Rose Polenzani (born March 7, 1975 in

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha. History The area that ...

) is an American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

ian. She was raised in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area and attended Knox College before leaving to pursue a singing career. She is currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. She plays

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and, less frequently,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. Her lyrics often blend obscure images and emotions. Polenzani has performed in

Lilith Fair Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 ...

in 1998, and the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in 1999. She has opened for the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

, David Gray,

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

Patty Griffin Patricia Jean Griffin (born March 16, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.Griffin, Patrici She is a vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs ha ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

Jonatha Brooke Jonatha Brooke (born January 23, 1964) is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Massachusetts, United States. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies. She has been a ...

Kristin Hersh Kristin may refer to: * Kristin (name), a Scandinavian form of Christine * ''Kristin'' (TV series), a 2001 American sitcom * Kristin Peak, Antarctica * Kristin School, a school in New Zealand See also * Kristen (disambiguation) Kristen may re ...

and

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early ...

. She has been reviewed positively in the

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

, BUST Magazine, and the

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

. Polenzani performed as part of

Voices on the Verge Voices on the Verge was an American folk, country, and rock band formed as a collaboration between four young, formerly-independent, female musicians: Jess Klein, Erin McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel.Voices On The Verge Ready To Tour', B ...

, a collaborative musical project with

Beth Amsel Beth Amsel is an American folk singer-songwriter. She grew up on Long Island and moved to Colorado at the age of thirteen. In 1997, she moved to the East Coast and joined the New England folk scene. In 1998, a reviewer described her as having a ...

Jess Klein Jess Klein (born 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. A native of Rochester, New York, Klein learned to play acoustic guitar and started writing songs as a college student in Kingston, Jamaica, while working on a thesis "documenting dub po ...

, and

Erin McKeown Erin McKeown (pronounced ) is an American multi-instrumentalist and folk-rock singer-songwriter. McKeown's music encompasses pop, swing, rock, folk, and electronic music, as well as several other genres. Music career They grew up in Freder ...

. Voices on the Verge toured together in 2001 and 2002 and released a live album, ''Voices on the Verge: Live In Philadelphia'' on the

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

label. In 2004, Polenzani toured with Sharon Lewis of the British band Pooka, whom she cites as a major musical influence. Opera singer

Matthew Polenzani Matthew Polenzani (born 1968) is an American lyric tenor. He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, and San Francisco Opera, among others. He ...

is her brother. Her grandfather was

Lynn Hauldren Elmer Lynn Hauldren (April 1, 1922 – April 26, 2011) was an advertising copywriter based in Chicago who was best known for originating the Empire Man. Early life and career Hauldren was born in Missouri, one of four children born to Elmer Lynn ...

, known as "The Empire Man" for his work as a pitchman for

Empire Today Empire Today is an American home improvement and home furnishing company based in Chicago, Illinois, specialising in installed carpet, flooring, and window treatments. The company operates in more than 75 metropolitan areas within the United Stat ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Dragersville'', self-released in the summer of 1998. * ''Anybody'', released July 20, 1999 from

Daemon Records Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American alto singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released six albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daemo ...

. * ''Rose Polenzani'', released June 5, 2001 from

. * ''August'', self-released on October 6, 2004. * ''When the River Meets the Sea'', self-released October 1, 2008 (with

Session Americana Session Americana is a Boston-based Folk/Rock band/collective. History This six-member group of experienced musicians came together in 2004 for informal shows at Toad (a pub in Cambridge) on Sunday nights, with Sean Staples (mandolin, guitar ...

). * ''The Rabbit'', self-released on August 23, 2011.

Compilation appearances

* "

Ellen West Ellen West (1888–1921) was a patient of Dr. Ludwig Binswanger who had anorexia nervosa. She became a famous example of existential analysis who died by suicide at age 33 by poisoning herself. Life Ellen West was born to a Jewish family in 1888. ...

" with Sharon Lewis on '' Hot Hands: A Tribute to Throwing Muses & Kristin Hersh'' (Kuma-chan Records, 2003)

Trivia

* During her "Distillation 20th Anniversary" concert,

revealed that her song "Didn't They" referred to a crush on Polenzani.

References

External links

Rose Polenzani official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polenzani, Rose 1975 births Living people American folk singers American women singer-songwriters People from Waukesha, Wisconsin Knox College (Illinois) alumni Daemon Records artists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from Wisconsin