Amber Lawrence's big year gets busier

Amber Lawrence is one of the bright lights of Australian country music, winning the 2015 Golden Guitar for Female Artist of the Year. Late last year she released a new album, Happy Ever After, and since then she's written and recorded Our Backyard, an EP with fellow Golden Guitar winner Travis Collins, ahead of their tour starting this week. She's packed in more this year besides - as I found out when I spoke to her recently about what's behind and what's ahead, including the Gympie Music Muster.

There never seems to be a dull moment in your life or career, so since Happy Ever After was released, what have been the highlights?

Since Happy Ever After, which was only September last year, the biggest highlight has been … well, there’s two now since [In Our Backyard] has been going so great. But singing in America, in New York, on the USS Intrepid in May, a song that I wrote called ‘100 Year Handshake’, and the guests of honour being [US President] Donald Trump, [Australian prime minister] Malcolm Turnbull and surviving Coral Sea Battle veterans. It was just me and my guitar standing on a stage in a silent room of 800 people, singing a song that I’d written specifically for the night. So that was kind of validation that, ‘Hey, maybe I’m okay at this job’ [laughs].

You often play with a band, but of course you are used to playing on your own with a guitar – was it really nerve wracking to be out there on your own?

The whole event was just so grand. The President of the United States was there so the Secret Service was everywhere, security – we obviously had to get cleared before it to even be able to go to it. Metal detectors, all that kind of stuff. Very important people in the room – in addition to that there was Rupert Murdoch, Greg Norman and John Travolta. Endless lists of people. So I actually didn’t get nervous. Because it was silent and they were all looking at me, I thought, You cannot get nervous right now. You cannot stuff this up. Sing it properly! It was like this reverse psychology: You have no option now – do it properly. I don’t know if I could bottle that advice or nerve cure but it kind of worked for me in the moment. Beccy Cole was there too and she said, ‘Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ And it was weird because I was nervous in the days leading up to it but when I got there just the huge momentousness of it made me think, You’ve just got to be good at this.

Writing a song specifically for that event, do you find it’s really helpful to have that sort of targeted project to do – does it help you channel your creativity? Or is it trickier because you have those constraints?

For me, it was easier. I really loved the challenge of that, actually, and I’ve been doing a lot of that lately – writing school theme songs, songs for tourism, songs for Western Sydney campaign, and then this one came along. I just find it really interesting because this one being a song about Australia and America’s friendship, I was nervous about writing it because it’s a big thing to write. The climate – with a new president and the prime minister and all that – I had to be writing it for the right reasons otherwise people are going to say, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So I did a lot of research, and my partner, he’s a bit of a history buff so he helped research with me and helped come up with some of the angles for the song. So we just took it to a personal place. Rather than saying this big, grand statement about American and Australian friendship, we looked at what are the things that have shown that. One of them was a man called Leslie Allen, a 26-year-old in 1943, who saved or carried twelve wounded American solders off Mount Tambu. He just kept running back into battle, dragging them out, and saved their lives. He got a Silver Star for it. He was Australian and they were American, and I thought, There’s my first example of Australian-American friendship. Then I thought about Apollo 11 and how Australia was pretty instrumental in getting the pictures to the rest of the world, out at Honeysuckle Creek, and Parkes obviously. And then the war brides were another example. I didn’t delve into really big things like ‘we’ve stood by each other in war’. That’s not who I am. I don’t make grand political statements, I make smaller statements that symbolise. It was really fun to write and send up the chain and get approval for it. [There was] ‘could you just change this word’ or ‘maybe that thing’, but on the whole the song was really embraced by the important people in America. It’s recorded now and you can buy it on iTunes or hard copy. So that’s been the highlight out of everything, but now this new project with Travis is becoming my new highlight.

You were talking about not making the big statements and making smaller statements, but I think it’s also the case that when you make a personal statement, even when it’s someone else’s story, if you’re telling it authentically and with emotion, that makes it more likely that everyone will relate than if you were making a big statement. So leading into the song with Travis and the EP, listening to that song, that’s cataloguing a whole lot of experiences that people can relate to. You’ve known Travis for a while, but how did this collaboration start?

We have been good friends for thirteen years now – we met in 2004. When I was deciding last year what to do this year for touring, I planned the tour with Catherine Britt and then thought, well, there’s going to be some time left in the year. We revisited the idea of touring with Travis, because we did it eight years ago. My manager and Travis’s manager are good friends, and they got on the phone and discussed us touring later this year. And I think just as a throwaway they said, ‘They should release an album together.’ They came back to us with the idea and both Travis and I said, ‘Yeah, why not? But here’s the thing: we’re not singing covers. We’re not singing songs other people have written. We’re writing the songs.’ So we basically arrived home from Tamworth in February this year and we had about eight co-writing sessions. We were both exhausted from a huge festival, and Travis won all those awards. So it was possible at that point that we’d say, ‘We’re too tired to write this, let’s not worry about recording.’ But we were both really determined. We wrote five songs together, and then two of the other songs on the EP are one that I’d written by myself and one that he’d written by himself. But this song, ‘Our Backyard’, came about because I went to Silverton in mid-Feb this year to go and visit Catherine Britt. And, of course, the thing you do is go and visit the Silverton sunset. We drove to the highest point in Silverton and watched the sunset, and there is nothing like it, so I wrote that down in my songwriting book. And then when [Travis and I] sat down together to write the song, I said, ‘What about this idea?’ I live in a beautiful part of the world – I live near the beach – and every time I go walking, I think, If I was overseas and I saw this, I’d say, ‘This is amazing’, but because it’s in our own backyard we just neglect to think it’s any good. Same with the Silverton sunset. We both travel so much in Australia – as well as overseas – that it was a song that was really easy to identify with. We put all those experiences overseas in and most of them I’ve done, most of them Travis has done, so together we’ve done them all, but there’s nothing like being home.

It’s a really terrific song, and apart from the lyrics being spot on it’s got a great, catchy sound

to it. So I’m sure it will do very well – it sounds like it is already. But touring the EP – I do love that you said you looked at the second half of the year and thought, I could fit in something there, when a lot of people might have thought they could fit in a rest. So to tour – when you go to plan something like that, how do you pick your venues?

We get that question all the time because people say to us, ‘Why don’t you come to our town? I can’t believe you went to the town an hour up the road when this town was better.’ We don’t really pick them. It’s a juggling act of time – we might have wanted to go to Albury on the Saturday night but they had someone else already booked so we had to go to Corowa an hour down the road. And then we’ll get everyone online saying, ‘Why did you pick that town?’ It’s because it’s really hard to fit timing, and who wants the show. It’s not just a matter of us wanting to do a show there but the venue and the town have to want us as well.

You had the writing process together and then you had the recording process – was there any argy-bargy about who got to sing lead on songs?

[Laughs] No, not really. We were both juggling different touring schedules so we weren’t in the studio the whole time together. I’d say, ‘I’ll leave that for Travis to do and I’ll be back tomorrow. He’ll finish it tonight.’ So no arguments – we left all the hard decisions up to the producer.

When I saw the announcement about the EP I thought, That is a great idea, those two working together. I imagine you’ll have people turning up to your shows also thinking it’s a great idea.

It’s great because we have really different fans as well, so it will be great crossing them over. Some of Travis’s fans have never heard of me and vice versa, and those who know us both can think, Great, two for the price of one!

Will you do a set each and then some songs together, or will the whole set be together?

I think we’ll do a set each and then the whole EP, seven tracks of the EP together, and probably finish on ‘Our Backyard’ – it seems like it’s a bit of a finale song.

And that’s a good evening’s entertainment, I have to say, to get that much music.

[Laughs] Be prepared to have a late night.

Of course, you are also heading to the Gympie Muster and I notice that you were put on the bill first for your normal show and then your kids show was added – what prompted you to add it?

I suggested it to the Muster a long time ago, that I’d be happy to do a kids show while I was there. There are families there and I think in the morning the kids are up – they’ve been up for hours – and what’s to do? The music’s not starting. Some of the singer-songwriter tents maybe the kids are a bit bored. So I thought let’s do a kids show. The Kid’s Gone Country is interactive – they learn to dance, they sing along, we learn their names, get them up on stage. But adults are allowed to come as well.

Are there any technical considerations for you in terms of your voice? If you’re used to singing later in the day, sometimes voices take a while to warm up – so for a morning show, is there anything you have to do?

Yes, you probably should prepare – not like a hard rocker, don’t stay up till 2 a.m. drinking whisky if you’re going to do a kids show. But my voice works pretty well in the morning – it’s fairly match fit, I would call it. It doesn’t need too much to get fired up.

I imagine you’ve done a few Gympies now – what are you looking forward to about the Muster?

What I’m looking forward to is always the same: genuine country fans who just get out in the dust or the mud – whichever one it is, and it’s always one of them – and they sing along to your songs, and you get to meet them. And it’s historic for me, too, because it’s one of the first festivals I ever went to. They had me on back in 2005. I was pretty lucky as a young artist, just with an EP out, that they took me on. So it’s always been one of three or four favourites that I have. I love it. I just love the dust, the dirt, and it brings out your best performance when you’re out in the sticks. You’re out in the country and you’re a country singer, so it feels good.

I guess it’s a different energy to Tamworth, too, because in Tamworth you have these confined venues – you’re inside for a lot of it – whereas at Gympie everything’s outside. I imagine that wave of energy that would come from having a massive outside crowd would be different.

Definitely. I think I’ve played there maybe five or six times – every second or third year. I’ve played in the rain. I’ve been freezing. I’ve been sunburnt. I’ve been muddy. I’ve been rained out. I’ve been every single option. So every other festival where you’re inside, it’s nice and comfortable but you don’t get that kind of raw response from the crowd that you do at Gympie. I really don’t wish for rain, though – I wish for sun and dust. That’s the best option.

You do other sorts of work – you work with RSL Defence Care and Special Olympics, and you’re a Fight Stroke Advocate. My impression of your working life is that you have a lot of different things going on and you obviously manage your time very well, but these causes are close to you because you’ve been involved for a while. How did you get involved with each of those?

Fight Stroke – my dad had a stroke when he was forty. When I wrote the song ‘Lifesaver’, which is about that, I actually sent it to Stroke Foundation and said, ‘I have a really good reason to want to help you guys out.’ If Dad had had, I guess, what they had now – that’s thirty years ago nearly that he had a stroke – he wouldn’t have been left disabled the way he was, because they would have been able to get him to hospital and change things. He would have known to check his blood pressure. But he didn’t know any of that. So my reason for doing work with the Stroke Foundation is to help prevent via awareness. I do help raise money at times, but more spread the word. Get your blood pressure tested – that’s one of the highest-risk signs of it. One family might benefit from me saying, ‘Going get your blood pressure tested’, and find out that their dad or their mum was on the verge of having stroke and avoid what our family went through, which was really tough.

Defence Care asked me after I wrote a song called ‘The Man Across the Street’ to help spread the word and, again, it’s not so much raising funds for them as awareness. They do need some money, but they also need veterans – young veterans. You say the word ‘veteran’ and you’re thinking of sixty-, seventy-year-old men, but we’re talking about thirty-year-old men here, and women. For them to know that when they come home from war or the theatre, that there is someone to help them when they don’t know why they’re not feeling that great. No physical scars but ‘I can’t really get my life back on track’ or ‘my word has fallen apart’. There are organisations out there to call, and Defence Care is one of them.

And the Special Olympics?

I’ve been helping them for a long time, and that is more about fundraising. Just performing at their events. Those Special Olympics kids are Down syndrome and autistic young people who just absolutely have the most vigour and zest for life. I love performing with them – they all get up and dance with me. It’s awesome.

Looking ahead – you’ve packed a lot into this year already, and Tamworth will be upon us before we know it, so what are your Tamworth plans, and I would imagine you’re already looking to another album.

Yes, you’re right. This year is going to be taken up with Travis and I, and then I’ll do my show on Australia Day in January. I’m not sure about touring – I might have been everywhere. I might just have a little bit of time off [laughs] … Nah, I’m sure I won’t. I think I’ll work on another kids album as well as another adults album, but it’s still early days for [Happy Ever After] so I’ll probably go the kids album next, I think.

How do you organise your time with songwriting? Do you allocate time to write or just do it when you can?

I have to allocate time. I’m certainly not a ‘oh, inspiration’s just hit me, drop everything, I’ve got to write a song’. I write a song if I put it in my diary to write a song.

Amber Lawrence will be performing at Gympie Music Muster which is held 24 to 27 August at Amamoor Creek State Forest.  For further info visit www.muster.com.au

Happy Ever After is out now. 

You can also find '100 Year Handshake' on

www.amberlawrence.com.au

Album review: From the Bottom of a Well by Brad Butcher

If, like me, you have loved music for as long as you can remember, and even been obsessed with certain albums and artists at various times, your affection sometimes waning but generally keeping faith with those you have loved most, you'll have been lucky enough to feel the rapture that comes with discovering someone great, looking forward to their next release and being rewarded for your anticipation.

Brad Butcher is a Queensland singer-songwriter whose first album still has me in thrall. His second album, Jamestown, proved that the first was no fluke. Butcher is a terrific songwriter, and, yes, he can sing and all that good stuff. But some artists have magic in them – almost a sorcery that can make you think of their songs at the oddest times and all the emotions that those songs conjure are as strong as they were the first few times you heard that particular combination of notes and words. 

That is a kind of brilliance, and it's also something that can't really be defined, otherwise we'd all know what it is and go and pluck it from a shelf somewhere. Songs from both of Butcher's albums still make me stop and listen, and occasionally cry too, even though I know them well. His stories are not complicated but they are meaningful, and there's enough meaning in them to merit going back to them over and over, because they can deliver it each time.

So, listening to Butcher's third album, From the Bottom of a Well, for the first time, I obviously had expectations, while still trying to approach it with an open mind. I did not actually want a repeat of either of the first two albums, because they're perfect as they are – and that's lucky, because I didn't get it. Instead, From the Bottom of a Well is a beautiful evolution of Butcher's skills and sounds. One of his constant strengths has been has willingness to be emotional without being manipulative of his listener. He does not write songs to provoke a response – he tells the story as it is, and brings in whatever emotion is there without second guessing what's going to work (or perhaps he's just honed his craft well enough that the guessing gets eliminated early in the process). That is the authenticity that the country music audience loves, which is why he's found a home there.

His music is also a huge compliment to his listener: he is saying to us that he trusts that we'll understand what he's telling us, and he's inviting us into the experience. The compliment is also there in how he sings: he has always had crisp articulation married with a warm tone, and that combination, again, is an invitation to the listener.

The songs on this album are a mixture of personal accounts ('All Said & Done', 'More to the Story') and other people's stories ('Glasgow Train', 'Well Dressed Man'), and there is no sense that Butcher values one over the other. He understands his role as a storyteller, and he has always been adept at serving the story and the song.

These are also songs that grow in impact with each listening - several of them become more moving with time and consideration. That's due to the layers within them lyrically, and within Butcher's voice, and also, perhaps, those introduced in the recording process. Butcher's producer for this album is Matt Fell, who has given it a different sound to that heard on the previous two albums, with more texture and light and shade. These elements give the listener cues, but none of that matters if the songs aren't working. They do – every single one.

This is another album that will make me stop and listen for years to come, and as someone who has loved music for as long as I can remember, that is just the best thing ever.

From the Bottom of a Well will be released on 4 August 2017.
bradbutcher.com

Fanny Lumsden announces new Country Halls Tour

With just one album Fanny Lumsden has established herself as one of Australia's leading country music artists. Her superb songwriting - each track on that album, Small Town Big Shot, is a gem - and her effervescent live performances have connected with audiences all over Australia. Not only that, but they've been awarded with a 2017 Golden Guitar, the CMC Best New Talent Award, and the APRA Professional Development Award

An important reason for Fanny's popularity is her willingness to tour to places that often don't host gigs, with her Country Halls Tours. Fanny has just announced that she will soon embark on her sixth annual Country Halls tour, in support of her new album, Real Class Act, which will be released on 22 September.

Fanny and her band, The Thrillseekers, will be heading to country halls in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, in towns including Burren Junction, Mullaley, Tullamore, Eurongilly, Tumblong and Andamooka. The tour will also aise funds for local communities, and will journey to metropolitan areas, BIGSOUND and Tamworth Country Music Festival along the way.

For the full list of shows, visit www.fannylumsden.net
Tickets are now on sale.

The Voice winner Judah Kelly heads to the Gympie Music Muster

Each year television show The Voice uncovers new Australian talent, and the winner this year - not that long ago, in fact, was Queenslander Judah Kelly. Judah was already known within country music circles, though, as he has attended the CMAA Academy - and he's played at the Gympie Music Muster. I had a chat to Judah a few days after his win about the muster, the academy and other things.

 

The obvious first thing to say to you is ‘Congratulations’.

[Laughs] Thank you.

How’s your work been?

Ah … quite hectic, to be honest. I won on Sunday night, had a half-hour sleep, then Monday morning I started my interviews. I did 36 interviews on Monday. It’s just been crazy ever since.

And there’s no way to prepare for that, really – it’s such an unusual circumstance. Around an album release you’ll do a bit of press but it can be a bit spaced out, whereas this was that big hit.

That’s right. I thought about what might happen if I would win and I certainly didn’t think it would be quite this crazy.

I imagine you haven’t had a lot of sleep even since Sunday night, so are you feeling almost like you’re in a bizarro world, or is it sinking in now that you’ve won?

Oh no, it’s definitely quite weird. I’ve spent a lot of time doing a lot of hard work, and to finally reap the benefits of all that is quite amazing. I’m the dog that finally caught the car and I have no idea what to do with it. Start chasing the next one.

You performed a lot before you got on The Voice – I’m really curious to know what it’s like to perform live on television as opposed to live at a gig, because at a gig you can see your audience and on TV you can’t.

I think it’s probably a good thing that I couldn’t see the people who were watching. It is quite different. Of course, you have the audience that’s there, which is super awesome, but just knowing that you’re going live to a million people across Australia, it’s ridiculous.

You obviously handled the pressure well, because you won. But I’m going to take you back, because I’m interested in your musical lineage. You’ve been to the CMAA Academy, so there’s obviously a little thread of country music there. What’s the first music you listened to as a child and as you were growing up, what music did you love?

I have a huge love of country music now but it wasn’t always like that. I grew up listening to stuff like The Temptations and Al Green and Marvin Gaye. Then I went to my first country music competition, and this was still when I didn’t even like country music – it was just something to do this weekend. And I went along and I met a lady who is now one of my best friends, and she showed me the music of Vince Gill, and it was literally from that moment I just fell in love. And the love for country has grown ever since.

Where was that competition?

In Sarina, just south of Mackay [Queensland].

If you love singing, there’s a lot of flexibility within the country music genre, and if you love storytelling, that’s there.

That’s right. And that’s what I love about it mostly. They’re songs with meaning and thought really put into it to create something that makes people feel something and that’s what’s most important to me.

After you’d have your Vince Gill moment what artists did you find your way to?

Merle Haggard, I love Merle. George Strait, I love. I love all that older country, and then along the way I fell in love with outlaw country – Waylon Jennings and all that kind of stuff.

So you went to the CMAA Academy – when was that and how did you find that experience?

