Sunburnt Country Music

The last time I interviewed Michael Cook – known as Cookie – from the Darling Downs (Queensland) alt-country and bluegrass band Rusty Pickups, there was a donkey outside the studio at Possum Creek, where the band recorded. Naturally, when we spoke again recently about the band’s new album, I Don’t Think About You at All (… some days), I checked in on this unofficial extra band member and also on the band’s recent successes, which included a New Zealand tour. Rusty Pickups were originally a four-piece, then became a five-piece – and are now back to being a four-piece, as founding member Waylon Katz is heading off around Australia on a months-long odyssey which will count him out of any band activity for a very long while. ‘Rusty Pickups is a table we’re all lucky enough to have a seat at,’ says Cookie. ‘Right now his chair’s pushed in, but it’s there for him to pull out again when he wants to come back.’In this interview Cookie talks further about the ‘table’ that is Rusty Pickups and how it has kept providing for them all, which was the main aim. He has set goals and they’ve kept reaching them, not through crossing their fingers and hoping but by putting in the work and taking chances and opportunities. It was Katz who wrote the album’s title track, drawing on conversations he’s had in his work as a therapist. Some other songs are written by Cookie, and they are what he calls clear-eyed rather than self-pitying: honest assessments of hard things, including addiction, the passage of time and the unexpected depth of feeling for a very small dog he rescued, named Princess Bubblegum. The story about that dog is an example of why it’s always great to let interviews flow where they want to go – great stories often result. And it’s also why this interview is on the long side, but Cookie is always interesting to chat to, so a longer conversation is usually on the cards. Listen to I Don’t Think About You at All on Apple MusicListen to I Don’t Think About You at All on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the start of this interview I say I’m a Melanie Dyer fan, and that’s because she writes songs that can encompass a whole life, as in her recent single, ‘Golden Girl’, or cut right to the heart of something in a devastating way, as in ‘What You Didn’t Say’, from her 2022 album Between You & Me, or just be out-and-out entertaining because of her ear for melody.As she talks about in this new interview, she discovered the magic of what could be created by combining music with chords at a young age. She would lock herself in her room to write a song then emerge at the ad break to perform it for her parents. She was the youngest person accepted into the Talent Development Project at twelve, training in songcraft, stagecraft, performance and networking alongside musicians from across multiple genres. ‘I’ve spent my whole life doing this,’ she says. ‘I’ve never known a life without it.’Dyer’s latest single, ‘If She Only Knew’, is a love letter to that girl growing up on a farm in regional New South Wales, learning chords on her mother’s guitar and dreaming of a life in music. The song was written in Nashville. with Karen Kosowski and Emma-Lee, which whom Dyer wrote her hit ‘Memphis T-Shirt’. There were some tears during the writing session for this song which is, says Dyer, ‘equally heartbreaking and cathartic and inspiring and hopeful’.‘If you really feel like you're destined to do something, don’t give up on yourself. That’s what this song is saying.’Dyer’s early dreams have taken her all the way to Music City, where she’s lived for over a year, playing live regularly and writing a lot. Given how often Dyer is asked to co-write with other artists, it’s perfect that she’s now in a place where songwriting is woven into the fabric of daily life. And it’s still a source of wonder to her.‘I hear melodies in my head,’ she says. ‘They just come out. And that’s still this crazy, magic thing to me – inventing and crafting something from scratch and weaving your emotion into it.’Young Melanie’s dreams have indeed come true, and listening to Now Melanie talk about that, and much more about her craft and her songs, is hugely inspiring.Listen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on SpotifyListen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brooke Seabrook is a balladeer from Queensland who recently won the Barry Thornton Young Award, which supports Australian bush and heritage artists. Her latest single is ‘Took My Town Away’, produced by Lindsay Waddington. Seabrook describes herself not as a songwriter but as a wordsmith – and the distinction matters, as she talks about in this interview. For Seabrook came to music through bush poetry, and it runs in her blood. Her grandmother Albertina, born in 1902, was a storyteller and poet, and Seabrook had early influences in the form of AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson and Henry Lawson. As she recounts, Slim Dusty was a constant in the family home, as were Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Charlie Pride and Tom T. Hall. John Williamson has also had a big impact, and it was a song she wrote for Williamson called ‘Who’ll Sing Australia Now?’ that led to the Thornton Young Award, which will take Seabrook to the CMAA Academy of Country Music next January.Seabrook has increased her creative output in recent times, partly because one of her two sons died a few years ago, and writing became a way of managing her grief. ‘As long as we’re still singing and talking about it,’ she says, ‘we’re not forgetting these people.’The new single, ‘Took My Town Away’, was written about changes to Seabrook’s home suburb of Goodna, which, like so many places, has changed greatly in recent times. The track features backing vocals by Golden Guitar winner William Alexander, who also records with Waddington.Seabrook has also recorded at Rabbit Hole Recording Studio on the Central Coast of New South Wales with producers Dingo and Kasey Chambers, and mentions that she actually has a whole album ready to go, but that she has no current plans to release it. It is, she says, waiting for its moment.Meanwhile, Seabrook performs live regularly and will be supporting Luke O’Shea in Ipswich on 1 August, then performing at the Gympie Music Muster. Listen to Brooke Seabrook on Apple Music                  Listen to Brooke Seabrook on SpotifyListen to Brooke Seabrook on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Although Snowy Mountains-raised Kesha Nevé was the winner of this year’s Australian Idol, I did not know what to expect when I interviewed her because … I didn’t see any of this year’s season! I caught up on the musical side of things by watching clips and research revealed that she had grown up in Jindabyne, a town in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales that is known as the gateway to the nearby ski fields of Thredbo and Perisher in particular. Also that she started singing and performing at a very young age, that she’d spent time around the rodeo scene and worked on a farm in New Zealand for a year. What research did not reveal – what can never be known until an interview starts – is what an artist is like to talk to, so I discovered in the moment that she’s an absolute delight. Smart and funny and self-aware, close to her family and committed to pursuing her dreams. We sometimes talk about ‘following’ a dream but that implies a dream can become real if only a person follows long enough. Nevé has worked to make her dreams manifest in life, not just in terms of the time she’s put into developing as an artist but developing as a person, which can only benefit her artistry. So this is a chat about music and about sport – as her life has been rich in both – about family and Idol and the tour she has coming up. It’s also about her debut country-pop single, ‘Better This Way’, which was written with Ruby Rogers, Lara Frew and Phoebe Sinclair in Nevé’s first ever professional songwriting session. The session began with two hours of conversation and Nevé telling the story of a relationship she’d only recently come out of, before a song emerged that charts the moment the rose-coloured glasses were finally gone, the relationship was done, and she knew she was ‘better this way’.Nevé is going on tour with fellow Idol contestant Kalani Artis. For dates and tickets, go to https://www.keshaneve.com.au/tour-dates/Listen to ‘Better This Way’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Better This Way’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Better This Way’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest single from Ally Paterson, a singer-songwriter from the Ballarat area in Victoria, went on, is called ‘Dig’ and it was born at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat’s living museum of the Gold Rush era. As Paterson tells me in this interview, the rhythmic banging of an old battering ram sent her imagination straight to the men who had worked the claims: Irish migrants, Chinese labourers, people who had crossed the world on the bare promise of a lucky strike. ‘I was inspired by the hardy, wiry gold miner man who’d come from way across the world and was just digging without any guarantee of success,’ she says. Digging for gold also turned out to be an apt metaphor for this interview. Not because I had to dig necessarily but because gold kept turning up. The longer we spoke, the more I discovered very interesting things about Paterson, such as that she spent several years singing jazz in late-night venues in Melbourne before she and her husband – who have four children – decided to move to the land. Neither of them had any experience with that work, and it has become a lifestyle they love and a connection to the land that inspires Paterson’s writing.Paterson’s earlier experience as a jazz singer explained something I heard in her singing voice: real power and nuance and such a great tone. She’s a really wonderful singer, and ‘Dig’ has great impact because of that and the story she tells in the song. The song was produced by Matt Fell at Wilder in Tasmania, as was ‘Working Like Dogs’, her first single. More releases are planned, as Paterson is as committed to music as she is to the other parts of the rich life she has created. Listen to Ally Paterson on Apple MusicListen to Ally Paterson on SpotifyListen to Ally Paterson on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s never a guarantee of what will emerge during an interview – that’s partly why it’s so interesting to be able to talk to all sorts of artists. And even if I’ve interviewed an artist before, there’s always something new to discover. In the case of Jean Elliot, a multi-genre artist from the Hawkesbury region of New South Wales, north of Sydney – which inspired ‘Devil’s Wilderness Theme’ on her EP, Butcher, Lover, Runner – we discovered that we had a strong interest in common: ancient history. Elliot is studying it at university, and I studied it for years. So you’ll hear us digress a little on that subject in this interview … Except I don’t believe it actually is a digression, given the epic, high-stakes nature of storytelling in ancient texts and the way that has influenced Elliot as a songwriter and artist generally.Butcher, Lover, Runner opens with a country-influenced track, ‘Hole in Her Head’, and Elliot then takes us into a song cycle that includes moments of rapture, such as third track ‘Beneath Your Sun’, and bittersweet reflection, as on the closing track, ‘Highwayman’, crossing genres as she goes.‘I never really think about genre when I'm writing,’ she says. ‘The idea pops into my head fully formed and we just try our best to translate it into something tangible.’The landscape Elliot grew up in and around, and still lives in, has shaped the stories she wants to tell and how she tells them. It’s a place I’m familiar with – many Sydneysiders are, as we travel through it to the Central Coast or Newcastle – and a breathtaking part of the world. It’s little wonder that it inspires Elliot, and also that she respects it.‘I’m contributing to a canon of thousands and thousands of years of storytelling about this place,’ she says. ‘I have to do so in an honest and loving way.’ Elliot has been studying philosophy and archaeology, along with ancient history, which all points to a fundamental interest in the intersection of storytelling and the questions about life and how to live it than many of us consider. She has honoured that lineage with her EP, and it was so interesting to learn about what contributed to its making and where she’s going next with her music. There’s also a great story about the building that appears on the cover of the EP – you’ll have to listen/watch to find out what it is! https://jeanelliotmusic.bandcamp.com/ Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Apple Music Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Spotify Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sibling harmonies are a form of magic – there’s a synergy that happens within families who sing together that makes for unforgettable sounds that are impossible to replicate. Brisbane sister trio Vixens of Fall have been creating that sort of magic for a decade, embracing it in the title of their 2023 debut album, Magick in the Chaos, and in their lives. The latest single for sisters Nina, Wren and Lulu is ‘Midnight Cowgirls’, and might be said to have come about through a form of magic known as manifestation. All three Vixens love to wear the clothing label Tree of Life and have done for years. Then they were contacted by the owner of the company, asking if they’d like to be the faces of a new line called Midnight Cowgirls. The Vixens already had a songwriting session booked with regular collaborator Sally Barris and decided to write a song to go with the clothing line, and their latest single, ‘Midnight Cowgirls’, was born.The song was produced by Rod McCormack, who also produced their first album – and their second, Fox Hollow, which will be released in November and which will feature ‘Midnight Cowgirls’. He’s like family, the sisters tell me in this new interview, which was conducted not long before Nina was due to give birth to her second child.The Vixens are a tight unit, as is evident in this interview and when they perform. One of the wonderful things about them is how clearly they love not only making music together but simply being around each other. There is so much strength in that sort of bond – and unlimited potential. Or magic. Whatever you’d like to call it, no doubt you will enjoy meeting Vixens of Fall.Listen to Vixens of Fall on Apple MusicListen to Vixens of Fall on SpotifyListen to Vixens of Fall on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paper Daisies are a duo from the Gold Coast who have released one single, ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’, and as soon as I heard it I thought, These two are not just starting out. The vocals are glorious and there was this energy running through the song that made it sound like the artists, Britt Grey and Rhea Robertson, were completely immersed in the music.So I was interested to talk to them both, and … WELL. Even though I’d done my research and discovered that Robertson has her own pop releases that have garnered millions of streams, there was plenty that did not turn up, including a wonderful story about how they met – and you can watch/listen to the interview to find out what that is – along with the fact that Grey has a well-established acting career that includes the yet-to-be-released Zombie Plane, featuring Vanilla Ice and Sophie Monk (and the late Chuck Norris). Then there is their friendship, which is gloriously supportive and evident in this interview. ‘The experience of singing together and being immersed in our harmonies,’ says Robertson in this interview, ‘I wish everybody got to experience what it feels like to create music with your best friend.’They not only love doing things together – they both have fully creative lives, and it was inspiring to talk to them about their various ventures and also wonderful to meet such talented people who embrace opportunities and, for lack of a better phrase, look for the light in life. Their single, ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’, was inspired by the experiences of a mutual friend: it was written with multi-instrumentalist Bradley Green and produced by Scott French at Love Street Studios. It’s the first single off their planned EP, and the next single will be released on 9 July. Listen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the Central West of New South Wales, William Alexander won his first Golden Guitar earlier this year in the category of Bush Ballad of the Year, for the song ‘Wild Roan Brumby’, which he wrote with his good friend Pete Denahy. For those of us who have observed Alexander’s career, and listened to his releases starting in 2023, there was no surprise in the award itself – only in the fact that it had taken so long. For three years may not seem like much, but when the talent is as evident as it is in this artist, it feels like more than enough for recognition to mature.In the songs on his latest album, Along the Boundary Line, Alexander has a way of writing about life and work on the land that suggests someone who not only observes and feels and thinks but can articulate the result of all of that. He’s alert to the world, in other words, and curious about it too. Not that he’s always recorded his own songs: he began by releasing cover versions.‘I just always felt like I hadn’t earned the right to be the songwriter yet,’ he tells me in this new interview. ‘I was too busy discovering old songs and absorbing that.’In Along the Boundary Line Alexander creates songs in a traditional style that cover aspects of modern life, marrying a way of life that is much older with contemporary concerns. It’s almost a juxtaposition, until you realise he’s likely documenting his own experiences. As an example: ‘All I Stand to Lose’, which was a single, is about the push and pull of having the urge to go roaming yet cherishing what’s at home, and is the acme of bittersweetness. Yet Alexander doesn’t linger there, instead moving onto the jaunty ‘Horse and Hobble Days’, and both songs are alive with detail. Alexander is also a wonderful singer, both recorded and live, a balladeer who is also a crooner. When I ask him about his voice in our recent chat, he says, ‘I think what you're mentioning is probably just the way I was told to speak as a kid.’ He had, he says, a grandfather who insisted on no mumbling, and it’s ‘coming through in the way I sing’.Along the Boundary Line was recorded largely with just Alexander and producer Lindsay Waddington in the room first, building each song before adding esteemed players including Brendan Radford, Jen Mize and Michel Rose. The result is a collection of songs that immediately allow the listener in and invite them back. Although there’s a distinct lack of yodelling – something that featured on his first album, The Singing Stockman – which I ask him about.They haunt you, these new songs, in the way that they put you in the landscape with its space and silence and also its sounds and the life that’s humming all around you yet not always evident to the eye. That’s achieved through the production, sure, but it all starts with the artist’s intention – with the stories he has to tell and the way he wants to tell them. The album is an outstanding work. It was a pleasure to talk to Alexander about those songs, and much more. Buy Along the Boundary Line on BandcampListen to Along the Boundary Line on Apple MusicListen to Along the Boundary Line on SpotifyListen to Along the Boundary Line on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Towards the end of my first ever interview with Brandon Dodd, who records under the name Dingo (he’s released music under both, including the 2020 album What a Way to Die and Dingo and the Rising River in 2024), I realised that I’d seen him play a solo set right before the pandemic closed the nation, and world, down. Because the pandemic changed the shape of time – or so it seemed – and somewhat made life into a washing machine, I completely forgot about that set until he mentioned playing support for Patty Griffin. For it was at a Griffin show at Angel Place in Sydney that I saw him play, and thought he was terrific, and also wondered how long we might still be able to go to live shows. The answer, of course, came quickly after, and for two years there would be very little live music.Dingo was not idle during that time, nor has he been since, whether making his own music or helping others make theirs. Recently his name has been coming up more and more frequently as a producer, of the exceptional emerging artist Faith Williams and the beloved star Beccy Cole, amongst others; he works out of Rabbit Hole Recording Studio on the Central Coast of New South Wales, which he runs with his partner, Kasey Chambers.Chambers features in a great story Dingo tells in this interview, about learning to sing harmonies, when I asked him about how he’d developed his singing voice. He has plenty of very interesting things to say as we talk about his new single, ‘Autumn’, which is taken from his upcoming album Nightwire. I actually didn’t get to ask many of the questions I’d prepared because the conversation went in other directions, and when I’m interviewing I’d much rather follow the conversation than stick to a schedule. To the single, though, as it’s a lovely one: ‘Autumn’ is a love song built around the imagery of the season – leaves falling, and change as something to lean into rather than resist – and at its centre is the idea that you can fall in love again and again with the same person if you stay open to growth. The song (and forthcoming album) was produced not by Dingo but by the in-demand Jordan Power. ‘The best thing you can do is put the other hats down and just be the best artist that you can be,’ says Dingo when I ask why he handed over the role to someone else. Of the forthcoming album, Nightwire, Dingo says it’s ‘me being in love with songs – being in love with music, being just so wrapped up in it again and loving it for what it is.’ Indeed, this whole conversation demonstrated to me that he’s a man who truly loves being immersed in music, and who remains intrigued by it and by what’s possible with it. Suffice to say the release of that album can’t come soon enough.Dingo is currently on tour with the great Adam Harvey, then he’ll join the Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daley double header (dates below). In the midst of that he’ll be at the Deniliquin Ute Muster (details also below). 26th June – Bligh Park Hotel – South Windsor, NSW # 27th June – The Oaks Hotel – Albion Park Rail, NSW # 28th June – The Royal Hotel – Queanbeyan, NSW # Friday 28th August – Gympie Music Muster – Gympie, QLD 15th October - Events Centre Kings Theatre, Caloundra QLD * 16th October - Twin Towns - Tweed Heads, NSW * 17th October - Saraton Theatre – Grafton, NSW * 30th October - Commercial Club – Albury, NSW * 31st October - Civic Theatre - Wagga Wagga, NSW * 6th November - Anita’s Theatre – Thirroul, NSW * 7th November - Blue Mountains Theatre & Community Centre – Springwood, NSW * 12th November - The Art House – Wyong, NSW * 13th November – Glasshouse - Port Macquarie, NSW *  # With Adam Harvey / * With Ian Moss & Troy Cassar-Daley **Tickets on sale now and available via https://www.dingomusicofficial.com/#tour Dingo will also be performing at this year’s Deni Ute Muster, held on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd October 2026. Tickets are on sale now and available via deniutemuster.com.au.Listen to Dingo on Apple MusicListen to Dingo on SpotifyListen to Dingo on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suburban Cowgirl, the latest album from beloved country music star Amber Lawrence, topped the Australian album and country album charts open release, and has held its spot. This will be no surprise to anyone who heard the singles leading up to it, including ‘That’s Cowgirl to Me’, which contains the line ‘I am the boss of my own wild frontier’ – which is a true statement when it comes to Lawrence, who has charted her course in country music with hard work, a wonderful songwriting talent and a live show that never fails to leave the audience uplifted. She has constantly chosen to go further into her own wild frontier and leads by example, as a generous performer and artist who lifts up those around her, including emerging artists.If it sounds like I’m a fan – I am. Not because it’s a default position but because I’ve seen Lawrence play live many times, I’ve interviewed her several times, and I love her albums. I also see her at shows around Sydney, so we know each other, well enough that I worked with her on the children’s book that she has released in tandem with the book (this work was in an unpaid advisory capacity, and came about because I work in book publishing and I’m a published author). The book is divine and as inspiring as her music and shows. It could not have been that without everything that has come before in Lawrence’s life and career, nor without the album that is its reason for existing. Suburban Cowgirl is chock full of anthems and singalong choruses. It has tributes to the joys to be found in everyday life (‘This Suburban Lifetime’ and ‘Smallest Years’) and the gratitude we can practise for that, to love of friends and family and home, and of her fans (‘We Ride At Dawn’, ‘Sing Me Home’). It also features a lovely duet with traditional country artist William Alexander (‘I’ve Got a Hankering’).I talk to Lawrence about all of this in our new interview. It is always wonderful to talk to her. She is one of the greats. Listen to Suburban Cowgirl on Apple MusicListen to Suburban Cowgirl on SpotifyListen to Suburban Cowgirl on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mem Davis is a singer, songwriter and – as I found out during this interview – a book editor from the south coast of New South Wales, although she’s currently not there, because she and partner Neil have been travelling Australia in a caravan since September last year, performing as the Mem Davis Duo along the way, with their elderly Boston terrier in tow.The musical life was not one Davis thought she would be leading. As she tells me, she spent years believing she couldn’t sing, having been told so by people close to her. It wasn’t until she was in her twenties that she booked a singing lesson and discovered that, as she says, ‘[e]verything I believed about myself was essentially thrown out the window’. She has been writing and performing ever since, though the happier songs, she notes, only arrived in her late thirties. ‘I realised music didn’t have to be therapy,’ she says.Davis’s latest single, ‘It’s All Just Love’, was produced by Liam Kennedy-Clark, a multi-instrumentalist and, as half of Wicker Suite, a Golden Guitar winner. The song uses bees as a central metaphor for community and the balance between individual responsibility and collective support. Davis attended the CMAA Academy of Country Music and writes regularly at the DAG songwriting retreat, where she has made connections she credits as among the most valuable of her career, a co-write with Luke O'Shea being a particular highlight. A second single, recorded with Kennedy-Clark, is due later in the year, with an album the eventual goal.At the time of recording the interview, Davis and Neil were based in Tamworth, preparing to head to the Northern Rivers. There are shows coming up, including one for the winter solstice in Uralla. Details at memdavis.com.Listen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on SpotifyListen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some artists arrive with a statement – or a splash, as you prefer – and it’s immediately clear that it’s worth paying attention to them because whatever comes next is likely to be interesting. As is the case with Sydney country-pop artist Amy Solylo.Solylo has released one single, ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ – and also an acoustic version of the song – and its combination of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness and whimsy offers something different and intriguing. The same combination is there when Solylo performs live, as she’s been doing a fair bit lately at Sydney country music institution Jolene’s, and it’s also clear that she is a born entertainer.As Solylo tells me in this new interview, the single is about being ‘your own biggest red flag’ and came about after she was blocked across all platforms by an ex. Solylo found one remaining avenue of communication – WhatsApp – and used it. The response she received was firm and clear … so she went home and wrote the song. Solylo came to songwriting through a childhood love of reading, and to music through early singing lessons and a hot pink guitar. It turned out that while she’s right-handed at everything else, she can only play guitar left-handed and, as leftie guitarists know, it’s not as easy to find instruments! (Although I can attest that she now has a lovely red guitar, as I’ve seen her playing it live.)It was a great pleasure to chat to Solylo and I look forward to hearing what she releases next – after she’s embarked on her next trip to Nashville, and all the adventure that promises.Listen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on SpotifyListen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake Whittaker is a Queensland country rock artist who has been releasing music since 2023, appeared on Australian Idol last year, and has now released his debut EP, In My Blood – five tracks of upbeat, good-time country that in this new interview he describes as a deliberate antidote to sad music.