Reviews for Rosella Red Home

Maverick Magazine - FIVE STARS
“She has the heart of a poet and the eyes of a painter. Her writing is literate, credible, forthright and honest. Her voice is beautiful, a term I very rarely use when describing the deliveries of most singers. It is emotion packed without ever being melodramatic, compassionate without being needlessly sentimental, damning when she fervently believes certain issues need to be confronted head on, but always making for compelling listening.
“A quite superb album from one of the most notable women, currently living up to the reputation she has quite painstakingly built over a number of years in the contemporary folk scene.”

Froots
Chris While's mercurial switches between formats - with Julie Matthews, with daughter Kellie, as occasional Fairport vocalist, on her own – might leave some followers blinking.
However her latest solo venture finds her in familiar territory, produced by Joe ‘Safe Hands’ Broughton, with a clutch of love songs, wry observation, a dash of social comment and well chosen covers, Nothing unexpected but her vocal skill still has acres more soul and character that half the opposition’s and only hints at what she’s got hidden. The exquisite Dark Blue Eyes, dedicated to the aforementioned Kellie, is possibly the most atmospheric creation, though The Promise, a gentle, orchestral driven eco-lament is both bold and heartfelt.
She’s probably sung it a thousand times but I can’t think of a better closer that Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, a song that she seems to get right under the skin of and performs with a knowing edge.
Still at the top of her game then, this is a quiet, subtle offering.
Simon Jones.

Net Rhythms
Chris is undoubtedly one of the top female singers in the UK, so rated by audiences and fellow-performers alike, and she recently enjoyed copious accolades when she took on Sandy Denny's role in Fairport's Cropredy revisit of Liege And Lief. Although Chris has been inordinately busy since leaving the Albion Band in 1997 (mostly in her ever-flourishing touring partnership with Julie Matthews, also latterly with daughter Kellie) and constantly in demand, it's still unbelievable that Rosella Red is Chris's first solo project in ten years.
She's come a long way since In The Big Room (fine collection though that was): her voice has developed and matured even since those days, of course, but also in that no fewer than eight of the ten songs on this latest offering are Chris's own compositions. (Now I wouldn't wish to undersell those, but the two non-originals are surely among the album's standout tracks: the hauntingly evocative Pennyweight Hill by Australian songwriter Michael Kennedy, and a stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides, Now to close the disc).
The selection of Chris's own songs presented here really does capture the impressive breadth of her artistic creativity both as songwriter and as singer. There's a real poetry in her imagery: the album's title is a depiction of the glow of the Australian landscape, taken from the love-song Safe In Your Arms, while on Falling Ashes Chris memorably chronicles the industrial decline and subsequent rebirth of her home-town (Barrow-in-Furness). The purposely enigmatic When I Watch You Sleep has a cheeky country feel, while Dark Blue Eyes is a love-song-cum-tribute to the very special bond that Chris has with Kellie (who repays the compliment by contributing some lovely backing vocals over the course of the CD). Another standout song, The Promise, is a heartfelt cri-de-cœur that forms Chris's personal take on the current environmental crisis and contains some simple yet harrowing images. The latter song is a perfect calling-card for the album too, for it contains the defining sound of a significant part of it: that of a string quartet blending and weaving with the generous but simple acoustic traceries of guitars and soft percussion. Which leads me to mention that maestro Joe Broughton is responsible for those beautiful and sensitive arrangements (remember, he'd previously collaborated with Chris on her contribution to the Rubber Folk album, Nowhere Man) and plays violin, mandolin and guitar throughout the disc. Other musicians involved here include bassist Neil Fairclough and percussionists Gerry Conway and Tom Chapman, who together provide sufficiently light textures that set Chris's gorgeous voice in due relief. Nicely complementary cover art too, by the way (designed by Swarb's wife Jill). Yes, Rosella Red forms another satisfying chapter in Chris's illustrious career.

The Talk Magazine
It can’t be easy for Chris While. Not only half of one of the most successful folk duos of recent years (with Julie Matthews), this August she also faced a sold-out festival of the Fairport faithful, occupying the not inconsiderable shoes of Sandy Denny for a bash through The Most Influential Folk Album of All TimeTM, Liege and Lief. How do you follow that? Well, how about gathering a bunch of talented friends and relations – numbering, amongst others, fiddler Joe Broughton and Fairport sticksman Gerry Conway – knocking out a supremely tasteful collection of largely self-penned songs? Why not, eh? Impossible to pigeon-hole, with more than a dash of jazz and less folk than some may expect, along with a good sprinkling of Americana, this is proper singer/songwriter stuff – no whiney substitute therapy, just thoughtful, articulate lyrics embroidered with perfectly considered arrangements, whether on the threatening ‘Pennyweight Hill’ (one of only two songs from other writers) or the light, dancing ‘Safe in Your Arms’. As with all good songwriters, even the openly personal – ‘Dark Blue Eyes’ being a particular example here – carries an emotional universality, and there is an intimacy in performance which gently draws the listener to the heart of the songs. Not one for industrial Goths, then, but for lovers of warm, intelligent songs for grown-ups, Chris While is certainly a class act. oz hardwick

Folking.com
As the Guardian suggests she truly has an angelic voice but with a forceful range and I challenge anyone not to reach for a tissue during her rendition of Pennyweight hill. Her range and power send unexpected signals down the spine and you sense that she might just be able to enter a musical medium to which we lesser mortals are just not invited but happily is just generous enough to let us have a glimpse. From failing shipyards, to an Australian graveyard and ultimately environmental crisis…this is an angel with a conscience.