Rosie Thomas enlists Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, The Head and the Heart, Iron & Wine and tons more on a cover of Björk’s “All Is Full Of Love”

Rosie Thomas enlists Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, The Head and the Heart, Iron & Wine and tons more on a cover of Björk’s “All Is Full Of Love”

STREAM: “All Is Full Of Love” –
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“Thomas plays the role of doula to parental worry and doubt.” – NPR

Today Rosie Thomas shares a cover of Björk’s “All Is Full Of Love,” with a virtual choir of guest stars including Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Iron & Wine, Alexi Murdoch, Charity Theilen (The Head & The Heart), Kanene Pipkin (The Lone Bellow), William Fitzsimmons, Dawn Landes, Audrey Assad, Leigh Nash, Denison Witmer, Josh Ottum, Beau Jennings, Kyshona Armstrong, Kevin Brace, Alvie Shoop and Buster Shoop.

The song is part of Rosie Thomas’ latest endeavor, Lullabies for Parents. It’s truly a project, in the truest sense of the word. A labor of love. An attempt to reach out to parents and help them self-sooth.

Rosie describes how this song came together with Producer/husband Jeff Shoop:

“Originally, the plan was to do a quiet lullaby kind of version of the song, and really highlight the tender, encouraging lyrics, whether to children, to parents, to everyone really. Though we can understandably look past it these days, there is, in fact, love all around. Keep your head up. Stay hopeful. Look for it. Show it. Give it away. Love abounds. Love prevails. It’s within reach. So, as Shoop kept working on the song, adding bits, and shaping the arrangement, he had the overwhelming, but inspired idea to get vocals of a few lines from a bunch of different friends and variety of distinct voices (even our kids for a younger generation) to bring in and out, and eventually amass a choir of sorts. Some folks would come by the house when they were in Nashville, and others we sent instructions and requests, and they’d kindly send back vocals. This was largely pre-pandemic too, but proved to be a fairly seamless method once it began and we continued. Shoop then built this crazy arrangement out of it, and it was really beautiful, but I told him, “sorry, you gotta keep going.” I said, “I’ll know it’s done when my arm hairs stand up.” So with that super helpful direction, he kept going;) He had his best friend, James McAlister play drums, sorting out parts over the phone; sent out more singing assignments for new vocal parts, and kept plugging away at it himself, having long since jettisoned the minimal approach.* Finally one day I was out back checking out the newest version, and it happened! I cried when it finished, ran inside, and said, “look at my arms!” “You did it!” I listen now, and pretend we’re all in the same room singing side by side. It’s really special to me to get all these friends singing together on the same song. It feels like our own little We Are The World… We Are The Small World Afterall maybe?

*The song eventually rose to what mixing engineer, Yuuki Matthews, said “won the award for the most tracks I’ve seen in a session,” including everything from celeste and nylon guitar to synth track names like “NBA Jam” and “Fletch chase scene.””

So, what is Lullabies For Parents, exactly?

– Lullabies For Parents is a multimedia series of resources, entertainment, and encouragement for parents of all ages featuring music, podcast, videos, essays, assorted content and community that promotes finding common ground, connection, and comfort.

-The music portion will be a series of singles – some of Rosie’s strongest, most inspired work to date, with a slew of guest vocalists. Rosie has a LOT of musician friends, and almost all of them will appear on this series. Today she’s announcing the track list, cover art and release date for the first EP in the series (see below!) – Pre-order / merch bundles will be available with Sweatshirts, Sleep Masks, Hotel/Spa Slippers, Coffee Mugs, Handwritten Lyrics, “Cameo-style Custom Personal Encouraging Videograms, and “Unlicensed Therapy Sessions” (1 on 1 zoom calls) with Rosie!

-The podcast will finally give a vehicle to some of Rosie’s greatest, and as yet underutilized strengths: her unique ability to quickly disarm, relate to, and encourage people in their struggles, even as they’re entertained by her razor-sharp wit, and engaging, loveable personality. (more on that soon).

-There will be videos, essays, books, and a merch line for both parents and kids alike.

-Most of all, it will be a community of support, and it’s only just beginning.

***
It’s never been enough for Rosie Thomas. Not in shallow terms of success or fame, but in her own deeper personal sense of making the most of her life, what she has to offer, and what she wants to lend. Years of following the same well-worn formula of releasing albums (through Sub Pop, Nettwerk, and her own SINGALONG imprint), doing interviews, and going on tour to play those same songs again increasingly left her unsatisfied, bored, and yearning for more.

