R.W. Roldan – The Color Of
Race has been a pretty popular subject in contemporary music lately, and there isn’t any reason to wonder why. Everywhere we look in today’s modern media, the subject of America’s struggle to find equality and civility among all of her people is impossible to escape.
Countrified singer/songwriter R.W. Roldan wanted to contribute his own verse to the ongoing fight for civil rights in the form of an acoustic song, and that track arrives in the blistering ballad The Color Of, a single that is so fluently designed and executed that even the most hardnosed of cynics will find it difficult to resist its potent message of peace.
The Color Of is driven by its carefully crafted lyrics, but its music is just as hauntingly moving. Roldan picks away dexterously at his acoustic guitar, dispatching a litany of colorful notes that intertwine with each other like lovers consummating their romance.
The major key swing of the track keeps it from becoming too elegiac in nature, and Roldan’s own smoky vocals add a pastoral texture to its tonality that isn’t typically found in protest-influenced music. The music confronts us with its earthy construction and begs for us to examine the words closer, something that every pop song attempts to do but most often fail to achieve.
There’s a stark lack of sensitive artists in pop these days, and it’s had a bigger impact on the music industry than some might believe to be possible. When artists pool together and apply themselves explicitly to the commercial element, the emotional opulence that attracts us to their medium disappears without notice.
R.W. Roldan is the real deal; an authentic musician who puts everything else second to his craft and the cultivation of it. His passion plays a significant part in what makes The Color Of such a refreshing song amidst a musical landscape devoid of any honest originality.
I’ve been an R.W. Roldan fan for a long time now, but his most recent output has been far more polished and focused than anything else he produced in the past. His brand of Americana is instantly recognizable, but the late 2010s have seen his sound evolve into an entirely different kind of animal.
He’s less reserved in his lyrics than he once was, and he’s a lot more blatant in his narratives than what some country purists are accustom to. In a lot of ways his style is finally coming into its own, and sounding better than any of us could have ever hoped for.
If you love old fashioned country/western music with a present day relevancy to its message, The Color Of is the song for you this autumn. It capitalizes on the most celebrated attributes in R.W. Roldan’s sonic profile, but what’s more is that it conveys a heartfelt stance that Roldan is very serious about sharing with us.
The Color Of challenges us to think about what could be instead of what is, and if we all get together and work harder at accepting the differences that make each and every one of us special and unique, it’s message will be realized and our planet will be a lot nicer place to live.
If you enjoyed The Color Of, check out R.W. Roldan’s official website by clicking here. Give him a like on Facebook by clicking here & a follow on Twitter by clicking here.
