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Roses Wild - Up On This Mountain
Bio & Album Preview
The hammer hits the chisel,
Then it chips away a piece,
And I am one step closer,
To a finished masterpiece.
--From “God’s Still Working On Me”
If God is indeed still working on Roses Wild, then let this record show that He’s already
perfected their sound and their looks. Sisters Chris and Liz Costanzo inhabit their songs
the way actors inhabit a play—always with an eye toward finding the dramatic core. In
their exquisitely matched voices, you can hear all shades of joy, excitement, flirtation,
pain, determination and youthful mischief. Close your eyes as you listen to Up On This
Mountain, and it’s like sitting in on a film festival.
While proudly proclaiming Shania Twain as a major musical influence, Chris, who’s 22,
and Liz, 19, are authentic country girls. They were born in Vineland in southern New
Jersey, far from the lights of Newark and Manhattan. “We’ve always lived in rural areas,”
says their mother, Vicky, “and when they were toddlers, my husband and I started a
greenhouse nursery at home so we could raise them without the usual daycare and
babysitting upbringing. They grew up loading azaleas on trailers and rooting plants from
cuttings. They spent their days singing together while they were helping us.”
In 1998, the Costanzos moved to a 70-acre farm in Tioga County in northcentral
Pennsylvania. There the sisters joined the Future Farmers of America (both eventually
becoming chapter president) and the 4-H. Although their specialty was horticulture, they
also raised beef, pigs and chickens and rode the family’s horses.
“We’re just very outdoorsy,” says Chris. “We’ve hunted and fished with our dad all our
lives. In the 4-H, we shot skeet and clay pigeons—and we are good at it. People called
us ‘Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane.’”
It was Chris who decided that singing country music might just fit into their country living.
“When I was 10 years old,” she recalls, “I was going through the channels after school
one day, and I saw Shania Twain singing on Oprah. I forget what song it was—maybe
‘Any Man Of Mine’—and I just loved it. I thought, ‘Hey, I can do that.’ I could picture
myself up on stage doing the same thing. I think it was that day I made the decision.”
Two years later, Chris talked Liz into singing with her at a school talent show. It was
their first public performance. as a duo. .“We had a little dance we made up,” Chris
explains. “And we sang Shania’s ‘Don’t Be Stupid.’ We were pretending we were the
Riverdancers that were in her video.”
Before long, the sisters were singing at all sorts of community gatherings, from weddings
to fairs. For two years, they performed at the local fire department’s monthly square
dances. In spite of the usual “sisterly rivalry” (as Chris calls it), the two were even-
handed when it came to the question of who would sing lead and who harmony. They
mix it up. “We mostly switch back and forth,” says Liz. “When we first hear a song, if it
has a deeper sound through the verses, then usually it goes to Chris, and I’ll sing
harmony or take the second part in a verse.”
After placing second in a regional talent contest (where they were encouraged by a
former judge from Star Search), the girls began thinking about recording in Nashville. In
2003, they made their first pilgrimage to Music City and cut a three-song demo. Then, in
2004, they met producer Ken Isham, who also heads the Mission Studio in Ashland City,
just outside of Nashville. He was enthusiastic about the sister’s musical potential and
over the next eighteen months recorded the 11 songs that comprise Up On This
Mountain.
Some of the most-awarded songwriters in Nashville contributed material to the project.
Among these were Larry Cordle and Larry Shell (best known for writing George Strait
and Alan Jackson’s “Murder On Music Row”), Pat Bunch (Faith Hill’s “Wild One”),
Rebecca Lynn Howard (Trisha Yearwood’s “I Don’t Paint Myself Into Corners Anymore”)
and Reese Wilson (Jeff Carson’s “Not On Your Love”).
In addition to the valiant and hopeful “God’s Still Working On Me,” Up On This Mountain
gleams with a string of other musical gems. There’s “Girl With The Honky Tonk Heart,” a
raucous, hard-driving two-stepper that’s sure to populate the dance floor every time it’s
played; “Fastest Healing Broken Heart,” a chin-up, chest-out survivor’s song; and the
resigned but resilient “Win Some, Learn Some.”
“Diggin’” digs in with swampy, determined urgency. “Trouble Rides A Fast Horse”
mourns lives overwhelmed by bad luck and bad choices. “I’ll Give You Thirty Minutes” is
a playful and teasing whiff of seduction. “My Favorite Part” dwells on the joy of
surrendering to moments of ecstasy. “Meanwhile Back At The Ranch” contrasts the
Saturday night liveliness of bar-hopping with home-cooking in the bedroom. “Another
Innocent Man” is a sarcastic dressing-down of a congenital bad boy. The Alabama-
flavored title cut rejoices in the eternal hills of home.
So here you have it: Roses Wild in first bloom—and the freshest sound in country music
today.
