Caitlin Rose -- Listen Up!

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Who: Caitlin Rose
Hails From: Nashville, Tenn.
Why We Love Her: Because the only thing that sounds more like it belongs to some rustic 1950s country-and-western naif than her name is her voice. A rich, scuffed, honeyed thing, made of late nights and cigarettes, it brings an ageless familiarity to very modern tales of break-ups, hook-ups and mornings after. Rose's debut album 'Own Side Now', meanwhile, proves her Nashville roots haven't exactly held her back in terms of developing a killer ear for twangy, catchy, whiskeys-aloft choruses, either.
Essential Listening: 'Sinful Wishing Well' (MP3 Download)
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Exclusive Q&A With Caitlin Rose:

What's your favourite album right now?
Ooh. I really love that Villagers record a lot. I love the Kort [recent tourmates Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell] record. As far as older records go, which I listen to more of anyway, I'm really into Dire Straits' first album right now. I just kind of got into it. And what did I buy? Linda Ronstadt's 'Hasten Down the Wind,' which is really good. There's a lot of Karla Bonoff [songs] on it.

Do you buy a lot of music?
I've started buying records on iTunes. I have a lot of vinyl, but I only buy old records on vinyl. Like secondhand. It's too expensive otherwise. Oh, you know what else I love? That new Joanna Newsom. I buy vinyl at home. Nashville's a great record place. I started buying iTunes on tour because I was bored in a hotel room and I didn't know what to do. I find out about a lot of music here [in the UK]. I bought Squeeze, the singles, the other day. I like buying iTunes. It's instant.

Tell us about the first concert you ever saw and any stand-out moments.
Blink-182, I think. At the Starwood Ampitheatre, 20 minutes outside of Nashville. Probably Blink-182 was my first ever rock show. And they were playing that song, 'Rock Show.' It was fun -- I loved them. They were my favorite band. I think I was 13 or 14, so it was a big moment for me. The next show I went to was Weezer. It was a good year.

What's your biggest vice?
Smoking. That's it. Well, smoking and drinking. And today, on the way over here, I said "I'm gonna quit drinking, I'm not gonna drink tonight" and now I'm like, '"I don't want to do it!" It's hard, being on tour and not drinking and smoking. It's just part of it for me.

What's the drink of choice on tour?
Beer, red wine and whiskey. That's my drink of choice anywhere. I don't really drink drinks. I had a mojito the other day, that was pretty good. But I usually just stick to Jameson or Maker's. Or wine. Or Budweiser. It's pretty simple.

Which pop star do you most identify with?
Linda Ronstadt. I read her interviews a lot. She's cool and I think about how she's done her career a lot, how's she's not in the spotlight any more, which I think she prefers. She did everything she could possibly do and now she does whatever she wants. And I think a lot of artists keep trying after they kind of lose what they had. I don't think Linda Ronstadt ever lost anything, because she stopped trying to be in that place. Now she lives her life and is my hero, and I'm sure many other peoples'. She doesn't do that comeback thing. It's about making room for the new artists, there are so many famous bands that are doing these tours who have been touring since the '60s. I read this article in Rolling Stone about how the top grossing performing artists were like the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bruce Springsteen -- well, he's still awesome, but a lot of them were artists who hit their peak at a different time. So the only shows that mainstream America will go to are huge, at places like Starwood Ampitheatre. People like Neil Diamond. It's just weird right now. It used to be rock bands playing in stadiums, and now it's old rock bands or 'American Idol' contestants. I wouldn't want to say these artists shouldn't be doing it, I just think it's so strange that America doesn't have any grasp of the new rock scene at all. It's very secluded. It's weird.

What's your favorite thing about Nashville?
Cheap beer and bars. I have this friend who has a theory that lots of towns have energies. And, for instance, certain places in Alabama have bad ones because they were built on reservations or built on cemeteries or something. But Nashville has a really gravitational, magnetic pull. It pulls people in and I think it's because it's got such a good energy and it creates this really great vibe throughout the whole town. It's just a nice place to live.