I relate a little too well to The Roseline’s new single, “I Was a Gun.” The holidays are a hard time to be a teacher: if you think it brings up a lot of bad feelings for you, it’s worse for the students. And then you come and your wife is also a teacher…it’s been rough! For weeks! But “I Was a Gun” reminds us of the tenderness and gratitude needed to keep a relationship strong, no matter what else is going on.
“‘I Was a Gun’ is a song that is essentially about finding deep gratitude for a partner regardless of the current tumult in the relationship,” explains The Roseline’s Colin Haliburton. “There is a consistent theme of contrast and juxtaposition throughout. The title alone refers to the narrator being depicted as a hard, mechanical, violent, steely object (a gun), while the partner is depicted as a soft, elegant, natural, beautiful thing (a flower). The relationship is in a state of turmoil and the listener is not explicitly told the outcome, but it is clear the narrator is grateful for the partner seeing any good in them in the first place.”
Haliburton’s tender yearning makes the song complete, while Heidi Gluck’s level-headed backing vocals seem to reassure the narrator. The Roseline excel at warm folk rock that feel familiar and comfortable, but speak for themselves as diamond-sharp originals.
“Musically, it is arguably the prettiest song on the album, highlighted by Heidi’s hooky and twinkly piano parts and background vocals, and Bradley McKellip’s atmospheric and ethereal guitar and lap steel work,” Haliburton continues. “Its languid pace and sticky sweet chorus makes the otherwise melancholic and tough lyrical content go down easy.
The Roseline have had the good fortune of landing sync placements in indie movies and major network television shows such as ABC’s Nashville and Resurrection, as well as USA’s Queen of the South, Netflix’s Virgin River, and MTV’s Teen Mom. The band’s work has been featured on/in NPR, Pop Matters, American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation, and No Depression, among others. Halliburton also performs solo under The Roseline moniker and has embarked on two European tours thus far. The band recently returned from their second tour in Scandinavia with help from Rootsy Music (Jason Isbell, American Aquarium, John Prine, Justin Townes Earle) and will return twice more in 2024.
“I Was a Gun” is the second official single from their eighth album Keystone of the Heart, due out February 2nd, 2024.
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