Rose’s Pawn Shop “American Seams”

A Southern Californian patchwork quilt of musical genres providing a comforter for turbulent times.

Up in the North Star State recently, America’s seams appeared to be unravelling, with Minnesotans having to weather the chill of ICE. Meanwhile, down in the Golden State, Rose’s Pawn Shop was applying the final stitches to a musical security blanket for these turbulent times. American Seams is their Californian quilt of sound, a ten-track patchwork of country, rock, folk, and bluegrass, with a golden ratio of banjo and fiddle.

Rose’s Pawn Shop’s fifth studio album comes hot on the heels of Marigold, frontman Paul Givant’s solo album of 2025. It was recorded live in the studio at Los Angeles’ Love Street Sound, owned by The Doors’ founder member and guitarist Robby Krieger. Production was in the hands of Eric Corne, whose recent CV also includes the 2026 ‘Best Traditional Blues Album’ Grammy award-nominated Look Out Highway, by Charlie Musselwhite.

It has been over twenty years since Rose, songwriter Givant’s former collaborator, allegedly stole and hawked their gear around the pawnbrokers of Los Angeles following the breakdown of their relationship, an act of sabotage that provided the name for his new outfit. Givant’s current crew, with Stephen Andrews (upright bass), Jesse Olema (fiddle), Zachary Ross (guitar), and drum duties shared between Deacon Marrquin and Matt Lesser, produce a sound high on hooks and as tight as the seams of your favourite jeans.

A fiddle drop fires up the album’s anthemic opener and title track, announcing the band’s intention to chase down their own American dreams, whilst offering civil sonic resistance to the dawning of a Trumpian ‘Donstitution’: “These billionaires want us down on our knees/ And they’ll take it all without some resistance”. Next up, Where The Horizon Has A Light could be taken as an invitation to hit the Pacific Coast Highway and get out of town, with well-honed harmonies evoking those of the Jayhawks, Eagles, or Crowded House. Life in the fast lane continues with Darken My Door, before the autumnal shades of The Summer’s Over kick in. Explorations on the theme of escape follow, including a comparison of the narrator’s romantic attachments to the exploits of Harry Houdini. Reflections on loves lost and found, and a fond farewell to a crazy diamond, join the mix, but throughout the mood is uplifting. With American Seams, Rose’s Pawn Shop have a recording for the here and now, yet worthy of a place on the ‘California Jukebox’ at Topanga’s old Corral, of which The Flying Burrito Brothers once sang. That old nightclub up in the Santa Monica Mountains, rumoured to have inspired The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues, burnt down long ago. Maybe any potential investors in the White House ballroom, having second thoughts, could instead rebuild the Corral, appoint Rose’s Pawn Shop as the house band, and help make America cool again.

Those in search of a set of bagpipes like Rufus Harley Jr.’s, or the autonomous instrument featured in Guy Clark’s song The Guitar, may leave Rose’s Pawn Shop empty-handed. However, those leaving with a copy of American Seams will have in their possession a solid set of country rock songs, equally suited to cruising West Coast highways or the country lanes of Devon and Cornwall. Be sure to catch the band in action when they visit your town.