Behind the scenes of recording The Roseline’s ninth full-length album 86 Gumption

The Roseline. // Photo by Fally Afani

The Roseline will play release shows for “86 Gumption” at Hillsiders with the Creepy Jingles and True Lions on Friday, October 2, and at the Replay Lounge with Gracie Hughes & Her Band on Saturday, October 3. Details on the Hillsiders show here and details on the Replay show here.

Introspective Lawrence country-rockers The Roseline’s ninth full-length, “86 Gumption”, comes two and a half years after their last proper release, 2024’s Keystone of the Heart, with a live album released in between. The album was recorded over the course of a year and yet feels like a single moment, so the introspection comes through clearly.

Maybe it’s the fact these folks have been playing together so long that they don’t need to hunker down over the course of a month to maintain any sort of cohesion. You can feel the relative comfort in a band capable of switching from the out and out honky tonk of “Tooth & Claw” to the AM gold country yacht rock of “Balance of Beauty,” with the Roseline seeming as though they didn’t even need to shift gears.

It’s all of a piece, lyrically and musically. Frontman Colin Halliburton’s voice plays off the backing vocals of Heidi Gluck, whose keys nicely counterpoint Bradley McKellip’s guitar, complemented by the steady rhythm of bassist Colin Jones and drummer Jim Piller, with Lynn Piller’s pedal steel popping up just when needed. For a band nine albums in, it certainly doesn’t feel like they’re settling, however.

The opening pair of songs, “Heart of Oak” and “Wet Black Fin,” are as intimately epic as anything the Roseline has done, while closing with Halliburton and an acoustic guitar for the heart-rending story of “Palm to the Sky” takes the project all the way back to its roots as a Halliburton solo project. “86 Gumption” reminds us that life is cyclical, with change constantly reminding us of what’s come before and what will come to be.

Given the wide swathe of genres and sounds explored across the songs of “86 Gumption”, we asked the Roseline to share the song they used for inspiration in making the album. Maybe it was something that led to a guitar line or just a song that felt like the album itself, or just something that kept them going–we just wanted the band members to share whatever first came to mind.

Heidi Gluck, keys/bass/vocals:

“I’m drawn to recordings where the players leave room for each other, where smart arrangements lead them down natural paths, and where a small choice can do a lot of work. The Jayhawks’ Tomorrow the Green Grass is a north star record for me whenever I’m working in the roots/folk/country world. It balances looseness and precision, and the song is always the most important thing in the room. How much can you add without getting in the way of the song? How economical can you be with a part, while still adding dimension and character? What is the song’s essence, and how can the band magnify it? These are the things I consider.”

Colin Halliburton, guitar/vocals:

“I was listening to Nick Lowe’s The Convincer a lot during the writing of this record. I’m not sure exactly if there is a through line between the two, but I’m certain it influenced me. He has such a deft touch when balancing heartbreak and comedy. I always attempt that, but I’m unsure of how successful I am. I think both The Convincer and “86 Gumption” are distinctly adult records–we’ve seen some shit, life has landed some punches, but we’re still able to laugh it off … most of the time.”

Jim Piller, drums/recording engineer/mix engineer:

“Jason Isbell’s Reunions and Tom Petty’s Hard Promises come to mind both for mixing and drumming inspirations.”

Bradley McKellip, electric guitar/acoustic guitar/field recording

“A few years ago, Heidi put together a one-off country band for an event, with me and Jim and Jim’s dad Lynn, and Austin Sinkler. We messed around with Dwight Yoakam’s “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose” though we didn’t end up playing it. That was the first thing I thought of when we started working on ‘Tooth and Claw,’ and then I spent a considerable amount of time trying to make what I was playing less worthy of a lawsuit from Dwight.”

“Here’s a lesson in vanity. On ‘Wet Black Fin,’ I was hearing a particular drum beat, but I also know that no one enjoys hearing a guitar player flounder trying to describe a drum beat. So I went down a rabbit hole one day trying to find an example to show to Jim. Because my self-image includes ‘liberal arts educated millennial in a hip college town,’ I immediately started tearing through all of my favorite songs by the National, to no avail.

Then I took my ego down a peg and started going through songs by the Killers. Still, no dice. That night we got together and I started embarrassing myself trying to describe what I was hearing in my head to Jim, while Colin quietly had his phone up to his ear the whole time. Eventually, he put the phone down and said, bemused, ‘It’s “Clocks” by Coldplay. It’s just “Clocks.”’ Which I guess is all just to say, I’m not as hip as I think I am.”

“I think I was accidentally stealing the vibe of Korn’s ‘Falling Away From Me’ on ‘Metal Mouth.’”

“On ‘North Sea Views,’ I was really trying to explore how to get a nylon string guitar to sound the most like Willie Nelson’s [guitar] Trigger with what I had sitting around the house. I think it landed somewhere more akin to the outro of Roseanne Cash’s ‘The Way We Make a Broken Heart,’ which I don’t mind at all.”

The Roseline will play release shows for “86 Gumption” at Hillsiders with the Creepy Jingles and True Lions on Friday, October 2, and the Replay Lounge with Gracie Hughes & Her Band on Saturday, October 3. Details on the Hillsiders show here and details on the Replay show here.