Country Music Capital News - August 2018 Volume 43 No 7 by Country Music Capital News

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AUGUST 2018 VOL. 43 NO.7

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ADAM HARVEY

CLASSIC COUNTRY

GRAEME KIRSTY LEE AKERS CONNORS A POSITIVE INFLUENCE years of bringing you the music 1975â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2018

PLANTS FLOWERS IN TEARS

ALLAN CASWELL SOUTH OF THE BORDER C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

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OUT AUGUST 17

OUT NOW

A two CD mix of current hits and fan favourites from the hottest men in Country Music!

The new 12 track album produced in Nashville by Nash Chambers and inspired by Adam’s Country heroes!

OUT NOW

One of this year’s biggest albums in Country Music now includes five new songs in addition to three #1 Billboard hits

The sensational new album from one of the stars of CMC ROCKS QLD featuring the hit single ‘PO’ BOYZ’

S O N YM U S IC . C OM . AU years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

/ H OTTE S TS TA R S ON TH E P L A N E T C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

NEW MUSIC FROM TODAY’S HOTTEST STARS!

New single DAY DRUNK, the follow up to the smash hit KISS SOMEBODY

new a l b um SONGS FOR THE SAINTS in clu d in g sin g le GET ALONG

“ A new heiress to the Taylor throne” – Apple Music 4

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FROM THE EDITOR

INSIDE THE AUGUST ISSUE I ALWAYS TRY TO FIND SOMETHING OF INTEREST TO WRITE ON THIS PAGE AND EACH MONTH I’M USUALLY RACING TO FINISH THE MAGAZINE AND I DON’T QUITE HIT THE MARK.

aving said that, there is always something of interest in our industry that gets us talking, from new music, artists’ updates, upcoming festivals, tours or gigs and this month we can’t stop talking about the fact that Slim Dusty is still making history 14 years after his death. It’s quite astonishing that someone can be in the charts for 1000 weeks – that’s just short of 20 years! Congratulations to Slim’s family, Joy McKean, Anne and David Kirkpatrick, the EMI family and ARIA. I liked reading Adam Harvey’s cover story written by Susan Jarvis in which he talks about the music that captures his heart – classic country. “I’d rather be a Highwayman than a Rolling Stone” what a line! I too was raised on classic country – the American classics, as that’s where the

majority of music was coming from that we were listening to. Dad was singing Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Hank Williams, and Don Williams, and my brother Gary was singing and playing music by Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Chet Atkins, and The Shadows. Of course, Australian country started filtering through in the 1960s and 1970s however the American classics remained strong. Here in Tamworth, we’re in the planning stages of the 2019 Toyota Country Music Festival and the first round of tickets goes on sale August 1. Included are tickets for a very special

Cheryl with Adam Harvey

Star Maker concert I’m working on. On Wednesday, January 23 we will take fans down memory lane with an historical afternoon, to be hosted by former Country Music Radio presenter Nick Erby, in which 30 of the 40 winners will attend. A small number of ticketed shows will be on sale through EntertainmentVenues.com.au or by phoning 02 6766 2028, with more announced as the months progress. In addition to the ticketed concert, we will be announcing the 40th Toyota Star Maker at a Grand Final on Sunday, January 20. We hope you’ll join us at one or both Star Maker events. In the meantime, get along to this month’s festivals including the iconic Gympie Music Muster Qld, the Central Coast Country Music Festival NSW and the second Country Rocks Under The Stars in Braidwood NSW. You’ll find all the details listed in the Coming Events page. Cheryl Byrnes Cheryl@tamworthcountrymusic.com.au

Visiting Tamworth?

See Star Maker’s amazing journey at the Star Maker Café at Diggers, Kable Ave, Tamworth

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THE LEGEND CONTINUES

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2018 years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

A U G U S T FEATURES ADAM HARVEY GRAEME CONNORS ALLAN CASWELL KIRSTY LEE AKERS KRISTY JAMES SUSAN LILY PHIL & LANA DOUBLET REG LINDSAY BUDDY WILLIAMS PAT DRUMMOND 40 YEARS OF STAR MAKER

2018

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EDITOR Cheryl Byrnes P: 0407 106 966 E: cheryl@tamworthcountrymusic.com.au ADVERTISING Joanne Maiden P: 0429 784 860 E: joanne@tamworthcountrymusic.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS Linda Bridges P: 02 6767 5555 CONTRIBUTORS Allan Caswell, Anna Rose, Bec Belt, Brad Cox, CMA, CMAA, Dan Biddle, David Dawson, Garry Coxhead, Haley Craig, Jon Wolfe, Lorraine Pfitzner, Peter Coad, Susan Jarvis, Tom Inglis, and our great mates in publicity and record companies nationally and internationally. PHOTOGRAPHERS Thanks to our friends who supply the many photos we are able to use.

REGULARS NEWS NASHVILLE NEWS HEAR & THERE TOYOTA STAR MAKER UPDATE LIVE CM SCENE ONE TO WATCH JAKE SINCLAIR

TRC TEAM Jess Fitzsimmons, Karlee Cole, Eleanor Turnbull.

FESTIVALS

ART AND DESIGN Sam Woods

SOUND ADVICE

NEXT DEADLINE: September: August 10, 2018

COUNTRY CHARTS BUSH BALLADS DOWN MEMORY LANE

PUBLISHER Tamworth Regional Council 437 Peel Street, Tamworth NSW 2340 P: 02 6767 5555

WRITING GREAT SONGS COMING EVENTS

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Country Music Capital News is compiled and published monthly by Tamworth Regional Council, 437 Peel Street, Tamworth NSW 2340. The views and opinions expressed in Capital News are not necessarily those of the publisher. Copyright 2017 Tamworth Regional Council, ABN 52631074450. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part by any manner or method whatsoever without the written permission is prohibited. All statements made in advertising are the sole responsibility of the advertiser in respect of legal and industrial relations. Printed by Fairfax Printing, 159 Bells Line of Road, North Richmond. 2754. ISSN 1440-995X years of bringing you the music 1975â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2018

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NEWS

MORGAN EVANS AUSTRALIAN TOUR US-RISING STAR, AUSTRALIAN MORGAN EVANS HAS ANNOUNCED THREE SOLO HEADLINE SHOWS THIS SEPTEMBER, IN AUSTRALIA.

PROUSTY FIGHTS DIAGNOSIS WITH HUMOUR

entral Coast comedian Dave Proust has been diagnosed with an aggressive grade 4 brain tumour. He first noticed he was unable to say the words that he could see on a page. Initially he thought he was having a stroke although everything else was fine and his speech was normal. An initial CT scan proved negative so he continued working as a fireman until he experienced another episode of being unable to read a report so he went back to his doctor for further discussions. Following an MRI he presented to a neurosurgeon who confirmed he had the condition Glioblastoma (GBM). He had surgery to remove the tumour on May 30 and commenced an initial six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. Dave’s wife Therese said, “When I arrived in ICU, Prousty had the doctor and nurses in stitches telling them ‘The Vasectomy Poem’. “It was a wonderful moment seeing him happy and knowing he could remember the poem.” Dave and Therese are making a lot of future plans and enjoying every moment. They have six children, and 10 grandchildren aged between two-and-ahalf and 12 years.

organ has been touring the US for the past year with Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson and Old Dominion and will join Chris Young for the final 15 dates of his “Losing Sleep World Tour” during October, November and December. His debut US single, Kiss Somebody, has amassed more than 43 million global streams, is ARIA certified Platinum and is Top 10 on the US Billboard Country Airplay Chart. He made his US television debut, serenading Becca and Leo on ABC’s The Bachelorette with the song. His brand new single Day Drunk is an upbeat crossover hit and follows on from the romantic I Do. Special guest is Irish countrypop singer-songwriter Catherine

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McGrath who’s been hailed as a major new talent by Sir Elton John. Tickets are on sale now for shows at the Oxford Art Factory, Sydney NSW on Wednesday, September 5, the Corner Hotel, Melbourne Vic on Thursday, September 6 and The Tivoli, Brisbane Qld on Sunday, September 9.

PRODUCER SUFFERS ANEURYSM

usician, producer and mastering professional Jeff McCormack suffered a brain aneurysm on July 3 at his home on the Central Coast. He was rushed to Sydney’s North Shore Hospital where he underwent surgery and is now recuperating. Jeff is a selfless human always helping others. He has been in the music industry for four decades. Friends created a GoFundMe page to assist with Jeff, and his wife Chris, and children Jesse and Rylee during this time, with an aim to raise $5000. To date friends have gifted over $25000 which will give him the opportunity to take the necessary time to heal. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

PHOTO: ED HERRERA/ABC

NASHVILLE NEWS

2019 CMA FEST TICKET PRE-SALE OPEN Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini

GENERAL TICKETS GO ON SALE ON MONDAY, AUGUST 6 FOR THE 2019 CMA FEST WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE IN NASHVILLE FROM THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 6-9, 2019.

CMA’s non-profit arm, the CMA Foundation. The festival is filmed for a three-hour special, “CMA Fest” which is hosted by Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini. This year marks the 15th consecutive year of the broadcast.

PHOTO: NASHVILLE CONVENTION CENTRE

MA Fest, took over downtown Nashville last month with more than 300 acts performing on 11 official stages and visitors attending from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and 36 international countries. Due to each and every artist donating their time, CMA Fest ticket proceeds go directly to helping enrich and sustain music education programs across the country through

FOURTH OF JULY The 4th of July was celebrated in Music City with 250,000 people spreading across the spaces covering the Riverfront Park, Public Square Park, Ascend Amphitheatre, the streets of lower Broadway. The day was filled with live music headlined by Lady Antebellum and a 30-minutes fireworks display in the night. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

The new Nashville Visitors Guide is out now available at visitmusiccity.com

HISTORIC TOURS

uided walking tours of Nashville’s legendary Music Row are now being offered to the public. The tours are conducted in partnership with Let’s Go Travelin’ Tours and Historic Tours of America’s Old Town Trolley Tours. Tours will trace the history of Music Row’s development, spanning from the 1950s and ‘60s when artists including Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, and Bob Dylan recorded there to today’s biggest stars. Tours begin at Bobby’s Idle Hour, 1028 16th Ave. South in the heart of Music Row. Visitors have the option to ride the Old Town Trolley there or to travel to the district on their own. Tour guides will lead the 90-minute walking tour to provide an in-depth orientation of the offices and recording studios that have produced such a tremendous wealth of creative material over the last 60 years, fuelling Nashville’s international reputation as Music City. Walking tours are $35 and will be offered on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10am and 1pm. A portion of each ticket sold will support a new Music Row Preservation Fund. www.letsgotravelin.com

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BY SUSAN JARVIS

ADAM HARVEY WASN’T BORN UNTIL 1974, BUT THE COUNTRY MUSIC OF THE 1970S – WHAT HE DESCRIBES AS “CLASSIC COUNTRY” – HAS ALWAYS CAPTURED HIS HEART.

nd his recent tours with Troy CassarDaley and Beccy Cole, following the release of The Great Country Songbook Vols 1 and 2, just inspired him further. “Recording all those great country songs with Beccy, and travelling around singing them with her reminded me just how good they are. You get caught up in them, and realise how timeless and fantastic that music is,” Adam said. “Both of the Great Country Songbook tours were really special because I got to sing the songs I grew up with – besides, Beccy and Troy are two of my best friends so it doesn’t get much better than that!” So when his thoughts turned to his next recording project, Adam realised it was time to do something he’d always wanted to: make a really authentic 1970s country record – but with his own original songs. “While everybody else is heading further and further away

from classic country music, it’s a good step for me to not only follow my passion and my heart, but also to go the other way,” he said. “For me, this really was the golden era of music – and I wanted to make this album a personal celebration of the sounds that defined a generation: from the legendary outlaws to the first wave of global country megastars. So for his 10th studio album – a milestone in anyone’s book – Adam conceived The Nashville Tapes – a wonderful collection of mainly original material, recorded in the home of classic country, Nashville, but with an Aussie twist. “It’s always been on my bucket list to record in Nashville, and this seemed like the right project. So I contacted Nash Chambers, who’s now living there and has a studio,” he said. Adam also brought in Australian gun guitarist Jedd Hughes to play on the album, giving it a distinctly homegrown flavour despite being recorded in Music City. And the album was mastered by the talented Jeff McCormack, who at the time of writing was recovering from surgery after suffering an aneurism. Nash organised for Adam to record in the world-famous Sound Emporium’s hallowed Studio A, which was established by the late Cowboy Jack Clement, and has had a string of legends recording inside its walls, including Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. “I was like a kid in Disneyland. So many of my favourite albums have been recorded there, and I kept reminding myself that Willie Nelson had used the microphone I was singing into. “I even managed to get Willie’s harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, to do some parts on the album, which blew me away.” Willie Nelson was on Adam’s mind constantly while recording The Nashville Tapes, and he and Bill Chambers came up with a song that encapsulated their thoughts.

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Titled When Willie’s Gone, the song is a duet by Adam and Bill that reflects on Willie’s amazing achievements and contribution to country music, and wonders about the future. The first single to be released from The Nashville Tapes is – very appropriately – I’d Rather Be A Highwayman, which is Adam’s tribute to the immortal flame of country music. “I’ve often been told that I should do more country rock, but I’ve got no aspirations to be something I’m not. Enough people are doing that. I just love playing great country music – I’d rather be a Highwayman than a Rolling Stone any time!” Adam drew on his own youth – which he admits was a bit of a wild ride – on Anything You Want Me To, a song about rebellious youth tamed by love. “As a youngster, I drove my parents crazy – I was pretty wild. These days, I’ve learnt to do as I’m told by the boss!” he said. It’s one of several nods to the influence of his muchloved wife Kathy, who is also the subject of This Lovin’ You, a gorgeous, soaring ballad that will definitely – as Adam puts it in his dry, laconic way – “keep me in sweet with her”. Adam confesses that it’s his favourite song on the album. A comment from Kathy was also responsible for the album’s first track, Less Of A Thinking Man. “Kathy pointed out that I tend to over-think everything. Maybe I need to just step back and let things be sometimes. This song has a real Waylon feel that I just love,” Adam said. While this is a Nashville classic country-inspired album, it has more than a dollop of Aussie content, still inspired by the 1970s. Australia’s simpler days are also reflected in Those Holden Days, penned by the multi-talented Stuie French. It’s a song that captures the Aussie spirit – its humour, warmth and down-to-earth nature – in a gentle and poignant way. And Lee Kernaghan joins Adam for a wonderful rendition of Three Rivers Hotel, in which he almost channels Slim Dustywas part of the soundtrack of his childhood on Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night album, and he also adores the Johnny Cash version of the song. And he has fond memories too of the Ricky Nelson classic Never Be Anyone Else But You; his version captures that unhurried locomotive shuffle that Johnny Cash made his own. “I wanted to capture both the sound of the classic country of the 1970s, but also my own personal experience of the era, and the songs that were part of that,” he said. It wouldn’t be an Adam Harvey album without a drinking song, and We’ll Have To Drink Our Way Out Of This has brought together the talents of two of the greats of Australian music.

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Adam cowrote the song with Troy Cassar-Daley, and it ended up being a duet with the legendary Brian Cadd, after Brian dropped in to check out Nash’s studio one night, stayed for a few beverages and ended up recording a vocal for the song. “It kind of made sense, given what was happening on the night,” Adam said. The album also features a wonderful celebration of the power of music itself. Cowritten with newcomer Jake Sinclair and former Star Maker winner Luke Austen, What a Song Can Do is a reflection on Adam’s early introduction – back in the 1970s, of course – to his father’s collection of 45s. The final track, Lucky is simply about buckling down and working hard to create your own “luck” – something with which Adam is very familiar. This stunning new album has brought together a wealth of songwriting, performing and musical talent – from the deft hand of Nash Chambers in the producer’s chair, to the finest musicians Nashville could offer, to some superb songwriters, including Mike Carr, who cowrote several songs. Mostly, though, it has provided a vehicle for Adam’s rich, warm, memorable voice. And he’s not only a great singer – he is one of the hardest working and nicest artists in the business, and is extremely comfortable in his own skin – something that shines through on The Nashville Tapes, which was clearly a labour of love. Adam has carved a place for himself as one of the most successful artists in Australian country music over the last two decades. He has eight Golden Guitars to his credit, including three for Male Vocalist and three for

“I WANTED TO CAPTURE BOTH THE SOUND OF THE CLASSIC COUNTRY OF THE 1970S, BUT ALSO MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE ERA, AND THE SONGS THAT WERE PART OF THAT.”

Album of the Year, and has half a million album sales, numerous gold and platinum albums, three ARIA nominations and backto-back no. 1 albums on the ARIA Country Albums Chart. He won the CMA Global Country Artist Award in 2007, and received a Centenary Medal for his charity work as an ambassador

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for the Fred Hollows Foundation and the McGrath Foundation. In addition to the Great Country Songbook albums, the release of The Nashville Tapes follows the success of albums such as Harvey’s Backyard Bar and Family Life. Like all his albums, it’s a celebration of life, an acknowledgement of how lucky he is and a perceptive reflection on human nature.

