Sunburnt Country Music

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.

🎵 COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS ROUNDUP 🎵Six BIG new releases you need to know about:KINGSWOOD - the new track ‘Highway Signs’ is out from this hard-working country-rock band. They’ll have a new album later this year and no doubt you can catch them from the road this year.WICKER SUITE released ‘Younger Me’ ft. Ashleigh Dallas—a heartfelt anthem about mental health & self-compassion. Catch them on tour through QLD, NSW, VIC & NZ!BECCY COLE announces first solo album in 7 years! Through The Haze arrives 13 March (vinyl 27 March). Raw, honest storytelling exploring heartbreak, healing & resilience. New single ‘The Gardener & The Flower’ out now.BUD ROKESKY announces his second album Dusk (out on 8 April) + Australian tour in May. New single ’45’ is out now. TYLA RODRIGUES has a new EP, Hold On Tight, out now + major festival slots at CMC Rocks and more later this year. She’s also just had her first Golden Guitar nomination. Full album coming later in 2026!FAITH WILLIAMS - impressive new single ‘Holy Grail’ from her forthcoming debut album. She released the excellent EP Queen of Hearts last year. For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne five-piece The Paper Kites formed in 2009, and released their first album, States, in 2013. They have spent several years touring the world and their music has been streamed over two billion times. They have a new album, their seventh, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, and recently I spoke to keyboard player/ guitarist/ vocalist Christina Lacy about it.  Ahead of the album, three singles were released: ‘Change Of The Wind’, ‘Shake Off The Rain’, ‘Every Town’ and ‘When The Lavender Blooms’. The first of these has a video which refers to the story of how the album was named, and I asked Lacy about this during the interview.  Lacy, who is a founding member of the band, also talks about how The Paper Kites came to write and record – and name – the album, and we discuss how she balances her creative life with motherhood, and the importance of carving out ‘time to be creative and time to be inspired’, as she puts it – and I love that she made that distinction!Lacy was generous with her insights and it was clear, talking to her, that the band has lost none of its passion for making music together.  The Paper Kites play Twilight at Taronga in Sydney on Friday 6 February and will tour the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia in February and March before joining Bernard Fanning in Brisbane on 15 March. They will then tour the USA and Canada. All details are on their website.  If You Go There, I Hope You Find It is out now through Sony Music Australia.  Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Apple Music Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Spotify Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Titles of books, albums (or EPs), movies – any creative work – can be hard to come up with, as they need to do so much work, especially in an age when we make very quick decisions about what is going to win our attention. A title needs to not just capture our interest but convey the experience of reading that book, listening to that album, watching that movie as concisely and effectively as possible.The debut EP from KYARNA, a folk-country artist from the Yuin Nation on the far south coast of New South Wales, is called Lost Soul Love Letters. It’s such an evocative title, prompting us to wonder: Who is the lost soul? Who are the love letters for? Happily I was able to ask KYARNA these questions, and also talk to her about each of the six tracks on this EP, which more than lives up to the promise of its title. (This interview was recorded in late 2025, so when KYARNA mentions ‘this year’, it’s 2026 she’s referring to.)From the first track, ‘Meet in Love’, we know we’re in for stories that are going to take hold of us and which are probably going to be bittersweet, in that they may make us smile in recognition – or cry for the same reason. There is quite a story behind this song, and each of the songs that follow it. KYARNA recorded the EP with producer Matt Fell in Tasmania, and there’s a story there too. I’ll let you find that out from her in this interview.KYARNA has many more songs – we talk about the prolific nature of her songwriting – so it will be fascinating to see what she decides to record next. These six songs will keep you going for a while, because they are rich in story and meaning, but, of course, a fan always wants more! A note on the sound: we had some wi-fi glitches in the first half. I edited out some but you’ll hear a little bit of it.Listen to Lost Soul Love Letters on Apple MusicListen to Lost Soul Love Letters on SpotifyListen to Lost Soul Love Letters on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year Sydney artist Bianca Joulianou released           the single ‘Gambling Man’, which was based on a story that’s very close to her. We had a chat about that at the time and also talked about Joulianou’s gig schedule. She’s been busier since then, opening for Australian Idol winner Dylan Wright as well as Shannon Noll, Diesel and The Wet Whistles. That’s in addition to playing regular spots at venues such as Jolene’s in Sydney’s CBD and with Out West Country, which is a Sydney-based events company. Joulianou’s latest single is the very catchy ‘Bad Routine’, which is about wanting to break free of something – such as a relationship – but being pulled back into bad habits. It was produced by Jake Davey, who is himself recording and releasing music, and he plays on ‘Bad Routine’ as well. As they recorded two songs, another single is in the pipeline for release in 2026. In this new interview about ‘Bad Routine’, I asked Joulianou if she has any bad routines of her own – you’ll have to watch or listen to it to find out what she said – but it’s probably fair to say that she’s mostly in good routines, given she fits her music career in and around full-time work as a mental health support worker.Joulianou is heading to the Tamworth Country Musical Festival in January and has a few shows lined up, including