Del Roscoe: Southern Gothic band or quirky outsider theater troupe?

On the Del Roscoe website, just under their logo, the band’s “Gothic Indie Americana” genre is proudly displayed. For the Avondale Estates-based outfit, the apt label does much of the heavy lifting.  

“It’s an interesting combination,” laughed founder Robert Lee. “And you’re right. That term does carry a world of weight for us. But I think it’s a good summary of who we are, for people who may have just stumbled on our website.”

The eclectic group released its debut album in August and plays this coming Saturday at the annual Chomp & Stomp festival. “When you listen to our music, either live or on the record,” continues drummer Matt McKinney, “you can hear a number of different genres, so we thought: Why not just put it out there at the beginning of the journey, you know?”

On the record, there are a couple of pure Southern Gothic songs and a few selections the musicians call “country-adjacent.” “There’s no reason to pigeonhole yourself too much,” said McKinney. “Especially on the first record. It’s like we just sort of put it all in a blender, and the best songs wound up on the album. Live, we can go in any direction.”

Lee, who is the primary songwriter for Del Roscoe as well as a busy graphic artist at Methane Studios, said the songs can “always go in different directions, even further out than what we originally intended.”

The rest of the band steps in to make each tune a collaborative effort. “That’s how we do it, but we’d rather just let the music speak for itself,” explained Lee. “We do have a lot of flexibility to sort of dabble into wherever we want to go with it, and I think that makes it interesting for the listener as well.”

Del Roscoe makes no secret of the somber origins of their debut. During the initial recording sessions, bassist Paul Abrelat was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Thus, the timeline was accelerated. “He lived to play music,” recalled Lee. “And we knew we kinda had to hurry to get everything done.”  

“I met Paul when I moved here in 1991 or so,” said Lee. “Later, we started to jam, and the next logical step was to form a band. Paul became the bass player for what became Del Roscoe, and everything started to gel.”

At the end of 2023, the band started working on some of Lee’s basic song sketches. “We worked up a bunch of the songs in four or five weeks, and then we said, let’s just do it!”

The first official Del Roscoe show was in January 2024 at The Earl, and, as the band began to record in Lee’s home studio, in the summer of that year, Abrelat received his fatal diagnosis.

“The prognosis was bad from the very beginning,” said Lee. “But Paul wanted to be a part of the songs we were working on. All he wanted to do was play music at that point, so he was determined to help us get this album finished, and he did.”

Produced by Tim Delaney, the band tracked 13 songs. “It’s a great tribute to his musicianship and his determination,” said McKinney. “So it all carries a lot of meaning and a lot of weight for us.”

Even though the songs were recorded under stressful conditions, the resulting collection has a distinctly unified sound. “I think it’s the instrumentation,” said Lee. “I mean, having a lap steel and a mandolin and not playing bluegrass music necessarily. I think that sort of brings out the sort of neo-folk Americana part of our thing. A friend of ours said the steel is the sauce, and we are the spaghetti. While we sort of noodle around, the steel gives it a sort of spooky, eerie sound.”

Indeed, songs such as “Black Hats” or “Red Desert” resonate with a cinematic allure and wouldn’t be out of place in a ’60s Italian Western due to the band’s use of unique rhythms and tempo changes.

But don’t assume the members of Del Roscoe are any sort of gloom and doom-type outfit. “Not at all,” laughed Lee. “Some of our songs are serious and dark, but we never take ourselves too seriously. We’re just telling stories.”

Lee said that as an illustrator, he’s familiar with creating a linear narrative, so it’s the same process with the songs. “With the music, I’m telling a character-driven story — without pictures. Then we can use a video to sort of add to the visual side of things.”

When the band has room onstage, they enjoy utilizing props and oversized masks. “The props are a big part of who we are and what we do,” said Lee. “Matt is very handy with making them, so we try to incorporate those whenever we can. Basically, we just like to make stuff. We try to come up with crazy ideas and execute as many as we can and then use them whenever we play a stage that will cooperate.”

Both musicians agree that their music comes first and their image is merely reflected by the overall sound of each song. “We’re older and we aren’t trying to seem young or hip or whatever,” said Lee. “To make up for that, we try to add our experience and creativity to the music and the overall visual side of things, so that’s probably our image — if we have one at all.”

McKinney added that Del Roscoe isn’t “a ‘hot young band’ by any means.” The current lineup includes Lee on lead vocals and acoustic guitar and McKinney on drums with Tim Lee (vocals, mandolin), Yanaëlle Cornez (vocals, electric guitar), Steve Thomas (lap steel guitar), Jeremy Keen (bass), Marsha McKenny (vocals) and Debra Tala (accordion).

One thing about being an “older band,” concluded Lee, is “we’ve seen so many bands in our lives. We knew we wanted to be something a little bit different and even more theatrical, so I think we’ve kinda become a sort of outsider art theater troupe — who also just happen to make records and play live shows.”

Where & When

Del Roscoe plays at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, November 8, on the Brookshire Amphitheater Stage at Chomp & Stomp.

::

Lee Valentine Smith is an Atlanta-born artist, writer and musician. Currently a regular contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his work has been syndicated internationally. He has appeared at Music Midtown, on CBS Radio and on Air America. He also served as art director, consultant and archivist for projects with ’80s hitmakers The Go-Go’s.