From all the entries that were submitted for the 2018 Americana Music Prize of Australia, the panel have whittled down the list to the fifteen finalists who are in with a chance to win a $10,000 prize pack. The joint initiative between esteemed country musician Shane Nicholson, the Forbes Street Studios and Lost Highway Australia, … Continue reading
“We want to support, encourage, mentor and resource aspiring unsigned artists in the Americana/alt-country scene in Australia and this is a great way to kick start a career,” says Shane Nicholson of his latest initiative to support the genre that he has become so recognised for. Launching today as a joint initiative of Shane Nicholson/The … Continue reading
Though Shane Nicholson is now firmly entrenched in Australian country music, with awards aplenty, he’s shown over his strong run of solo albums that he can still maintain a foot in the indie scene in which he forged his songwriting abilities. That positioning has enabled him to straddle alt-country and commercial country with equal aplomb. … Continue reading
As well as compiling our own 40 Favourite Americana Albums and 20 Favourite Australia & NZ Americana Albums we also decided to widen the net and ask a handful of respected musicians and radio/print media people to tell us their top five albums of 2015 and why they liked their number 1 so much. We … Continue reading
When it rains it pours in the Sydney Americana music scene. This week is a big one for shows with Suzannah Espie launching her album here last night and Shane Nicholson (who is currently in the studio working on Katie Brianna’s new album) plays Newtown Social Club tonight with his band The General Waste. We’ve … Continue reading
This was a night of friends and collaborators celebrating the release of Shane Nicholson’s new solo LP Hell Breaks Loose. Nicholson produced Josh Rennie-Hynes’ debut album February and invited the songwriter down from Brisbane to open the show. Rennie-Hynes had only met local pedal steel player Jy-Perry Banks (Cruisin’ Deuces) that afternoon but the pair … 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
We updated our Sydney Gig Guide the other day and July is already looking like another bumper month. Tonight you can catch James Thomson and band at Gasoline Pony while our gig of the week is the sold out Marlon Williams (full band) show at The Basement on Saturday night. Head over to the guide to check out … Continue reading
Shane Nicholson is gearing up for the release of his new album Hell Breaks Loose on August 7th (Lost Highway Australia/Universal) and first cab off the rank is the single ‘Secondhand Man’, a brisk and breezy track with a melancholic undercurrent. Catchy as hell too. It also features backing vocals from Katie Brianna. Tour Dates Aug … Continue reading
Solo and acoustic, Shane Nicholson previewed songs from Hell Breaks Loose as well as various highlights from his back catalogue. With his laid-back and commanding stage presence he offered up observations on the dangers of facial hair and harmonicas between songs and coyly commending the audience for supporting real country music. A social media … Continue reading
Nicholson has become something of a lighthouse on the Australian country music scene, bridging both the mainstream and alt-country scenes with his solo releases, albums with Kasey Chambers and production work. Now signed with Lost Highway as an artist and Staff Producer (incl. A&R), this solo acoustic live set is the precursor to a new … Continue reading
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