Country-singer Maggie Rose to perform at Harrah’s

For about four minutes, country singer Maggie Rose gets to escape.

“Looking Back Now,” the latest single from the 25-year-old performer, is the kind of song that allows the Maryland native to “just relish in the idea of assuming a different role,” she said.

Its tempo is upbeat, its chorus is catchy, but the first-person narrative is dark. The song, from Rose’s 2013 debut album “Cut to Impress,” tells the story of a woman who fights back against a cheating man and a prison warden. The results are fatal.

Rose, who’s performed the song live hundreds of times during the past five years and has stepped into the mind of the character, sees the light in the dark tale that is told.

“To me, it’s a story of a woman who is vindictive,” she said. “She’s a murderer, she’s a little sinister at times, but I think she’s a survivor. Despite all the horrible things she does in the song, I sympathize with her because there’s this vulnerability and this complexity in her character that makes her so interesting to me. And I think that a lot of people generally root for her also.”

Maricopa residents will get a chance to see Rose assume a different character during a performance when she makes a stop at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino April 5.

While her debut album is only a year old, Rose has been on the music scene for much longer. In 2009 – Rose, who then had the recording name Margaret Durante – performed a cover of Kings of Leon’s 2008 hit “Use Somebody,” adding a country flavor to the tune. Rose has since changed labels twice and is now with RPM Entertainment.

“Cut to Impress” was released in March 2013. Other singles from the debut album include “I Ain’t Your Mama” and “Better.”

She described the change of her recording name as a “fresh start.”

“It was sort of a line in the sand for me to signify that I had grown up,” she said. “I was reestablishing myself as an artist by changing my look and my sound.”

Rose described her music set during performances as having “a lot of diversity” –
much like her album. At Harrah’s, Rose said the audience will hear both songs from her album and songs one can’t find anywhere else.

“I actually – since releasing this album – (have) been cultivating a lot of new material,” she said.

Rose said she is working on a new album and an extended play recording, or EP, which contains fewer songs than a typical album. The EP will come first.

While “Cut to Impress” has a lot of “introspective music,” she said the EP will be a bit of a departure she described as “almost a party EP.”

It was Rose’s friend, Lisa Carver, who wrote the song “Looking Back Now” more than a decade ago, she said.

“There’s not a wasted word in that song to me,” Rose said. “It’s a story telling song, which I think in country music those are some of my favorite songs that really attracted me to Nashville in the first place, but you don’t hear a lot of them anymore.”

A music video of the song is set to be released Tuesday. It will be released first on the video hosting service Vevo.

“It’s this close-cropped crazy video that really just relies on my performance and I’m really proud of it,” she said.

Rose added the video is “almost unsettling at times, but I think good art has to be.”

For the show at Harrah’s, admission is free. Rose is scheduled to perform in the The Lounge at 8 and 10 p.m.