Caitlin Rose @ Milkboy.

Text and images by Kyle Bagenstose.

Lap steel guitar, mason jars, cowboy boots and a sweet country voice.

Philly got a a little taste of Nashville Wednesday night, as singer Caitlin Rose took to the stage at Milkboy, on tour after releasing her latest album, The Stand-In, in February.

Rose, 25, has been touted as one of the future stars of country, with a pitch-perfect voice that occupies a nice middle ground: country but not too twangy, sweet but not too gentle. On stage she seemed almost a bit nervous, joking tentatively with the small crowd as she sips tequila from a mason jar.

“Milkboy’s a funny name but it sounds almost sexy, like an emasculated man, which is a fantasy of mine,” she said to a few chuckles. “OK, I think I’ll play a song for you now.”

Rose’s awkwardness quickly disappeared when she began to sing, as her voice managed to standout from the talented five-man band plucking away around her and demanded attention. Lyrically, she sings of lost love and longing, but with an honesty that suggests she’s been around the ringer a few times and is starting to figure things out– with a little added perspective from the whiskey bottle.

Rose’s newest single, “Waitin’,” was the highlight, as a crowd that had been somewhat stationary for most of the night (“It’s so quiet out there,”Rose jabbed. “Ya’ll sound like they did over in England.”) finally began to move. The song also offered a chance for guitarist Jeremy Fetzer to show off his talent on the electric guitar, which added an extra rock-edge to the show.

Fetzer is part of four-man band Deep Vibration, which backed Rose the entire night, as did 26-year-old Andrew Combs, who pulled double duty after playing a toe-tapping set before Rose took the stage. All six hail from Nashville, which gave the Milkboy crowd a true taste of what the young talent in the Music City sounds like these days, and it did not disappoint.