Beth: Beth Young grew up in Ohio and Michigan and started playing Piano at age 8, but ultimately found that she enjoyed writing her own songs and playing by ear more than practicing scales! This passion for self-expression led Beth to take up guitar as a teen, and then she quickly experimented with mandolin, dulcimer, and banjo.  Beth was strongly influenced by the Folk Music Craze and Singer-Songwriters of the 1960’s & 70’s. For several decades she taught Banjo and Guitar at music stores in Michigan, Ohio and Minneapolis. During college Beth played Mandolin and Banjo for Live Shows at Valleyfair & Cedar Point Amusement Parks, and in the 80’s she did nightly guitar, banjo and vocal performances in an Australian Pub in Taipei Taiwan.

BooM: Evonne “Boom” Bilotta-Burke born and raised in MN on the mighty Mississippi, got her musical start in grade school choir and the family organ thanks to her Gramma, because “…every kid needs to have an instrument.” She sang for funerals, weddings, plays, and masses and was raised on classic country, Hee Haw, The Andy Griffith Show, and polka. She even spent a brief stint in her youth singing for a polka band (Laverne and the Starlights). She left music for 10 years, only to return to it through folk, americana, bluegrass and old time genres. This time learning an instrument or 2 or 4. She started writing lyrics back in grade school, and really started writing songs again in 2012

Jeanne: Jeanne started her bluegrass journey with “Nanny’s Family Band” which concentrated on 3-part harmony and Ole and Lena jokes. She started by playing guitar, then acoustic bass, then b-string banjo, then finally, mandolin. Jeanne went on to play with MBOTMA bands until starting her own “Rosby Corner” trio, before starting Rosie Daze as a founding member.

Johnna: Johnna brings the heart and soul of bluegrass and old-time fiddle to the stage, weaving harmonies that lift the spirit and tunes that get feet moving. She believes music is more than just sound—it’s a way to travel through time, tell a story, and make life’s hardships a little lighter. Whether bowing a fiery breakdown or blending into a lonesome harmony, Johnna plays with passion, precision, and a love for the tradition that keeps this music alive.

Julie: Who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? Julie is a self-taught late starter on that big doghouse. After attending her first Bluegrass festival in Minnesota, she fell in love with the look and the sound of the upright bass. Not knowing a dang thing about basses, it didn’t take long before she found her way to a music store and headed home with a plywood that she thought sounded pretty good. A few YouTube videos later, some determination, and the support of all the gracious musicians that she has had the opportunity to play with, somehow it started making sense. Julie doesn’t consider herself a fancy player, but she can keep a pretty good beat and has a good feel for the music she plays. Julie hails from the great state of Wisconsin, representing the Packers, cheese curds and many fine musicians in the northwestern region of the state who had a hand in her journey to play the bass. Julie never imagined that at this stage in her life, she would be playing music on a stage with an audience. She has played a variety of music with several bands including bluegrass, country, Folk, Americana and gospel. Julie also plays guitar and dabbles in a little song writing as well. She hopes to play her bass for as long as her hands will allow.

We just love making music together and as we went out to play for our audiences they started to ask, “Where can we find this music?” And with that one question, we sat down and started the planning process so we could make that happen. Never underestimate the power of a question, because if there’s a song we do, cover or original, that resonates with people, we want them to have it. Sharing music is what brought us together, so we want to continue to do that. The release has six original songs written by Boom, and who knows what inspires her! Sometimes she writes from her own experiences and sometimes she creates characters that play out moments in the music. Like Poor Billy is fictional, no one was harmed in the making of that murder ballad, but Solid Ground is based on her Gramma and the true grit she had for putting down roots in a town that wasn’t always welcoming or friendly to her.

Poor Billy was written by Boom. She wanted to write a song in the vein of the traditional murder ballads that are plentiful in Bluegrass and Old Time music. If you flip the script, it’s really a love song, the love of a father for his child and knowing that the courtin’ gentlemen just won’t measure up. But they arrive without invitation and he knows they likely plan to wear down his resolve and he will have none of it, so they clearly have to be dealt with. At live shows we often say, “Things go terribly awry and escalate quickly. Sorry, not sorry.”

