Bria Rose talks about new music, upcoming shows and sticking to her lifelong passion
“I just love the Yukon and I love the music scene here. It’s been so supportive and helped me start my career.”
Though she’s only been in the Yukon for the past four years, Bria Rose has already become a staple of the territory’s music community.
Originally hailing from Dease Lake, B.C., she hit the ground running upon arriving in Whitehorse, playing every open mic and free performance opportunity she could find to meet fellow musicians and music lovers, before eventually launching Bria Rose N’ Thorns, her indie-folk group.
“I just love the Yukon and I love the music scene here,” she says. “It’s been so supportive and helped me start my career.”
Considering herself first and foremost a storyteller, as well as a lyricist and a vocalist, Rose is primarily self-taught, but wants to pass on her gifts to younger generations in addition to sharing her craft with audiences.
She’s been taking lessons to improve her skills in order to teach music to youth, and last fall completed the Women in Music Canada (WIMC) Entrepreneur Accelerator program.
“It’s been a busy few years,” she says.
Last year, Rose released her debut EP, Sprout, and is working on its follow-up now, which will be her first full-length record. She plans to release the first single this fall, as she has been documenting moments and feelings from her own life through her songwriting.
“It has pieces of my roots, the folk and country bits,” she says of the new music. “But I think it’s also alluding more to what is to come and showing more of my style. As I’m growing as an artist, I think I’m turning more to alternative rock and folk rock. I’m excited to share it.”
Titled Bloom and planned for a hopeful April 2026 release, the album will continue the theme set by Sprout, and serve as the second entry in a trilogy following the life cycle of a rose.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of work and practice,” says Rose. “It grows your confidence to know you can come from somewhere with 400 people and still become a successful businessperson with a bit of effort and support.”
Though she’s been making music her whole life, Rose has started more recently to see her artistic endeavours as a career-in-progress rather than a hobby.
“I’m actually working towards something I’ve dreamt about since I was a little child,” she says. “It’s been really awesome.”
As far as live performances, though she hopes to tour more extensively next year, this summer Rose is keeping things mostly local with a mix of band and solo shows, kicking off a summer of northern shows with a performance at Winterlong Brewing Co.’s 10th anniversary celebration in May.
Rose will also be performing a solo set June 21 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC) for National Indigenous Peoples Day, and with her band that night at Lefty’s Well.
“We haven’t played at Lefty’s in almost a year,” she says. “It’ll be fun to step back into such a sweet local spot.”
After cutting her teeth in venues like Lefty’s and the Local Bar, the local spots will always have a place in Rose’s heart. Other local performances will include a July show at the Guild Hall in Whitehorse and an August show at the Village Bakery in Haines Junction.
Perhaps most exciting of all is a slot on the long-awaited return of the Atlin Arts & Music Festival, taking place July 11-13 in the northern B.C. community.
“Once upon a time, Gord Downie played this festival,” says Rose. “It’s pretty cool to be playing the same festival.”
Rose says every day she struggles to be true to the word “tenacity.” She admits the constant grind of being an artist-entrepreneur can be a drain on her mental health, especially when she feels discouraged not landing opportunities she’s poured work into — but none of that is ever enough to make her give up, and it only makes her appreciate the wins more.
“Sometimes you’re doing admin work and you’re spending so much of your time on the computer, and you just want to be doing the music,” she says. “But it’s a hand-in-hand process, and I live for the performance – there’s nothing better in the world.”
Even though she gets nervous before she plays live, it’s still Rose’s favourite thing to do, and how she recharges her social battery. She remembers her father telling her when she was younger that if you don’t get nervous, it means you don’t care, and she carries that motto with her to this day.
To keep up with Bria Rose’s news, music and shows, visit briarosemusic.bandzoogle.com.
“Putting your emotions into something physical, whether that’s art or building or whatever, it’s life-saving,” says Rose. “You don’t have to ingest or take something; there are good ways to channel your feelings, and I think it’s important to share that.”
