Rosie Thomas has leaked word she's enlisted the production talents of Iron & Wine's Sam Beam on her upcoming follow-up to last year's These Friends of Mine. And according to an interview with Billboard, Beam and his beard have coaxed the folkie songstress to "move the rhythm up a bit [and] go for a more soul-filled feeling."
"He was really pushing me for years; 'I want you to write that Motown record you've always wanted to write,'" Thomas said of her new working relationship with Beam. "I just start laughing, 'cause it's like, 'Sam, look at you. You have a beard. How can I go to you to write this kind of stuff?' But I know he has it in him. It'll be fun, regardless."
Thomas went on to say the idea to record with Beam has brewing for the last year or so, adding: "I think it's going to be different because we write different kinds of things. I'm just going to come up with a bunch of songs, and when I like them I'm going to give them to him and he's going to start putting them together musically."
Thomas told Billboard she's written a few tracks already for the yet-untitled Beam-produced album, but won't get working on it full-on until the new year. Until then, she will be out on a U.S. tour in support of her new holiday collection A Very Rosie Christmas, which finds Thomas taking on several yuletide classics as well as a few Christmas originals.
"It's a lot of fun," reports Thomas, who got married shortly after finishing the Christmas album (but not to recent collaborator Sufjan Stevens). "I've always loved to work on Christmas songs; growing up, every Christmas Eve we entertained the family that came over 'cause my parents were musicians. And I love Christmas records, so I thought 'Why have I not done one yet to share with people I love outside of my family?' I've had a blast doing this."
You can check out A Very Rosie Christmas, which features a guest appearance by Damien Jurado, over at Thomas'swebsite.
Here are her U.S. dates:
12/3 Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House
12/5 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College
12/6 Pontiac, MI - Pike Room @ The Crofoot
12/7 Chicago, IL - Schuba's Tavern
12/9 Hollywood, CA - Hotel Cafe
12/10 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
12/13 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
12/14 Seattle, WA - Town Hall
Rosie Thomas "These Friends of Mine"
"He was really pushing me for years; 'I want you to write that Motown record you've always wanted to write,'" Thomas said of her new working relationship with Beam. "I just start laughing, 'cause it's like, 'Sam, look at you. You have a beard. How can I go to you to write this kind of stuff?' But I know he has it in him. It'll be fun, regardless."
Thomas went on to say the idea to record with Beam has brewing for the last year or so, adding: "I think it's going to be different because we write different kinds of things. I'm just going to come up with a bunch of songs, and when I like them I'm going to give them to him and he's going to start putting them together musically."
Thomas told Billboard she's written a few tracks already for the yet-untitled Beam-produced album, but won't get working on it full-on until the new year. Until then, she will be out on a U.S. tour in support of her new holiday collection A Very Rosie Christmas, which finds Thomas taking on several yuletide classics as well as a few Christmas originals.
"It's a lot of fun," reports Thomas, who got married shortly after finishing the Christmas album (but not to recent collaborator Sufjan Stevens). "I've always loved to work on Christmas songs; growing up, every Christmas Eve we entertained the family that came over 'cause my parents were musicians. And I love Christmas records, so I thought 'Why have I not done one yet to share with people I love outside of my family?' I've had a blast doing this."
You can check out A Very Rosie Christmas, which features a guest appearance by Damien Jurado, over at Thomas'swebsite.
Here are her U.S. dates:
12/3 Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House
12/5 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College
12/6 Pontiac, MI - Pike Room @ The Crofoot
12/7 Chicago, IL - Schuba's Tavern
12/9 Hollywood, CA - Hotel Cafe
12/10 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
12/13 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
12/14 Seattle, WA - Town Hall
Rosie Thomas "These Friends of Mine"