I went once as a junior, in 2011, once as a singer and once as a band member when they started the instrumental course. I think it would have been 2014 and 2015 for the last two. And they were quite amazing experiences. I was thinking about this the other day – it helped a lot with what I’m doing now. I did my first big photo shoot the other day and shooting a video for the single today. We start work on the album tomorrow. And that’s all stuff we went through at the academy. I think it would have been a lot more overwhelming if I hadn’t gone through that before.

Do you like being a member of a band as much as you like being the singer?

That’s a tough one. I’ve not really been a singer for long. Once I left high school I just needed something to pay the rent and bills, doing session work and just playing for people. And it got to a point where I didn’t want to any more. If that’s what you want to do, that’s cool – there’s nothing wrong with it at all – but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. Which is why I ended up auditioning for The Voice, because I wanted to change that. I didn’t want to just play for other people any more.

That’s really interesting, that auditioning for The Voice came out of a desire to have a change. It’s a big thing to do, it’s a big gesture to make.

I got comfortable just playing for people and I got comfortable being in the background even though I wanted to sing, which put me in a weird situation, because I felt uncomfortable being in front of people but wanting to be there. And I thought to myself, I want to sing more than I want to stay comfortable, so I gave it a go. And thankfully I did.

Speaking of being out the front, you are going to perform at the Gympie Muster. You have played the muster before as a backing musician. Now that you have established yourself as a singer, are you feeling relaxed about being out the front of a band?

Absolutely. The Voice was quite amazing with that. I just have a new belief in my own talent, and I know that the boys who are playing with me are super tight – they’re excited, I’m excited, and I’ve spent a lot of time seeing crowds’ reactions for people I was playing for, and now to know that that’s going to happen for me this time, I’m really excited.

How many shows will you have at the muster?

I have two.

What are you looking forward to experiencing again?

The crowd. The crowd is always the best part. Once they’re pumping and just that energy – that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.

How long ago did you sign on?

Not very long ago – a month, maybe.

They would be loving themselves`sick about that, then, given what happened on Sunday night.

[Laughs] Absolutely.

Given that the muster is in Gympie and you are a Queenslander, is it fair to ask you if Queensland audiences are better?

Of course – isn’t everything better in Queensland?

You mentioned you have a video to film today, and the live performances for The Voice all happen in a bit of a run, even though the auditions take place months before. How do you take care of your voice?

That’s the thing. Normally it’s fine but I just happened to get laryngitis in the last couple of weeks and haven’t exactly had time to let it heal properly. Delta [Goodrem, his coach on The Voice] is the best ever – she set me up an appointment with her doctor during the show, so that kind of kept me together as well as possible, and then today I’m going to see another doctor again just to have a check over. It’s kind of hard because I need rest, but also there is no time to rest at the moment. And that’s part of this career and part of doing this. So we get through it and do the best we can.

This album you’re recording – you probably have a whole lot of songs that you’re recording quickly. But down the track are you looking forward to writing your own songs? Or have you written some songs for this album?

The song list isn’t really final until the album’s printed, but at the moment a co-write has made the cut, which is really exciting. One we wrote on Tuesday [this interview happened on a Thursday]. I’m grateful to Universal [his record company]. I’m not much of a writer but they’re excited to get co-writes happening and help me improve on that.

After the album’s released I imagine you’ll be on tour – are you looking forward to that? Or perhaps you need to rest that voice a little bit first.

Nah, who needs rest? Rest is for the wicked [laughs]. We’ll just get the album done. It is very early days. The planning is there, it’s just making it all happen now and that takes a little bit of time. But the plan definitely is to do a tour.

What are the Queensland destinations that will be a priority when you do that tour?

The priority is everywhere and anywhere. I’m a big believer in just hitting the road and playing everywhere that someone will listen.

That’s a country music thing, too, to really want to connect with the audience. So even though you can obviously a variety of styles I think maybe in your soul, Judah, you are country music.

[Laughs] Definitely.

So does that mean we’ll see you in Tamworth?

At the moment, yes. We’re planning to get there and Universal are happy for me to be there, I really want to be there, it’s just trying to make that happen in such a busy schedule – but it is a priority.

Judah Kelly will be performing at Gympie Music Muster, held from 24 to 27 August at Amamoor Creek State Forest.  For further info check out www.muster.com.au

Find Judah on Facebook: www.facebook.com/judahkellymusic

                                

Single release: 'Hometown' by Josh Setterfield

Australian singer-songwriter Josh Setterfield has released the first single from his forthcoming second EP, From Dusk. The song is 'Hometown' and documents an experience many of us know: going home after an absence, and the tug of wanting to be there but also wanting to leave. Setterfield's style is country rock but of the melodic kind that is embraced more by Australian artists than American.

Setterfield has performed with Shannon Noll on tour, performed at the Gympie Muster and Urban Music Festival, and will be headlining the Day Stage at the 2017 Deni Ute Muster in September.


Watch the video for 'Hometown' below.





www.joshsetterfield.com

Album review: Ben Bostick

When American singer-songwriter Ben Bostick released his EP My Country, I wrote that the future of country music in the United States would be safe if it were in hands like his. Upon the release of his eponymous debut long player, I have reason to believe that opinion is confirmed. That’s not just because Bostick is able to write and play to a high standard – it’s because of the breadth of style within his country music, and the fact that no matter what form of country music each of his songs takes, it feels authentic.

This suggests an artist who has a deep education: he’s listened to the albums, he’s studied how the songs are written, and he has found a way to exist within that lineage without it sounding like impersonation. This is noteworthy partly because of how voices work: a singing voice can suit certain styles of song and not others. Bostick has a distinctive voice, rich and gravelly, which is elastic enough to encompass different styles and stories.

The lyrical content of the album shifts from the serious (‘Paper Football’ and ‘Independence Day Eve’) to the outrageous and funny (‘The Juggler’), and all of it worth the attention of the listener. And while there may not be a theme at work - not everyone writes an album in an arc - the variety means this is a good first album: an introduction to Bostick's range and skills. As time goes on Bostick may find that he develops a musical sound that is distinctly his (as his voice is already distinctive) but for the moment I'll take the variety and enjoy it every single time.

Ben Bostick is out now.

www.benbostick.com

Fanny Lumsden and Tobias to tour central west Queensland

CMC and Golden Guitar winner Fanny Lumsden and Queensland singer-songwriter Tobias are soon to undertake a four-show tour of central west Queensland. Audiences are in for a huge treat, as both are luminaries in Australian country and folk music - and I chatted to them recently.

How long have you two known each other and have you ever shared a stage before?

F: We met at Gympie [Music Muster] last year. And this will be the first time [to share a stage].

