Harmony James

I've been such a slacker, but I have good excuses ... No, really! And I just wish I had more time to write on this blog. I'm making a special effort today, though, because I'm so incredibly excited about Harmony James's album Tailwind, which has become an immediate favourite. It starts out sounding like a 'normal' country album - there are the usual guitars and fiddles. The songwriting is not complex - the themes aren't new - but there is just something there that makes this album superior. It's probably got something to do with Harmony's voice: mature, both sharp and warm, direct and honest. She expresses emotion and enunciates clearly, and they're both underrated traits in singers. It was her voice that first hooked me when I went to her Myspace page, and even though the album didn't grab me immediately, by the third rotation I was hooked.

Tailwind also offers a lot of value for money - 15 tracks plus a bonus, the wistful, lovely 'Call of the Currawong'. The title track is a standout - and the winner of the Country division in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition - although the album is lousy with standout tracks.

According to her website, Harmony doesn't yet have solo shows at Tamworth 2010. Hopefully that will change.

www.harmonyjames.com

CD review: Landing Lights by Felicity Urquhart

Felicity Urquhart’s last record, My Life, was a very appealing collection of ‘pretty’ (not a pejorative) pop-country songs and some more rocking material. It was a very good record, but in light of her most recent release, Landing Lights, it’s clear that My Life was Felicity doing what was expected of a country music singer-songwriter at that point of her career in Australia (or the US) – because, while there was a lot to like on MyLife, Landing Lights is a superior album.

Landing Lights is a satisfyingly eclectic gathering of songs that Urquhart has co-written with one usual suspect (Randy Scruggs) and some new co-conspirators. Karl Broadie’s fingerprints are all over ‘So Go On’ – an up-tempo toe tapper that has me smiling every time I hear it – while Kim Richey brings her melancholy bent (and some vocals) to ‘All Good Fun’. The unexpected collaborators include Nick Barker and Michael Spiby; the tunes co-written with Barker, ‘Two Wheels’ and ‘Bed & Breakfast’, are undoubtedly the ‘tougher’ songs on the album. Urquhart’s two co-writes with Robert Lee Castleman, ‘Little Cricket’ and ‘Time for a Change’, are complex, delicate and dark songs. The title track is a masterpiece of wistfulness and yearning.

There are only two ‘radio songs’ – ‘Girl in the Mall’, written with Mark Seymour, and ‘Ernie’s Daughter’- but I only call them that because they fallen some melodic and lyric conventions that will appeal to the traditional country music listenership.

Through all the different styles of songs - the tales of life, love and loss – soars Urquhart’s beautiful voice. When I first saw her play live I couldn’t get over how amazing that voice is, and couldn’t understand why more people didn’t know about it.

Landing Lights is more than the sum of its very fine parts. While I find myself listening more to the sweet-melodied songs – coincidentally, the even-numbered tracks – there’s not a single song on this CD I don’t like. The album is the mark of a confident, talented performer and songwriter who should find a big, big audience.

www.felicityurquhart.com

The great silence

I've been such a bad blogger. But I've had reasons! I was writing other things, for one. And I didn't go to Tamworth this year, so I have nothing to say about it. But shortly I will have things to say about:

• Felicity Urquhart's new album, Landing Lights
• Shane Nicholson's newie
• Caitlin Harnett's EP
• Karl Broadie live

and possibly some other stuff. Now I just have to remember to write those posts ...