‘People work really hard Monday to Friday and they don't want to go out Friday night and listen to sad, dreary music,’ he says. ‘That’s why I write and release stuff that suits that.’The EP was produced by Jared Adlam, one of the most in-demand producers in Australian country music and, in Whittaker’s case, also a close friend since they were seventeen. The songs were road-tested in live shows before being locked in, with any track that didn't land in front of a crowd not making the cut. 'If it’s a good chorus and verse, you'll remember it straight away,’ he says. ‘If you remember it, it’s worth remembering – and it’ll make a good song.’The lead single, ‘Hooked on Her’, was actually the first song written for the project, back in 2023, and sat waiting for the right moment for two years. ‘In My Blood’ was co-written with country star James Johnston on the back verandah at Adam Eckersley's place and completed in about an hour and a half. 'Boots On' emerged from a Sydney writing trip with Sarah Buckley of The Buckleys. ‘Guy with a Boat’ – a song about a man trying to convince himself and his partner that purchasing a boat was entirely necessary – was written with Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley at their property in a shed, over a couple of beers.Last year Whittaker appeared on Australian Idol, which brought its own particular challenges. While Whittaker is an experienced live performer, comfortable on stage, the Idol format required a different set of instincts. And there’s quite a story about how his audition song ended up being ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ …Since Idol Whittaker has been focused on building momentum with live shows and new recordings. In this interview we talk about his support slot with The Wolfe Brothers (those shows are now past – unfortunately I wasn’t able to work fast enough to post this interview before they took place), plus Horsham Regfest, Townsville Country Fest and the Gympie Muster.  Listen to In My Blood on Apple MusicListen to In My Blood on SpotifyListen to In My Blood on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kaylee Bell is from Aotearoa New Zealand and spent several years living in Australia, which means we can probably claim her … or at least share her! And she is certainly one of Australia’s favourite country music artists as her recent second win as CountryTown's Female Artist of the Year award proved. Her latest album, Cowboy Up, was released last year. Her new single is 'Me For Me', and even though Cowboy Up was released not that long ago, in this new interview Bell says she had more to say, because she’s lived a lot since she wrote that album.‘You've got to live to write,’ she says. ‘Songs might come in the couple of hours you’re in the room, but they’re born and living with you for a long time before they finally come out.’'Me For Me' was written with Tom Jordan and Phoebe Jasper,  who records under the name Navvy, and in the interview Bell talks about how the song came about, as a relaxed writing session with friends who were home over the summer, in which songs started flowing without pressure or agenda. ‘I feel like we've started almost a whole new record by accident,’ she says. The song itself is about knowing your worth, waiting for the right person, and loving that person for who they are in return. There were other songs that emerged from those summer sessions and they are likely to follow ‘Me For Me’.This is a wide-ranging conversation that takes in Bell’s recent Christmas single, the demands of being in the music industry, and how she’s used visualisation in her career (and what it has to do with sport). ‘The music industry humbles you in a way no other industry possibly could,’ she tells me. ‘One day you're on the mountaintop, next day you’re still working out what's going on.’We recorded this interview before Bell headed to Nashville to perform at CMA Fest, which has now happened, but I’ve left in that part of the interview as interviews are watched and listened to often years after the fact, so there will always be something that is out of date!‘Me For Me’ is out now.Listen to ‘Me For Me’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Me For Me’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Me For Me’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a very healthy country-music scene in Western Australia, and not just in and around Perth. I’ve interviewed artists from as far north as Broome and as far south as Margaret River and several spots in between. Darren Gillis is a country rock artist from Western Australia's Wheat Belt, and I hadn’t interviewed him before we had this chat about his new single, ‘Hell of a Time’. The interview was recorded a few weeks before the single’s release, and I had a cold at the time (hence my voice sounding quite scratchy), but the conversation was invigorating enough to help me forget all about that, because Gillis is so clearly passionate about music and the important role it’s played in his life and his wellbeing, as he talks about. Gillis has honed his skills as a performer and storyteller by doing a lot of live performance. In 2024 he Gillis took a gap year from work, loaded his guitar into a caravan and set off, first through his local area, then north to Shark Bay and east to Tamworth in New South Wales for his first ever festival, and eventually as far as Noosa Heads in Queensland. Four and a half months on the road, swapping live music for accommodation and playing pub gigs to fund the next leg of the journey. ‘I said yes to everything,’ he says. The caravan park crowds turned out to be his most important audiences – people pulling their chairs in close, actually listening, giving him real feedback on his original songs. This gave him confidence to keep writing songs, as he’d been doing since 2020, when a relationship breakdown left him isolated in a small town and he turned to music to work through it. Some of those songs have since been released. 'Cuss the Black Dog', which drew on both his personal experience and the losses of colleagues in his frontline work, became a finalist in the Western Australian Music Song of the Year award, and prompted lengthy, candid conversations with audience members, including veterans, domestic violence survivors, a sixteen-year-old who drew him a portrait after the show.His latest single, 'Hell of a Time', is a song about choosing to let go of whatever the week has thrown at you and be present with the people around you. It will be one of ten tracks on his debut album Rise and Fall, due in August. Gillis has several shows coming up include the Mandurah Country Music Festival in October alongside Kaylee Bell, the Wolfe Brothers and Max Jackson, plus the Boddington Rodeo in November.‘Hell of a Time’ is out now.Listen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many Australian music fans will know of Wagga Wagga-born Darren Coggan from his hugely popular shows featuring the music of John Denver or Cat Stevens (and he has a great story at that – you’ll have to listen to the interview to find out what it is!). These – along with his work in musical theatre, and as an actor – have kept him busy and touring the country for several years. However, Coggan had his start in country music. He’s a winner of Toyota Star Maker, and a contemporary of Beccy Cole, Adam Harvey and Felicity Urquhart, even touring with those three as the ‘Young Stars of Country’ several years ago, and again for a reunion show in 2019.In recent times Coggan has recorded music with his daughter, Olivia, and he’s now returned to original music with the moving single ‘Always Believe in Love’. As he tells me in this recent interview, the song came to him in a dream. Its message wouldn’t land, though, if Coggan didn’t walk the talk, so to speak. This is a man who loves what he does, is passionate about it, takes nothing for granted and is grateful for every opportunity. He has fully committed himself to music, and to bringing joy to audiences, and that’s what he’s doing this year too with an extensive Australian tour (dates below). It was a great pleasure – and hugely interesting – to talk to Coggan about his life and career thus far. I hope you enjoy listening to or watching this chat, and finding out more about this in-demand Australian entertainer, whom you can also catch on TV (if you’re in New South Wales) on Sydney Weekender. NB: There was the occasional wi-fi glitch in this interview, so the audio is off in some places.SEE DARREN COGGAN ON TOURFriday June 12 – West Gippsland Performing Arts Centre – Gippsland, VICSaturday June 13 - The Wedge – Sale, VIC Friday June 26 – The Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSWSaturday June 27 – The Players Theatre - Port Macquarie, NSWThursday July 2 - The Powerhouse – Liverpool, NSW Wednesday July 22 - Ingham Theatre – Ingham, QLDThursday July 23 - Proserpine Entertainment Centre – Proserpine, QLD Saturday July 25 - HOTA - Surfers Paradise, QLDSunday July 26 - Majestic Theatre – Pomona, QLD Friday August 14 - Warners Bay Theatre – Warners Bay, NSW Saturday August 15 - Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSWSunday August 16 - Coronation Hall - Coutts Crossing, NSW Saturday October 3 - Redcliffe Entertainment Centre – Redcliffe, QLD Friday October 9 - The J Theatre – Noosa, QLD Saturday October 10 - The Events Centre – Caloundra, QLDFriday October 16 – The Estate – Camden, NSW **Tickets on sale now and available via https://www.darrencoggan.com/Listen to Darren Coggan on Apple MusicListen to Darren Coggan on SpotifyListen to Darren Coggan on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes we choose to change our circumstances and sometimes they get changed on us, and how we respond to those changes reveals who we are and also shows us the way forward. For Cassie Leopold founding member of Darlinghurst, there’s been a lot of change in recent times: the band went from being a four-piece to a two-piece, with Leopold and Pagan Newman, and now it’s Leopold on her own. While all that was going on, Leopold face a major health challenge which meant she had to focus on other things. She’s emerged from that, and from the fluctuations in the band, with a new direction for Darlinghurst and being, as she says in this new interview, the leader for the first time. She still has a band, but she’s the one who determines which songs they play and record. Leopold has been a musical performer from a very young age and performance is in her very marrow, as she says: ‘The only place I ever felt okay was on stage – for this 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or the three minutes of one song, it's my time.’She was a member of the Young Talent Team – a contemporary of Dannii Minogue’s – and learning what she describes as the triple threat of singing, dancing and acting. She sang backing vocals on an Olivia Newton John album after stepping in at the last moment for a sick colleague. She was signed in a girl group at seventeen. For most of her career, Leopold’s skill was stepping in, filling a brief, and delivering what was needed. ‘I was very good at doing that,’ she says. Taking the reins is a different skill entirely, and one she has arrived at in her own time. Now the responsibility is hers, and so is the freedom to decide what happens next, and it was so interesting to talk to her about all of it.The latest single from Darlinghurst is ‘Pour Me Another One’, and we talk about that as well as what’s ahead in this exciting new musical adventure she is on.Listen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allan Cameron is a solo artist, songwriter and guitarist who was a founding member of SaltbushSix, Keith Urban’s first backing band. He has been releasing music independently for several years, and his latest single is ‘Worn Out (Australian Made)’, an anthem that is fundamentally about resilience – and worn in rather than worn out, as Cameron says in this new interview.The song grew from a period of genuine questioning. After grappling with the demands of being an independent artist in the streaming era, Cameron found himself asking whether he wanted to keep going. ‘I asked myself, can I keep doing this?,’ he says. ‘Do I want to keep doing this? And the short answer – the long answer – was yes.’The process of getting to that yes became the song. Its central turn of phrase, ‘I’m not worn out, I’m worn in’, highlights the power of a single word to change meaning.The song went through many drafts, filling pages of Cameron’s lyric book, before arriving at its final form, which is also a celebration of Australian identity. Part of reason for that comes from Cameron’s own recent discoveries about his ancestry, learning that his grandmother was of indigenous heritage, adding that thread to a lineage that also includes Scottish and English roots. The first drafts of the song engaged more directly with this personal history before Cameron broadened its scopt to speak to Australians generally. ‘This land is the same, we’re all here to dream, we are Australian made’ is where he landed.Beyond the new single, Cameron has been releasing music that includes last year’s instrumental, ‘Waxing and Waning’; recorded in open G tuning, it found its way onto playlists around the world. ‘Grandfather’s Guitar’ paid tribute to the instrument that first sparked Cameron’s musical life – and his collection of guitars, which now runs to just over forty instruments. This section of the chat is mainly for guitar aficionados, but I do like to throw in the technical questions when I can!Cameron plays regular cover gigs around Brisbane and Queensland, and has another single planned for later in the year.