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Adam has just headlined the Groundwater Country Music Festival on the Gold Coast, and is now heading out for the first leg of his The Nashville Tapes tour, which will take him to numerous locations in Queensland over the next few months. He’ll be rolling

out further legs of the tour over the next 12 months. Adam’s taking Judah Kelly, the winner of The Voice Australia 2017, with him as his support act and guitarist, and says he’s really looking forward to combining the new songs from this album with his many crowd-pleasers from past years.

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A POSITIVE INFLUENCE BY SUSAN JARVIS

GRAEME CONNORS HAS REACHED A POINT IN HIS LIFE WHEN HE FEELS THE PAST CAN INFLUENCE THE FUTURE IN A POSITIVE WAY.

nd that’s the message of Graeme’s latest single, One Life, released from his brand new album, From The Backcountry. “I had a smile on my face when I wrote that song. The opening line is from my father’s book of wisdom.” “I’m at a time when the years behind me are more than the years ahead, When things I’ve done say more about me than anything I’ve said.” “I’m well past the halfway mark, and from my point of view, there is no alternative to being positive. I like to put everything I’ve learnt through those years to good use, so that I live the best life I possibly can right now,” he said. The song is a reflection on everything Graeme has achieved, everywhere he’s been and all the experiences he’s been privileged to enjoy. It’s also an acknowledgement of opportunities missed and mistakes made – and lessons learnt. The song’s been released with a wonderful video clip that captures much of Graeme’s musical history – which will delight his many long-term fans. It sets the tone for the new album, which is also quite personal and reflective in tone. “I’ve called it From The Backcountr y because it’s full of stories that have been lurking in the back of my mind – songs that

I’ve been meaning to write for a long time,” he said. Graeme has always had a remarkable talent for capturing the atmosphere of a place, and he’s done that in the stunning Kimberley Frontier, written after a trip to Broome to visit Alan Pigram. It captures the sights and sounds and feel of that very unique area of Australia, both lyrically and musically, and is sure to remain a firm favourite in the years to come. South Africa is another song inspired by a place – but also by what is below the surface of a troubled society. “It was so exciting – the scenery, the animals, the beauty. But talking to people and seeing the townships, where millions live in poverty, and learning about the massive corruption among the elites makes you realise that this is a deeply troubled society, and a tinder box waiting to go up,” he said. Another place that inspired a song is Black Mountain, near Cooktown. “Don Walker and I were driving past and we both had the most eerie feeling. It turns out that it’s a place with very strong taboos associated with it among the local Indigenous people. It’s a place associated with death, and there have been several disappearances there. The album has several political notes. One is the rollicking story On The Factory Floor, which is right up there with Graeme’s best story songs. The other is the no punches pulled My American Friends, which makes Graeme’s views about what is currently happening in US politics and society very clear. “To put it bluntly, people are being sold a lie, and I didn’t want to stay silent,” Graeme said. In a related vein, Graeme describes The Top End Of The Town as “a secular spiritual song” – it explores the lies we

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tell ourselves, the modern day myths about success. “This is one of the most complex songs I’ve written – it has a lot of ideas in it,” Graeme said. The beautifully written Ghost Towns emerged from a tribe to Bourke, Lightning Ridge and St George, where Graeme was exposed to the ramifications of the water buy-backs not only for families but for whole communities. It is a deeply moving and powerful song. There are some deeply introspective songs on the album too. One is the exquisite Sail Away, a cover of a Mickey

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“THIS IS A GENERATION THAT GETS ITS MUSIC ALMOST ENTIRELY VIA STREAMING, AND I’M EXCITED THAT THEY WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO REDISCOVER SONGS FROM THEIR CHILDHOOD, AND DISCOVER NEW SONGS.”

Newberry song that he has always loved. Another is One Love At A Time. “This song has been a long time in the making – it took 62 years to conceive and 20 minutes to write. And there isn’t a wasted word in the lyric. I need to say something clearly and simply in that true country style,” Graeme said. The album’s final song, Stay Where You Are, may sound familiar to some listeners. It was originally written for and recorded by former Star Maker winner Brendon Walmsley, but expressed a point of view that Graeme also shares passionately. These days, when he’s not writing or performing, Graeme’s an integral part of the family restaurant business in Mackay as the family sommelier – something he loves. He’s recently made the long-considered decision to make his entire back catalogue – 15 studio albums, three ‘best of’ collections and two newly released digital-only live albums – available for streaming, in new

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agreement with ABC Music, which released his iconic North album three decades ago. It’s the logical next step for this much-loved Australian songwriter and performer, who was inducted into the Roll of Renown in 2017, and has won 14 Golden Guitars, an ARIA Award, two APRA Awards, two MO Awards and 12 TSA Awards, with 16 top-selling albums and more than 400,000 album sales, and numerous hit songs. “I’ve had mixed feelings about the advent of streaming, but I’ve realised that there is huge potential for new audiences to hear this body of work,” Graeme said. “I have an increasing number

of young people who grew up with my songs on the family cassette player now coming to my concerts. “This is a generation that gets its music almost entirely via streaming, and I’m excited that they will have the chance to rediscover songs from their childhood, and discover new songs. “It will also enable others who are only now discovering my music to access the whole catalogue for the first time.” Graeme will launch his From The Backcountry tour in Mackay on August 4, before heading out to Blackall on August 26 for the Blackall Heartland Festival. He’ll then do several shows in September and October before boarding Cruisin’ Country 8 with a host of other artists for a Pacific Islands cruise.

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BY SUSAN JARVIS

llan said “Somehow about the time I grew it long, I started to be seen in a new light. My wife Marian reckons it’s definitely the length of the beard that makes the difference between a has-been and a legend.” “Really, though, it’s because I’ve had the privilege of working with so many up and coming artists, and passing on what I’ve learnt to them. They’re genuinely nice people, and they are proud to have written with me, so they’re talking me up – which I certainly don’t mind!” It may also have something to do with what a prolific songwriter Allan is – over the last six years, there has barely been a week when he hasn’t had at least one song – and often two or three – in the country charts that he’s written or co-written. He’s also received numerous accolades over his career, and particularly in recent years. In January, he was inducted into the prestigious Galaxy of Stars in Tamworth, for his contribution as a songwriter, performer, record producer and author. He has been presented with seven Golden Guitars from 37 finalist nominations in his long and illustrious career, and also has 10 TSA Awards, including the Songmaker award and nine Independent Country Music Awards – five of which he collected in a record haul in 2016. So these days, when he decides to make an album, Allan

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ALLAN CASWELL JOKES THAT IT’S HIS BEARD THAT’S MADE HIM A RESPECTED ELDER STATESMAN OF COUNTRY MUSIC.

“I’VE REACHED A POINT IN MY LIFE WHEN I WRITE SONGS SO PEOPLE WILL HEAR THEM – WHETHER ON MY OWN ALBUMS OR FOR OTHER PEOPLE. AND THIS ALBUM CONTAINS SOME SONGS THAT I’M REALLY PLEASED TO HAVE OUT THERE.

believes he has earned the luxury of doing what he wants, rather than what’s expected of him. His latest release, Mexico, is the perfect example. It was recorded in Melbourne under the guiding hand of Damian Cafarella – and the location of Melbourne (known colloquially as ‘Mexico’ in the more northern parts of the country – is the clue to the album title. “We decided we’d head to Melbourne so we could record with all our Mexican friends – and Marian suggested we should call the album Mexico. Then she suggested we needed a song for the title track,” Allan said. “So we wrote a song together about the whole process – and all the people involved. It all started as a bit of a joke, but it’s the song that’s had the most response of all the tracks on the album. Of course it has a very Mexican feel. And I used ‘Carlos’, the nylonstring guitar Marian bought me from the Salvation Army shop in Yass for $25.” The song really sets the tone for the album, which is a smorgasbord of country styles. “That was my other aim: to explore every facet of country music on the one album,” Allan said. And with the album covering everything from the bush ballad style of Drunks Like Charlie to the folk-tinged When The Roses Fall, the bluegrass of Taken By The Wind and the wonderful groove of Powerful Thing, that intention has been more than realised. True to his word, Allan’s enlisted a collection of amazing artists to create Mexico – both in terms of songwriting and performing. The Weeping Willows shared the performing credits on the delicate first single, When The Roses Fall, and the

talented Jen Mize is featured in a superb duet on Why Lonely People Drink, as well as featuring on Powerful Thing. Two tracks, the wonderful If Life Gives You Lemons and Taken By The Wind, were co-written with former Seeker Keith Potger, Damian Cafarella, Andrew Wrigglesworth, Jen Mize and Manfred Vijars are among the stellar cast of songwriters. But the song with the most writers is Knowing That You’re There, penned during a songwriting master class on the back verandah of Allan’s house in the Blue Mountains. It has a total of nine co-writers. Allan wrote and released Sucking My Darling Dry in protest at the damage being done by the political use of water from the Murray-Darling catchment. “It’s really hurting farmers, but the flow-on effects are huge, and it’s affecting whole rural communities,” he said. This album has so many great songs that it is difficult to choose the standouts. Allan’s personal favourite is the gentle No Longer My Best Friend, a strongly autobiographical love song for wife Marian. Their life together is also the subject of It’s Not Nearly Time, penned with Lachlan Bryan. Other highlights include the delightful Why Everything’s So Pink, about a fear of taking risks in relationships, the very cool Powerful Thing and the classic country song with a twist, Life Imitating Art. This album is imbued with friendship, the pure joy of making music and a sense that anything is possible. It is one of the finest pieces of work Allan has produced, and he is justifiably proud of it. “I’ve reached a point in my life when I write songs so people will hear them – whether on my own albums or for other people. And this album contains some songs that I’m really pleased to have out there. “Life right now is very good – and I hope I’ve been able to capture that on this album so others can enjoy it with me,” Allan said.

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BY DAVID DAWSON

irsty tears pages from her family challenges in Change The World and Chasing Ghosts but it was premature death of Hannah Rye, just 15, from cancer that fuelled House Full Of Flowers (Hannah’s Song.) Hannah, diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma at 13, was a music student of Kirsty’s in remission and asked her to write a song for her funeral. Newcastle Knights NRL star Trent Hodkinson partnered Hannah to her Year 10 formal, brought forward so she could attend, at Kirsty’s alma mater – Kurri Kurri High School. Kirsty, 30, wrote the song, to be released on the anniversary of Hannah’s death on August 21, with award-winning Ohio-born Nashville singer-songwriter-multiinstrumentalist Jerry Salley on one of many visits to Nashville – her home away from home. “I actually met Hannah a couple of years ago through teaching music when I’m not touring,” Kirsty told Country Music Capital News on the eve of her latest Canadian tour that includes the famous Calgary Stampede. “I teach about 50 students singing. She contacted me about doing some singing and we got to know each other. Just when she was about to start singing lessons she learned she had cancer so she couldn’t do lessons. She had to put if off for a while. Then she got better and appeared in my Ain’t That Kind Of Girl video about February last year and only a couple of months later she learned the cancer had come back and she only had a couple of months left to live. She set out on a journey to make the most of

HUNTER VALLEY SINGER-SONGWRITER KIRSTY LEE AKERS PROVES ON HER FIFTH ALBUM UNDER MY SKIN SHE’S WELL QUALIFIED TO WRITE ABOUT LIFE ON THE EDGE. that time. One of the things she wanted to do was go to her high school year 10 formal with one of the Newcastle Knights players. It made headlines in Australia and around the world. She asked me to sing her favourite song at her funeral. I left that day and started writing the song but couldn’t bring myself to finish it. It turned out I was in Nashville the day of her funeral unfortunately. I couldn’t attend but I recorded myself singing the song and they played it in the church.” Kirsty will release House Full Of Flowers the follow-up single to her title track, late this month. “Hannah’s 12-month anniversary is coming up at the end of August,” Kirsty explained. “Hannah’s mum sent me a bunch of footage of Hannah that is very special so I can include it in the video I make for it.” Kirsty’s collaborator Jerry Salley, frequent visitor to Tamworth, has had more than 500 of his songs recorded by artists diverse as chart-topping Kentucky coal-miner’s son Chris Stapleton, Reba McEntire, John Anderson, Brad Paisley and Toby Keith. He has also written nine #1 Australian hits and Novocastrian cancer survivor Catherine Britt’s Billboard chart debut with Sir Elton John on Where We Both Say Goodbye. But it was 2011 Australian touring partner – Indiana-born Jace Everett – with whom she wrote Change The World that traces her own journey from her birth when her mother was just 17. “I’ve always been a massive fan of Jace and wanted to write with him but never actually worked up the courage to ask him but when it came to writing for this new album I thought I’ve got to ask him,” Kirsty confessed. “The song started from that very first line ‘she was born in the fall of ‘88 to a teenage mother’. That’s all about me. I was first of our children born to teenage parents, first of four children. It wasn’t always easy for mum and dad raising us. They always said no matter your background or where you came from no dream is too hard to chase.” Chasing those dreams has taken Kirsty all over Australia – from the Hunter Valley to the Top End – and also the US, Canada and Europe where she has performed and written songs with a vast cast of peers.

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They include prolific Memphis born hit writer Trey Bruce, Nashville tunesmiths Phil Barton and Bruce Wallace and Brisbane born latter day Nashville chanteuse Sinead Burgess who collaborated on two songs each. So it’s fitting Kirsty and Sinead wrote Chasing Ghosts that boomerangs to her dreams of leaving town at 17 after busking on the streets of Tamworth at 14 that financed her debut EP. “I’ve known Sinead since we were 14 and attended CMAA Academy of Country Music in Tamworth and we have always wanted to write together but never had the chance so I hit her up when I was in Nashville,” Kirsty recalled. “We have written two songs on the album. Chasing Ghosts comes from personal experience. We were sitting around having a little girl talk about our teenage years. It’s about being in a relationship and chasing different things that aren’t there. We wrote The First Time on the same day – they have a similar background. It’s a nostalgia song – about the first time you fall in love. And also the opposite thing the first time your heart is broken is the worst. We didn’t get it finished that day but finished it the day before I came home.” Kirsty also reunited with Trey Bruce – son of Ed Bruce and the late Patsy Bruce famed for writing Waylon & Willie hit – Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys. “I met Trey at a 2007 workshop put together by Mushroom Music here in Australia,” Kirsty revealed. “He stayed an extra week and we started writing together. We have written a lot of my previous singles Burn, Baby, Burn, Ain’t That Kind Of Girl and Drive Till The Wheels Fall Off that all went to #1 on CMC.” This time it was That Ring Don’t Fit My Hand and Skeletons – a descendant of sorts of the Tom T Hall hit Harper Valley PTA. “It’s funny you should mention that, it’s one of my favourite songs,” Kirsty revealed of the spoof of a housewife with time on her hands and a daily joint between her fingers. “That Ring Don’t Fit My Hand came about from scrolling through Facebook and seeing some of the people I went to school with and how different our lives are, how different my life is to people I grew up with. Also my own life with my mum who was pregnant at 16, had me at 17 and three children by 19. It’s the pole opposite to me. As soon as I finished school I didn’t want to get stuck in the town I was born in. I just wanted to get out of there.” The rest is history as Kirsty boomerangs home to launch her Social Family Records album and second single this month.

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

The house is full of flowers mum and dad are at the church today I get to wear my white dress but I’m arriving in a hearse I did my best to get to see 16 but that damn cancer got the best of me don’t you cry now remember all the good times House Full Of Flowers (Hannah’s Song) KIRSTY LEE AKERS/JERRY SALLEY

KIRSTY LEE

PLANTS

FLOWERS IN TEARS

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BY HALEY CRAIG

WITH A BOLD TITLE FOR HER LATEST EP, RAW, YOU COULD ONLY EXPECT THAT KRISTY JAMES DELIVERS MATERIAL THAT FITS THE BILL.