So you obviously got on, as you’ve volunteered to tour part of Queensland together.

T: Yes, and we were on the same bill at Woodford Folk Festival this year and got to talk about doing these shows together – that’s how that cameabout.

Fanny, obviously you tour country areas a lot with your Country Halls tours – but obviously this specific kind of tour, you’re going to a very particular area, so when you were initially talking did you think it would just be nice to tour together or did you have a specific area in mind.

F: We were talking about western central Queensland specifically and getting out there.

Why western central Queensland in particular?

T: The story goes that I played a house concert. There was a Rotary member there, and she had some people doing some things out in Longreach. This guy had been doing a lot of fundraising – small community events to bring the people together – and he was really interested in doing some music. So we talked about doing some gigs together – he also runs a thing called the Western Queensland Drought Appeal, but his main thing was that he just wanted to create some awareness around it, and put on some music events, really just so people could come out and have a good time. I think that’s what the main thing was. And Fanny and I were talking and she really wanted to go to Queensland and these shows came up. So it was just a really perfect fit, and they’re really excited too that these are happening.

In terms of Rotary’s involvement, have they helped you organise it or they’re just making sure

that people get out on the day?

T: It’s kind of been a joint effort, but really they’re the machine behind it.

It seems like such a good fit that I’m wondering why it doesn’t happen more, that they get involved with organising tours because they obviously are in a lot of country towns and they know what their communities need, and bringing storytellers – which is what you are – to those towns would be hugely valuable.

F: I think it’s about finding a motivated person and then also finding people that often maybe they’d think it would cost too much money. I think there’s just a bit of a barrier there – a communication barrier. It should happen more.

So perhaps this is the start of a long and beautiful association between you two and them.

[both laugh]

T: Could be good.

F: We’ll do this tour first and then we’ll let you know. [Laughs] Just kidding – no, it’ll be awesome.

T: Yeah, that’s right.

Fanny, I’m thinking this will be slightly different to your Country Halls tours because you’re not just hopping in your caravan and taking off – except I know you organise your tours ahead. I know you’re from western New South Wales but I’m wondering why you make it a priority to play in country towns?

F: Why not? Basically. They’re just a town like any other town, and you could go to the city and get that. I grew up in the country and I know that people really appreciate it when you bring something to their town. If you live in the country people will travel. They have to drive hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Ks just to go to live music. If you go there, I’ve found – or we’ve found with the Country Halls tours – they’re so supportive. I’m writing music about that world anyway so I thought why not share it with the people who are inspiring me.

And Tobias, for you, how do you feel about going out into country towns and making music, because it takes an effort to organise that too.

T: I’m really excited. I’ve spent a bit of time playing in rural areas. I’ve never been out to Longreach so I’ll be a real tourist, I think, but I’m really looking forward to it because I know that when you get out, off the beaten track, there’s much more of an appreciation for music and connection as well. That’s what I get excited about. Just meeting new people.

And I suppose also it’s that you’re storytellers going into these towns – there is that sense of an exchange, almost, and who knows what comes out of it for either one of you in terms of songs you might want to write or experiences you might want to document.

T: Yeah. It ticks all the boxes for me, I’m really excited.

Fanny, have you ever been to these towns before?

F: Yes. My dad’s idea of a holiday when we were young was to put the bags in the car and all of us kids and then drive northwest, and pull over to the side of the road and camp. So we would go up to Queensland a lot because he had lots of friends on different stations, so we would go to their stations and help them work as our holiday – which we were thrilled about as kids. So I did spend a fair bit of time there and I had some family who lived up there too. I haven’t been up there for a long time, too – maybe since I was in my teens. It’ll be nice to get back out there.

How did you choose these towns? Some of them are really small – one of them has just over a hundred people. Was it Rotary that suggested these particular towns?

T: Yes – David Phelps, who has helped put all this together, these are the communities that are really close to his heart, and he knows them out there, so he’s chosen those venues.

F: I don’t think that size really reflects how something will be supported, because we’ve found in the Country Halls tours – the Country Halls tours are separate to our caravanning tours. Country Halls are full band, all the halls apply – it’s a really different thing. We’ve found that the halls that we go to that are literally a hall in the middle of a paddock and a hundred Ks or more to another town, they’re the ones that sell out every time. Those are the ones that are way more supported than anything you would put on in the middle of the city, for sure. Because people don’t have choice – they think, ‘Oh my god, something’s happening – let’s go!’ It’s not, ‘I might go to that but I might go to this or I might not like them.’

T: [Laughs] That’s awesome.

F: People will drive hundreds of Ks to those kinds of shows, so when I’m choosing halls – and I’m sure that this will be reflected in the tour – I’ll choose the tiniest, tiniest places over the big places every time.

I’m just wondering at the things you’ve seen in the last couple of years alone. You’ve been to so many different places, it’s amazing.

F: [Laughs] Yeah. What are you wondering, though? [Laughs]

It’s more a comment than anything – it’s a range of experience that a lot of artists don’t have because it is a big commitment to go out to all those destinations.

F: Yes. I just think they’re the best shows ever. They’re just  funnest and,               like Toby said, you get to meet so many other people and it’s like this conversation rather than being a one-way delivery of something. It’s a two-way beneficial kind of thing that happens. It’s a risk, and that’s fun too.

Tobias, how are you going to organise the sets – who gets to go on first, are you going to play any songs together?

T: I think there’s going to be a few local kids in each town who are going to play a little bit first, then I’ll be playing then Fanny, and Dan [Fanny’s partner] will be wowing everyone with their set. And we might have a jam at the end – I’ll bring my banjo and we’ll see how it goes [laughs].

F: I reckon we should definitely have a jam, do some songs together.

T: I think it will be great fun.

You could add to the fun for everyone by springing songs on each other.

F: Haha! I don’t know the words to any songs, I would be so bad at that game.

T: [Laughs]

Shane Nicholson is known for doing Song Bingo, where he hands out tickets and if your number is called you can request a song. He said that sometimes he thinks people giving him the most obscure songs, and sometimes it goes badly and that’s part of the fun too.

T: For sure. I saw him do that at Tamworth – it was great. It was an awesome way to get everyone involved in the set.

You mentioned those local kids who will be playing – is Rotary organising that or are you going to do a stunt audition on the day?

T: It’s funny – putting this together, a lot of people have hopped on board, and there’s a group of people in Longreach called The Music Makers, and they do music workshops with people who want to play music, and they take it out to different and smaller communities. So they’ve really jumped at the chance to help out with that. We’ll be mingling with them a little bit before the shows and then their star pupils will get up and do a number or two.

Fanny, I also wanted to ask you about Broadbeach Country Music Festival and Gympie, because clearly Queensland is going to become a second home for you. What are you looking forward to for each of those festivals?

F: It’ll be the first time we’ve had our band together for a long time. We’ll have the full Thrillseeker line-up, so that will be amazing. And I’ve never played Broadbeach before, so that will be great. Gympie we played for the first time last year and had such a ball, such a fun festival. We’re going to be bringing some new stuff to the set, which is really exciting. It’s going to be really fun. We’re really going to work on our set and hopefully bring our best show. And I’m excited about the other artists, obviously.

And Tobias, you’ve played Gympie, obviously, because that’s where you two met, but have you ever played Broadbeach?

T: No, I haven’t. But I was at the Blues on Broadbeach, and I have to say it’s a fantastic event – the energy there is amazing. There are so many people and the great weather and all these outdoor stages. It’s really great.

The Country Music Festival should ask you, too – you don’t live that far away. You could drive down on the morning!

T: [Laughs] For sure. Maybe.

F: You should call them up and heckle them about it.

Or maybe stand there during Fanny’s set and heckle.

F: Either or. Come on the same and heckle.

Now, Fanny you mentioned putting new stuff in your set, so I imagine there may be a new album in the works – is that the case?

Yes, we just successfully crowdfunded the second album.

I actually was part of that – I should remember! [Laughs]

F: [Laughs] Awesome – thanks! We have announcements about that coming soon. We definitely will be incorporating the new music into the sets. We have some stuff in the works.

At a festival you’re not necessarily playing for your fans – because that’s the nature of festivals. It’s probably a really good opportunity to play some new stuff and see how it goes acros.

F: Exactly. We’ll play some of the old stuff as well, obviously, but I’m all for playing new stuff. It’s just fun for us, mostly. [Laughs] But there are fans who come and they get really excited about the new things as well, and if you’re telling a story around it and you give people context, they’re usually pretty receptive to new stuff, which is great.

And Tobias, I think you’ve always got something creative on the boil, but do you have a new definitive project, like an album in mind?

T: I’ve just recorded a new EP with a very dear friend who’s a music producer. We actually played in our first band together when we were thirteen, when we busked at the markets, Actually, we were in grade four – we used to do AC/DC covers. Singing things like ‘She’s got the jack’ – we had no idea what we were talking about. So that’s been a really great experience. And I’m the process of writing a new album, too – the third album – which has been really great fun.

Have you considered recording these Queensland gigs?

F: No, we haven’t.

T: Good idea.

F: We’ll see how they go. We have all our stuff with us, all our recording stuff, so we can if we feel like it at the time. I’ll definitely document as we go, film things as we go. We definitely won’t be livestreaming because there’s definitely not enough service out there.

The requirements sometimes with social media for artists, I sometimes wonder if they’re too much – you just want to get up and do your jobs.

F: Yes, it is sometimes too much. Especially when there’s lots of other elements or other organisations that are requiring something of you. But I wouldn’t want to take away from the actual event because we were filming it. We want to be focused on having a good time.

Well, I am curious to see what comes out of this – I have visions of different types of collaborations between the two of you. No pressure.

T: [Laughs] We’ll keep you posted.

Thursday 20th July - Longreach Civic Centre – Longreach, QLD

Friday 21st July -  Ilfracombe Hall – Ilfracombe, QLD

Saturday 22nd July - Isisford Hall – Isisford, QLD

Sunday 23rd July- Yaraka Hall – Yaraka, QLD

Concerts in Ilfracombe, Isisford  and Yaraka are free entry. Please arrive early to guarantee your seat.

Tickets to the Longreach concert are FREE – registrations are essential.  Click here to register.

www.tobiasmusic.com.au    www.fannylumsden.net

EP review: Lonestar by Hayley Marsten

Lonestar is the second EP from Queensland singer-songwriter Hayley Marsten and by her own reckoning it is quite a different work to the first. Marsten has a wonderful, rich, nuanced voice and a great sense of pace in her lyrics. There's an art to how to tell a story in a form as short as a song - what to reveal and when - and Marsten doesn't rush what she's doing. That sense of ease in the singing and storytelling automatically puts listeners at ease: if you don't feel like the artist has anything to prove, you know that they're not asking anything of you other than to listen.

The title song is about being left 'in a lonestar state' after the end of a relationship, and while it could be about wallowing in an ending, Marsten sounds almost defiant, just as she does on the first track, 'Second Fiddle'. The six tracks are a balance of ballad and nicely uptempo; there's the odd love song ('Cash' and 'Until You') but Marsten avoids the saccharine, swelling chorus and instead opts for genuine sweetness.

I have only one complaint about this EP: that there isn't more of it. In some ways these six songs sound like half of an album - or maybe I just want them to be. Instead I'll take them as evidence that Marsten easily has an album in her, and hopefully not too far away. She's a fantastic emerging talent in Australian country music with the right talent, pedigree and drive behind her - and the big audiences can't be too far away.


Find Lonestar on  
hayleymarsten.com

EP review: The Yellow Line by Ferris & Sylvester

I'm fond of saying that country music is a broad umbrella, and it seems that's true everywhere, including in the UK. There's some great country pop and rock being produced there, and also the sweet sounds of duo Ferris & Sylvester. With their Americana influences and touches of 60s folk, it's clear they have an interest in storytelling, and in writing the songs that can convey those stories.

On this new EP, The Yellow Line, they have produced four bittersweet stories with lead vocals from Issy Ferris backed by Archie Sylvester. Ferris has a voice that could turn pretty much any type of song into an interesting proposition, and the production on this album is suitably restrained, to allow her voice to shine. Sylvester's harmonies provide an effective - and, actually, necessary - anchor. Alone, Ferris is a chanteuse, carrying you away; with the addition of Sylvester, the songs become earthier and more relatable. Which is not so say that you won't be carried away - but it's nice to have that feeling of being brought home, too. The sound of this duo is fresh and comforting all at the same time.

The Yellow Line is out now.


Find Ferris & Sylvester on Facebook.

EP review: Starting from Now by Catherine McGrath

Irish artist Catherine McGrath is no doubt making her mark in the burgeoning British country music scene with her new EP, Starting from Now. In her previous releases McGrath may not have quite found her voice - and she is only nineteen years of age, so that's allowed - but on this release she has a sound that is hers, and she sounds strong and confident in it.

McGrath has a voice that could suit traditional country - or traditional folk, for that matter - but it is just as well suited to her country pop sound. The four tracks (and one acoustic version of 'Just in Case') are tightly written and well produced. Lyrically they're not revolutionary - a lot of pop and country pop is like that - but given that they've been released in the northern summer, they would make perfect summer songs. 

Given the strength of her voice, and that she's been able to produce such a solid EP, it will be interesting to see what McGrath does next. There's versatility there, and years ahead for her to try it out.

Starting from Now is out now.

www.catherinemcgrathmusic.com

Shane Nicholson prepares to launch new album, Love and Blood

The last album from singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson was the award-winning Hell Breaks Loose, released in the last half of 2015. Since then Nicholson has kept himself busy as a producer, but thankfully he has also readied another album of his own, Love and Blood, for release on 28 July. I spoke to him about the album and about his upcoming appearing at the Broadbeach Country Musical Festival in late July.

I’d noticed you were booking quite a few gigs, so I figured there had to be an album coming – and, of course, now we know there is an album coming on the 28^th of July. Are you excited? Nervous? Calm?

Not nervous. Certainly excited. I’m always excited when there’s a new album about to come out. It’s always the culmination of a lot of work, I guess. It’s always exciting to have it come out, not just for other people to hear it but almost as a cathartic process as well. You purge yourself and kind of move on. It’s a nice feeling. It’s hard to explain. Almost like a release. There’s an album release and an emotional release as well. So I’m very excited. It’s been a little while since Hell Breaks Loose so it’s about time there was some music out. Although I’ve been really active in that time. I’ve made a lot of albums – about twelve last year alone for other people – so I’ve felt like I’ve been really active and making music every day. But it’s easy for the time to get away and you realise, wow, it’s been two years since I made a record. So I kind of knuckled down and made a new one.

I’ve interviewed a couple of people lately who’ve had you playing on their records, so not only have you been producing but you’ve been doing a lot of playing too.

Certainly in our little group – sort of country world, producers – we all play on each other’s projects and help each other out. There’s been quite a few projects, especially ones that Matt Fell has been producing, that I’ve come in to play on and vice versa: we’ve had a lot of people who were just in there, working, when I was in the middle of my record. Just singing because they were there, so we had them singing on my album. It’s nice making music with your friends all the time and sharing around the love.

And I’m interested in the impact of that on the output overall. You and Matt, and Glen Hannah as well, have experience as musicians, you have experience as producers, you’re able to play for other people rather than demanding that it’s always you at the forefront, and I think the quality of work that’s coming out is really interesting. I don’t know that there’s anything else like it, where there’s this band of people working on lots of different projects, so I’m see this really high-quality work across a lot of different artists’ output. This is a musing more than a question, but I think it’s unique and really interesting.

That’s nice to know – I guess we don’t think of it from the outside in, especially people like Glen and Matt, myself, Michael Carpenter at LoveHz [studios]. Josh, who plays drums in the band, he’s a producer and he’s incredibly talented – he was here yesterday recording an EP for me for somebody else. I work with him as a drummer on my projects but then also as a drummer on other projects. So I was producing him yesterday and he’s so good. He’s a producer himself – it’s weird telling him what to do in the studio. So even drummers can be producers – it’s crazy!

You mentioned that catharsis of releasing an album – is there a feeling of a lull for you after that, or do you feel like the next body of work starts to come in straightaway?

Whatever the next project is takes his place. Obviously there’s touring that comes after every record and I’ve got quite a few months of touring lined up, but it’s the next project. I’ve got three or four projects that are currently under way in the studio – I’m there now. Once these interviews finish today I’ll be back to making a record with an artist today and then tonight I’ll be mixing a different one. So other projects just come in and fill the void, as such, and that’s kind of what I like. It’s different and you’re always doing something new. There’s not really a lull or a down period – it always seems to be full-on, go-go-go. I think that’s because I’m really terrible at scheduling. I’m just hopeless at scheduling. I have my manager who looks after my Shane Nicholson career but I have someone else who looks after the studio and that scheduling, and I’m in the middle just telling people, ‘Yeah, we can make a record – no worries!’ Totally screwing everybody up, and they’re trying to make the schedules work. It’s just a juggling act, but I have to have things happening, otherwise there would be a lull. Mind you, I’d love to have a day off – just go out in the boat or something.

Yeah, you say that … But speaking of the lull, I also read that you went to the Hawkesbury River area to write a lot of songs, so you obviously had to physically remove yourself to do it.

Well, I’ve been doing that for quite a few albums now, quite a few years since having children and not touring as much, I realised I couldn’t write as much at home – maybe the environment wasn’t conducive with children. And certainly once I was working as a producer a lot I couldn’t work in the studio, because I was spending 80 hours a week in the studio. Way back in Bad Machines days I found that I had to go out somewhere to write. So every album I’ve been looking for a different place to centre myself and get away from everything. This really nice house on the Hawkesbury I found, and it’s only boat access so it felt really nice and isolated – there was no mobile service or anything like that, so it was a nice place to go and write. I wrote a lot of this album on the water. Just anchored a boat, fishing and lying on the floor of the tinny and writing. A lot of it was written out there, which was completely juxtaposed to the last album, which was largely written in the red centre, in the desert. So it’s like the coastal record [laughs].

As you were lying in that tinny, was your guitar with you?

Yeah, sometimes. But I don’t really write with the guitar a lot. I like writing without an instrument a lot. But I had the guitar and I’d play sometimes, have a beer and write songs. It was really nice, and it’s really removed in a boat because you’re surrounded 360 by water, so you know there’s not really going to be any interruption. It’s a nice place to write because your brain shuts down – my phone didn’t work, I was unreachable, so my brain just completely shut down to the outside world and songs started coming. It was a really fun process. But I went up there about three or four times, I had to get the record written in three or four days at a time. So it was intensive – I’d get up and write all day and night. With the schedules now, like I said, it’s crazy busy so it’s not like I really get to just write when I feel like it, like I used to – I don’t really have that luxury, so I’m creating time to write now. The fear with that is that the inspiration won’t come when you need it to, but I’ve just learned over the years that you just create the environment for it to happen and then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Once you’re in that environment, I can kind of orchestrate it to happen most of the time. The biggest thing with this record was realising that I hadn’t been listening to music much – I’d been making so much music last year, a dozen albums back to back and overlapping. It meant that, without knowing it, I hadn’t listened to music for enjoyment all of last year. Because after 14 hours in the studio you don’t really go home and put on a record to listen to. So I realised that when I started to write I wasn’t really that inspired to go back to being a lover of music again. I had to remind myself of the twelve-, thirteen-year-old that I was who was inspired enough by the music I heard to want to create my own music. So I had to find time, force myself to consciously listen to music for enjoyment again. I always enjoy it but it’s very different when you’re making it as it is to just putting a record on that you love. So that was part of the process of the Hawkesbury – I wasn’t writing every minute, sometimes I was just listening to music and becoming a music fan again. So it was an interesting thing to learn, that I’d had a year full of music – absolutely jam-packed with music – but was then struggling to write because of that. I’d just forgotten to listen to music and love music. It was a good lesson to learn.

