The Rosewood Thieves

“Los Angeles”
from the EP From the Decker House
2006
iTunes

MP3 – “Los Angeles” [right-click/save-as]

Imagine packing up the backpack, climbing on the motorcycle and taking a month-long road trip across the Real America — the small towns, back streets and regular-joe type of joints that litter every state. Now imagine your touring companions are John Lennon and Johnny Cash. You’d be in for one hell of a vacation, wouldn’t you?

The Rosewood Thieves’ debut EP, From the Decker House, is a lot like that trek across the byways and back roads with the Man in Black and the Working Class Hero. Basking in a remarkably classic, yet fresh, approach to roots rock that channels the Best Beatle and a love for Americana without venturing too deeply into rock ‘n’ roll resurrection fantasies. Naturally, From the Decker House doesn’t match the magic of Lennon or Cash, but it sure basks in the glory of those songwriters’ efforts.

The band, which hails from Deposit, N.Y., settles down into a groove that matches Lennon’s more straightforward solo moments with the weight of decades of American roots-rock. It’s such a workable hybrid, it’s surprising nobody else wandered across the Rosewood Thieves’ formula before this. The band’s more than German-engineered rock promises, however, as the Thieves manage enough raw talent to make this EP more than an exercise in mix ‘n’ match influences. “Back Home in Harlem” slices up bits of everything from Three Dog Night to the Kingsmen, buffering it all with singer/guitarist Erick Jordan’s cracking delivery adding an indelible similarity to Lennon’s work. “Doctor” and “Los Angeles” stake a claim in a hitherto undiscovered territory between late-era Beatles and modern alt-country. “Lonesome Road” travels the roots-rock highways with an honesty so rare in this era when Americana’s a gimmick more than a reliance upon tradition.

If this EP is the first glimpse of a still-developing band, mark down the Rosewood Thieves’ name now. If the Thieves continue to perfect and polish this sound, it’ll be on the tip of every rock-obsessing hipster’s tongue, scrawled across every wanky blog on the ‘Net and spinning during setup and breakdown at every third club show you attend.