Bio & Album Preview
The hammer hits the chisel,
Then it chips away a piece,
And I am one step closer,
To a finished masterpiece.
--From “God’s Still Working On Me”
If God is indeed still working on Roses Wild, then let this record show that He’s already
perfected their sound and their looks. Sisters Chris and Liz Costanzo inhabit their songs
the way actors inhabit a play—always with an eye toward finding the dramatic core. In
their exquisitely matched voices, you can hear all shades of joy, excitement, flirtation,
pain, determination and youthful mischief. Close your eyes as you listen to Up On This
Mountain, and it’s like sitting in on a film festival.
While proudly proclaiming Shania Twain as a major musical influence, Chris, who’s 22,
and Liz, 19, are authentic country girls. They were born in Vineland in southern New
Jersey, far from the lights of Newark and Manhattan. “We’ve always lived in rural areas,”
says their mother, Vicky, “and when they were toddlers, my husband and I started a
greenhouse nursery at home so we could raise them without the usual daycare and
babysitting upbringing. They grew up loading azaleas on trailers and rooting plants from
cuttings. They spent their days singing together while they were helping us.”
In 1998, the Costanzos moved to a 70-acre farm in Tioga County in northcentral
Pennsylvania. There the sisters joined the Future Farmers of America (both eventually
becoming chapter president) and the 4-H. Although their specialty was horticulture, they
also raised beef, pigs and chickens and rode the family’s horses.
“We’re just very outdoorsy,” says Chris. “We’ve hunted and fished with our dad all our
lives. In the 4-H, we shot skeet and clay pigeons—and we are good at it. People called
us ‘Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane.’”
It was Chris who decided that singing country music might just fit into their country living.
“When I was 10 years old,” she recalls, “I was going through the channels after school
one day, and I saw Shania Twain singing on Oprah. I forget what song it was—maybe
‘Any Man Of Mine’—and I just loved it. I thought, ‘Hey, I can do that.’ I could picture
myself up on stage doing the same thing. I think it was that day I made the decision.”
Two years later, Chris talked Liz into singing with her at a school talent show. It was
their first public performance. as a duo. .“We had a little dance we made up,” Chris
explains. “And we sang Shania’s ‘Don’t Be Stupid.’ We were pretending we were the
Riverdancers that were in her video.”
Before long, the sisters were singing at all sorts of community gatherings, from weddings
to fairs. For two years, they performed at the local fire department’s monthly square
dances. In spite of the usual “sisterly rivalry” (as Chris calls it), the two were even-
handed when it came to the question of who would sing lead and who harmony. They
mix it up. “We mostly switch back and forth,” says Liz. “When we first hear a song, if it
has a deeper sound through the verses, then usually it goes to Chris, and I’ll sing
harmony or take the second part in a verse.”
After placing second in a regional talent contest (where they were encouraged by a
former judge from Star Search), the girls began thinking about recording in Nashville. In
2003, they made their first pilgrimage to Music City and cut a three-song demo. Then, in
2004, they met producer Ken Isham, who also heads the Mission Studio in Ashland City,
just outside of Nashville. He was enthusiastic about the sister’s musical potential and
over the next eighteen months recorded the 11 songs that comprise Up On This
Mountain.
Some of the most-awarded songwriters in Nashville contributed material to the project.
Among these were Larry Cordle and Larry Shell (best known for writing George Strait
and Alan Jackson’s “Murder On Music Row”), Pat Bunch (Faith Hill’s “Wild One”),
Rebecca Lynn Howard (Trisha Yearwood’s “I Don’t Paint Myself Into Corners Anymore”)
and Reese Wilson (Jeff Carson’s “Not On Your Love”).
In addition to the valiant and hopeful “God’s Still Working On Me,” Up On This Mountain
gleams with a string of other musical gems. There’s “Girl With The Honky Tonk Heart,” a
raucous, hard-driving two-stepper that’s sure to populate the dance floor every time it’s
played; “Fastest Healing Broken Heart,” a chin-up, chest-out survivor’s song; and the
resigned but resilient “Win Some, Learn Some.”
“Diggin’” digs in with swampy, determined urgency. “Trouble Rides A Fast Horse”
mourns lives overwhelmed by bad luck and bad choices. “I’ll Give You Thirty Minutes” is
a playful and teasing whiff of seduction. “My Favorite Part” dwells on the joy of
surrendering to moments of ecstasy. “Meanwhile Back At The Ranch” contrasts the
Saturday night liveliness of bar-hopping with home-cooking in the bedroom. “Another
Innocent Man” is a sarcastic dressing-down of a congenital bad boy. The Alabama-
flavored title cut rejoices in the eternal hills of home.
So here you have it: Roses Wild in first bloom—and the freshest sound in country music
today.
