A Dirty Dozen with RAGS ROSENBERG – September 2025

Photo credit: Tom G. O’Neal

According to a recent press release: “California-based Americana-folk singer-songwriter Rags Rosenberg is set to release his new album, Song of the Bricoleur, on September 19, 2025, via Coyote Gulch Records. Rooted in classic storytelling traditions, the 12 songs draw from the uncertainty of modern life, the unraveling of old traditions and institutions, and the notion that maybe we can imagine a different, more humane future into existence. Song of the Bricoleur is an album of forgotten soldiers and fading gods. At the center, stands the bricoleur – a creator who patches things together with what they have on hand – building something new from what is broken and no longer useful. Rosenberg tells us we are all, in this crazy, modern world, bricoleurs, inventing a new world as we go.” We get Rags to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

One of the songs on the new album, “Smokey Joe’s,” is full of hidden nuggets. The song takes place in a basement bar where all the great songwriters hang out after their shows. Most listeners will know the artists who wander through the verses, but there are references that a lot of folks might not know. In the third verse, for example,  Bobby tells Johanna: “Come on, let’s go fishin’, I’ve got my line and pole / There’s always somethin’ bitin’ downstairs at Smokey Joe’s.” What a lot of people don’t know is that songwriters have a saying: “We’re all fishing downstream from Dylan.” “Smokey Joe’s” is full of those kinds of references.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I got my first guitar when I was 9. Can’t really remember the details, but it’s likely my initial interest might have been that it was an avenue towards popularity. In my twenties, I had a great time playing in rock and blues bands, and I thought of myself as a musician. In my thirties, I took a lesson from Joe Pass and started studying jazz and improvisation. By then, I’d started earning a living as a carpenter. But when I returned to music later in life, my interests shifted, and I was concerned less in excelling on the guitar, and more in crafting really cool, unusual songs.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

There was a time when I learned Larry Carlton’s “Room 335” note for note. I was such a fan of how lyrical his melodies were, and that affinity has carried over into my songwriting. Lyrically, one of the songs that really impacted how I think about what’s possible is Tom Waits’ song, “Time.” It introduced me to non-linear narrative: highly metaphorical storytelling that juxtaposes improbable situations and characters with important, but less obvious connections in which something the listener hadn’t thought of is revealed.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I’d like to collaborate on a song with Paul Simon, on a record with producer T Bone Burnett, and have Jerry Douglas play Dobro on one of my songs.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

I love Scrabble! A friend just loaned us their Boggle game. I don’t do them anymore, but I used to love the NY Times crossword puzzle. I love to read, and re-read, anything by Ann Patchett. I got hooked on “Severance” and “Silo,” which I’d watch late at night when I ran out of ink.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I would tell them I call my songs “mythopoetic folk music.” Mythopoetic in the sense that they are ancient stories told in modern settings and laden with provocative images. I try to employ ambiguity such that three listeners can find three valid ways to interpret the lyric. I love that kind of writing!

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

I’m a solo artist, so I do all the cooking, pour the drinks, and, being the only one in the room, strap on the guitar whenever the mood strikes. Singalongs are a little more difficult.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Late last year a songwriter named Adam Wright showed up in my Instagram feed. I went to his profile and watched years of his work. Check out his song “Terms of Agreement.” You’ll see why.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

If I could no longer be a musician, I’d stick to writing poetry, short stories, and try my hand at a novel. I have to be writing something no matter what. That will always be my job. And whatever I do that I would call a “job” would always involve learning something new. I’ve always been an autodidact, so the learning never stops. Sometimes, it feels like my entire life is spent climbing one giant learning curve. To stop would be to die. Not planning on doing that anytime soon. I’m having too much fun.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I’ve done very few interviews, so I’ll have to make this one up! I’ve always wanted an interviewer to ask me where the good songs come from so I could quote Cohen: “If I knew where the good songs came from I’d go there more often.” I’m tired of answering the question, “Why did you become a musician?” Let’s just say, I didn’t do it for the money.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Sure. The big one was quitting school. It was the 60’s. I was hitchhiking from LA to SF to march against the Vietnam War. LSD was everywhere. That period of my life was an extraordinary adventure. But I sacrificed the kind of education that would have helped me now. There’s a lot of basic stuff my college-educated children know how to do that I don’t. Being an autodidact has worked for me, but it’s not the most efficient way to get there.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Blonde on Blonde. Definitely. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall watching those Nashville session players widen their eyes as Dylan introduced them to a whole new world of possibilities. Not sure how to answer the question about what it means to me. But I chose this particular album because of one song, “Visions of Johanna,” maybe one line, the best expression of ennui and longing ever written: “Lights flicker from the opposite loft // In this room the heat pipes just cough // The country music station plays soft // But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off // Just Louise and her lover so entwined // And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind.”

RAGS ROSENBERG LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews