Rosi Golan puts a face to the music

Rosi Golan with Peter Bradley Adams

Club Café

Dec. 5

7 p.m.

$8

Most people have heard … Rosi Golan with Peter Bradley Adams

Club Café

Dec. 5

7 p.m.

$8

Most people have heard Rosi Golan’s music, even if they haven’t heard of her.

Her songs have been used in “Grey’s Anatomy,” “One Tree Hill,” “Dollhouse,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Private Practice” and “Brothers and Sisters,” as well as several national ad campaigns.

Golan’s music doesn’t stick to one genre, just as it isn’t limited to one television station.

“It’s kind of a mix. Some stuff is a little poppier, some is folksier. It’s tough to define it. If you needed to put it in a category, I’d say it’s pop-folk with a country twinge,” Golan said. “I don’t like to be stuffed into one genre. I’d get kind of bored if I were to put together a record of all the same music. I think you need diversity.”

When asked if she had ever turned on the television or radio and been surprised to hear one of her own songs, Golan said, “Yeah! That actually has happened. It’s weird, and it’s really awesome. I’m so thankful. I’ve had such an incredible year. People have been so supportive of what I do. [Music] is a really difficult business to do well in.”

She will perform at Club Café on Dec. 5, a show she’s looking forward to. “I really enjoy playing that venue, and there was a great tuna taco place nearby,” she said.

Golan’s debut album, The Drifter and the Gypsy, came out last November after the Israeli-born singer spent several years in the music business.

“For a long time, I could have released a set of demos, but I felt I wasn’t really ready until last year. It was a longer journey for me. I also started writing for other artists and got caught up in that,” Golan said.

The album’s title track deals with Golan’s childhood and her father, who passed away shortly before the record was finished and to whom the album is dedicated.

“The song embodied where I was at that time,” she said. “You write a lot of songs and then look at everything you have and try to put together a journey. When you’re putting them in a certain order you try to create a feeling. I kind of aim for an emotional arc,” Golan said.

Golan did not begin creating music until she was almost 20.

“I was kind of at that point where I was just like, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ I had always loved music, but I didn’t know if I could sing. I heard a commercial for a sale at Guitar Center and bought one on a whim,” Golan said.

A neighbor taught her some chords, and she began writing her own music soon after.

A musician friend of Golan’s invited her to sing backup for his performance, providing her the opportunity for much-needed stage experience.

After that, she began playing open mics and eventually her own shows before collaborating with other artists and co-writing songs.

A great concert for Golan is “a combination of things: your audience and the mood they’re in in and the day you’ve had. A million little things can go wrong or can go right, or sometimes if you’ve had a bad day, your audience can turn that around. I like having conversations with the audience, I love coming out afterward and talking to everybody. It’s very cool to see the people you reach with your music.”