Stream: Rosie Tucker, ‘Gay Bar’

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Rosie Tucker (Photo by Shabnam Ferdowski)
Rosie Tucker (Photo by Shabnam Ferdowski)

Full band in tow, singer-songwriter Rosie Tucker has released the new single “Gay Bar,” the lead track for their upcoming sophomore full-length, “Never Not Never Not Never Not,” out March 8 via New Professor.

A made in L.A. production led by Wolfy, recorded at PieTown Sounds in Burbank (with additional recording at Defend Music, Inc.), mixed by Anna Arboles and mastered by Jett Galindo of Bakery Mastering, “Gay Bar” and previously released singles “Spinster Cycle” and “Fault Lines” signal marked progress from Tucker’s largely solo acoustic debut album, “Lowlight.”

The self-described “non sequitur equestrian” retains their stream-of-consciousness wit, and now with the grounding power of Gypsum-mates Anna Arboles on guitar and Jessica Reed on drums, the singer presents more vivid and tactile portraits of late-night laundry runs, drives along the jagged California coast and, now, the colorful haven of an LGBTQI-focused club with its “fractured lights.” Tucker shares that the song is “about having a good time at a cowboy gay bar in the Valley … celebrating the incredible spectrum of characters dressed to impress at your average regional queer watering hole. I’m aiming for innocence and bliss here — the joy of looking really good and dancing with people who already like you a lot.”

Open to experimentation, Tucker morphs at the 2:13 mark into a Dusty Springfield interview in which she refuses to sell out her gay supporters by placing herself in a defined box. Tucker observes, “Her refusal to label her own sexuality just about destroyed her career, though nothing she said would strike anyone as particularly edgy by today’s terms, I think.” After all, everyone has to get through loads of laundry, has hopefully been in awe of nature and also, hopefully at least once in their lifetime, felt extremely loved and accepted under the disco lights.

||| Stream: “Gay Bar”

||| Live: Rosie Tucker plays the Love Song Bar with A.O. Gerber and Precious Kid on Jan 27 (tickets) and an album release party at the Hi Hat on March 8.

||| Previously: Ears Wide Open