This week, New Mexico–based songwriter Esther Rose is celebrating last Friday’s release of her fifth full-length collection of sentiment-filled alt-country, Want, with a European/UK tour kicking off in the Netherlands. Both more personal in its lyricism and more collaborative in its sound, the project continues to chart the artist’s growth nearly a decade since she emerged on the Americana scene.
While she was still here in the States, Rose filmed a “Neighborhoods” performance video for us between gigs on a West Coast tour. Filmed by Anthony Simpkins in Ventura, California between stops in LA and San Francisco, she performs an acoustic version of the Want cut “Had To” in front of a foggy beach backdrop. “In ‘Had To,’ I examine my relationship with alcohol, and also my relationship with touring,” she reflects. “A long time ago, I heard New Orleans legend Washboard Chaz say this: ‘People are always offering musicians exposure. But you can die from too much exposure!’ Since writing this song, I have stopped drinking, but I have not stopped touring.”
Check out the performance below, and stream Want—out now via New West—here.
