Nickel&Rose tackle that legacy head-on in their haunting new single “Americana.” It’s a song full of cutting observations hiding behind Carl Nichols’ world-weary melody, from the line about Sister Rosetta Tharpe simultaneously pioneering rock, country, and Americana to the observation about “instruments from Africa are no longer for me.” It’s a song that seeks to reclaim a legacy torn away by decades of racist marketing, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the best damn folk songs I’ve heard all year.
Nickel&Rose’s Americana EP drops September 14th. Pre-order it here.
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