‘Worn Out (Australian Made)’ is out now.Listen to Allan Cameron on Apple MusicListen to Allan Cameron on SpotifyListen to Allan Cameron on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trent Richardson hails from Central Queensland, where he grew up on a property running camel rides, racing camels, ostriches, goats and sheep. He picked up a guitar three years ago, taught himself to play, and is now releasing his seventh single. In between, he made the semi-finals of Australian Idol in 2024 after an audition that was, extraordinarily, his first ever public performance, as he talks about in this new interview.Richardson had always suspected he could sing. A few people had told him so over the years, but an equal number had told him he couldn’t, and he’d believed the latter. It wasn’t until he reached his mid-twenties that he decided to find out for himself … and the way he found out was by auditioning for national television. He'd never written a song. He'd never played a gig.‘I threw myself in the deep end,’ he says. The judges told him he was the weakest vocalist in the competition. He made the semi-finals anyway, performing everything from Matchbox Twenty to Michael Bublé to Rihanna along the way, and came out the other side with a clearer sense of who he was as an artist than any conventional path might have given him.His latest single, 'Run to You', was actually the second song he ever wrote, begun three years ago with co-writer Dan Pam, set aside during the Idol journey, and only recently finished and recorded with producer Stuart Stuart, who has worked with luminaries such as Amber Lawrence. It’s a song about the grass not being greener, written from the perspective of someone who walked away from a relationship and later regretted it. It sits alongside a catalogue of upbeat, life-affirming country-pop songs that reflect Richardson’s genuine and hard-won appreciation for being here at all. ‘Life’s too short,’ he says. ‘It’s a blessing to be here.’His positivity is not so much infectious as influential and it seemed to me that he is someone who, once committed to something, gives his all. And it’s in giving his all that he not only develops his passion but comes to be very good at whatever he is pursuing. Since Idol, Richardson has been building independently: chasing gigs, learning stagecraft, booking shows and working out what an hour-and-a-half set looks like when you started out singing for sixty seconds on television. He is a new father to young son Archie, and is performing at Biloela Winterfest in July. A seventh single is due on 10 June.‘Run to You’ is out now.Listen to Trent Richardson on Apple MusicListen to Trent Richardson on SpotifyListen to Trent Richardson on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shanleigh Rose is an award-winning singer and songwriter from the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland who has been releasing music for five years. Her latest single, ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’, is the most personal song she has put out – and, as she tells me in this new interview, the one she almost didn’t.The chorus was written when she was sixteen, in a music room at school, after discovering the songwriting of Melody Moko and Fanny Lumsden. She wrote it, filed it away, and didn't quite know what it was about. A few years later, after a break-up, she understood. ‘What I feel for this person is actually more like an addiction than love,’ she says. That realisation gave her the metaphor at the centre of the song, with the tobacco of the title standing in for the kind of relationship you know is poisoning you but can’t walk away from. ‘You’re poison, but it’s all I’ll ever want’, she sings in this powerful tune that has already won the lyrics-only section of the Tamworth Songwriters Association Awards before the melody was even finalised. It was the response from other songwriters at the awards night convinced that convinced Shanleigh to release the song. ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ was produced by Michael Muchow who, in a lovely piece of symmetry, is Melody Moko’s producer (and husband), with vocal production by Nyssa Ray, who pushed Rose through four hours of takes to find her most emotionally open performance. ‘You can be sadder,’ Ray told her. ‘You can have more emotion.’Rose has also recently released ‘Down to Your Grave’, a collaboration with Cate Jamieson and Bethany Walsh, written and recorded as a university assignment that the three decided the world needed to hear. More collaborations and more original releases are planned, alongside a growing focus on stagecraft and the live experience. Shanleigh plays regularly across Southeast Queensland. Keep an eye on her socials for details.‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ is out now.NB: At around the 22-minute mark, I had a coughing fit and had to pause the recording, so after that point my voice sounds different. Thanks to Shanleigh for patiently waiting out the coughing! I’ve had a cold and persevered with interviews as I don’t want to cancel on the artists – and thankfully they do most of the talking – but it does mean my voice sounds raspy and sometimes shaky.Listen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jayne Denham’s two most recent albums, Wanted and Moonshine, both reached number one on the ARIA country chart. She is one of Australia's most dynamic live performers and most beloved country rock artists. Her new single is ‘Hillbilly Halo’, and it is the beginning of something considerably larger.As Denham tells me in this new interview, her management arranged a meeting with Nashville producer Marti Frederiksen – known for his work with Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Sheryl Crow and Def Leppard – with the understanding that they would write and record one song together, and then decide whether to continue. The song was ‘Hillbilly Halo’, co-written with Australian songwriter and Nashville resident Kylie Sackley. Denham loved the result, assumed it might be the only song they made together, and planned to release it as a single regardless. Then Frederiksen said he wanted to do more. Denham ended up spending two months in Nashville across three trips, recording a full album.Frederiksen’s brief from the start was clear: write and produce for a big live crowd, stadium-ready, anthemic. ‘Hillbilly Halo’ delivers exactly that: it’s a country-rock party song about the good girl who loves to bend the rules just enough, built around major chords that give the chorus its lift. But the more significant development for Denham may be what happened in the recording booth … Frederiksen pushed her vocals into territory she hadn’t previously reached, raising keys and urging her through takes until she hit a note she didn’t know she had. ‘The desperation in my voice actually matched the lyric,’ she says. It’s now one of her favourite vocal performances she’s ever committed to record. As for the other songs she recorded in Nashville: singles will be released every four weeks, with the album due in January. Then, Denham says, it will be time for a big show.As Denham tells me: ‘Marti said, “Your songs need to be anthemic for a big crowd – let’s write and produce so that when it’s live, it totally nails and kicks it out of the park.’‘Hillbilly Halo’ is out now. And a note about this interview: I had a heavy cold, so my voice sounds scratchy. Listen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beth Lucas is an award-winning country music artist from Queensland who has been releasing music for several years. She has a new single, 'What I Deserved', and it is one of the most personally courageous songs she has written.Lucas grew up on the Sunshine Coast and has been based in the Brisbane area for around two decades, and part of its appeal has long been the possibilities it offers her as a musical artist. Her path to country music was not direct. She came from the emo and alternative scenes, playing in bands, and it was only after having a daughter and stepping back from music that she returned with a new perspective and a clearer sense of what she wanted to write, as she tells me in this new interview. ‘Old bandmates were basically like, your songs are pretty much country, so just make them more country,’ she says. That was six years ago, and she describes the time since as the most successful period of her musical life.‘What I Deserved’ is a song about first love and its aftermath – specifically, about a mistake Lucas made at sixteen, the weight she has carried since, and the long process of forgiving herself for it. She is careful to take responsibility for her own part in the story; ‘I know that I got what I deserved’ is not a line of self-pity but of reckoning – and then, ultimately, of release. The song won the 2026 Geoff Mack Commemorative Award before it was even released, and has become one of the songs in her live set that audiences connect with most.Lucas has twice attended the CMAA Academy of Country Music – the second time on a Keith Urban Scholarship – and has a string of competition placings to her name, including winning the country music section of the Brisbane-based Ekka Talent Search. She is also one third of Three Birds & the Truth, which she formed with Amber Kenny and Jo Caseley following the 2023 Academy. An EP is in the works for the end of the year, with a new single in production in the meantime.‘What I Deserved’ is out now.Listen to Beth Lucas on Apple MusicListen to Beth Lucas on SpotifyListen to Beth Lucas on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the start of this interview with country-pop artist Rachael Fahim, I say that she released her first album, Iconic, in 2019. Later in the chat she mentioned that Iconic was technically an EP, which makes Who You Are – released today, 1 May – her debut. The reason why I called Iconic an album is because it has seven songs, and they’re substantial songs. So to me it’s always felt like an album.Substance is also apparent on Who You Are. Fahim has the ability to create songs that are eminently danceable but which also make you stop and think. There’s a lyric that evokes a feeling, or it’s the nuances in her vocal, and always the sense that she’s not hiding herself in any of these songs, not trying to be the upbeat artist who’s always about a good time if a good time has not been had. That means we know we’re getting a sense of who she is and what she wants to tell us in these songs, which makes us connect to them more.The album is the result of several years of writing, as we talk about. It’s also being released about a year after Fahim decided to leave full-time employment and commit herself fully to music. In that time she has played dozens of dates supporting Pete Murray on a national tour, and there have been plenty of other shows in that time. In other words: creating the time and space for more music in her life has worked.Having seen Fahim live, it’s no surprise that these opportunities are coming her way. Now hearing the new album, she’s offering even more reasons for audiences to seek her out. The songs on Who You Are are entertaining and memorable, and while I still maintain that Iconic should be called an album, as a debut album this is a powerful statement.Who You Are is out now through Universal Music Australia.Rachael Fahim is touring the album, with dates in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Gosford and Wollongong. Details at: https://www.rachaelfahim.com/#tourListen to Who You Are on Apple MusicListen to Who You Are on SpotifyListen to Who You Are on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nikisha Priest is a country rock artist from the Lake Macquarie area of New South Wales who, at twenty years old, is already drawing on a remarkably deep well of musical training. Her new single is 'Ace of Spades' – and no, it's not a cover.Priest began singing lessons at six, privately with a family friend who within a year concluded she couldn't teach her anymore and referred her to the Conservatorium of Music in Gosford. She studied there from seven to fourteen, classically trained in voice. Through high school she attended a Big Picture Academy, a project-based learning programme that allowed her to structure her studies around music. At twenty, she has already attended the CMAA Academy of Country Music, appeared on Australian Idol – where she sang Pink's ‘Trouble’ a capella outside her mother's hair salon, without notice, for her audition – and released her most fully realised single to date.'Ace of Spades' was sparked by a car park moment. Priest was thinking about the Motörhead song, wondering how other artists had approached the same title, when she noticed a playing card sticker on the car next to her. She took it as a sign, went home and wrote the song. Research into the card’s symbolism gave her the song's backbone – the Ace of Spades as a death card on one side, new beginnings on the other – a theme of transformation, leaving behind what no longer fits, and stepping into something new. ‘The song kind of just wrote itself,’ she says in this new interview, which was recorded while Priest was at a SHE Songwriting Retreat, run by Lyn Bowtell. The single was produced by Simon Johnson at Hillbilly Hut, with whom Priest has worked since a school-age work experience placement, and the video was shot in a single day at Full Throttle Ranch in Buttai near Newcastle by videographer Jeremy Minett of Eyes and Ears Creative.When she’s not making music Priest is looking after her five pets – and I asked her about these, partly because I know so many people have cats and dogs and love a good animal story! And it turns out that Priest’s pets are thematically named – although you’ll have to watch or listen to the interview to find out what the theme is …‘Ace of Spades’ is out now.Listen to ‘Ace of Spades’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Ace of Spades’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Ace of Spades’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ella Hooper is one of Australia's most beloved musical artists and one of its finest live performers. Best known as the frontwoman of Killing Heidi, the band she fronted with her brother Jesse from the age of sixteen, she has since released two acclaimed solo albums. Her 2023 country-leaning record Small Town Temple marked a significant creative turn, and she has followed it with two singles: last year's ‘Growing Up is Hard to Do’ and her latest, ‘I Got Eyes (On You)’. Hooper has other quivers in her bow, appearing on television shows such as RockWiz and also MCing events – it was in the latter capacity that I most recently saw her in person. In fact, we’d had at least a couple of chats in person but I hadn’t interviewed her. Well, that is now rectified with this conversation.Small Town Temple is a glorious album – personal and deep, also joyful and rich and entertaining. Given we didn’t have a chat about it at the time of release, I wanted to ask some questions, as well as talking to Hooper about her latest singles. This is also a conversation about creativity and discovery, about Hooper moving away from the mould that was set for her in her teens, with the success of Killing Heidi, and how she has navigated the surreal circumstance of growing up in the public eye.If you haven’t encountered Hooper before, you need to know this: she is warm and funny and passionate, and having a conversation with her is one of the most interesting things a person could do. My impression of her is always that her heart and mind are wide open – she wants to have all the chats, hear all the music, read all the books. She makes no judgements and she is always curious. Given that growing-up experience I just mentioned, and how it might have instead caused her to be guarded and cautious, that’s an extraordinary thing in itself. Then we factor in the music she makes and what she’s like as a live performer and it all adds up to her being an exceptional artist who is not only worth listening to but being inspired by, because anyone who embraces life the way she does tends to have that effect. So I hope you enjoy this interview with Ella Hooper as much as I did, and I really do urge you to see her play live if you can, because she is so very good at it. She has solo shows coming up:Friday 1 May – Manning Entertainment Centre, Taree NSWSaturday 2 May – Avoca Beach Theatre, Avoca NSWSunday 3 May – Dangar Island, near Brooklyn NSW - NB: midday showSaturday 9 May – Portland Arts Centre, Portland Vic. – NB: SOLD OUTListen to Ella Hooper on Apple MusicListen to Ella Hooper on SpotifyListen to Ella Hooper on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The music of Sydney-based singer-songwriter Justine Eltakchi came to my attention because she released a country music single, ‘If I Could’, with Timothy James Bowen. She isn’t a country artist per se – in that it’s not one of the genres she has mostly written in, for artists such as Casey Donovan and Abby Christo. But truly Eltakchi could create songs in pretty much every genre and be great at it, because it becomes clear from the first time you listen to her debut album, Big Dream Baby, that she is an artist with not only exceptional songwriting skills but a voice to match. And, beyond that, the willingness to show us her heart and bring us her stories as a way of fostering connection. There’s a bravery in that, in an artist showing us – rather than telling us – that her ambitions are as big as her talent. Because it is a big ambition – a big dream, of course – to want to connect with others, on any level. There’s no guarantee they’ll accept what you’re offering, or accept it in the spirit in which it’s offered. They may not understand. They may reject you. That risk creates a vulnerability for the artist, and it’s also there in Eltakchi’s songs – in both lyrics and vocal delivery. What’s most there, though, is a love of life in the details and the big themes. The title song has already been released as a single, as has ‘Daughters and Sons’, which Eltakchi recorded with Donovan, ‘Petals’ and ‘Six Weeks of Summer’. There’s a lot more to explore on this album, and you will want to listen to it over and over, for its musical and lyrical richness. In speaking to Eltakchi about it, it became clear that the richness has developed over many years, from a robust musical upbringing, and from not only that open heart but open mindedness. There are many genres on this album because she has chosen the style of music that is best for the song, and given herself the freedom to do that – or, probably more likely, taken it, because being eclectic is not often the path travelled when artists have pressure to sound a certain way. I loved talking to Eltakchi about her background and her work as a songwriter for others and creator of songs for herself. I’m sure you’ll enjoy meeting her too. And if you’re in Sydney she’s launching Big Dream Baby at Lazybones Lounge in Marrickville on 30 April, with special guests appearing in her set. Big Dream Baby is available now. You can find it on Bandcamp. For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melanie Dyer is one of Australia’s most-streamed country music artists, and she’s also been nominated for three Golden Guitars and three APRA AMCOS Most Performed Country Work awards. Currently resident in Nashville, Tennessee, Melanie has released a new single, the heartfelt ‘Golden Girl’.Dyer has long been an in-demand co-writer – you can find a playlist of songs she’s co-written on Spotify, and the list of artists who have recorded one of her songs includes Amber Lawrence, James Johnston and Hayley Jensen. She has the skill of writing melodies that are memorable but not obvious, and lyrics that are accessible and which can also go places you don’t expect. This is also true of songs she writes to record and release herself.The latest of these is ‘Golden Girl’, which was inspired by her parents’ love story in their – and her – home town of Inverell in New South Wales. Her mother worked at the Golden Fleece truck stop – hence the title of the song; the music video – which was filmed by Dyer’s partner, Jackson James – features that truck stop and an old Holden car with a story, which Dyer reveals in this new interview. 'Golden Girl' was produced by Grady Saxman. ‘It’s really written by my parents and their love story,’ says Dyer. ‘Bringing that to life in Nashville was a really cool way to have that hybrid of where I'm at in my life between Australia and Nashville.’The song was recorded as part of a full album tracked in a single day in Nashville, with all musicians live in the room simultaneously – a first for Dyer, and an experience she describes with barely contained disbelief. The album is due to roll out soon, with Dyer carefully selecting singles to give each song its own moment.Dyer and James moved to Nashville about a year ago and have flourished since, with Dyer recently performing at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and playing and writing regularly in Nashville. There’s a solid community of Australians living there too – plus Dyer had been visiting for a decade before she moved. It’s stood her in good stead as she settles in. While she’s there for the long haul, we’re lucky to still have her songs being released here – she’s a valuable part of Australia’s country music community too, regardless of where she lives. ‘Golden Girl’ is out now.Listen to ‘Golden Girl’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Golden Girl’ on SpotifyWatch the video for ‘Golden Girl’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fair while ago I separately interviewed first Alex Laska then, months later, Fergus Linacre, the two founding members of Kingswood. At the time I hadn’t seen the band live, but I certainly like what I heard of their recorded music (which includes a Christmas album – I recommend it!). At the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January 2024 I saw them play on the back of a truck in the car park of the Tamworth Hotel. Suffice to say my hair was metaphorically blown back by that gig, and I was hooked on Kingswood live. Since then I’ve seen them play in a variety of venues, and each time it has been one of the best shows ever. The reasons why they’re a great live band were evident in the documentary Claptrap, which was released last year. Some of these will be the same reasons why they’re great recorded too, and they are to do with the longtime creative relationship between Linacre and Laska. But the treat for fans is that Kingswood live and Kingswood recorded are different entities, each of them exceptional. Which means that being a fan of Kingswood is a full-spectrum experience. And I do not pretend to be impartial about this band – I can’t be, and I declare my fan status early on in this interview with Linacre as he was sitting backstage at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, in between shows with American band Counting Members, with Kingswood band members coming and going behind him (as you’ll see if you watch the video version of the interview).We talk about the band’s latest single, ‘Faith’; their upcoming album, Midnight Mavericks, which is due for release on 22 May; how Linacre and Laska write songs, and also about Peggy, their tour bus, which is well known to fans. At the end we chat about a project that is Linacre’s alone.If you’re new to Kingswood, this interview will give you an insight into why the band is so strong in all aspects, and also what to expect if you see them live or hear them recorded. If you’re a fan, hopefully you learn something new that will make you even more excited for the new album and tour.Listen to Kingswood on Apple MusicListen to Kingswood on SpotifyListen to Kingswood on YouTubeKINGSWOOD – TOUR DATESFriday May 15 - Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WATicketing: https://rosemounthotel.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/fe6b25ca-0747-4d4d-9479-c4bd09dbe874 Saturday May 16 - The Gov, Adelaide, SATicketing: https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/785edc31-2119-437d-9e8d-b8696d56d224 Friday May 22 - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VICTicketing: https://tickets.cornerhotel.com/outlet/event/2475f2e5-d9a8-41be-a496-4c1af3915095 Saturday May 23 - Savannah Sounds Festival, Port Douglas, QLDTicketing: https://www.savannahsounds.com.au/tickets/savannah-sounds--port-douglas-2026/ Thursday May 28 - Lefty's Music Hall, Brisbane, QLDTicketing: https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/2c5efb83-1058-45d6-843c-235e4ef02dcd Friday May 29 - The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSWTicketing: https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/kingswood-midnight-mavericks-album-tour-2026/192299 Saturday May 30 - Full Throttle Ranch, Hunter Valley, NSWTicketing: https://www.stickytickets.com.au/H0Y94A Friday June 19 - Tanks Art Centre, Cairns QLDTicketing: https://www.ticketlink.com.au/ticketlinkEvents/popular-music/kingswood Saturday June 20 - Cooktown Discovery Festival, Cooktown QLDTicketing: https://cooktownexpo.com.au/For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whiskey Jack is a singer-songwriter from Perth in Western Australia and Kiera Jas is an artist from Margaret River, south of Perth. Separately they have very successful solo careers, with Jack’s single ‘Wild Card’ named WAM Country Song of the Year in 2025 and Kiera the winner of the 2023 Nannup festival award. Together this alt-folk duo have released the single ‘Old Expressions’ last year and they now have a new single, ‘Remain Strange’.  