Lucinda Williams, Dan Sultan @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney (02/12/15) On this night of alt. country royalty returning to Sydney Dan Sultan had the opening honours and with just electric guitar, mic and keyboard he showed the full gamut of his musical CV, from brooding bluesy stomps to anguished and emotive soul music. He admitted he … Continue reading
I first heard Lo Carmen’s music on her 2009 album It Walks Like Love and was immediately taken by her ability to weave beautiful, otherworldly sounds out of indie rock, dark psych folk and dreamy gothic country. A solo EP and a collaborative album with her father Peter Head later and Carmen has finally released … Continue reading
Marlon Williams is putting in some serious hard yards right now with his album a firm favourite here in Australia and New Zealand and bound to feature on many end of year best-of lists. As such he is still touring like a demon across the country, has played roles in a NZ film and an … Continue reading
On his third solo album Melbournian Dan Parsons immerses himself deep in US west coast-styled country folk music. There’s a light touch to his music that at first gives it a breezy, occasionally easy-listening sound but behind the sunny and drifting pop melodies there are tales of troubled souls trying to find their way. The … Continue reading
Friedman, the author and provocateur, has also been a musician since the early 1970s and finally, after 39 years, he’s recorded a new studio album. It’s a mix of Friedman originals and a raft of covers including Merle Haggard’s ‘Mama’s Hungry Eyes’, Bob Dylan’s ‘Girl from the North Country’ and a duet with Willie Nelson … Continue reading
To kick off November we have two impressive songwriters who approach country music from equally interesting perspectives. Dan Parsons has a smooth-sailing West Coast country folk vibe built around songwriting that is often much darker in subject matter than the music may at first suggest while Jason Walker is a rootsier singer, guitarist and songwriter who is … Continue reading
Small towns and the escape from them or retreat to them are often the subject of songs in country music. In recent times we’ve had Jenny Queen (Small Town Misfits) and Hurray For The Riff Raff (Small Town Heroes) address the topic in their album titles and now NSW songstress Fanny Lumsden has dug into … Continue reading
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes have been slowly and successfully building their profile both here and internationally in both the alternative and commercial country scenes on the back of their album releases and live performances. The winner of the 2014 Golden Guitar for Alternative Country Album of the Year, The Age Music Victoria Award for Best Country Album, and the … Continue reading
He may be a new name to Americana music fans in this part of the world but from what I’ve heard and seen of Leo Rondeau online suggests he’ll be making a ton of new friends and fans when he plays Dashville Skyline and a run of other East Coast shows over the next month. … Continue reading
Kinky Friedman has a new album called The Lonliest Man I Ever Met coming out on October 2nd via Avenue A Records/Thirty Tigers. It’s his first album of new material in 39 years believe it or not. The first track on it is this duet with Willie Nelson, kept stripped back and raw. Great guitar from Nelson … Continue reading
Tami Neilson only released her superb album Dynamite! (read our review) eighteen months ago but now she has a brand new record called Don’t Be Afraid set for release on September 25th. The first single is the beautiful sway of ‘Lonely’ featuring a cameo from Marlon Williams. This song was begun in 1972 by a young … 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
A new discovery for us this evening with Nashville resident Kent Goolsby and his new album No Substitute For Handsome which was released on July 7th. You can stream seven of the album’s country swingin’ tracks via Soundcloud including the excellent ‘Dog Days (Have Lost Their Bite)’. Continue reading
Starting with a lo-fi drum pattern Good Lovelies quickly arrive with their sweet intertwined harmonies to elevate the opening track into a quirky, sparkling pop-laced folk song. They’ve tried to mix things up on their new album, sonically and in their songwriting and at times it works very well. Too often though the curse of … Continue reading
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