We recently connected with October Rose and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Leanne and Derek, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Since forming our country duo in 2016, we have experienced so many beautiful moments, experiences, and highs in our musical journey. However, there have been challenges and lows as well, and to navigate those music requires a thick skin and resilience. Not everything always goes according to plan, so we have learned to adapt by sticking together, talking to each other about our feelings, and forming new plans of action to get the results we’re looking for. When opportunities don’t come our way, we’ve learned to move on and prepare for the next opportunity. We believe in hard work together, which is something we learned from our parents, who have taught us those lessons growing up. Resilience is crucial in the music business because there are always those highs and lows.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
In 2016, we were connected through social media when I, Derek, reached out to Leanne on Facebook, as I saw she was also a solo country artist. Having just moved to NYC from Pittsburgh, I was wanting to make friends in country music in the area, so I mentioned that I’d stop by a show she was playing with her band. The moment we met, there was instant chemistry, personally and musically. We decided to form a duo a few months later and hit the ground running. We came out of the gates swinging with featured appearances on Ty, Kelly and Chuck’s “10 Minute Tune” and have since had opening slots for Maren Morris, Jake Owen, Russell Dickerson, Jimmie Allen, Granger Smith, and Tyler Rich.
After six years of touring and dating, we tied the knot in 2022 just as two of our songs were going viral on social media. “Heart Can’t Lie,” a stripped back but controversial track, caused a stir on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and became our top streaming song in 2022. Later that year, our original wedding song “Missing Piece” saw viral success as many fans began using the song for their first dance or ceremony.
We’ve been known for writing and recording heartfelt music and not being afraid to put our relationship in the spotlight. With our family now growing, there will be more music and stories coming from us about love, life and the pursuit of happiness!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three personal qualities that have been the most impactful for us have been three C’s — confidence, consistency, and commitment. We could not do what we do without confidence, boldly going out and pursuing our dreams with nothing holding us back. Consistency is keeping going with creating music and content for our fans every week, in addition to taking vocal lessons and practicing our music together. Lastly, our commitment to one another is strong, not only in music, but in marriage and family.
Those starting out in pursuing their dreams should take the first step and create a plan of action that is consistent to get where they need to go. Do something small every day for your dream. It all adds up! Soon, all the hours of hard work and practice and planning will result in bigger opportunities and results.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
As independent artists, one challenge we face is getting our original music distributed on music platforms on a more mass scale. Although we are extremely grateful for the success we’ve had with streaming from our TikTok and Reels content, we’d love to be added to editorial playlists and sync opportunities, and that’s where having a major record deal would help us. So we’re always looking for ways to get our music out to as many fans as possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.octoberrosemusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/octoberrosecountry
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/octoberrosecountry
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/octoberrosectry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OctoberRose
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/octoberrose
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@octoberrosemusic
Image Credits
Photo #1: Charlie Mesure Photo #2 & 3: Laura DeSantis-Olsson Photo #4: Unknown
