Bad Madonna’s Alexis Rhode Goes Solo as ROADIE, Shares First Single “Ball of String”

Alexis Rhode of Jacksonville indie-rock act Bad Madonna has shared her first solo single as ROADIE, exploring a more delicate singer-songwriter sound on the pensive breakup song “Ball of String.”

Rhode is backed by Danny Strickland, Milan Algood and Jordan Mixon on her new single, but you wouldn’t know it from the song’s opening moments. “I guess I got in with the wrong crowd / Ooh / I guess I don’t know who I am now,” Rhode reflects over a lone acoustic guitar, her vocalizations multiplied as if to represent the shattered fragments of her identity. Soon enough, her backing band joins in, lending their gentle but firm support to Rhode’s attempts to pick up the pieces and move on.

In its last act, “Ball of String” finds Rhode on her own again, both lyrically and instrumentally. “The restlessness pulls at me / And I unravel like a ball of string,” she croons over that solitary acoustic, sounding down, but not quite out. The song’s unusual structure almost plays out like the relationship she’s mourning, beginning and ending with Rhode all alone, making sense of things as best she can with just her voice and a guitar. Its final refrain—“Trying to figure out what I need”—isn’t happy or sad, it simply is.

“Writing ‘Ball of String’ was my way of working through something really painful and upsetting and instead of blaming anyone or anything else, it was an opportunity for me to take a look at myself,” Rhode said in a statement. “Where did I go wrong? Have I been honest? What do I need?”

ROADIE will play a free “Ball of String” release show on Friday, March 15, at The Flamingo at 9 p.m. Stream the track here.