ROSIE & THE RIVETERS
Trio blends nostalgia, contemporary
If you’re old enough to remember the Second World War, you might recall Rosie the Riveter, a fictional character invented by the U.S. government to represent millions of women who were called upon to help the war effort, replacing men in factory and armaments jobs. Later the subject of a song and movie, Rosie enjoyed a certain irony. What began as exploitation turned to empowerment, when this symbol of women in industry inspired even more women to enter the workforce after the war.
Enter Rosie & The Riveters, from Saskatoon, who tap the nostalgic angle that female vocal trios like The Andrew Sisters once held, but with a fresh, smartly entertaining spin that speaks to contemporary issues and a nod to feminism.
“We’re singing about issues that negatively effect people,” says Allyson Reigh, “but singing about them with hope and an intention to contribute to a larger conversation, to making positive changes in our society.”
Together, they’ve managed to find new relevance in a footnote of history, performing mostly at folk events, but using added elements of jazz, blues and soul to lend a genre-crossing sound.
“Women really embraced the original Rosie to make necessary changes at that time and we felt if we could do the same, that’s great. As songwriters, we think very hard about the words we choose and we want our message to be healing and hopeful.”
Farideh Olsen founded the group in 2011 with Alexis Normand, while Reigh joined shortly after. After working as a quartet for a few years, they settled into an accomplished trio. All born or raised in Saskatoon, they enjoyed separate solo careers before creating The Riveters. Normand plays acoustic or electric guitar while the other two add percussion and often tour with drummer Hal Schrenk, as they will appear Saturday at The Ironwood. Apart from an early live demo, the group has two studio albums of original songs. Good Clean Fun (2015) played up a comic angle on its cover graphic and got them nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award, but the recent release Ms. Behave gets a little more serious.
“Our first record was really about uplifting people and bringing them joy. With Ms. Behave we really wanted to focus more on specific issues. With both records, our intention was to empower people, but this one digs a little deeper and deliberately addresses a lot of issues that women, girls and non-binary folks face.”
Tracks on Ms. Behave include
I Believe You, which echoes the MeToo movement, and Gotta Get Paid, an excellent number about the gender pay gap. It’s mildly subversive to use the vehicle of a nostalgic “girl group” to hit such hot-button issues, but it works wonderfully and you can’t not enjoy their great vocal harmonies and sense of swing.
The Riveters have already expanded their touring into the U.S., where Rosie the Riveter is even better known (we phoned them at the bluegrass event Merlefest in North Carolina), and their versatility has seen them booked into all sorts of festivals. With Ms. Behave, they’re taking their live performances to a whole new level, so you can bet that their itinerary of some 60 dates a year is only bound to expand.
Women really embraced the original Rosie to make necessary changes at that time and we felt if we could do the same, that’s great.