OUTSIDE THE BOX T

he six-track production is the latest offering from the singer song-writer and it sees her unleash her creativity and emotion in ways she never has before. The new EP was released in June and its mixture of light and shade has been given the big thumbs up from fans. Her collection of six tracks offers an insight into Kristy’s way with words. It’s filled with stories of strength, resilience, heartbreak and inspiration. With its blues undertones and country rock roots, Kristy defies the stereotypes of genre in this release and tells it how it is. She says the project was just as much for herself to enjoy as it is for a wider audience. “I just, decided to do this EP and kind of really wanted it to not be genre specific, not about trying to please a particular audience, it was literally just me writing what I write,” she told Capital News. “Which is why I called it Raw. “I stripped back my image

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as well and made it as close to who I am as a person. “It’s me.” But it wasn’t an easy process narrowing it down to a six-track release. Her current single, Cinderella was slotted in at the last minute, but Kristy is happy with the outcome. In writing the tracks she drew on the experiences of others and real life observations. “I’ve been pretty lucky in relationships and haven’t had too much of a broken heart,” she said. “But I do draw on my friends’ experiences. “Dark Sunglasses is more of a fun story, if you are cheated on and the first place your mind will go. “When I wrote that song for instance I was thinking of what a cool film clip I could do with that one. “But then Stone Cold Sober is a song of heartbreak… it was literally a story, a conversation I overheard in Nashville where a couple were arguing and she was completely heartbroken. “She was yelling at him and said ‘you’ve got no excuse, you were stone cold sober. “There is heartbreak there, but not specifically drawn from my life.” But Kristy says her latest release is particularly sentimental to her than the others. It was co-produced with her husband Luke Davis and she says they’re both proud of the

finished product and how they worked together in the process. But she admits the road to release was a lot of hard work. “I might have a story of love and loss if we had to work together again,” she jokes. “He produced and engineered the EP, we recorded it at home. “I’m a different person in the studio, probably free of emotion so for me it is work, work, work. “Our marriage relationship isn’t the same as that and he found that to be a struggle. “I was still his wife, but from my perspective it was all stop, play and record and maybe I was too bossy for him. “It was difficult but a really good learning experience, if he can work with me, he can record with anyone. “Anytime there is recognition of the EP, we can share in it and that is a really nice, really cool thing. “It has been worth the struggle.” But there’s no rest for Kristy who is now working on her first full-length album. She’ll be heading over to the United States for the process in the world country music capital, Nashville, Tennessee and she’s bringing her husband along for the ride. She says it’ll be a learning experience for them both. “We decided to do that in Nashville,” she said. “Luke did so well with my EP and I really wanted him to see how they do it over there. “I wanted him to be able to learn more than we’ve done in Australia. It’s a chance to go over there and see what they do and see him learn. “Plus I love the food and the atmosphere and really wanted a holiday.” If there’s one thing that you can take away from Kristy’s latest release, it is she is comfortable in her own skin and her own unique style. She doesn’t just tick one box, and she’s happy with that.” “I’ve been very lucky knowing I’ve always wanted to be a singer, always wanted to write and record” she said. “To pigeon-hole me on a specific type of country music has been so hard because I’ve loved a variety of country music – country rock, blues and whatever I write has always been that. “Sometimes people don’t get that. My sound is still evolving, it’s probably always going to be country and that’s what makes what I do different.”

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AN AMUSING

BEGINNING BY BEC BELT

usan was drawn to musical performance after starting out as a stand-up comedian whilst living in Melbourne. It resulted in two albums, an EP and more than a decade of live performances across the country. “I came to country music purely by accident. I was a standup comic and went for singing lessons because I’d started writing song parodies and people seemed to notice my singing more than my jokes,” she said. “I read an ad in Beat Magazine one day for a vocal teacher looking for students. It took me a few days to pluck up the courage to ring and then was too embarrassed to sing at my first lesson.” Susan’s teacher was none other than Nikki Nicholls who was an original backing singer for John Farnham and who had worked on studio projects with Kylie Minogue and Nikki Webster. It was her teacher who introduced Susan to her first singing gig in public as part of the Weekend Warriors Music Program, with music coach Paul Norton (Stuck On You, Under A Southern Sky). “The first time was amazing years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

IT CAN BE FUNNY HOW SOME ARTISTS COME TO HAVE A CAREER IN COUNTRY MUSIC, AND FOR ADELAIDE SINGERSONGWRITER SUSAN LILY, THE PATH WAS SOMEWHAT WITH HUMOUR. because I’d never sung with a band before, but I’d been taught to own the whole stage as a comedian,” she said. From there she asked her coach, Paul Norton, if he would mentor her with songwriting as her interest in music had overtaken comedy. “I didn’t know that I could write until I went to see Paul,” she said. Like many before her, country music chose Susan, because she’d grown up in Hay, her voice was country and her songwriting also fit into the genre. When she decided to record, she approached Paul and Michael Cristiano (of Fisk and Christian fame). She felt too embarrassed to play one song, Got The Monkey Off My Back, and left it to last. Paul encouraged her to play it for him, and the song ended up being her first single, released in December 2006. “Every time I meet someone and they know one of my songs, I am so chuffed,” the singer-songwriter said. “Got The Monkey Off My Back became my signature tune for many years. I still love to play it at gigs.” From humble beginnings Susan and Paul went on to record her debut album, Butterfly. A labour of love, it took two years to record and was released in 2011. The album housed a number of singles for Susan but it wasn’t until she released her EP Daisy Jane in 2014 that she had her first charting hit with the title track and then with the second single Here On The Road. Her latest album, Free Spirited, was released in March and is home to a variety of song styles and topics. “My songs just wander in and say, ‘hey, I’m here, write me’,” she said, when asked about her songwriting process. “I used to worry when I started that every song I wrote was going to sound the same, but they’ve all got their own identities and listeners find their own messages in them, but I don’t deliberately put messages in them. It’s purely

accidental in so many ways.” The song that means the most to Susan on the new album is Countr y Boy City Blues, written about her father who lived in Melbourne for a short time in his late teens. He was a low paid apprentice, ended up with a wrecked ute that had been stolen at St Kilda beach. “His life went from being okay to being really miserable, so he saved what he could and took off back home,” Susan said. “I only found out a couple of years ago that he lived in the city and I love the song because it’s very personal, has a unique feel and, I love the riff that my producer Anthony Stewart wrote for it.” The album and the new single, Tough As Geranium, were recorded at Redbrick Music Studio with Anthony Stewart from The Sherrahs. The list of musicians on the album is long: Anthony Stewart, Tracy Stewart, Stephen Sherrah, Bradley Bergen, Hamish Davidson, Benjy Pocock, Trent Williamson, Dave Moore, Richard Coates and, Rod Motbey all gave the songs what they needed. The new single is an ode to both the suburb of Port Adelaide and the geraniums that grow there in the street. With a great love of the stage and the audiences who come to see her, Susan Lily is more than a songwriter with a guitar. She is an all-round entertainer who weaves her comedic skills into her live performances giving her crowds the well-earned rest from life’s challenges.

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BY ANNA ROSE

A NEW ZEALAND COUPLE HAS MADE HISTORY THIS YEAR AS FINALISTS IN THE 2018 TUI AWARDS.

n a first for the prestigious competition (on par with Australia’s ARIAs), Phil and Lana Doublet were the first husband-and-wife combination to take two of the three finalist positions in the Best Country Artist category, along with eventual winner Reb Fountain. Had either Phil or Lana won the title, there would have been only celebrations in the household – not an ounce of rivalry. Phil was responsible for producing his own album, Strength, Love, Music & Light, and Lana’s sparkling debut, Beautiful Human. “It was exciting for us both to be announced as Best Country Artist finalists,” Lana said. “To know that Phil had produced both albums and put so much work into both projects was just wonderful. I couldn’t think of anyone better to be in there with.” He’s not only a gifted producer and songwriter, Phil is widely regarded as one of Australasia’s premier guitarists and has been honing his craft since he was a toddler. At the age of four, Phil picked up a ukulele and progressed to guitar lessons three years later. At the ripe old age of 11, Phil joined his first band. “My biggest influence at the time was Hank Marvin from the Shadows,” Phil said. “He taught me all about picking melodies. I discovered my next biggest influence

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when I was 12 – Mark Knopfler – and I was immediately hooked.” Fast forward to 2003 and the Doublets crossed the ditch where Phil answered an online advertisement for a guitar player. Within two weeks he received a reply from Luke O’Shea, who had just released his first album, No Day Like Today, and Phil has been an integral part of Medicine Wheel ever since. Four years after “I LOVE A joining Medicine Wheel, Phil and GOOD STORY, Lana returned to New Zealand TALKING TO where Phil focused on a solo project, PEOPLE AND/ returning to Australia frequently OR READING to perform with the band. The polar opposite ARTICLES of idle, Phil immersed himself in creativity, ABOUT coming up with three albums within the HEARTFELT next decade. Lana smiles as SUBJECTS. she recalls how she first heard about her I FIND ALL future husband. “My parents used OF THESE to go and listen to Phil’s band and dad A GOOD would come home raving about this SOURCE OF guitar player and how awesome he INSPIRATION. was,” Lana said. “We finally met through mutual friends a short time later – and after quite a lengthy engagement, were married in 2015.” Living with such a creative person certainly rubs off, as Lana caught the songwriting bug from her hubby more than a decade ago, while they were living in Sydney.

“Spending so much time with like-minded people such as Phil, I started to try my own hand at writing songs,” Lana said. “I am so lucky to be friends with so many talented writers who continue to inspire me. “I love a good story, talking to people and/or reading articles about heartfelt subjects. I find all of these a good source of inspiration. “Each song is different: some write themselves, while other times it can take months for the songs to take shape.” Although relatively “new” to the songwriting scene, Lana was a fast learner, and in recent years has rated highly in competitions across New Zealand, either placing or making the finals. Lana took out a hat-trick in the NZCMA Songwriter of the Year, claiming the title in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Suitcase, a single lifted from Phil’s latest album, made its way onto the Australian Top 40 Country Tracks airplay chart and has even received airplay on the BBC in the UK. The accompanying film clip, produced by Paul Sparkes of Sweet As Media in Christchurch, has been on rotation on CMC in Australia, Kiwi Country TV and also in the UK. They will continue to release singles from their respective albums and there are plans afoot for a collaborative album down the track a little. This husband and wife combination is quite the double act – in more ways than one.

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HEAR+THERE

TOM CURTAIN AND ANNABEL McLARTY

THE MARRIAGE OF ANNABEL MCLARTY TO TOM CURTAIN TOOK PLACE AT THEIR HOME AT KATHERINE OUTBACK EXPERIENCE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF KATHERINE IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY ON FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018.

WELCOME BABY MILLA

oel and Kaylee Stewart have announced the arrival of their first child, a baby girl. Milla May Stewart arrived on May 23 at 5:17am. She weighed a healthy 3.37kg and was 49.5cm in length. Kaylee is one half of Kaylens Rain with her brother Glen and Joel is a former member of The Viper Creek Band and now plays bass for artists such as Melanie Dyer, Kaylee Bell, Rachael Fahim and others. They have made their home in Newcastle, NSW.

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PHOTO: BELLA ROUGE PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: LISA HATZIMIHAIL / LISAHATZ.COM.AU

nnabel, the daughter of Leigh and Nicky McLarty, wore a gown and veil by Aelkemi, and Tom, the son of Peter and Moira Curtain, wore a suit by Attitude For Men. Annabel’s bridesmaids were Meg Davis and Mel Atwell and Tom’s groomsmen were two of his brothers Pat and Laurie Curtain. Charlie Curtain joined flowergirls Matilda Curtain, Evie Lloyd and Emerson Pederick for a cute element. Annabel walked down the aisle to Audrey’s Song their favourite song by Harry Hookey who they flew in especially. Harry sang it a second time for their first dance. Styling was by Longrass Style, flowers by Beija Flor Darwin, hair by Visions Hair Design, make-up by Carrie-Anne Martin from The Beauty Bar and catering was by Dragonfly Catering and Events and photography by Lisa Hatzimihail. Not everything went to plan of course with Tom’s ring not arriving in time so a ring was borrowed from a guest and the men’s suits turned up just two days before the wedding only to find their boots wouldn’t fit under the narrow pant legs. Crisis was averted with shoes being flown in from Darwin overnight. Other music was by Innocent Eve who helped guests dance the night away. The speeches had everyone in tears of laughter and the couple enjoyed one of the best days of their lives.

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE STAR MAKER JOURNEY? DO YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE 40TH TOYOTA STAR MAKER?

Entries open Friday 13 July 2018 Entries close 1 October 2018 Details and entry form online at starmaker.com.au Conditions of entry online

40 YEARS OF WINNERS 1979-2018: Grand Junction • Tommy Miller • Leanne Douglas • Lee Kernaghan • The Vic Lanyon Band • Great Divide • Jane Maddick • James Blundell • Jenine Vaughan • Craig Robertson • Keith Urban • Gina Jeffreys • Warren Derwent • Beccy Cole • Clint Beattie • Tanya Self • Darren Coggan • Lyn Bowtell • Kate Ballantyne • Brendon Walmsley • Grant Richardson • Kylie Sackley • Kieran Lancini • Todd Williams • Travis Collins • Samantha McClymont • Cat Southern • Kirsty Lee Akers • Talia Wittmann • Liam Brew • Luke Austen • Luke Dickens • Bob Corbett • Kaylee Bell • Jared Porter • Mickey Pye • Karin Page • Rachael Fahim • Brad Cox

AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY MUSIC’S 40TH ANNUAL SEARCH FOR A NEW STAR SUNDAY, 20 JANUARY 2019 • TOYOTA PARK • TAMWORTH NSW ENQUIRIES: T: 02 6767 5555 E: info@starmaker.com.au W: starmaker.com.au ORG AN I SED BY

REF SF8655

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

HAIR DESIGN & MAKE UP

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

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CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF STAR MAKER PRESENTED BY TOYOTA

Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12noon – 3:30pm Doors open at 11:15am Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre Hosted by Nick Erby

ADULT

Early Bird $40 (from Nov 1 $45)

ADULT PREMIUM EXPERIENCE $70 (includes meet & greet, gift pack)

CONCESSIONS Early Bird $38 (from Nov 1 $43)

SCHOOL STUDENT

Early Bird $13 (from Nov 1 $15) Groups 10+: Early Bird $36 (from Nov 1 $41)

GROUPS 10+ Early Bird $36 (from Nov 1 $41)

Book through Entertainment Venues | T: 02 6766 2028 | W: entertainmentvenues.com.au

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years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

H+T UPDATE BY DAN BIDDLE

BY ANY MEASURE, THE FIRST HALF OF 2018 HAS BEEN A GREAT YEAR FOR COUNTRY MUSIC IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

rom sell out festivals and tours to top-selling releases, airplay hits and growing streaming numbers – there has been something for everyone this year. The CMAA underwent a change to the executive board this year with myself and Natalie Waller appointed to the positions of chairman and vice-chair. In addition, Sarah Perriam was recently appointed as a board member to represent the New Zealand country music community and work towards creating reciprocal opportunities for our members in both territories.

A number of projects have been in the works in the background including a complete update of the CMAA website country.com.au which will include a member directory to help bring the industry closer together. Revisions are being made to the first round of judges of the Golden Guitar Awards with the goal of making the awards as inclusive

as possible and recognising the best songs, albums & artists in each field. We have met with various industry bodies including the US CMA, ARIA, APRA, the Association of Artist Managers, the Americana Association of Australia, as well as labels and publishers and there are a number of projects in the works which will roll out in the future. The Academy of Country Music has enjoyed excellent attendance at both the Senior Academy in January and Junior Academy in July and the team continues to inspire the next generation of country artists and add to the long list of outstanding attendees that have gained so much from the Academy over more than twenty years. While there have been many great achievements this year, we would like to make a special mention of the huge success that Morgan Evans is enjoying around the world with his single Kiss Somebody amassing over 40 million streams and currently sitting in the Top 5 of the U.S Country Aircheck Airplay Chart.

SLIM STILL MAKING HISTORY FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, SLIM DUSTY HAS REACHED A NEW MILESTONE.

is greatest hits collection, The Ver y Best Of Slim Dusty, has reached an unprecedented 1000 weeks in the ARIA Country Albums Chart. Originally released in 1998, the album has achieved almost 20 years straight in the chart and ARIA and EMI Music Australia (Slim’s career-long record company) are celebrating and paying tribute to a remarkable artist who has left an unparalleled legacy. “It’s a wonderful feeling to see that Slim’s voice and songs are still so loved by Australian listeners,” said Joy McKean, Slim’s wife, manager and the writer of many of his most enduring songs. “The Ver y Best Of collection is representative of Slim’s most popular and best performances and I’m incredibly proud to see his legacy living on.” John O’Donnell, managing director of EMI Music Australia, said, “Slim is a national hero and the rock upon which we built EMI Australia.” years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

Dan Rosen, CEO of ARIA, said, “ARIA would like to congratulate the late ARIA Hall Of Famer Slim Dusty on this amazing achievement. He is, and always will be, an Australian icon and clearly his music will continue to be loved by generations of fans.” To celebrate, EMI Music has released a limited quantity of Slim’s final recordings Columbia Lane: The Last Sessions on vinyl. Originally released in 2004 on CD and cassette, the vinyl has only previously been available as part of the limited edition Dusty By The Decades box set. Now with a limited run to celebrate the 1000 weeks

milestone, this special item is sure to be a fan favourite. Slim has been the face of Australian country music for its entire history, since its early roots in hillbilly and folk music. In that time, he evolved with the industry, setting the agenda and changing with the times.

