Rhythm and Roots Concert Series, Live Americana Music in Downtown TucsonRhythm and Roots Concert Series, Live Americana Music in Downtown Tucson
Grace Rolland’s RISING SUN DAUGHTER is the space between.
She is the story in the song. Sound under the silence.
She knows everything about waves in the ocean and hot wind across the desert.
The debut EP I See Jane from RISING SUN DAUGHTER expresses the longing felt when apart from a loved one, the search for true home, the love for oneself and the connection with that which is yet unknown. Her soundscape is vast, touching earthy acoustic resonances in powerful vocals, strings, and pianos with shimmering synths, searing guitars, and harmony all amidst the blossoming silence.
Based in Mesa, AZ, Grace Rolland has a long musical history. Her grandfather was an illustrious pedagogue of classical string playing, and she was raised in a family of musicians and music educators. She trained classically on the cello, learned piano and guitar, and sang Patsy Montana in her family’s cowboy fiddle band. She developed a deep love of music and found in her voice her true companion. Adept at many instruments, Grace writes songs with attention turned to sound. The room, the body of the instrument, the shape of a word: her ear for sound and poeticism brings rich texture to her songwriting.
In 2010 Grace joined the traditional folk-Americana band Run Boy Run as cellist and vocalist. The band won the coveted Telluride Bluegrass Band contest (2011), appeared on NPR’s ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ twice (2011, 2012), released four studio records, and toured across the United States in the short span of 5 years. Grace showed herself as a skillful and electrifying performer, captivating audiences with her stage presence and vocal prowess.
During that time, Grace Rolland’s RISING SUN DAUGHTER emerged in the quiet reverie of nights on the road, hotel rooms between shows, and moments back at home where she explored the electric guitar, experimented with lyrics and sound, and played with different musicians around the Phoenix area. In 2016, Grace approached arranger and producer Ryan Alfred (Calexico, Sweet Ghosts) to record her music and working in Saint Cecilia Studios in Tucson, AZ, with engineer Steven Lee Tracy and a cast of Tucson’s best players, they created I See Jane.
I See Jane was released in late 2019 and is available for purchase on the artist’s website and Bandcamp page, and for streaming on all major listening platforms. The music video for the title track, I See Jane, directed by Stephanie Lucas of Limitrophe Films, is soon to be released.
Before the sun sets, there is day.
When night falls, the cool washes over
and a rising sun daughter brings us closer