Darke County native opens for Lonestar

Upcoming country music star Paul RoseWood headlined for Lonestar at the BMI Event Center in Versailles on March 4th.

Meladi Brewer | Daily Advocate

By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Paul RoseWood, an upcoming country music star from Darke County, just had the opportunity to open for Lonestar on March 4.

“It was great. I loved every second of it,” RoseWood said. “The only thing I can compare this (his experience that night) to is when I went down to Texas to shoot some content with the Tratter House boys.”

Locals may recognize RoseWood from a high school group a few years back called Shelby County Line where he was the lead singer up until he left the group after graduation to pursue a solo career in Nashville. He said the move to Nashville brought some big changes but is pretty much the same as performing in Ohio.

“Country folks are the same everywhere and it astonishes me,” RoseWood said. “It’s pretty much the same amount of fun either way. It’s just more miles and bigger audiences.”

RoseWood said the audiences are all the same no matter where he goes. Jokingly, he said “people in Ohio like to drink beer just like others in Wisconsin.” RoseWood said he feels that alcohol is a part of the “country standard” and almost every artist has at least one song about beer or whiskey.

“We kind of like to encourage that on some of the shows because that is kind of part of the Paul RoseWood vibe,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood’s upcoming single “Tennessee Water” is about whiskey from Tennessee, and he deems it a crowd pleaser every time he performs it. RoseWood said the song is about a character who is down on his luck and ready to hit up a couple bars. It’s about getting loose in the “Tennessee Water”.

Keeping with a country, rock feel, RoseWood advised his songs are unique because he does not like to be held within a specific musical box.

“I pull inspiration from what I’ve liked over the years, and there are no set rules anymore. I’m not trying to put myself in a genre box,” RoseWood said.

Having written all his newest songs, RoseWood feels they are uniquely him because he put a little of himself into each one. He says there is a mix of inspiration from everywhere in his music.

“I guess we just try to go with something close to country, with some 90s, and a little bit of rock in there. Then we kind of just slap it all together,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood says his inspiration for his songs come out of nowhere. Ideas either pop into his head, come from past life experiences, his friends, or sometimes even dreams. His song “Miss Me” has over 150,000 streams, and it came from the idea of being both relatable and understandable.

“I wrote that one with Jason Hamer, and I think we pulled some inspiration from a friend who was going through a hard time. I was relating to him, and we pulled a bunch from that,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood said even if he isn’t going through something specifically himself, he can pull from those around him and try to relate the best he can. “Miss Me” is about a break-up where the person realizes they do not want to try again too quick.

“The hook is ‘I miss me more than us’, so the person feels like they don’t want to get back together, they don’t want to continue to another, and they just want to go solo for a minute,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood said it’s the realization of needing to have fun by yourself in order to heal before getting into another serious relationship.

“Everybody is going through breakups all over the place, so everybody can relate to this kind of thing,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood said he himself was not going through the breakup, but it was relatable and audiences could relate to it. Having grown up with a deep love for the impact music could have, RoseWood wanted to continue that into his own sound.

Music was a large part of RoseWood’s life growing up. He knew early on he did not want to pursue anything else.

“I’ve always done something musically. I mean it’s been there as far back as I can remember,” RoseWood said.

He relayed the memory of taking his mother’s pots and pans out of the cupboard in order to bang on them like a homemade drum set. Something almost every young child has done at least once in their lifetime.

“I remembered she (his mom) asked me when I was nine or ten… hey do you want to do anything else like play sports, and I like ‘you know, I think I might want to learn how to play guitar’,” RoseWood said.

He said his musical career started to take off from that moment on. He credits his success and drive to his family, as they have been understanding and supportive his whole career.

“My grandma, rest her soul, she always encouraged me to do music. She was an excellent vocalist and pianist,” RoseWood said.

He said his grandma never got to see him through this journey, but his immediate family and wife have been big supporters having traveled to shows.

“It’s really nice to have a family who supports you and that you can come back to in order to rest your shoulder on sometimes if you need to. It’s very helpful,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood understands not everyone has the support he has, and he “counts his fingers and all his stars to have been blessed” with the support system he has had.

“Performing in my hometown is always great because I get to see friendly faces that I’ve known for a while, and I just think that it’s great to always come back to the Darke, Auglaize, Mercer, Shelby county area. My hometown area,” RoseWood said.

He appreciates everyone who ever comes to a show, especially if they traveled to see him. He wishes Ohio had more venues for performers to showcase their talent. That being said, RoseWood will be performing with his live band at Cruizer’s Bar & Grill at 115 North Street Russia, on Saturday, March 11 starting at 9 p.m.

“Whether it is an acoustic show or a live show, I always try to pour out as much as I can into the show,” RoseWood said.

He said fans can expect him to give his all including his full voice.

“Sometimes I sing myself out of a voice, but I always try to put out as much energy and get everything as close to perfection as I can get it,” RoseWood said.

RoseWood likes to perform a mixture of his own songs and classic bar favorites audience members can sing along to like “Country Roads” and “Dixie Land Delight” -saying he loves to hear the audience sing them back to him. The audience interaction makes him emotional and is a wonderful feeling.

“I can’t wait until I can have a song really take off and have people sing back my song. That will break me up a little bit,” RoseWood said.

For more information about Paul RoseWood go to www.paulrosewood.com or follow him on most social media at Paul RoseWood. RoseWood’s music can also be found on any music streaming platform at Paul Rosewood.

To view The Daily Advocate/Early Bird In-Depth video interview with Paul Rosewood, click HERE.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].