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TOYOTA STAR MAKER UPDATE

Trailer Swift

G’DAY G’DAY G’DAY MY ALBUM LAUNCH IN MY HOME TOWN OF JINDABYNE NSW WAS TENFOLD WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.

he show was held at the Jindabyne Cinema and it turned out to be a really great space to put on a hot country show. With two weeks left until the show, all tickets were sold. SOLD OUT! I’ll tell you what, it was an awesome feeling to be able to say those two words, especially in my home town. What a way to kick off the tour. Big thanks to everyone who helped get this show off the ground and make it the success it was. Andrew Swift and Jack Rayne for opening the show, Eclipse Sound

and Lighting, my management team, the brothers (my band), and everyone else who supported this event, THANK YOU! After the launch, the brothers and I had a couple of weeks off before our next gig. We spent a couple of days at the Lake House relaxing and winding down from what had been a massive WA trip with Adam & Brooke, then straight into rehearsals for our own tour and the launch. It was really nice to be out of phone reception for a couple of days. The next two weeks were spent getting “Trailer Swift” fitted out for tour. I bought a flash new trailer so the brothers and I could all travel together in one car with all our gear. I thought it would take about a day and a half to have it fitted out. Well seven big days later the solar panel was on, the tins were cold and we were headed for Tamworth for the Toyota Hats Off To Country Festival with two shows at The Albert Hotel and a guest spot on Adam Harvey’s big

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concert show. It was nice being back in Tamworth six months after winning Star Maker. It was a fun weekend and people turned up to our two shows with Rachael Fahim the 2017 Star Maker winner. The next couple of weeks are busy on the road with the tour continuing. Newcastle, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Braidwood and more after that should see me giving the Toyota a work out, especially pulling Trailer Swift around the country side. As always you can check out all the tour dates at BradCoxOfficial.com and get your tickets. See you on the road! Hoo roo bye Brad Cox

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

LIVE MUSIC SCENE

LIFT OUT

Please note all show venues & times are correct at time of printing. Capital News recommends you check with the venue prior to attending.

ADAM HARVEY

BILLY BRIDGE

AUGUST 3 Brothers Sports Club, Bundaberg Qld 4 The Great Western Hotel, Rockhampton Qld 5 The Star Hotel, Emerald Qld 9 Northern Beaches BC, Mackay Qld 10 Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville Qld 11 Brothers LC, Cairns Qld 12 Herbert River RSL Club, Ingham Qld

AUGUST 5 Rising Sun Hotel, Rosewood Qld OCTOBER 7-15 Cruising Country 8

BLAKE O’CONNOR #Guest of 2018 Toyota Star Maker Brad Cox AUGUST 4 Wauchope Country Club NSW 9 Heritage Hotel Bulli NSW# 10 Transit Bar Canberra ACT#

ALICE BENFER AUGUST 31 Wyper Park Scout Camp, Bundaberg Qld SEPTEMBER 1-2 Wyper Park Scout Camp, Bundaberg Qld 14-16 Clifton Showgrounds Qld 21-22 Pioneer Village, Maleny Qld

BRIAN LETTON AUGUST 12 Nobby Town Hall Qld 17-19 Boondooma Celtic Festival Qld 26 Ilford Town Hall NSW

ANDREW SWIFT AUGUST 2 Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Vic 3 York On Lilydale, Mt Evelyn Vic 4 Gateway Hotel, Geelong Vic 5 Whalers Hotel, Warnambool Vic 16 Lazybones Lounge & Bar, Marrickville NSW 17 Flow Bar, Old Bar NSW 19 House Concert, Murphys Creek Qld 23-26 Gympie Muster Qld NOVEMBER 2-4 Ballina CMF NSW

ANGELA EASSON AUGUST 9-12 Gemfest, Emerald Qld

BEN RANSOM AUGUST 25&26 Gympie Muster, Amamoor Qld years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

24 Gympie Music Muster Qld 25 Lefty’s Oldtime Music Hall, Brisbane Qld 31 Leadbelly, Newtown, Sydney NSW SEPTEMBER 2018 07 Canberra Southern Cross Club ACT*** 09 Forbes Services Memorial Club NSW*** 09 Home Tavern, Wagga Wagga NSW 21 Outback Experience, Katherine NT 22 Noonmah Rodeo Final, Noonmah NT 28 Deniliquin Ute Muster, Deniliquin NSW NOVEMBER 10 Dunedoo Tunes On The Turf, Dunedoo SC NSW 23 Wee Waa BC NSW*** 24 Lightning Ridge BC NSW*** DECEMBER 07 York On Lilydale, Mt Evelyn VIC *** 08 West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul VIC ***

CARTER & CARTER

BRAD COX **With Adam Harvey ***Guest of The McClymonts AUGUST 2018 2 Spotted Mallard, Melbourne Vic 4 Country Rocks Under The Stars, Braidwood Showgrounds NSW 9 Heritage Hotel, Bulli NSW 10 Transit Bar, Canberra ACT 12 Central Coast CMF NSW 17 Country For A Cause, Katherine NT** 23 No 5 Church St, Bellingen NSW

AUGUST 3 Bunjil Place, Narre Warren Vic 4 Club Mulwala NSW 5 Alexandra Town Hall Vic 10 The Sphinx Hotel, North Geelong Vic 11 Wonthaggi Union CAC Vic 12 Barn Concert at Carter & Carter’s Farm, Kinglake Vic 17 The Wedge PAC, Sale Vic 18 Moe RSL Vic 19 Frankston RSL Vic 30 Capital Theatre, Bendigo Vic 31 Swan Hill Town Hall Vic SEPTEMBER 1 Albury Ent Centre Vic

CATHERINE BRITT & THE COLD COLD HEARTS Guest Melody Moko AUGUST 11 Sawtell RSL Club NSW 31 Rooty Hill RSL Club NSW SEPTEMBER 1 Lizottes, Newcastle NSW 2 Ettalong Diggers, Ettalong Beach NSW NOVEMBER 3 Harmonie-German Club, Canberra ACT 16 Commercial Club, Albury NSW 17 Club Mulwala, Mulwala NSW 22 Coomealla Club - Dareton VIC 23 Pretoria Hotel - Mannum SA 24 Trinity Sessions - Adelaide SA 30 Noojee Pub – Noojee VIC

CHRISTIE LAMB AUGUST 17 Sawtell Hotel NSW 18 Casino RSM Club NSW 19 Caloundra RSL Club Qld 25 Ourimbah RSL Club NSW OCTOBER 12 K Ranch Arena, Mount Hunter NSW 13 The Colonial Hotel, Werrington NSW NOVEMBER 3 Ourimbah RSL Club NSW 10 Kick Up The Dust Festival, Canberra ACT 17 The Loaded Dog Tarago NSW 23 Young SC NSW 24 The Rock BNS, The Rock NSW

DALE HOOPER OCTOBER 28 Bathurst RSL Club NSW NOVEMBER 3 Johnny Cash CMF, Stanthorpe Showground Qld

DANI YOUNG AUGUST 18 Lizotte’s, Newcastle NSW

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LIVE MUSIC SCENE DEAN PERRETT AUGUST 23-26 Gympie Muster, Amamoor State Forest Qld SEPTEMBER 1-2 Wyper Park Scout Camp, Bundaberg Qld 7-9 Nanango Showgrounds Qld 14-16 Bony Mountain Festival, Warwick Qld OCTOBER 9 Radiance Of The Sea 26-28 Maryborough Equestrian Park Qld

DIANNE LINDSAY AUGUST 23 Gympie RSL Qld SEPTEMBER 1 Bundaberg Muster Qld 14 Bony Mountain Festival Qld OCTOBER 9 Cruising Country 8 NOVEMBER 25 Mona Vale RSL NSW

GEOFF WILLIAMS AUGUST 7 Magpies Club, Waitara, NSW 26 Pittwater RSL Club, Mona Vale NSW

GRETTA ZILLER AUGUST 10 Temora Ex SC NSW 11 Dubbo RSL NSW

HAYLEY JENSEN OCTOBER 27 Rock Edge CMF, VDMFest, Biloela Showground, Qld NOVEMBER 10 Kick The Dust Up Festival, Goolabri, near Canberra NSW

HAYLEY MARSTEN AUGUST 12 Tannum Sands Hotel Qld 15 Staves Brewery, Sydney NSW 17 Servo Food Truck Bar, Wollongong NSW 18 Quarterdeck, Narooma, NSW

19 Cuppits Winery, Ulladulla, NSW 22 The Royal Hotel, Gympie Qld SEPTEMBER 12 Some Velvet Morning, Melbourne Vic 13 Bayview Country Art Club, Bittern, Vic 14 Musicman Megastore, Bendigo Vic 16 The Loft, Warnambool Vic 29 The Milk Factory, Brisbane, Qld

NOVEMBER 9 Airlie Beach Festival of Music Qld 15 The Leap Hotel, Mackay Qld 18 Beaches Resort, Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon Qld

HILLBILLY GOATS AUGUST 4 Cairns Casino Qld 10 Black Mountain Unplugged, Cooktown Qld 15 Rollingstone Big4 Qld 17 Anchor Bar, Airlie Beach Qld 19 Rosslyn Bay Resort, Yeppoon Qld 31 Maleny Folk Festival Qld SEPTEMBER 7 Gympie RSL Qld 8 Redfest, Cleveland Showgrounds, Brisbane Qld 14 Bony Mountain Festival, Warwick Qld 21 Beerwah Hotel, Sunshine Coast Hinterland Qld 22 Palmwoods Hotel, Sunshine Coast Hinterland Qld 28 Bulimba Golf Club, Brisbane Qld 30 Kilkivan Bush Camp, Kilkivan, Qld OCTOBER 9 Cruisin Country 8 NSW 20 Cootamundra Ex Services Club NSW 26 Wollongong Diggers NSW

16 Mount Pleasant Tavern, North Mackay Qld 17 Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone Qld 23&24 Amamoor State Forest, Gympie Qld SEPTEMBER 15 Doomben Racecourse, Brisbane Qld

HEATH MILNER AUGUST 13 XXXX Stockmen’s Bar EKKA, Brisbane Qld 16 XXXX Stockmen’s bar EKKA, Brisbane Qld 23 The Grove, Gympie Muster, Amamoor State Forest Qld

Qld 11 Morrison Hotel, Brisbane Qld

JULIET OLIVER AUGUST 3 Woodstock Wines, McLaren

JAYNE DENHAM AUGUST 4 Cobar Bowling & Golf Club NSW 25&26 Gympie Muster Qld SEPTEMBER 29 Lights On The Hill Memorial, Gatton Qld

JASMINE RAE NOVEMBER 10 Kick The Dust Up Festival, Canberra ACT

JESSICA EMILY ODGERS AUGUST 19 Southport Sharks Club Qld 26 Gympie Music Muster Qld

JOHNNY GREENWOOD SEPTEMBER 1 Phil and Chris Coad’s Traditional Aussie Muster, Bundaberg Qld 2 Wyper Park Scout Camp, Bundaberg Qld

JOSH SETTERFIELD AUGUST 10 Highfields Tavern, Toowoomba

Flat SA 4 The British Workingmen’s Club, Wingfield SA 19 Playford CMC, Gawler SA SEPTEMBER 2 Adelaide CMC, Noble Park SA 7 Woodstock Wines, McLaren Flat SA 9 Woodstock Wines, McLaren Flat SA 14 Royal Adelaide Show, Wayville SA OCTOBER 5 Woodstock Wines, McLaren Flat SA

KALESTI BUTLER OCTOBER 1 Grandchester Community Hall Qld 12 The Irish Village, Emerald Qld 26-28 Maryborough Showgrounds Qld

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1979 32

THE LEGEND CONTINUES

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2018 years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

LIFT OUT

Please note all show venues & times are correct at time of printing. Capital News recommends you check with the venue prior to attending.

Sports Club, Dunedoo NSW

KYLIE ADAMSCOLLIER

KEL-ANNE BRANDT AUGUST 21 Riverstone Schofields MC NSW SEPTEMBER 27 Penrith RSL Club NSW OCTOBER 17 Belmont 16ft Sailing Club NSW

AUGUST 6 Woodburn Evans Head RSL Club NSW 7 Casino Golf Club NSW 10 Huonville BC Tas 11 Oatlands High School Tas 7pm 11&12 Heritage & Bullock Festival, Oatlands Tas 10:30am 26 Morisset Masonic Hall NSW SEPTEMBER 10 Carrington BC, Newcastle NSW 13 Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL NSW OCTOBER 22 Clarence Valley CM, Ulmurra NSW

NSW 8 Buddy Williams 100th Birthday Celebration Concert, Dorrigo NSW 15 Yass Senior Citizens Centre NSW 16 Wagga Wagga Commercial Club NSW 29&30 Texas Country Round Up, Texas, Qld OCTOBER 13 Batemans Bay Soldiers Club NSW 14 Queanbeyan Tigers Club ACT 26 West Tamworth League Club NSW

KIARA RODRIGUES SEPTEMBER 26&27 Camperdown Football Netball Club Vic 28 Mildura CMF Vic OCTOBER 27 Clarence Valley Festival, Ulmarra NSW

LACHLAN BRYAN AND THE WILDES

KORA NAUGHTON AUGUST 3-5 Mona Farm, Braidwood, NSW 25 Tourist Hotel, Queanbeyan, NSW SEPTEMBER 1 Dandaloo Hotel Family Fun Day, Dapto NSW 30 Jamberoo Pub, Jamberoo, NSW OCTOBER 20 Tourist Hotel, Queanbeyan, NSW NOVEMBER 10 Kick the Dust UP, Sutton, NSW 10 Tunes On The Turf Dunedoo

LINDSAY BUTLER & SHAZA LEIGH WITH THE BUTLER SHOWBAND AUGUST 4 Wauchope RSL Club NSW 5 Nambucca Heads BC NSW SEPTEMBER 2 Cedar Guitar Awards Concert, Lismore, NSW 7 West Tamworth League Club

**w Not Good With Horses AUGUST 23-26 Gympie Muster Qld

MELISSA ROBERTSON SEPTEMBER 7 Grazy’s Songwriter’s In The Round, Cranbourne Vic

MERILYN STEELE *w band AUGUST 3 Club Liverpool NSW 10 Bargo Sports Club NSW

29 St Mary’s Band Club NSW* SEPTEMBER 1 Smithfield RSL NSW OCTOBER 13 Denistone Sports Club NSW

MELODY MOKO Guest of Catherine Britt AUGUST 11 Sawtell RSL Club NSW 31 Rooty Hill RSL Club NSW SEPTEMBER 1 Lizottes, Newcastle NSW 2 Ettalong Diggers, Ettalong Beach NSW NOVEMBER 3 Harmonie-German Club – Canberra ACT 16 Commercial Club - Albury NSW 17 Club Mulwala, Mulwala NSW 22 Coomealla Club - Dareton VIC 23 Pretoria Hotel - Mannum SA 24 Trinity Sessions - Adelaide SA 30 Noojee Pub – Noojee VIC

NORMA O’HARA MURPHY SEPTEMBER 14&15 Bony Mountain Folk Festival Qld

PETE SMITH *Variety Show AUGUST 5 St Mary’s Hall, Rockhampton Qld 12 Mackay Senior Citizen Hall Qld 19 Bororen Hall Qld 21 Gatton Senior Citizen Hall Qld 23 Laidley Culture Centre, Gatton Qld

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years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

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C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

LIVE MUSIC SCENE PETER CAMPBELL AUGUST 12 Royal Hotel, Toowoomba Qld 26 Royal Hotel, Toowoomba Qld SEPT EMBER 9 Royal Hotel, Toowoomba Qld 30 Royal Hotel, Toowoomba Qld

RACHAEL FAHIM AUGUST 24 Gateway Hotel, Geelong Vic 25 Palms at Crown, Melbourne Vic SEPTEMBER 21 Wests, New Lambton NSW 22 Panthers, Penrith NSW OCTOBER 5 Club Old Bar, Old Bar NSW

14 Brolga Theatre, Maryborough Qld 15 Moncrieff EC, Bundaberg Qld DECEMBER 2 Rising Sun Hotel, Rosewood Qld

RODNEY VINCENT AUGUST 9&10 Horsham RSL Club Vic SEPTEMBER 5 Ararat Town Hall Vic 7 Williamstown BC Vic 11 Wonthaggi Workers Club Vic 13 Mulwala Water Ski Club NSW 14 Bocce Club Kyabram Vic 15 Golden Hills Motel, Bendigo Vic 16 Barham & District SC NSW 20 Warragul Sports Club Vic 26 Essendon Football Club Vic 27 Mulwala Water Ski Club Vic