So, she began throwing wrenches in the works to see what might shake loose. She first tried opening her own somber, emotionally serious concerts disguised as an unannounced, awkward, neck-braced, coke-bottle-bespeckled comedian named Sheila Saputo, but over time as people became wise to the “alter ego” identity, and the Kaufman-Clifton mystery faded, so did her interest in keeping it up. And while Rosie has always enjoyed making people laugh, dabbling in stand up, opening for Mitch Hedberg, acting opposite Steve Zahn, performing on the UCB stage, or making zany videos to promote a Sufjan Christmas album, she quickly found comedy alone didn’t allow for the earnest emotional connection she began to desire most of all.

As her years of self-work and personal growth took her from a 20-something with a lot of questions to a more seasoned, more confident grown-up with more to actually lend, she found she had much more desire to talk with people at shows than just sing – thinking, “You can listen to these songs at home. We’re together now. Let’s go further!” But creating an extended break in the set to talk to the crowd, or a handful of one-on-ones after at the merch table just didn’t cut it either.

Once relocated to NYC, a place where career is pretty much everyone’s sole focus, she wound up spending most of her time in between tours having people over to listen to them, and encourage them in whatever they were going through. But it didn’t stop with friends and acquaintances. When she did phone interviews, she’d spend an hour of a scheduled 30 min call talking about the interviewer’s life, asking them questions, and building them up without even discussing her new album. What an eavesdropper might assume to be a heart-to-heart phone call with an old dear friend would turn on a dime to a billing question, revealing she had been going deep with a random customer service agent the whole time. People at parties, clerks at stores, strangers on the street; it didn’t matter. Rosie had to talk to people. Not just talk, but really connect on a meaningful level, and not waste any time. She wants to find common ground; she wants people to feel understood, to feel less alone, to feel encouraged, and to feel comforted. Even as you read this, she’s bummed somewhere that she can’t ask you questions, and see how you’re doing. How you’re really doing.

Rosie has always pulled on heart strings, always made people laugh, always entertained, and always made a unique impact on others – in a way that only she could. Renowned publicist Carla Sacks, once said that Rosie had “one of the most singular voices” she had encountered, and yet Thomas was still searching for how to incorporate all these parts of herself in just the right way.

Having tried a few tours singing in other people’s bands (Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens) and one more solo tour of her last record, Rosie was pretty over it all, and it was clear she needed a change, new inspiration, and a new direction.

Though not necessarily the change she had in mind, change most certainly came.
She got pregnant, had a baby, left NY, and got busy being a parent. Then she had another one, and got busier still. This continued until she and her husband and creative partner, Jeff Shoop, were outnumbered, and then the inspiration fell into their laps… Or out of her lap, I guess?

Having been a purveyor of some admittedly sleepy music, it initially seemed an obvious time to make a lullaby album for kids. But as the newly overwhelmed and under-slept mother began writing, she soon realized the songs coming out were ultimately to comfort and soothe herself – the parent. As she’d always done before, Rosie wrote about what was in front of her, processing what she was going through, and what she needed to hear – and so parents themselves became the focus. She figured parents are the ones that need the soothing after all. Help the parents first, so that they can help their own kids. Like putting on your oxygen mask first, before helping those that need assistance – ya know… basically.

At that point the inspiration floodgates opened wide, and a clarity of vision that Rosie had long sought began to take shape. Through music, videos, a podcast, essays, books, clothing, on and on, there was no shortage of material. Available time to actually work on it? No, yeah, there was a shortage there. They had lots of little kids, and not lots of help, so the two parents would work comically late into the night, or for a highly concentrated week when they could coax grandparents to town. The work was her most inspired and well crafted, but with so many interruptions, also frustratingly slow, snuck in between playtime, playgrounds, nap times, nursing, diaper changes, and then… the pandemic hit – slowing the in-house operation even further while increasing the pressure to get it out to the parents who would need it now more than ever.

So now at long last, Rosie returns with Lullabies For Parents, a multimedia series of resources, entertainment, and encouragement for parents of all ages featuring music, podcast, videos, essays, assorted content and community that promotes finding common ground, connection, and comfort. Musical contributions throughout the series include Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Iron & Wine, Alexi Murdoch, Audrey Assad, William Fitzsimmons, Charity Theilen of The Head & The Heart, Kanene Pipkin of The Lone Bellow, Leigh Nash, Denison Witmer, Dawn Landes, Kyshona Armstrong, and more to come.

In a social media age of putting our best foot forward, presenting the impression of having it together, and perpetuating a false facade that others mistake as some unrealistic standard to aspire to, Rosie wants poop her pants, so everyone knows it’s okay if/when they do – metaphorically or not. That’s closer to a realistic portrayal of actual life than the baloney we see every day. We all have hardships, struggles, and insecurities, but we’re not sure we’re allowed to admit it and show them. But as Rosie often says, “if you don’t say it, who will?”
Well, Rosie is here to say it!

She’s here to comfort you, to cheer you on, and to remind you It’ll Be Alright.

Press photos by Lindsey Patkos