The duo met when, as Jack tells me in this interview, they kept being put on the same bill for shows. They’ve since gone on to create their own shows, including the wonderfully named Soak in the Folk. There’s a vibrant live scene in Perth and Fremantle, so we chat about that, as well as about their development as musicians – Kiera started on the ukulele, Jack on guitar – and their songwriting influences. Jack says he’s a ‘word nerd’ and songwriting is what he likes most in the music journey, and there’s a neat play on words in ‘Remain Strange’ which he confirms comes from him.This was such an enjoyable conversation to have, partly because it’s always interesting to hear how collaborations evolve, and it’s clear that this is one that in some ways seemed destined but which the pair are maintaining through diligence, curiosity and determination to try new things. They’re quite different artists musically, and also in personality – Kiera is more embracing of live performance, for example – but that’s the friction which helps make great art. A note: there’s some background noise during the interview. I don’t tend to ask artists to make sure they have nothing else going on in their households because we’re not in a studio and these are the sounds of life, which are welcome. Listen to ‘Remain Strange’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Remain Strange’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Remain Strange’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mackenzie May is an artist from Central Queensland who, at just twenty years old, is already having a landmark year. In January she was a Toyota Star Maker Grand Finalist at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, she performed at CMC Rocks with a full band, and she has just released her debut EP, All the Little Things — a seven-track collection that represents her most substantial statement yet.May grew up absorbing her grandparents' record collection – Slim Dusty, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings – and started playing guitar at eleven or twelve. Her first live performance came at thirteen, when her cousin invited her to sing at an open mic night. She sang 'Tennessee Whiskey', loved it, and hasn't really stopped since. By fourteen she was playing pub gigs, her parents in tow. All the Little Things brings together three previously released singles – 'Little Things', 'Old School Love' and 'I'll Take It All' – with four new tracks, including a song about the financial realities of a music career and a deeply personal closing track written for her family following the death of her nan. ‘I wanted something that would just represent me as a person the most,’ she says. The EP was produced by Jared Adlam, with whom May has recorded every song she has released, and who she books up to a year in advance given his busy schedule. 'Be Careful You Fall in Love With', written with Sarah Buckley – a collaborator she met at the Academy of Country Music – was the song she performed at the Star Maker Grand Final.May attended the Academy of Country Music in 2023, an experience she credits with preparing her for the realities of a professional music career, from performing with a band to songwriting. Fellow graduates Mackenzie Lee and Keely Ellen have also gone on to high-profile moments this year, pointing to what was clearly a strong cohort.All the Little Things is an impressive debut EP, showing May’s astuteness as a songwriter and her willingness to go for more: to reach deeper into herself and also be ambitious about her storytelling. It was a pleasure to chat to her in this new interview.  All the Little Things is out now.Listen on Apple MusicListen on SpotifyListen on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mack & Cook are Lizzie Mack and Murray Cook, two of the best credentialled musical artists in the land. As a duo they released their first single, 'Time Goes By', last year and their latest single is 'A Sign of the Times'.The two have a long history together, most recently as the driving force behind the Soul Movers, now performing as Murray and the Movers. Mack & Cook came about partly as a practical solution – a way to play smaller stages and perform songs from their fifteen-year, four-album catalogue that were never quite right for a big festival line-up. ‘Fifty or so songs have never really been played live because they're not bouncy and big and in your face enough for a big festival stage,’ says Mack. It also gives them room to be, as she puts it, a little more personal and a little more political.'A Sign of the Times' is the latter sort of song. Written after a conversation early in the new year, the song grew from Mack & Cook's ongoing commitment to reconciliation and their frustration at the lack of progress since moments like the Apology and the Sorry Day bridge walks. The song is addressed, in part, to members of the Stolen Generation still alive today, an acknowledgement of what has been lost and an expression of hope for what could still be achieved. Lyrically it went through many revisions – Mack describes agonising over what to keep and what to cut – while the music came together quickly, continuing a recent pattern for the duo.Both singles have circled the theme of time, something the two say was not entirely conscious but not entirely surprising either, given where they are in their lives and careers. The richness that comes with that experience is evident in their live shows, which are booked through to the end of the year. And a note: this interview was recorded in March, and some show are mentioned which are now in the past. That’s because I can’t always publish interviews quickly! But there are also future shows mentioned.‘A Sign of the Times’ is out now.Listen to Mack & Cook on Apple MusicListen to Mack & Cook on SpotifyListen to Mack & Cook on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As it’s been a little while since I’ve had a chance to bring you some news, some of these releases are from March.  Melbourne duo The Smith & Western Jury have released their foot-stomper 'Rolling the Dice'. The song was inspired by a trip we took to Joshua Tree in California, where a trailhead sign warned: ‘Don’t die today’.  Wagga Wagga artist Nathan Lamont is at the vanguard of country-pop in Australia and he’s released another infectious song in the form of ‘Into It’. Nathan is a great singer and his songs are guaranteed earworms. Pete Denahy is one of Australia’s favourite country music artists. He got his start in Slim Dusty’s band and his solo releases are a combination of high-standard bluegrass as befits this legendary fiddle player, and songs that deploy observational humour in an unforgettable way. His latest release, ‘I Didn't Notice Her Hair’, is in the second category. It’s under two minutes long and that’s all it needs to both deliver the story and have you howling. I recently interviewed young artist Mackenzie May about her EP, All the Little Things, which contains seven songs, all very well done. It is out now and the interview will be posted soon.  Melbourne alt-country four-piece Elly McK & the Unbelievers are one of my favourite live bands. Their latest single, 'I Am the River', was written with the wonderful Lyn Bowtell. The band has live shows coming up and I do recommend you catch those. Jade Gibson is an artist who releases country rock and country pop. She just performed at CMC Rocks and around the same time released the gutsy single ‘Smoke Me Out’, which is really compelling and memorable.  Gig wise: if you’re in Sydney, famed country music bar Jolene’s in the city is having its fourth birthday party on Saturday 17 April with a line-up that includes Missy Lancaster and Charlie Finn. Details on their website and socials. There are tours coming up by Dylan Wright, Max Jackson, Brad Cox and Henry Wagons. Catherine Britt has shows coming up both as herself and as half of The Pleasures with Lachlan Bryan.  As a reminder: live music is live magic, and we all need some of that in our lives. For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sara Storer has won 22 Golden Guitar Awards, amongst many other accolades. Last year she released her eighth studio album, the outstanding Worth Your Love. Shane Nicholson has won ARIA Awards and 18 Golden Guitars, and in addition to making his own wonderful albums, he produces others. Shane Howard is one of Australia’s most esteemed musical artists. He founded the band Goanna in 1977, became a Member of the Order of Australia in 2016 for his service to the performing arts, and is generally what might be referred to as a dead-set legend. A show featuring just one of these artists would be a treat, and I can attest to that from personal experience. However, the three of them are uniting for a show called For the Sake of the Song, which is my pick for musical event of the year because the riches it promises are untold.  I’ve interviewed Shane N and Sara separately, several times, but this was my first time interviewing Shane H. It was an interesting challenge to prepare for this interview, because how often does one have the chance to talk to THREE extraordinary individuals at once? It was also an immense privilege.  As Shane N reveals in this interview, the idea for the show was his, and Sara and Shane H were his first choices as collaborators. Despite Shane N being one of the best-connected musicians in the land, the band who will back all three artists in this show has members who have primarily worked with Shane H.  The openness to change and collaboration, the sense of curiosity that is fundamental to all three artists, has always been there in their individual work and it is what drives this show. They want to find out what happens when they’re all in the same place at the same time. So do I. How could anyone not want to find that out? These three are geniuses and also fun and, as I know from seeing Shane N and Sara in their own shows, excellent live.  I hope you enjoy watching or listening to this wonderful trio talking about their show, and I certainly hope you give yourself the treat of going to see it. The dates are below, and more may be added in time.  SHOW DATES:Tuesday 12th May - The Street Theatre - Canberra, ACTWednesday 13th May - The Concourse Lounge - Chatswood, NSWThursday 14th May - Memo Music Hall - St Kilda, VICFriday 15th May - Theatre Royal - Castlemaine, VICSaturday 16th May - Queenscliff Town Hall - Queenscliff, VICSunday 17th May - Archies Creek Hall – Archies Creek, VICTickets on sale now and available via:https://www.laing-entertainment.com.au/current-tours-events  For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bud Rokesky is a singer-songwriter from Brisbane who released his first album, Outsider, in 2023, and if you’re a fan of that album you’ve probably never stopped listening to it, because there’s such richness in it. Then he embarked on a project in 2024 to release two singles a month, and released an album’s worth of material. Now he has a new album, Dusk, with all-new songs – none of them from the 2024 project – and he has given us another LP to fall in love with. In between those releases he’s been touring, both his own shows and playing supports for other artists. Rokesky on stage is light in his banter and commanding in his performance. And what really stops everyone in their tracks, on the recordings and in the performances, is his voice and this sense that it comes from the deepest well, but that the well isn’t a place of darkness so much as understanding of the vagaries of being human.This is not music that you can put on in the background and expect to not be drawn into. That’s because Bud Rokesky is here to break your heart and hold a mirror up to your foibles, and challenge you to go with him as he charts the human experience. That’s an artist who rewards close listening, repeated listening, attention, and a willingness to go with him on the road to …Well, where is that road going to? From my perspective it’s a road to meaning, in a spiritual sense. Rokesky is an artist who inspires that sort of response. If you listen to this album – really listen – you’ll find him on that road and you’ll discover that he’s made it easy for you to go with him. That voice and all it embodies will carry you along. You can find this in just one song, too. If you listen.So he’s not background music. He’s foreground and will always be. An artist striving for excellence and finding it. If you want music that you don’t have to pay attention to, there’s plenty of that. Bud Rokesky is not making it. He’s making music for people who really love music, who are seekers in many senses of that word; people who love language and the subtleties of the singing voice and who want to be moved by art. It’s a calling; a vocation. We’re lucky that he’s sharing it with us, and I was lucky to have the chance to talk to him about it in this new interview. Dusk is out now through Warner Music AustraliaListen to Dusk on Apple MusicListen to Dusk on SpotifyBud Rokesky on YouTubeBUD ROKESKY AUSTRALIAN TOURTickets are on sale now HEREFriday 1 May - Bootleggers, Sydney NSW *Saturday 2 May - Meatstock Fest, Sydney NSWSunday 3 May - Full Throttle Ranch, Buttai Valley NSWFriday 8 May - Shotkickers, Melbourne VIC ^Saturday 9 May - Shiraz Republic, Cornella VICSunday 10 May - Royal Mail Hotel, Birregurra VICFriday 22 May - Junk Bar, Brisbane QLD #* with supports from Lady Lyon & CJ Stranger^ with supports from Rupert Bullard & Bad Traffic# with supports from Hayley Marsten & Jarith HughesFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sunburnt Country Music began in earnest – under another title – in late 2011, but its roots were in 2003, when I was in a country music covers band and we played the Tamworth Country Music Festival. One of the songs in our set list – possibly the only Australian song, come to think of it – was ‘Lazy Bones’ by Beccy Cole. It first appeared on her second album, Wild at Heart, released in 2001. It would go on to become a staple of her live set with its extended coda containing a tale – based on truth – that would change each time. ‘Lazy Bones’ live was the essence of Cole’s brilliance as an artist: her facility with language, her tongue-in-cheek self-awareness and attention to detail that, combined, could generate songs both comedic and sincere that would become beloved.‘Lazy Bones’ was my introduction to Australian country music, and I would go on to inhale Cole’s albums, then those of artists who were associated with her. From there, a whole world opened up and eventually it led to me covering Australian country music, which is what you’re seeing and reading here. In other words: no Beccy Cole, no Sunburnt Country Music.