A new tribute album celebrating the songs and career of legendary country artist John Anderson, Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson, will be released August 5th via Easy Eye Sound. Anderson has released 22 albums and enjoyed 60 charting singles in four consecutive decades including five No. 1 songs: ‘Wild and Blue,’ “Swingin’,” ‘Black Sheep,’ ‘Straight Tequila … Continue reading
ALEX HAMILTON SWEETEST WINE LOVE POLICE RECORDS + TAPES Alex Hamilton knows his way around high and lonesome folk-rock and on his debut solo album he reaches some wonderful high points that recall the keening, pastoral sound of Dylan, The Band and Neil Young. Hamilton used to be the songwriter and singer for Melbourne band … Continue reading
Swedish songwriter Anders Jörnesten has one of those deep, sonorous, gravelly and lived-in voices. Words are like intonations, hanging heavy in the air and giving greater gravitas to his lyrics. ‘Light Up My Way’ is a stripped-back acoustic country-folk track of acoustic guitar, harmonia and that voice. Beautiful melancholia. Jörnesten only started writing songs during … Continue reading
The Redlands are cousins and childhood friends, Samuel Nairn (vocals), Chase Williams (lead guitar) Dean Williams (guitar/piano) and Ottavio Dichiera (bass). Formed in 2019, after years of playing live together around Mildura in north-east Victoria and taking their cues from songwriting giants like Dylan, Cave and Isbell. You can hear those influences and more winding … Continue reading
Brent Cobb released one of our favourite albums of 2020 with Keep ‘Em On They Toes, a record that was loose, warm and possessing some brilliant turns of phrase amid the laidback rhythms and grooves. Now he’s taken an interesting approach with the followup, digging deep into Southern gospel and hymns of his youth. A … Continue reading
Queenslander Scottie ‘Suga’ Owens has released his brand new country single ‘Weekend Time’ via Heartsville Music Group and it finds him hitting a sweet vein of Charley Crockett meets outlaw country. Pedal steel adds a mix of tropical and outback flavours for what amounts to an impressively authentic new voice in Australian country music. Continue reading
It’s that time of year where I sit down, create a spreadsheet, list all the albums that caught my ear and had me returning for repeat listens, and then begin the torturous task of putting them into some kind of ordered list. It’s a strange thing to rank artistic endeavours against each other but the … Continue reading
Despite the endless disruptions, lockdowns, gig cancellations and postponements, there were still plenty of excellent albums released here in Australia in 2021. Most of them had their own unique sound too – drawing from folk, country, psych, blues and indie to differing degrees. There were established artists who continued to mature and evolve as well … Continue reading
Sydney artists Fleur Wiber and Chris Carrapetta have come together to record an album’s worth of their favourite alt-country covers during lockdown and the first superb track they’ve released from it is is a version of Rowland Salley‘s ‘Killing the Blues’. Salley is the bassist for Chris Isaak and his best known song has been … Continue reading
‘The Great Unknown’ is the latest single from New Zealand songwriter HaydenGoSeek (also the front person of Cheap Fakes) and it details his travels from smalltown New Zealand to living in Australia. The song is a bristling piece of melodic country-tinged folk that wins on account of Hayden’s vocal and the counterpoint fiddle that shadows … Continue reading
This morning we’re lucky enough to be premiering the video clip for Suz Dorahy‘s brand new single ‘Tell You’ which is released tomorrow. The single is Dorahy’s first since she released the song ‘Margharita’ in 2019 and finds her striking a magnificent alt-country sound that recalls the preeminent sound and swagger of Lucinda Williams in … Continue reading
Dirty, raw, dragged through the dirt and spirited like a life well lived. That’s the sound of this rough and rugged cover of Bentonia Bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ ‘Going Away To Leave You’, by Robert Connely Farr. It’s all in the tension and stormy mood of those six strings and Robert’s gruff vocal on this … Continue reading
Straight outta Perth comes Albert Loss and his loping, heartache of a song, ‘Papunya Road’, draped in pedal steel and banjo. There’s country and folk in the mix as he sings of the ups and downs of fatherhood, evoking the sprawling beauty of the red centre and the tenderness of family. There’s a perfect tumble and … Continue reading
Love Police, the touring company led by Brian Taranto and responsible for some of the most memorable alt-country, Americana and folk music tours of the last two decades, has joined forces with Dave Laing (Dave Laing Publicity, Warner (and Warner’s revival of Festival), Shock Records, Dog Meat Records) to started a record label called Love … Continue reading
Melbourne-based New Zealand songwriter Matt Joe Gow has released a brand new single ‘Go Ahead, Celebrate’, bringing a ray of optimistic sunshine to this shitshow of a year, a clarion country call to celebrate… like we used to. Gow nails the requisite uplifting mood and yearning for good times that a song title like that … Continue reading
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