A Conversation with Rosie Thomas (continued)

PM: And so where did Josh Myers come into play?

RT: Well, I contacted Josh. He's busy all the time. I said, "Is there any chance you'd have a couple weeks off in your summer?"  And he said, "What's this for?" I said, "Well, I can't give you a ton of money because there's no funding behind this, but could you do something for me, could you take these songs and mix them, to sort of mix it down? I don't want to lose the grittiness of this record. However, I do want to add some parts to give it a little bit more fullness." And he said, "Bring me over the files, I'll listen to everything." And he called me the next day and said, "There's no way I could pass this up. It's great." At this point there were so many friends that were already a part of it, that I thought, why not keep going? So we got Jeremy Enigk, Dave Bazan, and Damien Jurado to sing on it. We hired string players. And Josh coordinated it all. He worked his ass off composing--he wrote all the string parts.

PM: They're really good.

RT: Oh, they're beautiful.

And then Tim Walsh is another singer/songwriter that played with Dave Bazan for years. We got him to add some percussion on it. I'd always had that dream of putting on a record all these people that have been a part of my life. Obviously, it's only small bits of Dave and Damien, but to have their involvement on such a special project just sealed the deal for me.

And then I wrote "These Friends of Mine," because I had been working on the arrangement, piecing this whole thing together. I started thinking about what this record really was about for me, and all these friends of mine. And you've asked me about all these people, and I told you that they're people that have inspired me, who have always encouraged me. And I know their hearts are in the right place, and that they're doing this for the good of others. So I was thinking more about that, these great friends that I have, that all play music, that struggle, that have struggled to get the rent paid on time for the sake of living their lives with passion. And I just thought, that's really what this record was for me, was a chance to get together with these people and celebrate that with them. That's how we titled the record.

PM: Yeah. And it's obvious that your friends are crazy about you, too, just by virtue of how much they put into this record. And you put this one out yourself, and Nettwerk is distributing, right?

RT: What happened that summer is that my contract was up with Sub Pop. And Jonathan Poneman at Sub Pop had told me, the first time we took a walk together, "You got a three record deal, as much as I love you." Jonathan has a saying that when he signs an artist or a band, that he just wants to be a launching pad for them. He said, "All I want to be for you is a diving board."

PM: Wow.

RT: "And to give you a chance to jump off of it so that other people know that you exist. That's all I want to be in your life, I want to give you the opportunity, and others, to know that you are alive, and your music exists. And when this contract is done, I want you to move forward."

Yeah, he's awesome. If it weren't for him I would not have had the experiences I've had. I wouldn't have my rent paid, I wouldn't have a creative outlet to finally not feel like a madman anymore, and somewhere to put something, something to say to share with people. But he always said that from the very beginning, that, "I will only be that for you. And as hard as it will be when this time is done, I believe in you so much, Rosie, and I love you so much, that I know it will be time for you to move on to something else." And so I knew that after that last record, that this would be it. We had a good conversation about it in Philly when I was there with Denison. I mean, I called him really upset. They became my family, really. And he said, "I know it's hard. But remember we talked about this four, five years ago--this is a launching pad, Rosie. I want you to see what else is out there. I don't want your music to get stuck into a like a box with Sub Pop. I know there are so many bigger things, so many different avenues, and outlets."

It was a hard departure for me. But at the same time, that summer, Chris Moon, emailed me, somehow, out of the blue. His timing was perfect. There was no way I was going to promote myself. I thought, well, I don't know what I'm going to do now. I'm not going to knock down people's doors and say, "Hi. Have you heard about me?"

PM: How did Chris know about you, do we know?

RT: From what Chris tells me, he was just a fan for some time. I did a tour with Josh Rouse years ago. I think Chris was there at one of the shows, and I had met him very briefly. And he and his wife just became fans of my music. Perhaps he'd heard through the grapevine that my contract was up with Sub Pop. I said, "Listen, let's go for it, because the timing couldn't be more perfect. I need somebody right now to continue this, because I'm not going to do it. As much as I love people, I certainly don't want to bother anybody, either. If you could bother people for me and share my music with them, I sure would appreciate it." And then he told me about Nettwerk, and said, "Rosie, Nettwerk is such a big corporation, and did you also know that we have an artist-friendly agreement that we do put out records through Nettwerk. And for the first time you could own a record of yours. How would that feel to you?" And I thought wow, jeez, I've never known what that's like to own a master copy, to maybe make some money off of records for the first time in my life by doing it this way.

PM: It's a beautiful thing.

RT: Yeah. And I just thought, you know what, why not try it? I tried Sub Pop and that was great. If this is landing in my lap, I just thought it was a good sign.

PM: So how has it been going with this record and with Nettwerk distributing?

RT: Good.

PM: Is it working? Is it moving some copies? Is it making you a little money?

RT: Yeah, it's definitely doing all those things.

PM: It's just a whole new day for the music business, and everybody's got to figure out a new way to do their business. And Josh [Rouse] is certainly doing it for himself. Because one's got to make it work, obviously.

RT: Yeah. It's not just fun, this is the work. And you look at that, and you take that seriously, and you want to financially be able to do it because you care so much about people that you really want to find a way to be able to continue at it, not get burned out, or not get jaded by it. The last thing I want to do is get pissed off at what I love doing for a living. That's ridiculous. So I try to nurture that as best I can by living in basements, by cutting corners, whatever I can do to keep doing this for a living. But there comes a point when there's an offer to perhaps make it a little bit easier on you financially, sure--unless you're selling your soul--then, sure, why not try it. It's really like I went from Sub Pop to owning my own business. So that's quite a leap, and quite a different position for me to be in, through Nettwerk, to have my own label through them now. But it's very gratifying, because it feels like me. It feels authentic to me, like it's the right thing.

PM: How have you been gigging behind this record, solo or with other people sometimes? How do you do it these days?

RT: The biggest two tours were April and May. For this record, Denison did the whole tour with me, and Sufjan joined us for the East Coast, which was really cool. So we actually got to pull it off, the three of us, and perform it. When you're with your friends you think you're invincible. There were times on stage I forgot we were on stage. There was one time Sufjan just left the stage, he decided he didn't want to sing on this song. And then I laid on the ground...but I think it brought us right back into that living room at Sufjan's, or the bedroom at Denison's, where we just forgot there was an audience. I was the most present I've ever felt performing in my life, having those two on stage with me, and the most calm I've ever felt, and the most confident I've ever felt, because you're up there with your friends. I felt like we were invincible; if ten people or thousands showed up, it wouldn't have mattered, because we liked what we were doing, because we believed in what we were doing, because we're having fun doing it. So that was one of the most enjoyable tours I've done in a long time.

And then we went to Europe, and Denison did that portion as well. And my boyfriend went, too, Jeff Shoop--he also plays with Sufjan Stevens.

PM: What does he play?

RT: He plays guitar. And he was also on that tour. So it was Jeff Shoop, Sufjan, Denison, and I--mostly just Denison, Jeff and I. Sufjan was very kind to commit to a couple of the shows on the East Coast. He played New York and Philadelphia with us, and it was great.

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