Roz Pappalardo

Originals/Country/Indie Solo / Duo / Trio / Band

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Soaring and committed slide guitar, smooth upright bass, rocking drums, mad keyboard, a vintage Fender guitar (temporarily stolen from her Dad), and a sassy front woman who rocks even when she sings a ballad.
This is Roz Pappalardo and the Wayward Gentlemen. Roz's testosterone fuelled alt country side project to her folky festival favourite counterpart, women in docs.

Drawing on influences ...ranging from Lucinda Williams to Ryan Adams, Roz as a solo act melds her effusive stage presence and endearing songwriting with some good honest country-style secret herbs and spices. And a cheeky little dash of the T-hormone.

Roz released her debut full length album, "This Lifeboat", late 2009, through Brisbane based label, Plus One Records (The Gin Club), to fabulous reviews and immediate airplay on national and community radio stations across Australia. The album quickly became a fixture on the All Australian Country Charts. The music video to the record's opening single, "I Say Fall" has been aired extensively on Foxtel's Country Music Channel (CMC) and ABC TV's Rage and has also been recently nominated as a finalist in the augural West End Film Festival (Brisbane). She's nominated as semi finalist for the esteemed Nashville based International Songwriting Competition in both the Adult Contemporary AND Country categories and as finalist in Qld Music Awards Country Category, winning Q Song award for Country in 2009.

Penned in between vigorous women in docs tours, in hotels and on a variety of modes of public transport, the album is, lyrically, an introspective peek at Roz's innermost feelings about love, life and death, wrapped in a concoction of juicy slide guitar, male backing vocals, thick upright bass with a little bit of raucous fun thrown into the mix.

Ably steered by producer, Magoo (Powderfinger, Kate Miller Heidke, Regurgitator, The Gin Club), including some sterling performances from Brisbane legends, Andrew Morris (The Wilson Pickers) and Ben Salter (The Gin Club), the album is an exceptional look at Brisbane's depth of country talent.

She's rocked Woodford Folk Festival (2008, 2009), Gympie Muster (2009), Tamworth Country Music Festival (2010), Festival Cairns (2009, 2011), Mud Bulls and Music (2010) and Urban Country Music Festival (2010) with this act and has left numerous stages across Queensland and Australia wondering what's just happened. A few handy support slots in the guise of Vika and Linda Bull and Tim Finn and it's clear that 2011 is the year of the Wayward.

Reviews:

}The Wayward Gentlemen provide the perfect setting for Pappalardo's voice and songwriting to shine."Courier Mail, Noel Mengel, Sept 2009, 4 stars.

"...the quality never falters" Rave Magazine, Matt Thrower, Sept 2009, 3 and 1/2 stars.

"... an album with crisp unforced vocals, and a professional finish.." The Naked Dwarf, August 2009.

"..it's clear her [Roz's] songwriting is still the star of the show..." Time Off, Daniel Wynne, Jan 2010, 4/5 stars