Madder Rose was a
New York City-based
alternative rock band who recorded in the 1990s. The band was fronted by
Mary Lorson, who shared songwriting duties with guitarist Billy Coté. The two singer/songwriters continued their collaboration, Coté as guest producer on Lorson's three discs with Saint Low, Lorson as guest vocalist on Coté's Jazz Cannon disc. Lorson and Cote have also created the original scores to several films, notably HBO's documentary of Sally Mann, and in 2008 released a disc with Kathy Ziegler as The Piano Creeps. The name Madder Rose came from the herb-based paint
rose madder. Many of their songs, including "Panic On" and "Car Song", were featured in
John Peel's end-of-year round-up, the
Festive Fifty, major feature films, and television shows. The band released three albums on
Atlantic Records, and one on
Cooking Vinyl, before breaking up in 1999.