Rita Hosking – Come Sunrise (Rita Hosking)

Come Sunrise is a mixed bag of laments, delicate and engaging and rocking country numbers, vibrant and spirited. These are original songs about loggers, porches, death/loss and religion. Despite coming from California, Hosking sounds country through-and-through, due in part to her rural upbringing in the mountains of Shasta County. This is her third album (on her own label), recorded in Austin, Texas with producer/guitarist Rich Brotherton.

At first listen Hosking sounded to me much like Rachel Lyn Harrington. This wasn’t the best start – though Bob Harris loves Ms Harrington, I never understood it myself – but I kept an open mind and took it for another listen.

And Rita’s voice grew on me – helped lots by the fact her songs are sweet, and her tunes catchy. The opening track, Let ‘Em Run, is great country-folk, followed by the title-track Come Sunrise, with its cool banjo licks. One of my favourites is Little Joe, a toe-tapping bluegrass number about a woman who passed as a man, working as a miner and wrangler in Southern Idaho, where they only found out she was a woman upon her death. I mean, where would you be on a “folk” album without a traditional cross-dressing song?

This is a good album, which you’ll love if you’re already a fan of Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and maybe even Rachel Lyn Harrington.

Look out for her touring the UK in July 2010, I know I will.

Jen Blacker