The Veteran New York Singer-Songwriter and Producer Trades Band Life for a Gothic Americana Landscape Based on True Events
Some introductions need no drama. Erik Rosenberg, native New Yorker, son of an immigrant, father of sons, and a fifteen year veteran of the music industry, has spent the past decade and a half putting his stamp on projects that were never quite his alone. That changes now. With his solo debut single Holy Hands, the singer-songwriter, guitar player, and record producer steps out from behind the curtain to deliver something darker, bolder, and unmistakably his own.
Rosenberg’s resume reads like a quiet accumulation of respect. He joined The Dust Engineers in 2010, and by 2013 the group had earned studio time from Deli Magazine after being named its artist of the month, a prize they used to cut Rosenberg’s original song Lead [Pb]. A year later he co-founded Jules & The Jinks alongside Julissa Lopez, a partnership that quickly gathered momentum. The duo released their debut EP in 2015, won the 2018 AFROPUNK Battle of the Bands, and played the first encore in the history of that competition before taking the stage at the AFROPUNK Festival that same summer. AFROPUNK described the band’s debut as “effortlessly chill” and called the lead single No Compromise “a song that deserves to be blaring from car speakers while driving through borough blocks.”
While the bands provided a home, Rosenberg was also building a second life behind the console, working with a rotating cast of artists as a producer and recording engineer. Holy Hands is the sound of those two worlds finally meeting on his own terms.
Dark, brooding, and haunted by steam trains, Holy Hands conjures a gothic country landscape that draws from Sturgill Simpson, Tom Waits, and Townes Van Zandt. Eerie slide guitars howl like distant locomotives over strummed acoustic guitars while live drums drive the song forward with a simmering menace. Rosenberg’s voice, a blend somewhere between Eric Burdon’s grit and Conor Oberst’s unguarded ache, tells the tragic story of a confused yet devout young girl coming of age and confronting a corrupt, violent church. It is country music you will not hear on country radio. Rosenberg pulls from the Outlaw tradition that blends Americana with Rock and Roll, transporting the listener straight into the mind of a poor girl from West Virginia. A mind, as he puts it, not so unfamiliar.
The record is stacked with talent. Rosenberg handles vocals and both acoustic and electric guitars. Zac Meyer turns in the electric guitar solo, Miller Nuttle holds down bass, and Nate Barnes drives the drums. Rosenberg wrote the music and lyrics. The final polish was entrusted to Grammy Award winning engineer Alan Douches, whose mastering credits span decades of celebrated independent records. Lauren Rosenberg serves as Executive Producer.
What separates Holy Hands from the countless singles released into the ether each week is the fact that it is based on a true story. There is real weight behind the lyrics, real history pressing against every slide and every drum hit. The result is a song that refuses to be ornamental. It demands to be felt.
Holy Hands is available now wherever you download or stream music. Fans can keep up with Rosenberg on Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, follow his Bandcamp, and visit erikrosenbergmusic.com for the latest on upcoming releases and live shows.