I don’t think of other bands as competition, although there are certainly many distinguished groups, and I just love the fact that so many bands are able to get their music out to the world these days; the access has increased. Where once record companies were gatekeepers now many more of us can get our recordings out and our voices heard. That being said, what differentiates Rosie Daze is more than half the album is original work with melodies and lyrics from Boom. It;s a beautiful mix of storytelling. We are so fortunate to have her amazing creative songwriting talent. Secondly, I think an all female band is unfortunately still relatively rare, we bring a unique energy to our work. Our goals have always been centered on the words “joy & happiness” and sharing that with the audience as we get their toes tapping along.  

Yes, we’ve started festival season here in the bold north and will be touring the midwest through the Fall to spread the word on Nobody Here But Us with festival appearances at RecFest, Red River Festival in Fargo ND, and MBOTMA August Fest main stage appearance. To get ready for the festival season, we started dusting off our instruments and harmonies back in February when we did a House Concert tour down to Florida. Songs from the LP were widely received. Poor Billy was a favorite and Monsters always find  a way into people’s hearts. Cluck o Hen entertained during a sunset beach concert as dolphins played in the waves. Yes. DOLPHINS. What a life. I’m not sure if we’ll have an experience to top dolphins, but we’ll keep an open mind.    

I love this story. We all were just there to learn and connect and have fun. One fateful weekend in Fall 2022 I signed up for two experiences: a songwriting workshop and a draw band. Adelle was in charge of drawing names for each band, and Jeanne, Johnna, and I ended up in the same one. We loved that experience. Soon after that weekend, Jeanne reached out to see if we could find a way to keep singing together, and soon asked Johnna to be part of it, bringing fiddle and vocal harmonies to Jeanne’s harmonies and mandolin. That same weekend, in the songwriting workshop I met Julie and Beth. Julie was next holding down the low tones with upright bass, then we pulled Beth into the spotlight to showcase her amazing banjo skills and vocals which had been a secret for far too long. Finally rounded out our mid tones with the woman who had a hand in fate that weekend, Adelle. Her guitar and harmonies have been folded into the mix to create added depth for the band and listening enjoyment of our audience. Each member brings incredible strength, experiences, and collaboration to who we are as a group and when we’re all together, it is pure joy which we then get to share with the audience.

Johnna pulls from influences that stretch from Bach to the blues. Boom was shaped in her young years by music from Crystal Gayle, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton. More recently it’s Gillian Welch, Dar Williams, Sierra Farrell, Joy Oladokun, Big Richard, Sister Sadie, and locally the Roe Family Singers, The High 48s, and The Foxgloves. Beth is inspired by John Denver, Joan Baez and James Taylor.  She took up Banjo after being introduced to Earl Scruggs and loves a good Bela Fleck lick. Jeanne was shaped by her family band early on and finds inspiration in tunes from the 1930s all the way to Randy Travis and Pert Near Sandstone. Julie loves John Prine, Johnny Cash, an old original by Boom called Whiskey or Wine, and anything she can thump hard on the bass.  

The first EP was an experiment. We wanted to start understanding the recording and production process but I wanted to start very simple and have always been a fan of field recordings. The rawness of simple music with a sound that was almost like talking into tin-cans. Think front porch evenings mixed with Tom Waits. I tire easily of songs that feel overproduced. I want to hear the music. The 2025 Nobody Here But Us is a fuller sound with more instruments and a little more polish. Admittedly, we’re still in our learning phase when it comes to production and recording but being true to who we are as a band while recording is pretty important to us. There’s no remixes. It’s recorded in one shot, giving ourselves 3-4 tries before we move on to the next track. It’s not perfect, and there’s something honest about that. We hope to keep growing but perfection is not our goal. We want the songs to hold up to repeated listening but still be true to who we are as a band. It’s a balancing act.

The Material: The songs themselves are evolving as we layer sounds and new perspectives surface. In the end we center on what we believe is best for the song. We also had a full season of festivals to practice so we had a solid direction when we went into the studio. That wasn’t true for all the music, for example Tomorrow Falls and Solid Ground were pretty new but we went for it and grew from the experience.