Friday August 8th, 2025 Stoney Brooks calls Atlanta musician Nathalie Rose up on stage at Blind Willie’s in Atlanta, Georgia where he was performing with his Cottonmouth Combo.
Here’s what happened, I believe it was around 10:p.m. and I see another fantastic Atlanta musician and singer, Dre’ Antoine walk in the door. Right behind him walks in none other than Atlanta’s beloved Nathalie Rose. Some know her as a bass slaying phenom, some know her as a multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire (Nathalie can sing, play bass, play guitar, play piano and play the violin too!) and some know Nathalie Rose as a fierce entertainer that will make a crowd fall in love with her. It’s no secret that Nathalie Rose runs Tuesday nights at Atlanta’s Northside Tavern, and she slays it week after week after week there. She’s like the Pied Piper, Turning unsuspecting patrons into mush with her voice and her unbelievable crowd work. Nathalie Rose is a top notch entertainer. Full Stop.
OK, so let’s get back to Stoney Brooks asking Nathalie to come up to the stage, after he showed her and Dre’ Antoine some love to his whole crowd (more than once). Nathalie comes up, a very brief discussion ensues between Stoney and Nathalie, and the next thing I know every jaw in the place was on the floor. Now I KNOW all about Nathalie Rose, all her strongest musical and vocal capabilities, her ability to wow and own a crowd etc.-or so I thought. Somehow in the last more than a year of seeing her perform live countless times, her ability to TOTALY AND COMPLETELY OWN THE BLUES had escaped me. I mean, she can whip a bass’s ass, nice and funky, really really thoroughly, she can play all of her instruments so well, and she can sing so good-and with a very distinctive voice. But what was this? This was the most incredible thing I heard all week, and I had a week to make people envious of as far as live music I was personally at.
I get what Nathalie Rose does at most of her gigs, her normal go-to routine is very very good, and a very enjoyable evening out listening to her and her band (in all its forms with her interchangeable players)-but the way she sings the blues makes me personally think she should re-think what she’s most often doing. Her nights are always a solid 8 on a scale of 1-10, but her blues singing was a rock solid 10. I feel 100% confident in saying, Nathalie Rose could enter and win, The Atlanta Blues Challenge and the US and International Blues Challenges. And I am not playing.
The wise one Stoney Brooks, knew something that apparently no one else in the room knew that night. We all learned the hard way as we were scraping our jaws up off the floor. I’m gonna say this right here: Nathalie Rose would be the biggest woman in Blues in one year flat if she ever decided to enter that world. And I am commandeering that hill.
Y’all go see her for yourself, and don’t let her normal schtick get you. Ask her to sing some blues for you. And I’ll go ahead and say it now-you’re welcome.