For two decades, Rose’s Pawn Shop have evolved their version of modern-day American roots music. It’s an anthemic sound that’s taken the group from their hometown of Los Angeles — where frontman Paul Givant formed the band as a bluegrass-inspired act, making room for punky tempos and fiddle solos — to venues across the country, where their sound grew to encompass the sweep of rock & roll, the sonics of folk music, and the storytelling of country.
With American Seams, the band’s fifth studio release, Rose’s Pawn Shop celebrate that wide-ranging sound. Recorded during a series of live-in-the-studio performances, it’s a raw, reflective album about stepping into a new stage of life, reflecting upon all the lessons learned and mistakes made along the way. For Givant — a journeyman songwriter who’s weathered the twists and turns of the music industry, unwaveringly dedicating himself to a project that’s earned high marks from Rolling Stone (who called the band’s work “a blast of 21st century pickin’-party music”) and GQ (who praised their “knee-slapping bluegrass-y twang”) — it’s also a chance to look back while still moving forward. “I can see all the water under the bridge now,” he says. “There are some beautiful things and hard things to look back on, but they’ve all brought me to this point.”
When Rose’s Pawn Shop last stepped into a recording studio, they were creating Punch-Drunk Life, an album that not only reinvigorated the band’s career, but also pushed their music toward indie-folk-country territory. For a group of SoCal road warriors who’d already played everywhere from the fishing villages of Alaska to the mountain towns of the American Southwest, Punch-Drunk Life felt like a new destination. American Seams, on the other hand, feels both fresh and familiar, marking a full-circle return to the folky, frills-free sounds that helped launch the band’s career during the early 2000s.
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