If anyone knows how to roll with the punches, it’s Travis Roberts. At 24, the Texas

songwriter has already battled addiction, buried friends, and been so broke he couldn’t

put a roof over his head. Hell, he even joined an underground fight club just to pay for

studio time.

“Whoever won the fights took home the lion’s share of the money,” he explains, “but

even if you lost, you made something. I lost a lot, but I got what I needed out of it.”

It should be no surprise, then, that Roberts comes out swinging on his blistering debut,

Rebel Rose. Recorded with Roberts’ longtime live band, The Willing Few, the album

fuses earnest country storytelling with rowdy rock and roll energy as it blurs the lines

between roots, punk, folk, and power pop. The writing is raw and visceral here, built on

gritty portraits of working-class underdogs just trying to get by, and the performances

are nothing short of explosive, propelled by a relentless rhythm section, searing guitars,

and infectious melodic hooks. The result is an exhilarating album that defies easy

categorization, an alternately bruising and triumphant reflection on growing up, getting

clean, and giving it your all from an artist who’s taken more than his fair share of hits.

Every fighter knows, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that

matters is how many times you get back up