RORY PHILLIPS AUGUST 4 Home Tavern, Wagga Wagga NSW

SHELLEY MINSON SEPTEMBER 19 Twin Towns, Tweed Heads NSW

24 Gateway Hotel, Geelong Vic 25 The Palms At Crown, Melbourne Vic 31 Inverell RSM NSW SEPTEMBER 1 Casino RSM NSW 7 Canberra Southern Cross Club ACT 8 Forbes Services MC NSW 21 Wests New Lambton NSW 22 Evan Theatre, Panthers, Penrith NSW OCTOBER 5 Club Old Bar NSW 6 The Cube, Campbelltown NSW 19 Norths LC, Kallangur Qld 20 Mackay EC Qld NOVEMBER 2 Alexandra Hills Hotel Qld 3 Aussie World, The Shed, Sunshine Coast Qld 9 Old Mill Hotel, Hahndorf SA 23 Wee Waa BC NSW 24 Lightning Ridge BC NSW DECEMBER 7 York On Lilydale, Mt Evelyn Vic 8 West Gippsland AC, Warragul Vic

TAYLOR PFEIFFER OCTOBER 3-7 Mildura CMF Vic 31 Highway Inn, Adelaide SA

TRACY COSTER AUGUST 3 Senior Citizens Hall, Mackay Qld

THE WOLFE BROTHERS THE MCCLYMONTS REBECCA LEE NYE SEPTEMBER

AUGUST 11 Mt Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo Qld

SPECIAL OFFER

AUGUST 2 Memo Music Hall, St Kilda Vic 3 York On Lilydale, Mount Evelyn Vic 4 Gateway Hotel, Geelong Vic

5 Warrnambool Greyhound Race Club Vic 6 Sheepvention, Hamilton Showground Vic 10 Highfields Tavern, Toowoomba Qld 11 The Morrison Hotel, Brisbane Qld 12 Mt Isa Rodeo Qld 16 Mt Pleasant Hotel, Mackay Qld 17 Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone Qld 18 Golden Octopus Rodeo, Ayr Qld

WAYNE HORSBURGH AUGUST 5 East Cessnock BC NSW 7 Ryde Eastwood LC, West Ryde NSW 10 Budgewoi Soccer Club NSW 25 Bairnsdale RSL Club Vic 26 Morwell Club Vic 28 Albury Commercial Club NSW SEPTEMBER 2 Yass Seniors Hall NSW 4 Bathurst RSL Club NSW 7-9 Nanango Showgrounds, Kingaroy Qld 13 Mulwala Ski Club NSW 14 Kyabram Bocce Club Vic 15 Bendigo Golden Hills Motel Vic 16 Barham Services Club NSW 23 Smithfield RSL Club NSW 30 East Cessnock BC NSW

WYNONAH DOVE’S AMERICAN ROOTS AUGUST 18 Camden Golf Club, Narellan NSW

MADCDS

Subscribe for 2 years and save $22 and receive the brand new CD from TSM winner BRAD COX Stay up-to-date with all the latest news, reviews, live music scene, new talent, coming events, bush balladeers, writing great songs, down memory lane. SUBSCRIBE ONLINE www.capitalnews.com.au OR PHONE: 02 6767 5555 or E: info@capitalnews.com.au 34

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years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

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HAIR DESIGN & MAKE UP

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MIL UR A D nd ANNUAL

SEPTEMBER 28th to OCTOBER 7th

Justin Standley

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The Southern Stars - The Australian Independent Country Music Awards to be held on Saturday October 6th at 6.00pm Go to our Website: www.milduracountrymusic.com.au For program purchase, accommodation enquiries and general details Phone 1800 039 043

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C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S J U LY 2 0 1 8

years of bringing you the music 1975â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2018

O N E T O WAT C H

JAKE

SINCLAIR BY SUSAN JARVIS

EVER SINCE HE WAS A YOUNG BOY, JAKE SINCLAIR HAS CARRIED A DREAM IN HIS HEART: PACKING UP A VAN AND HEADING OUT INTO THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH TO ENTERTAIN PEOPLE WITH HIS SONGS.

ake said “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for 20 years – hitch up a van and follow in the footsteps of the pioneers like Slim Dusty. I still have the same passion to take my music out there as I did back then.” It was a dream originally lit by Jake’s older brother Travis Sinclair, who showed him what was possible if you worked hard and dreamt big. “I’ve never had any illusions – those artists who make it are generally the ones who are most determined to succeed. It’s a hard road and a lot of work, and I have an absolute commitment to sticking it out and getting there. Working with Travis was a kind of apprenticeship for me,” Jake said. Now 29, Jake has already taken a number of steps along his chosen path. In 2017, he released his debut EP, The Vibetone Sessions, a collection of four songs recorded under the skilled hand of Benjy Pocock. All the songs – Ride, Small Town Friday Night, Broken In and Makin’ Memories – were original compositions, and the EP peaked at #2 on the iTunes country chart and at #17 on the all-genres chart. For Jake, original songs are at the heart of country music.

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

“I guess I see myself first and foremost as a performer, but I want to build a career doing original music,” he said. “The artists I admire are those who really bare their souls. And there’s nothing more satisfying than having someone come up to you after a gig and tell you how much one of your songs meant to them.” However, Jake’s songwriting talents are starting to get him noticed elsewhere. He recently cowrote a song for Adam Harvey’s new album, The Nashville Tapes, together with Adam and regular songwriting partner Luke Austen. He’s thrilled that the track, What A Song Can Do, was chosen for the album. Luke Austen has also joined forces with Jake in his next project. “We’re aiming to write 50 songs ready to record an album in 2019. I’ve already got 30 written, and I’m spending quite a bit of time just writing at the moment,” he said.

Jake is also performing regularly, not only in his own shows, but as a support act for The Wolfe Brothers and also with Liam Brew – the pair are in demand for their music at B&S balls around the country. Last January saw Jake reach the finals of the Toyota Star Maker talent search. While he didn’t take out the award, Jake says it was one of the most productive experiences of his career so far. “I learnt more about myself in one night than I thought possible. I thought I was bulletproof, but the judges’ feedback was invaluable. It turned out to be a very good thing for me, and I’ve taken a lot of their advice on board,” he said. He’s keen to enter Star Maker again, possibly in 2019, and says he’ll be well and truly prepared next time. Born and raised in Springhurst in country Victoria, Jake now lives in Melbourne, but says he gets out to the country most weekends to perform, and definitely still regards himself as a country boy. He’ll head north to Queensland later this month, where he’s been booked to perform at the Gympie Muster for the first time. He’ll rock the Crowbar with his band on both the Thursday and Friday nights, and says he’s very excited to be part of the iconic event. Then his attention will turn to the new album, which he’s hoping to record again with Benjy Pocock. “Last time was a really good experience, so we’re talking about where we should go next. I really want the songs to dictate the sound, and I know Benjy’s on board with that,” he said. “Hopefully that will be the vehicle to take the next step in this industry, which I’m so proud to be part of.”

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AUSSIE TRAILBLAZER REMEMBERED AUGUST 5, MARKS 10 YEARS SINCE THE PASSING OF COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND REG LINDSAY AND 2018 MARKS 50 YEARS SINCE THE STAR ARRIVED IN NASHVILLE. 38

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n June 2 1968, at a farewell that included family, friends and media, Reg was presented with a Certificate of Achievement by the managing director of Festival Records before leaving Sydney for the United States. On June 6, four days after Reg’s arrival in Los Angeles, presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy was assassinated, making it a dark time in the country. The news resulted in the cancellation of Reg’s video taping so he took the time to visit Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, record companies and TV and film studios. What amazed Reg most was that country music was being played on radio 24 hours a day and on a trip to Las Vegas he was pleased to find that country & western music was playing at half of the venues including the Golden Nugget, and The Mint hotel. Reg was one of the first Australian country music artists to lead the way in the US. He arrived in Nashville to a huge welcome. At the motel where he was staying had a big sign “Welcome Australia’s Reg Lindsay To Nashville”. After appearing on the Grand Ole Opry he received an encore and was invited back the following night. During this time he met Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Marty Robbins, Leroy Van Dyke, Billy Walker, Charlie Walker, Don Gibson and others. He did a show for 400 army boys, performed at Ernest Tubb’s with Dean Munroe and his Bluegrass Boys, was made honorary citizen of Tennessee and Roy Acuff presented Reg to the Governor of Tennessee. The four songs he recorded in Nashville were released as a special promotion through Festival Records coupled with a brand new LP Roadside Mailbox. On July 21, 2019 the world will acknowledge 50 years since man – Neil Armstrong – first walked on the moon. Reg’s version of the 1971 hit song Armstrong (written by American John Stewart) is buried in a time capsule in the Lyndon B Johnson Space Centre, Houston, Texas. From 2pm on August 5, Reg will be remembered at a tribute to be held at East Cessnock Bowling Club featuring Wayne Horsburgh, Bruce McCumstie, Jan Kelly, Jan’s daughter Danielle Smith, Mark Shay, Ross McGregor and his band, plus 2018 Reg Lindsay Talent Quest winner Louis Burt. Jon Wolfe will be compere the afternoon. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

BY GARRY COXHEAD

“Take me back to Dorrigo, dear old Dorrigo, That’s the place I love the best Where Bielsdown Waters flow The country town where I grew up and learned the farmer ’s ways, I’d love to live it all again, just like the good old days”

hese are the opening words of one of the 120 sides that Buddy Williams “The Yodelling Jackaroo” recorded for the famous Regal-Zonophone label. He loved Dorrigo, even though, as one old-time Dorrigo resident said, “he came to town as little more than slave labour for the family that had adopted him”. Yet, it was this experience, as a graduate of the school of hard knocks that prepared him to become an Aussie country music legend. He was born Harry Taylor on September 5, 1918. Orphaned at birth, his first memories were of Glebe Point orphanage. From this institution, he was fostered out to various homes until adopted by a family at Dorrigo. Despite the rigours of home-life, he gained his love for the bush, roaming the hills and making firm friends on neighbouring properties. Finally, with the police turning a blind eye, “as long as you’ve got a job”, Buddy cleared out from the farm and took various jobs around Ebor and Grafton. During his time in Dorrigo, Buddy heard and learned to love the early country music and determined to become a singer. He sang on radio 2GF in Grafton and after a dare busked in Coffs Harbour making over £13 in a day, a small fortune during the Depression! Finally, on September 7, 1939, he cut his first six sides. They were an immediate success but unfortunately, WWII conditions greatly curtailed his ability to capitalise on this. Some of his biggest hits were recorded at this time, including Headin’ For The Warwick Rodeo, Where White Faced Cattle Roam, Music In My Pony’s Feet, Where The Lazy Murray River Rolls Along and war themed songs like The Shearers Goodbye, The Dying Soldiers Prayer, I’ll Be Back Never Fear, Sunny Australian Sweetheart and Stockmen In Uniform. Buddy served in the 2/31st Battalion, 7th Division, and was badly wounded in Borneo in 1945. After recovery years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

Buddy Williams taking his music to the people of Australia. c1980.

FROM ORPHAN BOY TO AUSTRALIAN LEGEND

and war’s end, he recorded The Overlander Trail, which was a huge hit, established his travelling tent shows and began touring Australia. From the late 1950s he toured hall variety shows which

he continued to do almost up to his death in 1986. He recorded hundreds of songs firstly for EMI and later the RCA label. His touring shows gave many artists their first breaks into show business. Buddy was elevated to the Aussie CM Roll of Renown in 1978. A special event will be held in Dorrigo Saturday and Sunday September 8 and 9 to celebrate what would have been Buddy’s 100th birthday. It will include a memorial show on the Saturday evening, other events in the town and on Sunday 9, a memorial plaque will be unveiled at the museum. Everyone is welcome to visit Dorrigo for these events with camping and caravan sites, at reasonable cost, available at the showground. For more information and to book tickets for the concert contact Georgie Frogley on 02 6657 2120, between 9am and 5pm.

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A MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK BY JON WOLFE

IF ONE OF THE PRIME PURPOSES OF COUNTRY MUSIC IS TO TELL A STORY, THEN PAT DRUMMOND SHOULD SURELY BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS A MASTER OF THE GENRE, AS HIS SONGS HAVE TAKEN US TO OTHER PLACES, OTHER TIMES AND ALWAYS WITH A STORY TO TELL.

n a twist worthy of a Pat Drummond song, this month will see the staging of Getting There, a musical using Pat’s songs to tell a story of its own. The musical was written by Chris Gordon, a long time Pat Drummond fan. “I’m from Goulburn and some of us went to see Pat at the Rest Hotel in Sydney when he was still doing pub rock,” Chris said. “We went one Friday night and then every Friday night and we’ve seen his transitions from folk to pub rock and then country. “Eventually we noticed the depth in some of his songs 40

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and he was saying a lot of important things.” Pat and his brothers had a rock opera called School Days which Chris has taken a step further, asking what happened to some of the show’s characters. “Throughout Pat’s songs, there’s a lot of things that come to light – people are being displaced on the land, the importance of honouring

your word, bullying –those themes are in a lot of Pat’s songs, so there was a bit of a story being told,” Chris said. Pat said the big thing about his songs has always been the narrative and a real connection to the experiences of country people. “My songwriting has always had that narrative style, regardless of what genre I wrote in,” he said. “So I guess Chris has: a) set out to write a story that reflects a very Australian narrative and b) at the same time he has tapped into the songs I wrote about the school experience and there’s the romantic connections formed between a country girl and a city boy when they meet at the Royal Easter Show.” The musical offers up a story with some tragic and heartfelt moments, as well as a lot of fun and covers a lot of ground – starting in suburban Sydney before moving to the Easter Show, the Northern Territory and the South Coast of NSW. Both Chris and Pat are quick to point out that this is not the story of Pat Drummond, although some of the subjects did take place in Pat’s life. “Pat did get bullied at school,” Chris said, “and although he has travelled around the country writing story songs, there is a journalist character in the musical who travels writing stories and that could be equated to Pat’s persona as The Northern Daily Leader journo featured during the time of the Tales From The Local Rag album during the first half of the 1990s.” Chris said that one of the main aims of the show is to introduce Pat’s music to a wider audience. “Pat has this treasure trove of great songs that paint so many aspects of contemporary Australia.” Getting There is presented by The Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company based in Goulburn, NSW, and Chris has hopes that it may one day been seen by a wider audience and even make its way into the repertoire of professional musical companies. And the final word should be left to Pat. “This is an incredible acknowledgment,” he said. “What’s happened in recent years is that I’ve got to the point, for all sorts of reasons, where my music has become the soundtrack of people’s lives.” Getting There runs from Friday, August 3 to Saturday August 18 at the Goulburn High School Hall. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

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40 YEARS

OF STAR MAKER ENTRY IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 40TH TOYOTA STAR MAKER – AUSTRALIA’S MOST SIGNIFICANT AND LONGEST RUNNING, SEARCH FOR A NEW COUNTRY MUSIC STAR.

tar Maker has been a crucial launching pad for some of Australia’s biggest country music stars including Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, James Blundell, Travis Collins, Kylie Sackley, Beccy Cole, Sam McClymont (The McClymonts), Darren Coggan, Lyn Bowtell, Kirsty Lee Akers, and Kaylee Bell. In 2019, the competition will reach an extraordinary milestone – 40 years of impacting the Australian country music industry. “Toyota Star Maker has a responsibility to deliver a new winner to the Australian market who can take advantage of not

only the year of their reign but for many years to come,” said coordinator Cheryl Byrnes. In addition to the 40th Grand Final to be held on Sunday, January 20 in Toyota Park a special 40 Years Of Star Maker Celebration will be held from 12noon until 3:30pm on Wednesday, January 23 at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre with nearly 30 of the 40 winners appearing. Tickets are on sale now at Entertainment Venues on 02 6766 2028 or online at entertainmentvenues.com.au In 2017, 1982 winner Lee Kernaghan celebrated the 25th year since launching his award-winning Outback Club album with his 25th ‘Boys From The Bush’ Anniversary Tour. It was so successful with 29 of 32 shows sold out, it was continued into 2018. Lee has won 37 Golden Guitars and 4 CMC Awards including CMC Hall of Fame. 1990 winner Keith Urban is one of the biggest artists in world music today with four Grammy Awards, 14 CMC Awards, 12 Golden Guitars, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards. He released Graffiti U, his tenth studio album, in April.

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Travis Collins, the 2004 winner, finally struck gold at the 2017 Country Music Awards of Australia receiving three Golden Guitars, followed shortly after with three CMC Awards. In 2018, he received another three Golden Guitars with Amber Lawrence, a former Star Maker Grand Finalist, and was named Artist of the Year at the 8th CMC Awards. Samantha McClymont, the 2005 winner, has enjoyed 12 successful years with the family trio The McClymonts. Samantha won a Golden Guitar with her Star Maker single and together with her sisters they have added another 13 Golden Guitars to the list and four CMC Awards. Star Maker is looking for someone who is already making a considerable impression in country music; someone who has the country music x-factor; is driven and articulate; motivated and talented and someone who lives country music.

