Artists:Ellen Rosner

Ellen Rosner

Although she has the timeless rock ‘n’ roll and soulful sound of a young Chrissie Hynde, Chris Isaak or Melissa Etheridge on most of the album, Ellen delivers blues flavoring on the songs “Same Old” and “Simple Release,” showing her influences courtesy of Ruth Brown and Chicago’s own Mavis Staples.

While the Midwest has produced outstanding female singer-songwriters like Etheridge and Sheryl Crow, Rosner is Chicago through and through. Born and raised in the Windy City, as a teenager Ellen would play guitar along Lake Michigan in Rogers Park. Like her material, she sports the approachable attitude that Midwesterners are renowned for.

“Princess” and “The Traveling Song” are two exceptional cuts from Ready, Steady, GO! Rosner feels she is in bloom with this being her best work to date. On this her third album, Ellen adds that this set has a sense of continuity, “the biggest themes are about growing up and coming to terms with mundane everydayness.” Unlike some artists with albums lacking coherence, Rosner describes Ready, Steady, Go! as covering the ideas about how it is a “big sin to be average—there is something special about being average, this is my reconciliation with that.”

The Chicago rocker returns on GO! with her creative counterpart, Chuck Harling, her drummer of six years and one of the album’s co-producers. The band is completed with bassist Melissa Kempfer and there is a special guest appearance by guitarist Tom Valenzano of the band Loomis. John Abbey adds masterful co-production and engineering—the project was recorded at his New Soup Studios here in Chicago.

As a singer, guitarist and songwriter, Rosner fittingly was one of the contributors to organize Ladyfest Midwest, a chapter of the international showcase of female musicians and poets.

(From Ellen Rosner's web site.).