Lindi Ortega won plenty of new fans when she visited Australia for the Out On The Weekend festival last year and now she’s set to build on that with an impressive new album. She wraps up country and soul music in warm and familiar fashion, relying equally on the sultry and surly qualities of her … Continue reading
This is the first album of new material since Nicholson’s marriage break-up with Kasey Chambers who he’d recorded his two preceding albums with. In that sense this is a new start and it’s a quietly confident one that reflects on the personal attrition of such a traumatic experience as well as geographical locations and depression. … Continue reading
Sydney’s irrepressible alt. country songstress Fanny Lumsden is on the cusp of releasing her debut album Small Town Big Shot (September 2015) and to kick things off she’s released the video clip for its first single ‘Soapbox’. Filmed in the country NSW town of Tallimba where Lumsden first went to school the song takes aim at … Continue reading
Jed Rowe has hit a fine vein of songwriting on his third album, drawing on the production skills of Jeff Lang and players that include members of Melbourne’s The Stillsons. Rowe’s songs fall easily on the ears, drifting by with a US West Coast feel, rich in vocal harmonies and slide guitar. Folk, country and … Continue reading
Matt Walker has been a stalwart of the roots music scene for more than two decades now and with Lost Ragas he may have found his perfect musical marriage. The quartet truly embody the phrase ‘cosmic country’, serving up a sound that mixes classic country, power pop and rock n roll. It’s like Sturgill Simpson … Continue reading
James Thomson’s debut album was an impressive calling card, a introduction to a talented songwriter already sounding beyond his years in terms of his songs and their lived-in delivery. The promise of that first sprawling collection of songs has been refined and stylistically expanded on the exceptional follow-up Cold Moon. The balance and symmetry of … Continue reading
JW Linton hits straighter musical lines on his debut solo album than he does with Sydney band Ranger Spacey yet these ten songs are a rich collection of folk and country rock. From acoustic beginnings the songs have evolved into rich compositions that include horns, piano, pedal steel and strings that recall Calexico and Wilco. … Continue reading
From his early releases with The Unfaithful Ways and through three duo albums with fellow New Zealander Delaney Davidson, Marlon Williams has always been tagged as one to watch. Though this solo debut has been a long time coming he has toured and built a strong reputation as a live performer across Australia and NZ … Continue reading
Yep, we’re a third of the way through the year already so we thought we’d have a look back at our ten favourite albums that have been released in 2015. In no particular these are the records that have regularly been on the stereo and provided many of the musical highlights of our year so far. You can hit … Continue reading
On their second album Raised By Eagles eschew some of the ragged country rock moves of their debut and head for classic songwriting territory with excursions into power pop and acoustic balladry. The intimate and explicitly emotional storytelling of ‘Sugar Cane’ and the warm breezy sway of ‘Honey’ act as counterpoints to Window Seat’s Ryan … Continue reading
Ruby Boots is the nom de plume for Perth’s Bex Chilcott and though this is wholly a solo album in terms of songwriting and musical personality she has corralled the talents of a number of accomplished individuals on her spellbinding debut full length release. Co-starring roles go to Vicki Thorn (The Waifs), Jordie Lane, Davey … Continue reading
Over the last few years Liam Gale’s sound has evolved into a darker and more hypnotic form of psychedelic folk and blues music, culminating in the majestic and hypnotic The Lonely Throne. There are shades of Devendra Barnhart and Tim Buckley in Gale’s explorations in building trance-like mantras around songs via a range of instrumentation … Continue reading
Queensland songwriter Brad Butcher certainly doesn’t take too many risks, nor does he hit too many emotional highs on Jamestown. His style is a calm and measured approach to his music but too often that is a recipe for songs blending together without enough dynamism across the eleven tracks. Occasionally his songs do excel, particularly … Continue reading
Throw The Band and The Felice Brothers into a roots music blender and you’ll end up with something resembling Houndmouth. On their second album they’ve taken their already impressive Americana sound to another level with rousing, infectious choruses, heartbreaking harmonies and a looser rock ’n’ roll feel. This is modern suburban Appalachian music that sounds … Continue reading
The two outlaw country legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard have teamed up for a new album (Django and Jimmie) and on the evidence of this clip for the first single they had a barrel of fun recording it. I’t’s All Going To Pot’ is a lively and funny play on words and Willie’s infamous … Continue reading
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