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

The winners list is a who’s who of Australian country music history through the years: 1979 Grand Junction 1980 Tommy Miller 1981 Leanne Douglas 1982 Lee Kernaghan 1983 The Vic Lanyon Band 1985 Great Divide 1986 Jane Maddick 1987 James Blundell 1988 Jenine Vaughan 1989 Craig Robertson 1990 Keith Urban 1991 Gina Jeffreys 1992 Warren Derwent 1993 Beccy Cole 1994 Clint Beattie 1995 Tanya Self 1996 Darren Coggan 1997 Lyn Bowtell 1998 Kate Ballantyne 1999 Brendon Walmsley 2000 Grant Richardson 2001 Kylie Sackley 2002 Kieran Lancini Cheryl said, “Entrants should already be working in the scene, have basic business knowledge and be prepared to work with a team with nearly 40 year’s experience.” Toyota’s commitment to Star Maker is inspiring the passion to progress in both finalists and, in particular, the annual winner, setting the benchmark in showcasing Australian country music’s best new talent. Toyota Chief Marketing Officer Wayne Gabriel added: “Over the past four decades, Star Maker has been there to celebrate emerging musical talent and has launched some of Australia’s brightest stars. The prize package includes 12 months use of a brand new, fully-serviced Toyota

motor vehicle and a fuel card for the length of reign plus return air flight including 4-nights accommodation for one to Nashville for the CMA Festival in June 2019 courtesy of Chris Watson Travel, a photographic portfolio with Andrew Pearson Photography Tamworth, a Maton acoustic guitar, Fender products, products from Jands Australia, guidance and support by HSF Artist Services, a recording session with Australia’s top musicians and producer and distribution and promotion of a four-track EP, hair and make-up styling by Plush Hair Designs & Make-up of Tamworth for photographic portfolio, a designated list of events for Toyota; guaranteed paid performances at a designated list of festivals and events, guaranteed paid performance with Tamworth’s Wests Entertainment Group and The Pub Group. The most important part of the prize is the use of the title 40th Toyota Star Maker 2019.

2003 Todd Williams 2004 Travis Collins 2005 Samantha McClymont 2006 Cat Southern 2007 Kirsty Lee Akers 2008 Talia Wittmann 2009 Liam Brew 2010 Luke Austen 2011 Luke Dickens 2012 Bob Corbett 2013 Kaylee Bell 2014 Jared Porter 2015 Mickey Pye

Entries are open until October 1 and submissions can be made online at starmaker.com.au For further information about Toyota Star Maker contact coordinator Cheryl Byrnes at Tamworth Regional Council on 02 6767 5040 or E: info@starmaker.com.au

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2016 Karin Page 2017 Rachael Fahim 2018 Brad Cox.

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FESTIVALS

2018 Toyota Star Maker Brad Cox at The Albert

HATS OFF TO COUNTRY

Luke O’Shea at North Tamworth Bowling Club

TAMWORTH’S Hurricane Fall at The Longyard

The Cartwheels in Legends at Wests 44

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Andrew Wrigglesworth and Brad Butcher at The Welder’s Dog

CMAA Junior Academy Graduate Sam Phillips at Moonshiners years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

HATS OFF TO COUNTRY

Rachael Fahim at The Albert

FESTIVALS

Simply Bushed at The Servies

Adam Harvey at Wests

Missy Lancaster in Legends at Wests

Anthony Taylor At the South Tamworth Bowlo

Goldheist at the Post Office Hotel

Bobby Valentine at The Albert

Aleyce Simmonds at The DAG

COSY FESTIVAL

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FESTIVALS

Andrew Swift

CENTRAL COAST CMF

Adam Eckersley

Pete Denahy

Brad Cox

Gretta Ziller

COUNTRY MUSIC CENTRAL FOR THREE HUGE DAYS THE ANNUAL CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL WILL BRIGHTEN THE SHORELINE.

or three days, from Friday August 10 to Sunday August 12, a massive line-up of quality Australian country performers will set the scene inspired by today’s pop, rock and alternative genres, and it’s all absolutely free. Relax into the weekend on Friday and Saturday at any one of seven local venues – The Lakes Hotel, The Entrance Lake House, The Greens @ The Entrance, Club Wyong RSL, The Entrance Diggers and Bateau Bay Bowling Club – that will feature live entertainment with a mix of known and up-and-coming performers including Chicken Train Skifflers, Chelsea Berman, Whiskey River, Red Dirt

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Band, Roadhouse, Happening Thang, Gayle O’Neil, Michael Wilks Band, Keep It Country Trio, Blake Dantier and Cassandra Colless, Peter Stefanson, Neilly Rich and Tamworth band the Redneck Gentlemen. Buskers will line the streets on Saturday morning as you take in The Entrance Market place, food stalls, rides and activities. The main event starts at 10am

on Sunday morning with 2018 Toyota Star Maker winner Brad Cox right through until 4pm with Adam Eckersley Band, Homegrown, Peter Denahy, Gretta Ziller and Andrew Swift. Festival-goers will get a sneak-peak of the talented artists who will be involved in council’s free four-day pavement art event – ‘Chalk the Walk’ – to be held from October 4 to 7. Don’t miss a great family weekend of free entertainment. Last year some 9000 people attended the festival with even more country music fans expected to gather this month. Visit the picturesque Central Coast for a country coastal experience. For full details go to the website centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/events years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

FESTIVALS

TOP PADDOCK NZ

Hurricane Fall

NEW YEAR

NEW ZEALAND THE SOUTH ISLAND’S LARGEST COUNTRY MUSIC AND CAMPING FESTIVAL, RETURNS ON DECEMBER 31, FOR THE THIRD YEAR.

he iHeart RADIO Top Paddock Festival will be a fantastic party night to bring in the New Year. This year’s artists are some of New Zealand’s and Australia’s brightest young talent including Jody Direen, Kaylee Bell, Abby Christo, Assembly Required, Arun O’Connor, Coopers Run, and Keith Pereira and Australians Hurricane Fall and indie-pop rock Germein sisters. Five-piece male band Hurricane Fall return with their rock-edge sound to co-headline the festival. Also returning is Jody Direen winner of best album at the 2017 Vodafone NZCMA and Abby Christo, former half of X-Factor finalist hit Kiwi duo, Mae Valley, who’s years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

embarking on her solo career will be there. Assembly Required, with Sam Hill and Simon Tester, return with their hard-hitting guitars and powerfully raw vocals after a ring of sell-out shows across New Zealand. Multi-award winner Kaylee Bell brings her smash hits back to the stage after astounding success including reaching over 2 million Spotify plays on her #1 single Getting Closer.

Established couple-duo Coopers Run along with YouTube cover-star Keith Pereira both from the North Island are set to rock every party-song under the sun and get ready for Arun O’Connor, over-all winner at this year’s NZ Gold Guitar, who’s being likened by critics to singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. Organisers have added a second stage and various other additions will make Top Paddock bigger and better. Camp or glamp your way into the New Year and wake up to the magnificent view. The festival is set in an iconic outdoor venue at Lake Hawea, just 15 minutes from the small town of Wanaka. The lake is a place of beauty, mountainous extremes and legendary fishing spots making it an outdoor adventurer’s paradise. Tickets are on sale now at toppaddock.co.nz

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BIG RED BASH

RECORD CROWDS IN THE

SIMPSON DESERT THE MOST REMOTE MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD REACHED NEW HEIGHTS WITH A RECORD CROWD OF AROUND 9,000 PEOPLE AT THE 6TH ANNUAL BIRDSVILLE BIG RED BASH IN THE SIMPSON DESERT, QUEENSLAND.

rganisers calculated roughly 40 million kilometres were travelled by festival-goers who attended the three-day music event who arrived by plane, bus and 4-wheel drive campervan and caravan to camp out in Bashville at the base of the stunning 10-story high Big Red sand dune on the edge of the desert. Busby Marou opened the festival on Monday with the untiring Adam Brand playing host and entertainer across the whole festival alongside the energetic Crackup Sisters keeping all ages entertained for the school holiday scheduled festival. Travis Collins, Amber Lawrence, The Wolfe Brothers, performed alongside John Farnham and ‘Bash’ veterans Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Kate Ceberano and The Black Sorrows. The Hoodoo Gurus capped off a huge second day which featured an electrifying performance from The Angels. History was made on Thursday with a Guinness World Records title broken for the largest amount of people performing the Nutbush line dance.The record was

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smashed with 1719 people officially beating the original record of 522. The annual ‘Bashville Drag Race’ was a highlight for many as 280 Priscilla-themed dress up patrons raced across the desert dune, with all proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctors. Fundraising between the Drags and Nutbush Line Dance topped $50,000. Festival-goers came from every state and territory, from overseas and included hundreds of children and over 500 dogs attending the dog friendly festival. Founder Greg Donovan commended the local authorities and more than 450 volunteers for staging the festival that implemented extra eco-friendly services this year. He was especially complimentary of the warm-spirited crowd who supported the artists, fundraisers and all the fun of the Birdsville Big Red Bash. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

BIG RED BASH

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FESTIVALS

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Melinda Schneider

GYMPIE

Troy Cassar-Daley

Ian Moss

Kevin Borich

Jayne Denham

Albert Lee

FIND YOUR SOUL IF YOU THOUGHT THE GYMPIE MUSIC MUSTER WAS ALL ABOUT LEE, TROY AND BECCY, PREPARE TO BE SURPRISED BY ALBERT, FIONA AND IAN.

he muster isn’t promising the southern vibe of the Mississippi Delta, but the Amamoor State Forest near Gympie will become the nation’s blues and roots oasis from August 23 to 26 with the festival’s Jim Beam Blues Bar. Albert Lee is one of the world’s best guitarists with Eric Clapton describing him as, “The greatest guitarist in the world. The ultimate virtuoso. His skill is extraordinary, his ear is extraordinary and he is gifted on just about every level.” Albert Lee will be joined on the bill by Kevin Borich 50

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(celebrating 56 years in the industry) and former Cold Chisel guitarist, Ian Moss, both of whom will be performing up close and personal in the Blues Bar throughout the entire weekend. Fiona Boyes runs with the tag “best gal guitarist …since Memphis Minnie” and with acoustic, slide and fingerpicking

instruments in her tool kit, she’ll be mixing it up with some livelier bluegrass and roots-style sessions. Also adding a new flavour to the line-up this year is the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, a 26-piece band led by energetic and charismatic vocalist Nicky Bomba of ex- John Butler Trio fame. No act like this fun-loving big band has ever graced the muster stage before – patrons should prepare to be surprised and entertained in equal measure. Program Director Jeff Chandler said the Blues Bar will be the place to kick back when the boot scooting becomes overwhelming. “If country music is the heart of muster, blues is the soul,” Jeff said. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

FESTIVALS

GYMPIE

John Williamson

Pop Standen and the late Phil Emmanuel

The Wolfe Brothers

Kristy Cox

Fiona Boyes

AT THE MUSTER “For 37 years we’ve been providing our patrons with the true Australian music festival experience bringing together this country’s best musicians to perform over four big days. While neither the Blues Bar nor the genre is new to our line-up, this year marks a renewed offering that might give the most seasoned of muster-goers a chance to find even more to love about our event.” And finally, the devastating passing of one of Australia’s greatest electric guitar players and muster veteran, Phil Emmanuel, has inspired the addition of his close friend Pop Standen to the line-up. The two performed together many times over the years, including at a muster or two, and Pop is proud to pay tribute to his years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

dearly departed mate through a performance at the 2018 festival. Phil, who was scheduled to play at the muster this year, will also be honoured in a Phil Emmanuel Tribute, part of the Vox Guitar Jam. “Many people have tried to describe Phil’s skill as a guitar player…there aren’t words for that,” said Pop Standen. “But not many got to know him personally. I spent hours driving, flying, eating, sleeping with him… And during that time I felt like a brother to him. Our sense of

humour was so similar. He was a simple little fellow with a gift to create an amazing sound from his guitar, sure… But for me he was also a great mate. Even with these new additions, the massive line-up as always includes a little something for everyone with Lee Kernaghan, Troy Cassar-Daley, John Williamson, Beccy Cole, Sara Storer, The Wolfe Brothers, Shane Nicholson, Melinda Schneider, Travis Collins, Drew McAlister, Tania Kernaghan, Jayne Denham, Kristy Cox, the Faceless Men, Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes, Aleyce Simmonds, Liam Brew, Brad Butcher, The Pigs, Matt Cornell, Dean Perrett, Ben Ransom, Benn Gunn, Anita Ree, Jeff Brown, Bec Hance, Buddy Knox, Andrew Swift, Glenn Jones, Greg Champion, Gretta Ziller and many more. The muster runs from Thursday August 23 to Sunday August 26. Find the full program online at muster.com.au C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

FESTIVALS

DENI UTE MUSTER

CARRIE UNDERWOOD TO HEADLINE DENI’S 20TH

Busby Marou

Carrie Underwood

SEVEN-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER CARRIE UNDERWOOD WILL HEADLINE THE DENI UTE MUSTER’S BIGGEST PARTY ON THE PLAINS WHEN THEY CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF MATESHIP AND MUSIC ON SEPTEMBER 28 AND 29.

he 2005 American Idol winner has sold 64 million records worldwide and has recorded 26 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote. Her last studio album, the Platinum selling Storyteller, produced four #1 hits, and her sixth studio album, Cry Pretty, is set for release on 14 September. Australian artists set to join the Deni party are Kasey Chambers, Busby Marou, Troy Cassar-Daley, Thirsty Merc, Gord Bamford, Travis Collins, Fanny Lumsden, The Pigs, Amber Lawrence, Doug Bruce & The Tailgaters and Kirsty Lee Akers. 52

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The muster attracts close to 20,000 people of all ages to celebrate all things laconically Australian and, of course, the iconic ‘ute’. It has amazing community support with more than 1,000 volunteers who help put on the event which donates close to $100,000 back to community groups. The Deni Ute Muster has since become the Labour Day long

weekend destination of choice for Ute and music enthusiasts and thanks to the AFL Grand Final Friday holiday Victorian friends get to join the fun with their own long weekend too. NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Adam Marshall, said the Deni Ute Muster is proudly supported by the NSW Government. “As one of the country’s premier regional events, the Deni Ute Muster encapsulates the uniqueness and vibrancy of Australia’s rural heritage and culture and we’re delighted to be celebrating the event’s 20th birthday this year,” Mr. Marshall said. “Since its inception the event has grown steadily, generating considerable economic benefit for the region. With a sensational program scheduled across two days, I encourage visitors to start planning their trip to Deniliquin for the chance to experience this standout regional event.” years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

FESTIVALS

DENI UTE MUSTER It’s not all music and football, there’s so much organisers have thought of. In addition to the muster’s family favourites of wood chopping and whip cracking demonstrations, Show N Shine, the World Record Blue Singlet Count, the Bull Ride Spectacular, organisers are pleased to announce the return of the Brophy Bros Circus, Bob the Butcher, Peter Hodge Camel Rides and Circlework, Barrel Race and Go To Wo competitions plus the Guinness World Record for the most number of legally paraded utes still stands at 2,839. There’s a family centre catering for the young ones, world champion sand sculptor Dennis Massoud, the Shimano Fishing Tank Show, and Laser Tag. Deni Ute Muster General Manager, Vicky Lowry, said today, “It is always exciting to celebrate a special milestone and musterers of all ages will not be disappointed with the entertainment – 15.5 hours each day of around the ground activations and Australian and international acts. If this is your first Deni Ute Muster, have been many times before or it’s your 20th, you’ll be part of the memorable celebrations of Australia’s most iconic event.” Yackandandah comedian and singer-songwriter, Pete Denahy and Amber Lawrence will emcee the event. Only general admission tickets are available following the rush to buy Muster Adorer and Early Bird tickets which sold out within hours of going on sale.

