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Springfielder’s new country trio to showcase its ‘gritty pretty’ sound

The group won the Country Showdown at this year’s fair

Springfield native Nate McDonough (far right) has joined with former Saving Jane members Marti Dodson (left) and Brandon Hagan to create an acoustic country trio, Union Rose. Saving Jane had a Top 40 hit in 2006 with "Girl Next Door."

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 9:22 AM Friday, October 21, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — When two members of Saving Jane, a Columbus band that had a couple of pop radio hits nationally, decided to form an acoustic country trio last year, they knew what they wanted in the third member.

“Marti and Brandon said, ‘We need somebody who sounds like Nate McDonough,’ ” explained McDonough himself. “Marti said, ‘Well, what about Nate McDonough?’ ”

After all, who better to sound like Nate McDonough than Nate McDonough?

The Springfield native, already busy leading the Nate McDonough Band and running his own recording studio in Pickerington, became that third member of Union Rose, alongside lead singer Marti Dodson and guitarist Brandon Hagan.

The Columbus-based country trio will make its second appearance here in McDonough’s hometown tonight with a gig at Station One.

The $3 cover charge won’t even cover the Ticketmaster service fees when Union Rose makes it big.

While they’ve recorded only a handful of tunes, what’s there is both unique and catchy.

“We call it gritty pretty,” McDonough said.

He’s the guy who supplies the grit to radio-ready tunes like “North of Dixie” and “Bootleggers and Baptists.”

It shouldn’t work, this combination of McDonough’s grizzly bass-baritone — weathered by the 12 years he spent screaming metal with the ironically named Springfield band, Grit — and Dodson’s pop chops.

You probably remember hearing her on the radio not terribly long ago singing the Saving Jane tunes “Girl Next Door” and “Supergirl.”

McDonough, a 1996 North High grad, had played a few shows with Saving Jane with his own band, which he’ll continue fronting.

But on this Union Rose stuff, McDonough readily assumes the guise of a Statler Brother from hell.

“I didn’t think I’d get the part,” he confessed. “I’d never really done country before. I dabbled in the folk-rock, singer-songwriter thing.

“It’s not far of a stretch for me.”

It’s not a stretch for Dodson, either, despite earlier success with a sound tailor-made for Radio Disney.

“Her first love was country,” McDonough said. “She grew up in the small town of Franklin Furnace. Everyone out there listens to country.”

If you need further proof, Union Rose won the Texaco Country Showdown at the Clark County Fair in July.

And despite the lack of a record label, the rowdy “North of Dixie” already has been picked up by several country stations — no small feat in this day and age of corporate radio.

“One of the stations,” McDonough said, “is asking for a second single.”

Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.

How to go

Who: Union Rose, with opener Mason Field

When: 9 p.m. today

Where: Station One, 325 N. Fountain Ave.

Cost: $3

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