‘Lazy Bones’ has been retired from the live set but Cole’s brilliance is, thankfully, still very much present, and evident on her latest album, Through the Haze. Born of hard times, which she talks about in our interview – conducted in person at ABC headquarters in Sydney, on the day of the album’s release – it features eleven songs written by Cole alone, and one with Lyn Bowtell, along with a 20th anniversary edition of ‘Poster Girl’, a signature song.Through the Haze is Cole returning to herself, as we also talk about, and offering hard-won wisdom along with the wit that is so much a part of her songwriting as well as her live performance. She has always been unflinching with herself and with us; she offers her heart and her experiences and makes it clear that we can take them or leave them, but she’d really rather we take them because, through the haze of everything that’s happened to her, we’re the reason she keeps going. Old fans of Cole’s will love this album. I hope she finds many new fans too. She deserves to, because she’s an icon who doesn’t stand there demanding we polish her marbled feet. She keeps showing up, making music, getting better all the time, thereby encouraging us to do the same.Through the Haze is out now through ABC Music. Beccy Cole has announced some album launch shows, with more to follow, and I really do recommend you see her live, where she is in her absolute element:May 7 - Lazybones Lounge, Sydney NSWMay 8 - Full Throttle Ranch, Buttai,Newcastle NSWMay 9 - The Baroque Room, Katoomba NSWListen to Through the Haze on Apple MusicListen to Through the Haze on SpotifyListen to Through the Haze on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Savanah Solomon is a singer-songwriter from Western Australia who has released the singles 'Magnolia' and 'I Don't Know You Anymore', as well as the 2023 EP Where the River Meets the Sea. Her latest single is 'Someday Somewhere', and it is a warm, hopeful song with more than a few great lines in it.The song was written a couple of years ago, during a period of involuntary limbo. Solomon had just found out she'd secured a fly-in fly-out job, but the start date was months away. With no income, no momentum and a lot of waiting, she turned to pen and paper. What emerged was something close to a personal mantra – a song about sensitivity as a strength, about humour as a survival tool, and about trusting that good things come to those who keep showing up.One line in particular lands with the elegance of something that sounds obvious only after someone else has said it: Worry is a waste of the imagination.'Someday Somewhere' was produced by Josh Dyson at Villa Studios in Western Australia; Dyson also plays bass in Solomon's live band and contributes much of the instrumentation on her recordings. The video, directed by Emma Smart, was filmed near Solomon's home and features Solomon riding her father's red lawnmower down golden roadside fields, dressed in a blue op-shop jacket that she'd bought two years earlier with no specific plan, just a feeling it would come in handy. It is, as intended, an exercise in pure joy.Watch the video: https://youtu.be/xizjqiA020o?si=2mkWASRCYi5BocA-Since releasing 'Magnolia' last year, Solomon has expanded her reach considerably, supporting Kingswood in Albany, playing Melbourne's Newport Folk Festival (to which she's returning in June), and completing a run of shows in Esperance and Nannup. An album is on the horizon – a blues and folk-leaning collection focused on storytelling – though Solomon is letting it develop at its own pace. More singles are in progress in the meantime. ‘Someday Somewhere’ is out now.Listen to Savanah Solomon on Apple MusicListen to Savanah Solomon on SpotifyListen to Savanah Solomon on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Camille Trail released her debut album River of Sins in 2021 and the EP Magic Trick in 2024. She is known for her thoughtful, articulate and often unflinching lyrics, delivered in a warm, distinctive voice. Her new single 'Postcard' marks a deliberate shift in direction while still being distinctively her.After a big 2024 that included a UK tour and appearances at Folk Alliance in the United States, Trail spent last year recharging and writing. Personal changes fed into creative ones, and she found herself drawn toward something different – brighter, more energetic, more fun. ‘I love writing my vulnerable, sad songs,’ she says in this new interview, ‘but most of my songs are sad and vulnerable, and it was exhausting. Every night I just wanted to have fun, dance on stage.’ Her latest single, 'Postcard', was written and recorded with producer Garrett Kato across three days in the studio, emerging on the final day when Trail arrived with a verse idea she'd developed the night before. It's not a country tune – but I’m never that strict about such things, especially when I’ve covered an artist before for their country music and I’m interested in whatever they do next. Instead of being country, ‘Postcard’ is an upbeat, indie-pop flavoured track with the characteristic Camille Trail sleight of hand: there’s a melody that makes you want to move, then you notice that the lyrics are doing something more searching. ‘I'm scared to be alone’ sits in the middle of what sounds, on first listen, like a carefree summer song. ‘I'm such a sucker for juxtaposition,’ says Trail. ‘That's the whole metaphor of life.’Trail grew up on a farm in Queensland and still keeps cattle – an arrangement that has, on more than one occasion, served as emergency music funding (as she says: ‘I’ll sell a cow’). That grounding in the physical world informs how she writes: melodies come first, words follow in something close to stream of consciousness, often arriving most freely in the car. Two further songs recorded with Kato are due for release later this year, both in the same fresh, forward-facing direction as 'Postcard'.‘Postcard’ is out now.Listen to Camille Trail on Apple MusicListen to Camille Trail on SpotifyListen to Camille Trail on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dylan Wright has two musical identities that most fans will know about – as a solo artist and as one half of Golden Guitar-winning duo Sons of Atticus – and, as it turns out, a third. But more on that in a moment ... Wright’s new solo single is 'Those Nights', and he has announced an extensive Songs & Stories tour running through New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT from the start of May.The Golden Guitar, won at this year's Tamworth Country Music Festival for the track ‘Born to Roam’ with Sons of Atticus bandmate Matt Joyce, was for Bluegrass Recording of the Year. It came after seven years of the duo writing and performing together across the breadth of country's traditions. ‘We write music however we feel,’ Wright says. ‘Whatever's coming.’ And a new bluegrass recording is already in the works, as Wright tells me in this new interview. He also talks about his third musical identity: as a member of breathe., an electronic project with over 100 million streams and 850,000 monthly listeners, which recently sold out its first live shows in Turkey and toured Europe. Wright has been part of that project for a decade. ‘It's my darker, moodier self,’ he says. Wright’s latest solo single, 'Those Nights', was written in December 2023 and initially shelved when he won Australian Idol in 2024, one of around fifty songs he’s written that have been waiting for the right moment. It's a warm, nostalgic late-summer single and Wright’s vocal, as ever, lures us in and keeps us there. His talent and adaptability as singer means that there’s always something new to find in his songs, and ‘Those Nights’ offers another aspect to musicality.‘Those Nights’ kicks off the release of between twenty and thirty songs that the prolific northern New South Wales artist has planned for release across all of his projects this year. Everything, he says, is mapped out twelve to eighteen months in advance.In amongst those releases is the Songs & Stories tour, which will see Wright performing entirely alone – just him and a guitar – for the first time. He’ll be playing songs spanning his whole career, from busking days to the present, with the stories behind them. Venues include the Brass Monkey in Cronulla, where he first played at sixteen, the Stag and Hunter in Newcastle, Brunswick Picture House in Brunswick Heads, and Odessa at Levers in Victoria. As ever, it was a pleasure to talk to Wright – he’s always thoughtful and interesting, an artist with a sense of the bigger picture who is also interested in the details.‘Those Nights’ is out now through Sony Music Australia.Listen to Dylan Wright on Apple MusicListen to Dylan Wright on SpotifyListen to Dylan Wright on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Busby is well known to Australian music fans as one half of beloved duo Busby Maru. That duo remains very much a going concern, but Busby has now released his first solo album – the warm and deeply personal Rockhampton Hangover.Busby grew up in the Queensland town of Rockhampton, and after two decades of relentless touring and recording with Busby Marou, he and bandmate Jeremy Marou made a deliberate decision to stop saying yes to everything. Part of Busby's break involved returning home to help run the family business after his father's death. It was, he reflects, exactly the kind of enforced stillness his subconscious had been waiting for. ‘It's really gutsy,’ he says of the album during our interview. ‘It's raw. It's vulnerable. I'm not trying to impress anyone.’The record was produced by Ben Kweller in Texas, a collaboration that began over Zoom and deepened into genuine friendship before a note was recorded. When Kweller asked to produce the album, Busby initially declined – he was supposed to be spending more time at home. But his wife's response was to suggest pulling the kids out of school, loading everyone into the car and driving Route 66 to a ranch in Texas for two months. They did exactly that. Two of the album's songs – including 'Stalemate', which features Busby’s children's voices – were recorded on an iPhone in his living room and appear on the album exactly as Kweller received them, with the band wrapped around the original vocal demos.The album moves from 'Cyclone', an opener about the disorientation of going solo, through songs about Busby’s father ('Waiting for Tomorrow') and his wife ('Crazy'), to the closing celebration of 'Nothing Will Ever Be the Same'. It is, as Busby describes it, less a polished statement than a journal entry – one that happens to rhyme. Busby Marou fans may notice a shift in register, but the warmth that has always defined Tom Busby’s work is present throughout.Since returning from Texas, Busby, his wife and their four children have committed to a new way of living: full-time in a caravan, touring the country doing The Great Aussie Lap, a series of intimate solo shows. Busby Marou festival dates will be woven in alongside.Rockhampton Hangover is out now.Listen to Rockhampton Hangover on Apple MusicListen to Rockhampton Hangover on SpotifyListen to Rockhampton Hangover on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lindsay Waddington has a career spanning more than three decades as a singer, songwriter, producer and renowned instrumentalist. He has released thirteen solo albums, won a Golden Guitar, and built a YouTube channel with almost nineteen million views. His latest release, 'Something of a Privilege', is a tribute to Australian music legend John Williamson.The song began as a birthday present. When Williamson turned 80, Waddington – who has become close to Williamson over the past seven or eight years, and they’ve recorded together at Waddington’s studio in Queensland – sat down and wrote him a song. ‘What do you give a bloke who's achieved everything? I’ll write him a song,’ he says in this new interview. Waddington sent the song to Williamson, then spent four anxious hours waiting for a response. When Williamson finally called, he was moved – and told Waddington the song was too good to save for his funeral! With the family's blessing, Waddington decided to release it, directing all proceeds to Williamson's Variety Bash car and the children it supports.Brendan Radford, with whom Waddington won the 2020 Golden Guitar for Instrumental of the Year, features on the track – a pairing that has become a natural creative partnership. The two spend at least a day a week in the studio together, and Radford's contribution, Waddington says, simply made the song better.The release sits alongside a remarkably busy creative operation. Waddington's studio has become a hub for Australian country music, with artists including John Williamson, Brian Cadd, Russell Morris and emerging talent William Alexander all recording there. Waddington’s YouTube channel – built largely around studio sessions and instrumental performances – has attracted a global following, with viewers from Ukraine, the Philippines and Japan. As Waddington notes, ‘There's no language barrier with instrumentals – if you can come up with tones and sounds they like to hear, that could be it.’ His eldest daughter, Madison, handles the videography and editing; the whole enterprise has become a family operation.A further collaboration is already in the works: a song called 'Talking to a Drover', on which Williamson has contributed harmonies after hearing a work-in-progress version during a studio visit. An instrumental release is also planned for later in 2026. For an artist who admits he can sometimes deprioritise his own music in favour of others', there is clearly no shortage of things worth making.