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

The Pigs

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FESTIVALS

DASHVILLE

C. W. Stoneking

The Settlement

COSMIC COUNTRY DASHVILLE SKYLINE, AUSTRALIA’S VERY OWN COSMIC COUNTRY WEEKENDER, RETURNS FROM SEPTEMBER 28 TO 30, FOR ITS FOURTH YEAR.

ncluded in the first round of announcements is, The Waifs, featuring the unmistakable voices of sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson, making their Dashville debut. Last year’s record Ironbark took the band into dustier Americana territory. Exceptional songwriter and performer CW Stoneking returns after having first visited Dashville’s 2012 The Gum Ball festival. Since the release of his third fulllength album, the ARIA award-winning Gon’ Boogaloo, CW has become a household name across Australia, the US and Europe. Another favourite from this year’s Gum Ball festival to return is Hat Fitz & Cara, with their irresistible marriage of drums and stomping guitar a must-see. You’ll need your dancing shoes for the high-energy blues-laced roots rock of 19-Twenty set to whip the Dashville arena into a full-throttle hoedown. Dan and Joel Crannitch (Leader Cheetah) have reunited as The San Sebastian and have released a new record called Alive On The Black Sea. The new outfit is indie rock with distinct country influences and dreamy production. Rounding out the bill is the high-octane folk rock of The Settlement, the raucous blues country of Papa Pilko & The Binrats, Skyline hero Davey Craddock, years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

country songstress Tori Forsyth, Melbourne’s James Ellis & The Jealous Guys, Perth rockers Ralway Bell, old-school rough country duo The Sweet Jelly Rolls, accomplished singersongwriter and guitarist Cat Canteri, Brisbane’s gothic-folk chanteuse Ruby Gilbert, Sydney’s favourite songsmith Sam Newton, local Hawaiian jazz legends The High Andies and singer and environmentally conscious songwriter Steel City Sue. The festival is held in Dashville bushland in the Hunter Valley, NSW and will extend to three full days and feature over 40 incredible acts in the Americana, alt-country, psychedelia, folk and bluegrass genres. The festival includes on-site camping, delicious American-inspired food, beer and wine, vintage market,

The Waifs

petting zoo and more. Dashville Skyline is every bit as family friendly as its older brother, The Gum Ball, so people of all ages are most welcome with various ticket prices in place (punters under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian).

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SOUNDADVICE THIS ONE’S FOR YOU LUKE COMBS RIVER HOUSE Luke Combs hails from North Carolina music mecca Asheville - not Nashville - and proves his major label debut deserved a deluxe disc re-release with five bonus tracks. Combs sizzles in the slipstream of nouveau outlaw peers Jamey Johnson and Chris Stapleton. Unlike Johnson he scores mainstream airplay and TV exposure reflected on sales charts. Hurricane, When It Rains It Pours, Beer Can, I Got Away With You, riveting road anthem Honky Tonk Highway and embryonic indie EP title track This One’s For You scored so much traction he toured here this year with Darius Rucker. And, like mentors Hank Williams Jr and the late Waylon Jennings, he nails his radio targets with a honky tonk hammer. Combs, just 28, co-wrote all 17 tracks. Bonus bonfire burners Houston, We Got A Problem, A Long Way, Must’ve Never Met You and beatific ballad Beautiful Crazy kick with cosmic clout. The hefty heartbreaker finale She Got The Best Of Me dates back to self-financed breakthrough Hurricane. Neon nirvana at its brightest. Sony 190758292823 DAVID DAWSON

CATHERINE BRITT & THE COLD, COLD HEARTS

CATHERINE BRITT LOST HIGHWAY AUSTRALIA

Catherine Britt has packed a lot into her 33 years – and her songs reflect the wisdom she’s gained and the lessons she’s learned. This new album, which comes after Catherine successfully battled cancer, married and gave birth to son Hank, is a collection of real, beautifully crafted songs straight from the heart. Songs like Red Dirt and Bush TV reflect her affinity with the Australian bush – the family is currently travelling full-time in a camper van – while The Troubled Kind and Met My Match explore her contentment in her marriage. The quirky The River and the Gum, written with Melody Moko, is a real gem, and I loved the honesty of Young in All the Wrong Ways, Too Hot to Just Quit and the poignant I’m Not Ready, penned with Brooke and Adam Eckersley. Coalmine is an ode to her Hunter Valley home, and she’s included an old favourite, Fred Eaglesmith’s I Like Trains. It is warm, authentic and utterly captivating. Catherine’s work is only getting better and better as she matures.

DAN + SHAY

I’M JUST A SONG

TURNING UP THE DIAL

WARNER MUSIC

Social Family Records

SOCIAL FAMILY RECORDS

Dan + Shay’s self-titled album is a slick production, as you would expect from this duo. You may ask why it’s taken them until their third album to release a self-titled offering and the duo said they now know what sort of music they want to make and what type of songs they want to record, so it is this Dan + Shay album that reflects them best. Highlights are nearly too numerous to list, but Tequila, My Side of the Fence, and Island Time are among my favourites and having Kelly Clarkson duet on Keeping Score is a stroke of genius with her vocals melding beautifully with those of Shay Mooney. Dan + Shay is not an album for the country purists among you because they’re unashamedly at the forefront of country pop, but this album is one for those who love their production slick and their vocals on point.

In the title song Matt sings: ‘A couple of chords and a heartful of truth’ and the truth behind this album is that Matt has really come a long way as both a songwriter and a singer. Sure he’s had some good material in the past but for me this album shows that he has really found his voice and there’s been some soul-searching undertaken. The opening song, and first single from the set, Outta My Way, establishes a purpose that says he’s here to do it his way even if it means making mistakes. Sure, there’s drinking songs – Too Drunk To Truck, Do Some Shots – but there’s a depth that becomes more noticeable the more you play the songs. Hook into Tears On A Page, Snakebite or In The Grooves. Recorded in Nashville, Matt and the players sit solidly together without getting in each other’s way, allowing the essence of the songs to hit directly to the heart. This should get Matt the attention he deserves and which is long overdue.

Hayley Jensen takes it up a notch in her this album. It’s country pop vibes reflect the vivacious and charismatic nature of this established artist and it showcases her superior vocal talents. The title track perfectly sets the listener up for the rest of the album and what they’re in for. It oozes attitude and positivity in a way that only Jensen can portray with each track full of hidden surprises and anticipation. The album is easy to listen to, and listeners will find it difficult to not sing along to the catchy melodies throughout the eight track project – from the “na na na’s” and the party vibe in her latest single Saturday Night to the Shania Twain type vibes she gives out in the first single she released off the album, Summertime soundtrack. There’s also the happy and romantic vibes she gives off in This Love and Forever Won’t Be Long Enough before rounding it up with a beautiful tribute to her father in You’re With Me. This could be Jensen’s best work yet.

SFR0059 JON WOLFE

SOCIAL FAMILY RECORDS HAYLEY CRAIG

DAN + SHAY

WARNER BROS RECORDS 9362490642 REBECCA BELT

MATT SCULLION

HAYLEY JENSEN

UNIVERSAL MUSIC AUSTRALIA SUSAN JARVIS 56

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years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

SOUND ADVICE - album reviews are the reviewers’ own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the view of Capital News or the publisher. Sound Advice will accept unsolicited albums for consideration, but cannot guarantee published reviews. Sound Advice does not review singles. Send 2 CDs together with biography or media release to Capital News, PO Box 555, Tamworth NSW 2340 and email a jpg of the cover to c.byrnes@tamworth.nsw.gov.au LAST MAN STANDING WILLIE NELSON LEGACY Willie Nelson lives up to the title of his 67th studio album Last Man Standing released two days before his 85th birthday. Shotgun Willie’s wry wit permeates his self-effacing title track entrée that segues into Don’t Tell Noah, Bad Breath “better than no breath at all”, and Heaven Is Closed. Nelson tackles grief in Something You Get Through borne from co-writer and producer Buddy Cannon’s memories of a Willie conversation with a widow. Mortality is one of Willie’s strong suits in I’ll Try To Do Better Next Time and finale Very Far To Crawl. So is humour in the rollicking Ready To Roar and ruptured romance in I Ain’t Got Nothing and She Made My Day. Nelson is well-qualified to inject satiric social comment into the jaunty Me And You and Don’t Tell Noah. The Trump chump reversed his Mexican migrant and children separation policy after Willie invited him for a personal pow-wow in a south Texas border migrant camp. A timeless tableau from a master minstrel. LEGACY:19075827252 DAVID DAWSON

FROM WHERE I STAND

BELONGING

SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

It’s not hard to hear why Danny Phegan’s From Where I Stand headed straight to #1 on the ARIA Country Chart on release. It is hard, though, to pin down only one highlight. Thankful rates at the top of my favourite tracks, along with the latest single, What A Life – a co-write and duet with Matt Scullion, and the heart wrenching I’d Be Over You showcases Danny’s vocals. Anyone who’s been stuck at an airport can relate to what could possibly be the longest song title around, The Three Parts Drunk 4 A.M. After Hours Domestic Terminal Blues and is sure to bring a smile to your face. This is an album with a theme of positivity running through it. Danny is a farmer who writes and sings about what he knows, so you know these songs are real with their roots deep in the country.

Belonging is the second album from South Coast NSW artist Kevin Sullivan and is a collection of songs from his travels through the outback, a marriage separation, and his former career as a police forensic investigator. Tracks including Unknown People and Play Shameless For Me had dark beginnings, while Belonging, Secret Feelings, The Wedding At The Mulga Pub, and No Saxophone will have you up and moving. The special bonus single, Outback Australia, has charted well and celebrates all there is to love about rural and remote towns and the people who live in them. This offering has something for fans of plenty of musical genres as it includes honkytonk piano, mariachi trumpet, country fiddle, guitar and pedal steel, and a mix of ballads and party songs. Kevin shows his diversity on Belonging and this is an album to get your hands on for honest heart-on-yoursleeve songwriting.

GRACEY HOLLER MUSIC Lyon County lies deep in the backbone of Kentucky, USA, and as such has a rich history that obviously has lent its stories to this project. The Civil and tobacco wars, floods, moonshine and a steady faith in God are the grist of Dennis Duff’s songs and the traditional flavours of country music flow like molasses in the springtime (couldn’t help myself!) in the vocal tones. It’s hard to pick highlights as this should be listened to as a whole, but Night Riders, 37 Flood and Castle On The Cumberland struck a chord with me. These songs might sound like diary entries from a time long lost to many, but they are important today as a reminder of that time that only lives on in music or in old leather-bound books as we go further and further away from our rich past and into the digital world. … rich past and into the digital world. Guest artists are Paul Brewster, Josh Shilling, Bradley Walker, Holly Pitney and Darin and Brooke Aldridge. Call it Americana, call it traditional, call it old-timey, but whatever you do, call it up and know the truth that is country music.

DANNY PHEGAN

INDEPENDENT DPH001 REBECCA BELT

KEVIN SULLIVAN

KSBELONGCD2017 BEC BELT

VARIOUS

GRACEY HOLLER MUSIC/CD Baby JON WOLFE years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

CAN’T BE DENIED

MARK WAYNE GLASMIRE INDEPENDENT

Mark will be a new name to many but he comes with some heavy duty songwriting awards to his name and a craft honed in Nashville and particularly Texas. Along with friend Pat Troiani he cut his teeth performing at the historic Greenwich Village venue Gerde’s Folk City and before long they were featured along Suzanne Vega, Dave Van Ronk and Jesse Winchester on an episode of the PBS series Phil Ochs Song Nights, as well as on bills with Gordon Lightfoot, Tracy Chapman and other luminaries. His songs ring true with a country cadence that may echo The Eagles and other West Coast acts, and with a pleasant tone that draws in the listener. He has written or co-written all 12 tracks and all would sit comfortably on radio if given the airplay. Highlights include the first US single I’ve Got A Feeling, Borderline, Can’t Be Denied, Deep Inside My Heart and Feel Your Love. Backing is tight and well produced with plenty of fiddle, mando, banjo and even B-3 organ that lends an extra layer. Traceway Records/ markwayneglasmire.com JON WOLFE

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COUNTRYCHARTS ARIA TOP 20 AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY ALBUMS Week Commencing 16 July 2018 TW

TITLE

1 1 7 1 Graffiti U 2 2

1013 1

3 3 11 2 4 5

553 1

5 4 114 1 6 9 99 1 7 7

322 1

8 13 248 1 9 8 16 1 10 17 354 1 11 10 248 2 12 11 212 1 13 14 239 2 14 15 68 1 15 18 133 10 16 16 469 1 17 R/E 200 1 18 12 84 1 19 20 94 5 20 R/E 107 1

ARTIST

KEITH URBAN

CAP/EMI

The Very Best of Slim Dusty SLIM DUSTY EMI Campfire KASEY CHAMBERS & THE FIRESIDE DISCIPLES WAR Greatest Hits: 18 Kids KEITH URBAN CAP/EMI Ripcord KEITH URBAN CAP/EMI His Favourite Collection JOHN WILLIAMSON WAR The Story So Far KEITH URBAN CAP/EMI The Great Country Songbook TROY CASSAR-DALEY & ADAM HARVEY SME Country Heart THE WOLFE BROTHERS ABC/UMA Ultimate Hits LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/UMA A Hell Of A Career! JOHN WILLIAMSON WAR Fuse KEITH URBAN CAP/EMI Anthems - A Celebration of Australia JOHN WILLIAMSON WAR The 25th Anniversary Album LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/UMA 4 Album Box Set: The Captain/Barricades & Brickwalls/Wayward Angel/Carnival KASEY CHAMBERS EMI Big Ones Greatest Hits LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/UMA Beautiful Noise LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/UMA 60 Summers GRAEME CONNORS ABC/UMA Three Chain Road LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/WAR Spirit Of The Bush LEE KERNAGHAN ABC/UMA

THE MUSIC NETWORK OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY AIRPLAY TOP 20 Week commencing 16 July 2018 TW

TITLE

ARTIST

LABEL

1 1 24 1 Parallel Line

KEITH URBAN

CAP/EMI

2 2 12 2 Babe

SUGARLAND FT. TAYLOR SWIFT

BIG/UMA

3 5 3 3 Day Drunk

MORGAN EVANS

4 7 9 4 Cry Pretty

CARRIE UNDERWOOD

5 4 13 4 Like We Used To

THE MCCLYMONTS

UMA

6 6 12 6 Red Dirt

CATHERINE BRITT & THE COLD COLD HEARTS

UMA

7 3 22 2 Crawl Beg & Cry

BRAD BUTCHER

8 10 12 4 Milestones

ADAM BRAND

ABC/UMA

9 12 13 9 Neon Smoke

GORD BAMFORD

ABC/UMA

10 11 17 7 Heaven

KANE BROWN

WMA CAP/EMI

IND

SME

11 9 11 9 So Smooth

ADAM ECKERSLEY & BROOKE MCCLYMONT

12 15 4 12 Simple

FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

BIG/UMA

13 20 20 3 Most People Are Good

LUKE BRYAN

CAP/EMI

14 16 3 14 Downtown’s Dead

SAM HUNT

15 14 8 14 I Hate Love Songs

KELSEA BALLERINI

16 21 7 11 High Horse

TRAVIS COLLINS

MCA/UMA SME ABC/UMA

17 13 19 2 Brake Lights

RACHAEL FAHIM

18 17 8 14 Coming Home

KEITH URBAN FT. JULIA MICHAELS

19 19 14 11 Rich

MAREN MORRIS

20 23 12 11 Me Without You

CAITLYN SHADBOLT FT. REECE MASTIN

C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

UMA

IND CAP/EMI SME ABC/UMA

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

COUNTRY TRACKS Week commencing 26 July 2018. This chart is published by Country Music Services and updated weekly at countrytrackschart.com.au. POS LW

TRACK TITLE

ARTIST

1 1 17 1(7) Better Day

CARTER & CARTER

2 8 4 2(1) Speak Up

TOM CURTAIN (FEAT. SARA STORER)

3 3 3 3(2) Diamantina Coming Down

DALE DUNCAN

4 4 6 2(2) No Sad Songs

THE WOLFE BROTHERS

5 5 10 2(1) Red Head At Heart

MELISSA ROBERTSON

6 10 3 6(1) Everyday TV Reality Shows

BEC HANCE

7 14 10 3(3) A Girl Needs Her Daddy’s Love

EMMA JENE

8 2 7 2(1) High Horse

TRAVIS COLLINS

9 7 3 7(1) Be Mine

CASEY BARNES

10 18 7 6(1) My Turn Now

DELLA HARRIS

11 24 7 11(1) I Can Almost Smell The Smoke

KRISTY COX

12 11 4 11(1) Montevideo Maru 1942

KYLIE ADAMS-COLLIER

13 12 7 5(1) Starin’ Out The Back Of A Car

ANGUS GILL (FEAT. KEVIN BENNETT & AMOS MORRIS)

14 13 3 13(1) In Your Wildest Dreams

AMBER JOY POULTON

15 23 13 1(1) So Smooth

ADAM ECKERSLEY & BROOKE MCCLYMONT

16 9 10 3(1) Old School

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

17 31 10 1(1) Beautiful Life

BECCI NETHERY

18 20 16 1(1) Lake House

BRAD COX

19 15 2 15(1) I’d Rather Be A Highwayman

ADAM HARVEY

20 30 4 14(1) Lonely Town

KAREN CRAIGIE

CMC TOP 50 Week Commencing 23 July 2018. This chart is updated weekly at countrymusicchannel.com.au or tune into CMC. TW TITLE 1 Milestones 2 Rich 3 Woman, Amen 4 Cry Pretty 5 High Horse 6 Coming Home 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

