River N' Roots

River N’ Roots is Bob Cole and Mark Magnuson. Childhood friends since sixth grade in a town outside of Minneapolis.

Amongst lesser activities young lads pursue, both were respectable band geeks by junior high. Bob was the early adopter, learning to sing and play songs on his guitar. Soon after he loaned Mark a cheap acoustic and a Beatles songbook, saying “learn this…we’re starting a band next week”. The fuse had been lit.

The pair gravitated toward earlier rock music and grew along the way. They played cameos at proms, talent shows, living rooms and basements, driveways, garages, local town halls, fundraisers, small dance gigs. While in their early 20’s, Bob built an impressive recording studio in his home basement, where they wrote, played and produced two releases together. These were the days before vinyl was vintage, and before rock was called classic.

Now decades later, “Retrospect” celebrates two friends who love music, enjoy playing together, and release stories out to the world. Some of these songs were written years ago, some days before the studio sessions, some are favorites from early influences. The album highlights musical styles in Rock, Americana, Folk Pop, Indie, even Rockabilly Swing. Songs were written, updated, laughed over, shaped and sculpted in the way songs often are during the artistic percolation process. Lyric themes circle around love, heartache, encouragement, hometown, having fun....roots and rivers alike.