Rusty Gear, a talented American singer-songwriter known for creating authentic country, blues, and southern rock music, teams up with skilled vocalist Elle Rose in his latest single, “He Loves Me.” Elle Rose’s beautiful vocals shine through in this lovely dream pop/country song, which was released on February 3rd. We had the pleasure of interviewing Rusty Gear, and here’s what he had to say:
Q: What’s the story behind “He Loves Me”?
RUSTY GEAR: He Loves Me is a light-hearted take on the old game “he loves me, he loves me not” as you pull petals off of flowers. Elle Rose gave a great vocal performance—confident, but with that little nagging doubt.
Q: Can you walk me through the creative and production process for this song?
RUSTY GEAR: The chorus literally came to me in a dream and I got up at 5 am and wrote the song that morning before breakfast. I recorded a demo and asked my producer Brad Hill to put together a contemporary pop/country track for Elle to sing to. Brad and Sean Paddock, a great Nashville drummer built a percussion track and the band made a vibey and lush instrument track. Elle came to the studio the next day and added all the vocals.
Q: What got you into music?
RUSTY GEAR: My grandparents and my mother were fine musicians (my mother worked with the music for The Jackie Gleason Show on early television). I sang in choirs and picked up the guitar as a kid following my older brother and played in bands since high school.
Q: What do you do to get your creative juices flowing when you feel stuck while creating a song?
RUSTY GEAR: I usually can get inspired by playing the guitar and hearing a chord progression or melody coming together. If I am working on lyrics, sometimes I get ideas while out hiking. I came up with lyrics for one of my first songs on a long bike ride. Fortunately, I did not crash.
Q: What projects are currently in the works?
RUSTY GEAR: He Loves Me is part of a six-song EP called “Something in the Water.” The title track and two others (Next Stop Home and The Dog Won’t Hunt) are cowritten with Michael Mugrage, formerly a guitar player with Orleans and a great songwriter. Marion Roach Smith, an accomplished author (The Memoir Project) also was a co-writer of “Something in the Water.” Marion and I previously collaborated on Say it With Words, which did well last year. Michael, Marion, and I have been working on some new material for release later this year.
Q: What would you like to say to your supporters?
RUSTY GEAR: I am very appreciative of everyone who listens to my music. Stay tuned for the latest songs and videos, follow me on Instagram, and reach out there or on rustygear.com. It would be great to hear from you. We have a lot of shows coming up (the schedule is posted) and I hope to see you there.
Interviewed by Zoey King
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