Rosie Thomas

Although she began her music career as a member of the dream-pop band Velour 100, Rosie Thomas attracted more attention for her solo work, which aligned her with fellow indie folksingers like Damien Jurado and Sufjan Stevens. Born in 1978 in Livonia, Michigan, she spent her childhood in the Detroit suburbs before heading to the west coast for college. After graduation, she returned to Michigan and joined Velour 100's lineup, appearing on the band's final EP, For an Open Sky, in 1999. Thomas met Jurado during a tour in support of For an Open Sky and later joined him in the record studio. Her guest appearance on his 2000 album, Ghost of David, earned Thomas a record deal with Sub Pop. Her solo debut, When We Were Small, was released in January 2001, followed by Only with Laughter Can You Win in 2003. Two years later, If Songs Could Be Held found Thomas mixing original material with cover songs like "It Don't Matter to the Sun." 2006's These Friends of Mine struck a similar balance, while 2008's A Very Rose Christmas marked her first holiday release. A Very Rose Christmas also included a skit in which Thomas portrayed her comic alter ego, Sheila Saputo, a character who often made appearances during her shows. While spending much of 2012 on the road as Sufjan Stevens' opening act, she also released With Love, which proved to be her final full-length album of the 2010s. Thomas returned in 2020 with "A Brighter New Year," a standalone single recorded alongside her three children.