On the Del Roscoe website, just under its logo, the band proudly lists its genre as “Gothic Indie Americana.” For the Avondale Estates-based outfit, the apt label does much of the heavy lifting.
“It’s an interesting combination …,” founder Robert Lee said with a laugh. “That term does carry a world of weight for us. But I think it’s a good summary of who we are for people who may have just stumbled on our website.”
The eclectic group released its debut album in August and plays Saturday at Cabbagetown’s annual Chomp & Stomp festival. “When you listen to our music, either live or on the record,” said drummer Matt McKinney, “you can hear a number of different genres, so we thought: Why not just put it out there at the beginning of the journey, you know?”
Credit: Photo by Jeff Shipman
Credit: Photo by Jeff Shipman
On the record, there are a couple of pure Southern Gothic songs and a few selections the musicians call “country-adjacent.” “There’s no reason to pigeonhole yourself too much,” McKinney said. “Especially on the first record. It’s like we just sort of put it all in a blender, and the best songs wound up on the album. Live, we can go in any direction.”
Lee, who is the primary songwriter for Del Roscoe as well as a busy graphic artist at Methane Studios — home to hip concert posters and art prints — said the songs can “always go in different directions, even further out than what we originally intended.”
The rest of the band steps in to make each tune a collaborative effort. “We do have a lot of flexibility to sort of dabble into wherever we want to go with it, and I think that makes it interesting for the listener as well,” Lee said.
Credit: Photo by Jeff Shipman
Credit: Photo by Jeff Shipman
Del Roscoe makes no secret of the somber origins of its debut. During the initial recording sessions, bassist Paul Abrelat was diagnosed with terminal cancer — accelerating the album’s timeline. “He lived to play music,” Lee said. “And we knew we kinda had to hurry to get everything done.
“I met Paul when I moved here in 1991 or so,” Lee said. “Later, we started to jam, and the next logical step was to form a band. Paul became the bass player for what became Del Roscoe, and everything started to jell.”
At the end of 2023, the band started working on some of Lee’s basic song sketches. “We worked up a bunch of the songs in four or five weeks, and then we said, let’s just do it!”
The first official Del Roscoe show was in January 2024 at the Earl, and, as the band began to record in Lee’s home studio in that summer, Abrelat received his fatal diagnosis.
“The prognosis was bad from the very beginning,” Lee said. “But Paul wanted to be a part of the songs we were working on. All he wanted to do was play music at that point, so he was determined to help us get this album finished, and he did.”
Credit: Courtesy of Del Roscoe
Credit: Courtesy of Del Roscoe
Produced by Tim Delaney, the band tracked 13 songs. “It’s a great tribute to his musicianship and his determination,” McKinney said. “So it all carries a lot of meaning and a lot of weight for us.”
Even though the songs were recorded under stressful conditions, the resulting collection has a unified sound. “I think it’s the instrumentation,” Lee said. “I mean, having a lap steel and a mandolin and not playing bluegrass music necessarily. I think that sort of brings out the sort of neo-folk Americana part of our thing. A friend of ours said the steel is the sauce, and we are the spaghetti. While we sort of noodle around, the steel gives it a sort of spooky, eerie sound.”
Indeed, songs such as “Black Hats” or “Red Desert” resonate with a cinematic allure and wouldn’t be out of place in a ’60s Italian Western because of the band’s use of unique rhythms and tempo changes.
“Some of our songs are serious and dark, but we never take ourselves too seriously,” Lee said. “We’re just telling stories.”
Lee said that as an illustrator, he’s familiar with creating a linear narrative, so it’s the same process with the songs. “With the music, I’m telling a character-driven story — without pictures. Then we can use a video to sort of add to the visual side of things.”
When the band has room onstage, the musicians enjoy utilizing props and oversized masks. “The props are a big part of who we are and what we do,” Lee said. “Matt is very handy with making them, so we try to incorporate those whenever we can. Basically, we just like to make stuff. We try to come up with crazy ideas and execute as many as we can and then use them whenever we play a stage that will cooperate.”
Both musicians agree that their music comes first and their image is merely reflected by the overall sound of each song. “We’re older and we aren’t trying to seem young or hip or whatever,” Lee said. “To make up for that, we try to add our experience and creativity to the music and the overall visual side of things, so that’s probably our image — if we have one at all.”
Del Roscoe’s lineup includes Lee on lead vocals and acoustic guitar and McKinney on drums, with Tim Lee (vocals, mandolin), Yanaëlle Cornez (vocals, electric guitar), Steve Thomas (lap steel guitar), Jeremy Keen (bass), Marsha McKenny (vocals) and Debra Tala (accordion).
One thing about being an “older band is we’ve seen so many bands in our lives,” Lee said. “We knew we wanted to be something a little bit different and even more theatrical, so I think we’ve kinda become a sort of outsider art theater troupe who also just happen to make records and play live shows.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Del Roscoe
3:30 p.m. Saturday, during Chomp & Stomp at Brookshire Amphitheatre, 701 Kirkwood Ave. SE, Atlanta. Festival music on six stages is free. chompandstomp.com.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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ArtsATL (artsatl.org) is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. ArtsATL, founded in 2009, helps build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.
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