Brittany Kelley
WIMBERLEY — Rose Gabriel has played with several groups over the years, but when she moved to Wimberley in 2020 and met the future members of the Hill Country Honeys, she knew that this was the band she had been waiting for.
Gabriel had been interested in music her whole life, but, like many artists, she was told to “grow up.” So, she did. She had a career, a job, a marriage and a child, but the music was still there throughout her life to aid in processing her feelings.
A pivotal moment for the singer was in 2013 when she was going through a divorce. She recalled doing a lot of walking and listening to music, only to come home and cover their songs: “It was just like, ‘Wait a minute. I can do this.’ So, I started writing my own songs,” said Gabriel.
From there, she began a solo career and eventually created two other bands in the Austin area. Gabriel stated that she saw success in the groups, but it wasn’t until she met her current bandmates that she realized the songs she spent years writing weren’t for the other bands — they were for The Hill Country Honeys all along.
“I was at a song circle and I met Mindy Turner,” explained Gabriel. “I knew immediately; I was like, ‘I want to start a band with that girl.’ I’d already had the idea of the name for the Hill Country Honeys because I was in the Hill Country and I like alliteration a lot. So, she and I started playing together [and] our voices work so well together. Then, I was looking around for a bass player.’
Knowing that she wanted an all-woman band, she reached out to Janice Ryals-Rogers. Eventually, after convincing, Ryals-Rogers began singing alongside Gabriel and Turner, which the band would later become renowned for — their three-part harmony.
Although working well together, Gabriel stated that the group needed a guitar player, so they temporarily had Elliot Rogers — Ryals-Rogers' husband — join for several years, until Sloan Michael came into the picture in 2023.
“She was hanging around here for about a year and I was just checking her out and she’s a really good electric guitar player, lead guitar player, songwriter, singer [and], with Elliot’s blessing … I asked Sloan to come and be part of the band. It took her a couple of months; she was afraid, I think. She held back until she didn’t and then, it was like, ‘Holy cow,’” recalled Gabriel.
The band’s first show together, as a foursome, was in April, but there were many surprises, recalled the singer.
“The first show we played with Sloan, Mindy wasn’t there … We played at the Red Bud Cafe in Blanco and it was the first show that we all played together and Jimmie Vaughan was there,” she said. “[And Elliot] came up and he said, ‘Jimmie Vaughan was wondering if he can get up and play … It was sort of a crazy situation.”
Vaughan is a renowned American blues rock guitarist, explained Gabriel, so to have him join their band for a night was a memorable moment.
“[This band] is what I was hearing in my head. When I heard all the pieces and all the noises and all the things — not that those other bands weren’t able to execute them really well, but these girls — it was just like 'click,’” Gabriel said.
The songs, which Gabriel states she mainly writes, are often of personal experiences, though, there are also fun prompts that are thrown out there. For example, she stated that, recently, someone prompted “I can’t let you in” and she immediately thought of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. This story quickly became one of domestic abuse — despite not having experience with this — emphasizing that the abused victim is more than their past and that they are stronger than they were.
Since Michael joined, Garbiel shared that the group has been able to explore a more full sound, as Michael is more of an electric and blues player, while Rogers was bluegrass. Additionally, Turner is playing with a full drum kit.
To this day, Gabriel’s favorite part of being in a band is performing on stage: “Part of why I never really played music publicly when I was young is [that] I had crippling stage fright. I just couldn’t get past it, but when you turn 50, you really stop caring that much about what people think and you do what brings you joy.”
Singing and playing to a crowd of community members that really appreciate music makes all the difficult moments worth it, she said, as the logistics of hauling instruments and other necessities and hiring sound technicians — when it isn’t being done by Gabriel’s fiancé, David Booth — for very little money can be overwhelming.
“Wimberley is really, really wonderful in that they value live music,” emphasized the singer. “You don’t get paid a lot for a lot of work. The playing up on stage, that’s the gravy. That’s not work; that’s the fun stuff.”
The band’s next big endeavor is recording its first full album, which Gabriel hopes to release in spring of 2026. She also hopes to release a solo album, filled with personal ballads, along with background vocals from her daughter.
To learn more about the Hill Country Honeys or find their live performance schedule, visit www.hchoneys.com.