‘Something of a Privilege’ is out now.Listen to Lindsay Waddington on Apple MusicListen to Lindsay Waddington on SpotifyLindsay Waddington on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two Tone Pony are a five-piece country rock band from the Central Coast of New South Wales. They released the album Born on the Road in 2024 and their brand new single is 'You Haven't Heard of Me Yet'.When I interviewed Two Tone Pony founding member David Kirkpatrick, he said that the song had its origins in, of all places, a ski lodge in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains when someone, noticing the conversation had turned to music, looked him up and down and asked, ‘Tell me, what do you do again?’ When it come to music, it’s more like what hasn’t Kirkpatrick done. The son of country music legends Slim Dusty and Joy McKean, he grew up travelling Australia, surrounded by music, and it’s never left him. Rather than bristle at that ski-lodge question, though, he filed it away. ‘As a songwriter you're always looking for a hook,’ he says in this chat. ‘Something you can hang a song on.’'You Haven't Heard of Me Yet' is Two Tone Pony’s first single since their first album, Born on the Road, which was released in 2024. Kirkpatrick says that it was a first album still finding its sound. As it happens, there’s been a significant change in the band since, with founding member Ian Rhodes stepping down and new member Brandon Smith joining them. Smith brings fiddle, mandolin, lap steel and banjo to the line-up, providing what Kirkpatrick calls ‘the missing link’ for the country-rock sound he had always been after.The video for ‘You Haven’t Heard of Me Yet’ was filmed at the Hardy's Bay Club on the Central Coast of New South Wales – the band's home venue – and directed by Jeremy Minette of Eyes and Ears Creative, who has made all of their clips. It follows Kirkpatrick walking into the bar looking, as he puts it, like ‘a Beverly Hillbilly’ with a battered 1962 guitar case that belonged to Joy McKean and has travelled around Australia.The single was produced by Rod McCormack, who helmed Born on the Road, and two more singles are already recorded, with live shows and at least one festival appearance planned for the second half of 2026.‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ is out now.Listen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on SpotifyListen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

**NB on the audio quality: I record this news on video then strip out the audio track. It's not always optimal quality but I'd rather bring you this than nothing at all**Mentioned in this instalment:William Alexander - ‘Heart of a Drover’Beccy Cole - new album Through the HazeMelanie Dyer - ‘Golden Girl’Tori Forsyth - ‘I’m Not God’Matt Joe Gow - two dates at Kew Courthouse on 21 March (evening show sold out)Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham — new album Everything Around YouAmy Sheppard & The Wolfe Brothers - ‘Fool Outta Me’Briana Dinsdale - ‘Never Love Again’For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clancy Pye is an artist from the Central West of New South Wales who has released several memorable singles, including 'Hey Mama' and 'Days Like This'. Her latest is 'My Hometown'.Pye grew up in Oberon, a town of around 3000 people, half an hour from Bathurst in New South Wales. Oberon has no traffic lights, one main street and, as she notes in the song, a part-time cop, a detail that says so much and which we discuss in this new interview. ‘Most things got sorted out in the community themselves,’ Pye explains about the part-time cop. ‘People looked after one another.’ That capacity to compress a whole social world into a single precise image is central to what makes 'My Hometown' work and to what makes Pye a songwriter capable of evoking place, people and emotions so well, as she has done consistently over the course of her releases.‘My Hometown’ emerged during the pandemic years, when Pye wrote around 150 songs. Its catalyst was personal: her parents had just sold the family farm, the only home she'd ever known, and she found herself making more trips back to Oberon, feeling a particular pull of gratitude and loss. The chorus came quickly. The verses took twelve months and somewhere between fifteen and twenty drafts. ‘I really wanted to go a little bit underneath the surface of what makes little towns like Oberon tick,’ she says. She wanted to write something specific enough to feel true, but open enough that listeners from any small town could find themselves in it, and she has succeeded beautifully at that.The production was handled by Sean Rudd in Sydney, with Pye's brother Mickey – a guitarist and the founder of a music academy in Bathurst with over 300 current students – contributing a signature guitar riff that runs throughout the track. Drummer Pete Drummond of Dragon also plays on the track. 'My Hometown' is the fifth single from Pye's forthcoming debut album, which is due for release later this year, including a CD edition.Alongside her own music, Pye has spent the past two years performing with Tania Kernaghan and Jason Owen as part of their Let Your Love Flow tour, travelling through New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. She also works as a physiotherapist – a background that, she admits, gives her a particular perspective on the physical demands of life as a touring musician, and we talk about that too. It’s always a great pleasure to interview Clancy Pye, and this time was no exception.‘My Hometown’ is out now.Listen to ‘My Hometown’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘My Hometown’ on SpotifyListen to ‘My Hometown’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake Davey is a multi-talented artist – a singer, songwriter, producer, videographer and photographer. He has released several infectious country-pop singles and the latest is 'Workin' On Me'.Since releasing his last single, Davey's life has changed considerably. He and his wife, Grace, are now parents to a son, Dalton, a development which is particularly significant given that a spinal cord injury in 2023 left doctors telling Davey he was unlikely to walk again, let alone have children. ‘Grace literally walked into the studio and was like, “Baby”,' Davey recalls in this new interview. ‘And I was like, what do you mean?’ That moment was the spark for 'Workin' On Me', a song about wanting to show up as the best possible version of himself – for Grace, and for Dalton.‘I wanted to write a song about growing up in the right ways,’ Davey says, ‘admitting that I've had moments where I was selfish, and that's fine. This was my surrender to being the best version of me.’The song was written in Nashville with Dakota Striplin and Charles Walker at Ronnie Dunn's publishing house, part of a trip that yielded eight to twelve songs in total (so we know there are more songs in the works). Davey produced it himself, though he's candid about the particular challenge that presents. ‘Having ultimate control over your music is a dangerous thing because you're never done,’ he says. But, as he tells me, a quote he encountered during the process helped: perfectionism is procrastination disguising itself as progress. The strong reception for the song has come in the wake of a great start to the year, with Davey’s fourth consecutive sold-out show at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.‘Workin’ On Me’ is accompanied by a video that Davey made with longtime collaborator Jackson James. It features Davey's family, including a notably relaxed Dalton, who slept through most of the shoot! With more singles already in the works and a headline hometown show on the cards for later in 2026, Davey is already looking ahead, and that includes his packed schedule as a producer and videographer.Listen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on SpotifySee the video for ‘Workin’ On Me’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mentioned in this episode:Kelly Brouhaha - 'This Is All For You' Amber Lawrence - 'That’s Cowgirl To Me'Charlotte Le Lievre - ‘I Yearn To Love Someone’Tom Busby - Rockhampton Hangover- interview coming upBrooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley - ‘Now I've Said It’ Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham - New Frontier EPSara Berki - ‘Where I'll Be (For Adeline)’Interviews coming up:Jake DaveyClancy PyeDavid Kirkpatrick of Two Tone PonyLindsay WaddingtonDylan WrightFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melinda Schneider first appeared on stage at the age of three and on a recording at the age of eight. Since then she has released fifteen albums and won six Golden Guitars. She runs her own label, Mpower Records, she's a keynote speaker and much more besides. Her latest album, Tender, is a moving collection of songs.There is a particular kind of courage required to make an album like Tender. Schneider has spent decades as one of Australian country music's most celebrated performers – six Golden Guitars, fifteen albums, a career that began before most people's memories form. But she is candid about the fact that much of that work was made while she was privately struggling. ‘I was putting on a happy face in public and then being in a lot of pain privately,’ she says. The depression she experienced in 2018 became, in her telling, a turning point: the moment she stopped what she calls ‘the impersonation of perfect’.Tender is the album that reflects what came after. Most of the songs were written in the last decade, during what Schneider describes as the happiest and most peaceful period of her life – since meeting her husband, Mark Gable, and since becoming a mother. The result is a collection that moves between vulnerability and warmth, grief and gratitude, with Schneider's voice carrying each shift with complete conviction.The title track is a duet with Diesel, a pairing Schneider chose deliberately, looking for someone ‘respectful of women’ and emotionally present enough to meet the song where it lives. A duet with Gable also appears on the album, a song she wrote only months after they got together.The album was shaped by Schneider's instincts alone. As the founder of her own label, the creative decisions – which songs made the cut, how the album opens and closes – were entirely hers. It begins with the upbeat, Americana-inflected 'Open Up' and ends with 'Story of My Life', a song she first wrote 22 years ago that now sounds, she says, like a different person singing it – freer, more at ease.Alongside the album, Schneider exhibited a series of eleven paintings, one for each song, a practice she took up during the pandemic that has since become a weekly meditation. The Tender tour is currently under way, with New South Wales and Victoria dates already announced and more to follow later in the year.Tender is out now.Listen to Tender on Apple MusicListen to Tender on SpotifyListen to Tender on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Faith Williams is an artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales who last year released an outstanding debut EP, Queen of Hearts. She is now set to release her first album later this year, and the first single from it is 'Holy Grail'.When Queen of Hearts arrived in early 2025, Williams released it independently and, as she says in this new interview, ‘I didn't have a lot of knowledge into the industry at all. I was fairly green.’ In the year since, she has quietly accumulated the kind of experience that can't be taught: festival appearances she didn't expect, a New Songwriter of the Year win at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, radio play on ABC Country, and – just recently – being added to the playlist at Triple J, nearly a year to the day after the EP's release. That growth is also evident in her approach to the new album, which was recorded in September at Rabbit Hole Studio with producer Brandon Dodd, who also helmed Queen of Hearts. Eleven tracks were laid down in three days — an efficiency Williams credits to arriving with her songs fully formed and a clear sense of what she wanted. The album features one co-write, 'Black Fire', written with Millie Mills at a songwriting retreat run by Lyn Bowtell — otherwise the writing is entirely her own.The lead single, 'Holy Grail', is a love song that deliberately resists the conventions of the genre. Williams describes it as being about ‘choosing real over ritual’ – the kind of love that doesn't need to be dressed up or explained. It's also an example of what makes her writing distinctive: she's drawn to stories and characters, to the specific detail that opens into something universal. Her song 'Dear August', about the loss of a pregnancy, has that quality; so does 'Joe', which she traces back to a mental image of a stranger at a bus stop, telling their life to someone they'll never see again.At the time of recording, Williams was in the last trimester of pregnancy, due at the end of March. She plans to take a few months off before returning to gigging, with an album launch and a return to Tamworth pencilled in for later in the year. I was hugely impressed by Queen of Hearts when it released, so needless to say I’m excited to hear the album, and to see Williams release a wider audience, as she deserves.Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mentioned in this episode:Max Jackson – new album Dangerous in Denim Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley – new single ‘Now I’ve Said It’ Morgan Evans - ‘Steel Town’ Saralyn – ‘Cowgirl Blues’ - THIS TRACK PLAYS AT THE END OF THE EPISODE Jo Page – ‘When We Knew Nothing’ Jasmine Sparkes – ‘You’ve Got Time to Kiss Me’ Jake Whittaker - ‘Boots On’  Tour news:Sara Storer, Shane Nicholson and Shane Howard - For the Sake of the Song. Limited shows in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT in May.For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hardest Thing by Catherine BrittThis is the audio version of the review (and an addition to the types of content available on the podcast). If you'd like to read it instead, you can find it on Substack or the website. The Hardest Thing is out now through Red Rebel Music/MGM Distribution. Listen on Apple Music Listen on Spotify For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.