Were you listening to new music, or going back to things you loved?

Sometimes. I’d always take my trusty favourite records and listen to records that I knew had always inspired me over the years. It was whatever I grabbed – there was no real thought to it. But I always try to listen to new stuff, and I’m exposed to a lot of new stuff through a lot of clients I work with – they come in and they’re referencing other artists that they love to listen to. I’m finding a lot of new acts that I wouldn’t be aware of because you do live in a bubble, producing and being in the studio. It can be trap. You need to be aware of what’s happening and what music’s around and what people are listening to. I larger find out that stuff through other artists I work with. It’s like they do all the research and hard work.

That’s like paying tribute to the emperor, I think.

[Laughs] There’s so much music around, too, that we’re in danger of being swamped by it. Sometimes it’s hard to define something that you really love because there’s just so much to sift through. So I love taking recommendations from people who come to work here. And if they’re working here it generally means they like the same music that I do.

You are taking this new album on the road and the Broadbeach Country Music Festival seems to coincide exactly with your release date – so I guess it will effectively be your launch gig.

Essentially. I consider that every show I do in each city the first time for each album is a launch for that state. But I think Broadbeach is extra special because it’s not only the first time that I play there but it’s Queensland and it’s winter, which means New South Wales is rubbish right now and cold, so I’m always happy to get back to Queensland in winter. But I think musically it’s going to be fun. The new album is released the day before we play there, so it’s essentially the main launch, and I do have my whole band of producers, which is very rare, that I can get them not only at the same gig at the same time but certainly a gig in a different state. That was a scheduling nightmare because these guys don’t really tour anymore, so to get them all out of the studio, all being producers - everyone in the band is a producer – it was kind of a challenge but I’m really excited that the first show of the album tour is going to be with them, the guys who made the record. I think it’s going to be fun.

Since you’ll be playing a lot of new songs from the album, obviously a lot of your older songs will have to be jettisoned from the set list – but is there one song that you can never get rid of, either because you love it or because people ask for it?

I don’t have any normally, but when the band’s with me the only song that’s always in the set is ‘Jackson Hole’ because it’s just for the band – it’s purely self-indulgent, it’s really fun, and massive big, long extended guitar solos. It’s just the chance for everyone to stretch their legs a little bit. That one’s never not been in the set when the band’s with me, so I’m pretty certain that’s going to be in the set – they’re not going to let me not put it in there. But I don’t really have any favourites. I certainly don’t ever do a show without playing some songs – ‘Trick Knee Blues’, but obviously that’s not a festival song so that may not be getting an airing in Broadbeach. There’s nothing that I really feel compelled to play. Eventually, over the years, the more singles you have the set list starts to write itself. The trick is to keep it interesting, I think, and some nights jettison a song and replace it with something else. A curve ball, now and then. But every record there’s more singles and more songs that appear in the set list and it does get a little bit harder. I try to recycle them. I don’t like getting bored. Probably ‘Rattlin’ Bones’, too, a lot of people expect that. But that doesn’t get played every show either. I’m lucky in that sense that I don’t think I have a defining song – it’s not like I ever had a huge hit single that I have to play. So I don’t think anyone comes to a show really expecting or wanting to hear that one specific song. I’ve certainly never had that impression from my audience. I kind of like that in a way; I’m really pleased with that. It just means that it’s more about the song catalogue in its entirety than one or two things in particular.

I have to say that as a longtime fan of yours I do come to shows expecting certain tracks and I am often disappointed! But that’s the way it goes.

[Laughs]

I remember the last time you did a tour you put it out on social media to your fans to suggest songs – did you like that method of choosing your set list?

That was fun – and it ended up informing a lot of the set list. That could have been the tour when I recorded it and made the live album. So pretty much the track list of that record ended up being from the votes, or my pick of the songs from the votes. I really enjoyed that because a lot of the songs that came back weren’t singles – a lot of the songs that were repeatedly voted for were album tracks that had never been played on the radio or never had a video clip made for them, they were just hiding down at track 8 or 9 on an album. I loved seeing what songs connected to people – I thought that was really quite interesting and sometimes surprising. But always good. I really loved it. And we do it live, too, a lot. I do this ‘Song Bingo’ thing where people can request songs in the moment, and sometimes it’s really interesting what people will come up with. Sometimes they’re just trying to stump me, picking things that are really obscure, and sometimes I try them and it’s a trainwreck – but that’s the point of Song Bingo. Sometimes the song that gets called out I think, Wow, I would never in a million years have thought to put that song in the set list tonight. It’s always interesting, what people connect with.

And also what they connect with over time. If someone has all your albums and they can go back to them – I’ve certainly done this with your albums, and there might be a song that I perhaps didn’t love as much as others at the time but somehow now I do. When you’re very good at what you do, writing songs that can stand the test of time literally, your audience will have that flexible relationship with them.

That’s nice to contemplate, that idea. It’s something you don’t think about very often, you know – you take cues from the audience and you know what floats and what doesn’t at a show. But I don’t often think about the idea of somebody living with the music over time. I always think of my records as a point in time – it’s like taking a photograph of you in 2006, that’s that album, that’s you then. But I guess you’re right – there’s records that I love that I’ve lived with my whole life. Harvest – I’ve lived with that record forever, and you’re right, it evolves over time, different songs speak to you at different times. I guess I’ve just never considered myself in that – I’ve never thought of it. You don’t really see the forest for the trees when you’re the artist.

Love and Blood will be released on 28 July. You can pre-order it on  

Broadbeach Country Music Festival: 28-30 July in Broadbeach, Queensland. For all information, visit broadbeachcountry.com

Shane Nicholson is touring in support of his new album. For tour dates, visit shanenicholson.com

Single release: 'A Long Way to Fall' by Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes

The Mountain, the most recent album from Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes, was released at the end of 2015. Fans (like me) might be growing a little impatient for a new album ... but if you're not yet a fan, the latest single from that fine album, 'A Long Way to Fall', has just been released, so take this as an opportunity to acquaint yourself with one of the best acts in Australian music - then you can join the ranks of the impatient.

Listen to 'A Long Way to Fall' on Soundcloud. Buy The Mountain on 


lachlanbryan.com