ARTIST LABEL ADAM BRAND ABC MAREN MORRIS SONY DIERKS BENTLEY EMI CARRIE UNDERWOOD EMI TRAVIS COLLINS ABC KEITH URBAN FTG. JULIA MICHAELS EMI So Smooth ADAM ECKERSLEY & BROOKE MCCLYMONT UMA Neon Smoke GORD BAMFORD ABC I Hate Love Songs KELSEA BALLERINI BLACK RIVER/SONY Hangin’ On CHRIS YOUNG SONY Under My Skin KIRSTY LEE AKERS SOCIAL FAMILY RECORDS Get Along KENNY CHESNEY BLUE CHAIR/WARNER Hide The Wine CARLEY PEARCE BIG MACHINE Tequila DAN + SHAY WARNER Babe SUGARLAND FTG. TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE I Hope That I’m Wrong LACHLAN BRYAN & THE WILDES ABC Drowns The Whiskey JASON ALDEAN FT. MIRANDA LAMBERT BROKEN BOY/SONY Butterflies KACEY MUSGRAVES UMA Me Without You CAITLYN SHADBOLT FEAT. REECE MASTIN ABC Up Down MORGAN WALLEN FTG. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE BMLGR/BIG LOUD Criminal LINDSAY ELL STONEY CREEK/BMG Karaoke & Corona O’SHEA SONY Saturday Night HAYLEY JENSEN SOCIAL FAMILY RECORDS I’d Rather Be A Highwayman ADAM HARVEY SONY My Voice MELINDA SCHNEIDER BE MUSIC

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

TW TITLE

ARTIST

26 Hands On You

ASHLEY MONROE

WARNER

27 Day Drunk

MORGAN EVANS

WARNER

28 Guilty

THE SHIRES

UMA

29 Beach Mode

TROY KEMP

CHECKED LABEL SERVICES

30 Drunk Girl

CHRIS JANSON

31 Goliath Is Dead

KASEY CHAMBERS

32 Hotel Key

OLD DOMINION

SONY

33 Dark Sunglasses

KRISTY JAMES

CHECKED LABEL SERVICES

LABEL

WARNER ESSENCE/WARNER

34 I Was Jack (You Were Diane) JAKE OWEN

BIG LOUD

35 Blue Tacoma

RUSSELL DICKERSON TRIPLE TIGERS/SONY

36 Loud

TIM HICKS

37 Lose It

KANE BROWN

38 Run To Paradise

MUSTERED COURAGE

ABC/OPEN ROAD SONY INDEPENDENT

39 Starin’ Out The Back Of A Car ANGUS GILL CHECKED LABEL SERVICES 40 Birds In Cages

TAMARA STEWART

41 One Life

GRAEME CONNORS

42 Even If You Were The One

INDEPENDENT ABC

SHANE NICHOLSON LOST HIGHWAY

43 I Never (Shed A Tear)

JOSHUA HEDLEY

44 Summer Fever

LITTLE BIG TOWN

45 Red Dirt

CATHERINE BRITT & THE COLD COLD HEARTS LOST HIGHWAY

46 Be Mine

CASEY BARNES

47 Drunk Me

MITCHELL TENPENNY

48 You Make It Easy

JASON ALDEAN

49 Speak Up

TOM CURTAIN FTG. SARA STORER

INDEPENDENT

50 Like We Used To

THE MCCLYMONTS

UMA

THIRD MAN EMI

CHECKED LABEL SERVICES SONY

BROKEN BOW/SONY

C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

BUSH BALLADS

O’Dea, Peter Brown, Terry Bennetts, Allan McMonagle as well as Dean’s father Glen Perrett and Dean himself. The Golden Guitar awarded Henbury Blues is also on the album. Dean will be performing on a long string of festival performances in coming months including the Gympie Muster, Nanango Country Muster and Cruisin’ Country’s Looking Forward Looking Back country music cruise.

BUDDY WILLIAMS CELEBRATED

Jeff Brown will appear on The Best Of The Bush show at the Gympie Muster

BACK TO THE BUSH RETURNS TO GYMPIE BY PETER COAD OAM WWW.BUSHBALLADEERS.COM.AU

AN EXCITING ADDITION TO THE WIDE VARIETY OF MUSICAL CONTENT APPEARING AT THE GYMPIE MUSTER THIS YEAR WILL BE A DEDICATED BUSH BALLAD SHOW TITLED ‘BACK TO BUSH BALLADS THE BEST OF THE BUSH’.

his daily, twohour show will showcase some of our top balladeers including Jeff Brown, Glenn Jones, Anita Ree, Dean Perrett, Bec Hance, all backed by a full band, and led by Rod Coe. The show will be co-hosted by Dianne Lindsay and Peter Simpson and I believe this will be a very popular inclusion to the great line-up of music for the muster this year and one I hope will continue in future years. The Gympie Muster will be held from August 23 to 26 and tickets can be purchased through the website 60

muster.com.au or by phoning the muster office on 07 5482 2099.

BALLADS IN THE KIMBERLEY After leading a very successful tagalong tour throughout Qld’s Darling Downs taking in Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula, Graham Rodger is now staging daily concerts in the Eastern Kimberley town of Kununurra at the Kimberley Land Holiday Park until August 22. If you are heading that way stop in and say g’day to Graham and Deirdre.

EARN YOUR SPURS Dean Perrett released a new bush ballad album this month titled Earn Your Spurs. The album features a very solid offering of Australian bush stories, with great new songs written by some stellar songwriters including Norma O’Hara Murphy, Allan Caswell and Manfred Vijars, Pete Denahy, Virginia Coad-Hermel, Neville Anderson, Ian Quinn, John

C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

September 5, 2019 marks the occasion of the birth of Buddy Williams, 100 years ago. A Commemorative Celebration concert featuring traditional country artists will be held in the Main Pavilion of the Dorrigo Show ground on Saturday, September 8. The Don Dorrigo & Guy Fawkes Historical Society have initiated the unveiling of a plaque at the Dorrigo Museum which will signify the town’s favourite ‘adopted son’ as The Home of Buddy Williams.

CAMOOWEAL HOME OF THE DROVERS Camooweal Drovers Reunion Festival will be held at the Heritage Centre grounds at Camooweal from August 24 to 26. Artists include Tom Maxwell, Chiko & The Breakways, Time Sheed and Christine Middleton. Call in and yarn with real outback drovers and great country music. The Drovers’ Camp Talent Award (DCTA) for singers, yarn-spinners and poets is on again, as well.

BUNDABERG TRADITIONAL MUSTER Phil and Chris Coad’s Traditional Music takes place from Tuesday, August 28 to Sunday, September 2. Artists this year are Dean Perrett, Jeff Brown, Trevor Tolton, Gottani Sisters, Kylie Castle, Alice Benfer, Keith Jamieson & Alisha Smith, John Smith, Dianne Lindsay & Peter Simpson, Bill Bedford, Johnny Greenwood, Bec Hance, and Phoebe Jay. The event is staged under cover at Wyper Park at Bundaberg.

THE GIDGEE COAL BUSH BALLAD AWARDS ENTRY Held each November in the Pittsworth Town Hall, Pittsworth Qld, the Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards are highly sought each year. The award presentation is held as part of a weekend of traditional bush ballad music. Entries close August 31 with forms available from Keith Jamieson. years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

D O W N M E M O RY L A N E

HOWIE BROS CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF RECORDING

BY LORRAINE PFITZNER OAM

THE TWINS, GRAEME AND JOHN HOWIE, ARE CELEBRATING ANOTHER MILESTONE WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR 40TH ALBUM – DIMBOOLA TO CELEBRATE THEIR 40TH YEAR OF RECORDING.

his is a great album of mainly new songs with 10 of the songs written by Graeme and another co-write with Don Fraser. Of the 20 tracks there is just on one hour of great country music to listen to. Old favourites like Paloma Blanca, The Twelfth Of Never, Tips Of My Fingers, When Two Worlds Collide, Don’t Forget To Remember, and I Heard The Bluebirds Sing, have all been given The Howie Bros special vocal harmony treatment. Their good friend, from Tasmania, Debbie Parry, added her distinctive vocal sound in I Heard The Bluebirds Sing while friend and colleague Wayne Horsburgh provided his internationally recognised yodels in the chorus of The Willy Wagtail Song. Dimboola contains a mixture of well-known songs and some originals. Green Rollin’ Hills, penned by Graeme, questions why we are building houses from Melbourne to Drouin, on the beautiful hills of Gippsland, some of the best farming land you’d find anywhere. Are You Still True Blue? has a good close look at mateship, or more particularly, what might happen between two mates once that ‘mateship’ has been tested. Chooks In Caravans was written by Graeme during a years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

Howie Bros tour. At Kongwak, near Korumburra, he noticed a large group of chooks feeding close to caravans, out in the middle of the farming paddocks. He stopped to ask why the chooks were out in the paddocks and the farmer replied that diary farming had become a difficult business and many farmers had started running chooks ‘free range’ to supplement their income and that caravans were ideal to house the chooks at night so the foxes couldn’t get them. In the song Darlin’ I Remember That First Kiss, Graeme remembers first meeting his wife Dianne while walking in the park at Melbourne Uni. The title track Dimboola imagines why a bloke would turn off the highway, from Melbourne to Adelaide, to go into the township of Dimboola? Of course, it was to “see a girl called Sue”. Don Fraser, co-writer on Those Golden Years, was The Howie’s marketing manager way back in 1978 and reflects – “I’d give up all my treasures, all my wealth and all my fame, if I could bring them back again – Those Golden Years”. It’s 40 years since Graeme and John released their first award-winning album, An Old

Fashioned Country Way Of Singing, when, as members of their original band 1901, they took the Australian country music scene by storm, winning a Golden Guitar, with their first release on Bullet Records followed by Nationwide Records which was based in Adelaide. The twins were playing their style of country music around Melbourne when Graeme met Mike Riley who loved bluegrass music and played guitar, banjo and mouth harp. Both Graeme and John were teachers at Monash High School and would play their music during their lunch break to the other teachers who enjoyed their entertainment. Then they met with John Bertram the pedal steel guitar and dobro player. John had a friend who was a bass player so introduced Robert Edge into this group. At this stage of their musical career they were singing and playing a lot of bluegrass music which they all loved. After playing together for some time John Bertram realised that the group was very good and could advance into the recording world and be marketed commercially and with the assistance of their friend Don Fraser who recommended that they record more Australiana style of music which they did and the rest is history. 1901 won two more Golden Guitars and were inducted into the Tamworth Country Music Hands Of Fame. After 1901 disbanded, the Howie’s continued with their musical careers in conjunction with their day jobs as school teachers. They have travelled Australia wide and recorded and released many more CDs and some DVDs. Take a sentimental journey with The Howie Brothers through their timeless music and remember their many memorable performances in country towns just like Dimboola.

C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

W RITING GRE AT SONGS

IT’S NOT

ROCKET SCIENCE

PART 1

BY A L L A N CA S W E L L

ACTUALLY, THESE DAYS SONGWRITING IS MORE LIKE ACCOUNTANCY.

get that some of you are in love with writing songs and winning songwriting contests, and playing them for your friends, but at some stage, when you work hard and develop your ideas …you will reach a point where you want to take it to the next stage. Even if you don’t want to make what is laughingly known as a full-time career at it, you still need to fund demos, albums, pitching opportunities etcetera … every song you write has a value and you deserve to make money from your work. The most often asked questions at my workshops are “How do I protect my songs and how do I make money from them?”

STREAMING: Under the heading of “don’t shoot the messenger”, I have to say things are bleak right now. I have softened my view on streaming somewhat … I no longer refer to it as theft. The public love it, it’s here to stay (until people tire of listening to crappy MP3 versions of really good music) and we have to embrace it or die. At various stages in its history, the music business has faced “extinction” from recording, then radio, then vinyl records, then cassettes, then CDs … each time it adapted, then survived every threat to its future. Ultimately, the music business will survive streaming despite how ugly it all looks right now. Streaming companies have taken a sort of reverse Robin Hood attitude … they take from the poor (songwriters and artists), sell it to the public at a profit, keep most of it

for themselves and give back a miniscule amount to the creators of the music that they make millions from. It is apparently legal, it is great for music lovers who want everything for nothing, and it has been accepted even by a lot of my fellow artists and musicians. That said, I refuse to stream music myself and would prefer to download or buy CDs from artists that I like. I am not anti-streaming as such but unless the payment rates improve, you will soon not be able to buy your favourite artists’ albums … they won’t be able to afford to make them. I recently had an email from someone who said that he had streamed my new album and liked it and “could he buy a CD?” … maybe there is hope. My latest album Mexico was released; mainly as a digital project … we manufactured some CDs for sale at gigs and over the net but aimed the album mainly at the digital market. If

your work is streamed, you will be paid … but at 0.00-something-of-a-cent don’t order the Mercedes yet. Downloads, although earning less per album, are significant and are free from manufacturing costs.

APRA AND AMCOS If you are serious about making any money at all from your songs, it is absolutely essential that you join both these organisations. This is always where the bulk of your earnings come from, they are linked and employ writer services staff who are informed and very helpful. It costs nothing to join them and they actually put money into your bank account. APRA collects licence fees from live venues, radio, television, jingles, films and anywhere your work is being used. This money is distributed to its members, as performance royalties, throughout Australasia on a pro rata basis … the more your songs are used, the more you earn. AMCOS is similar but collects mechanical royalties, such as money from record sales, streaming and organisations like pay television etcetera. In part 2 of this column I will go through the various ways your songs can make money and how to maximise your income from them. If you are a country music fan… and most people reading this are … consider either buying your favourite artists’ CDs or downloading the albums from iTunes … while you still can. If you have questions regarding participating or hosting upcoming songwriting workshops, my “one on one” private songwriting coaching service (based in the Blue Mountains), my book or my “how to” DVD contact me on 0419 218 988 or at allan@ allancaswell.com

ALLAN CASWELL SONGWRITING SCHOOL For information about future workshops: 0419 218 988, allan@allancaswell.com

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years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

COMINGEVENTS AUGUST 2018 3-5

3-5

Lockington CMF | Lockington Community Hall | Vic | Big River Entertainment | T: 0408 597 307 | E: rozandcraig@bigpond.com | w: lockingtoncmf.com | Tickets: W: ticketebo.com.au/lockingtoncmf | Plenty of seating. Great dance floor. Snacks and meals available. A first class line up of entertainers all weekend including Craig Giles, Callum Gleeson, Annette & Kim, Kinta, Grant Luhrs, Johnny Shilo, Justuss Duo, Rikki, Country Horizon, Rupe Adams, Kerran Keats and others.

9-12

60th Mt Isa Rodeo | E: isarodeo@gmail.com | W: isarodeo.com.au

9-19

Sydney Guitar Festival | Various venues various artists | W: sydneyguitarfestival.com.au

11&12

Central Coast CMF | Contact Events Officer: Amelia Taylor | T: 02 4350 5130 | W: theentrance.org.au/whats-on/events

15-19

Gulf Country Frontier Days Festival | Gregory Downs | Qld | Alec & Amy Doomadgee | W: thegulfcountryfrontierdaysfestival.com.au

23-26

Gympie Music Muster | T: 07 5482 2099 | Ticket Inquiries/Sales 1300 438 849 | E: info@muster.com.au | W: muster.com.au

24-26

The Drover’s Camp | Camooweal | T: 07 4748 2022 | W: droverscamp.com.au

8-9

14-16

Neurum Creek Music Festival | Neurum Creek Bush Retreat | E: info@neurumcreekfestival.com | W: neurumcreekfestival.com

14-16

CANCELLED The 2018 Howard Music Festival will not go ahead due to unsuccessful financial support 14-16

Clifton/Goomburra CM Stampede | Clifton Showground | Qld | E: maggiestokes29@gmail.com | Facebook.com/groups/goomburra

28-29

22-23

The Pioneer Valley CMF | Facebook.com/pioneervalleycmf

28-Oct 7 32nd Mildura CMF | Contact: John Arnold | E: milduracountrymusic.com.au | 1800 039 043 OCTOBER 2018 Sept 28-Oct 7

32nd Mildura CMF | Contact: John Arnold |E: milduracountrymusic.com.au | T: 1800 039 043

5-7

5 Rivers Outback Festival | Balranald | NSW | W: 5riversoutbackfestival.com.au

11-14

12-14

15-21

18-21

Munna Creek CMF | Contact: Lex K | M: 0428 293 145 | W: munnacreekfestival.com

18-21

Annual The Waterhole Rocks – Rock n Roll Campout weekend | Contact Sue Osberg | M:0474 266 215 | E: waterholerocks@outlook.com | Facebook.com/TheWaterholeRocks

22-28

25-28

Nambung CM Muster | WA | T: 08 9652 4048 | E: enquiry@nambungstation.com.au | W: numbungstation.com.au

26-28

Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival | W: dorrigofolkbluegrass.com.au

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018

C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

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C O U N T RY M U S I C C A P I TA L N E W S A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

years of bringing you the music 1975–2018