at the popular Riverside Stage, and she’s making plans for more writing – especially co-writing – next year. And she’s open to writing with anyone, so if you’re keen to write with her, you can find her on her socials!Listen to ‘Bad Routine’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Bad Routine’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Bad Routine’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before this year started, Brisbane outfit Chloe Marks & The Mayhem had not released any songs, although Marks herself has released music with duo Scotch & Cider, and as a solo artist. She also plays in other people’s bands as well as performing regularly with The Mayhem, as she’s been doing since 2023. The band’s first single was ‘Carolina’, released at the end of February this year, and since then they’ve released ‘Skip September’ – for which Marks and I had a chat – and ‘Porch Light’. Now with the release of fourth single ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’, it emerges that these four songs form a story arc, with ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’ putting the full stop on that tale. Each song is different to the others, but the thread is there when you listen to them back to back.In my previous interview with Marks I talked to her about her fascinating creative life, which includes photography and extreme sports, so you can head to that if you’d like to find out more. In this chat I concentrated on the brace of singles, with a focus on ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’, which has the refrain ‘When I get stoned I talk to God’. Marks and I talked about belief systems and what does and doesn’t get mentioned in public, or even to friends and family. As she says, the song has ‘opened up a strange but wonderful conversation within the band’. All four songs were produced by Michael Muchow, and Marks has new material that will see her heading back into the studio in 2026. That studio time will be slotted in around her performance schedule, and that of The Mayhem, which includes dates at the 2026 Tamworth Country Music Festival (see below). They’re also playing on New Year’s Eve at Chattahoochee Joe’s, one of the homes of country music in Brisbane. See Chloe Marks & The Mayhem live:Wednesday Dec 31 – Chattahoochee Joes – Brisbane QLDFriday Jan 16, 2026 – Tamworth CMF – TudorHotel – Tamworth NSWSaturday Jan 17, 2026 – Tamworth CMF –Tudor Hotel – Tamworth NSWSunday Jan 18, 2026 – Tamworth CMF – JoeMaguires – Tamworth NSWTuesday Jan 20, 2026 - Tamworth CMF – JoeMaguires – Tamworth NSWListen to Chloe Marks & The Mayhem on Apple MusicListen to Chloe Marks & The Mayhem on SpotifyWatch the official music video for ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you’re talking with Australian country music artists, Robbie Mortimer’s name comes up a lot, whether it’s as a festival performer or a co-writer – several artists work with him either to write songs from scratch or to enhance songs that already exist, even in part.He’s the youngest of five brothers who grew up in the Central West of New South Wales, and perhaps negotiating with four siblings led to him being able to work well in a collaborative environment. Or maybe it was growing up in an NRL family, and having team sports as the default. That same environment also introduced him to poetry – his father writes it – as well as country living, which has influenced the stories he tells, and hard work.Mortimer has several irons in the fire, for himself and with others – but, as he says in this new interview, he’s used to ‘squeezing absolutely everything out of a 24-hour day’. He says his father and brothers are wired the same way: ‘all gas, no brakes’. That ability to make the most of time and opportunities is married with Mortimer’s creative drive, which he has in spades. And it is a creative drive more than a drive for success because, he's discovered, ‘Everything I’ve done for the artistry of it has gone really, really well’, whereas anything he’s created while trying to replicate the success of something else has not fired the way he’s hoped.Mortimer has released several singles this year, the latest of which is ‘The World Keeps Turning’, to go with the ones he released last year – pretty much an album’s worth across that time, but he’s looking ahead to what’s new and what’s next. This is a long conversation because there was a lot to chat about – as there would be, given his work rate! There is much more to come from Robbie Mortimer, so this chat is by way of closing out a big year and looking ahead to an even bigger one in 2026.Listen to Robbie Mortimer on Apple MusicListen to Robbie Mortimer on SpotifyWatch/listen to Robbie Mortimer on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each time I organise an interview with a country music artist there is an impetus for it – usually, as you’d expect, a new release, either single or album. I do my research and write questions accordingly, but I do not go into any interview with an expectation of where the conversation will go because expectations tend to become pre-set limitations, and there’s a danger of missing out on something interesting if those limitations are in place.So it was that when I started chatting to Brook Chivell, an artist based in south-east Queensland, the reason for the chat was his latest single, ‘Like a Country Girl’ but the first part of the conversation was about guitars. For one thing, all his guitars are tuned to E flat. For another, he’s been building his own guitars. If you’re not interested in talking about guitars, well, maybe skip the first ten minutes. But I tend to like asking questions about the technical parts of being a musician because it’s really interesting to hear about other people’s work. We also chat about the burgeoning country music scene in south-east Queensland, the blues songs Chivell has been recording and releasing … and, of course, about ‘Like a Country Girl’, which is a song for the girls who start the dance floor at a gig – the ones, says, Chivell, who can shift the mood of a show in a very positive direction. I also ask Chivell about co-writing, which he’s done a bit – so it seems as if he likes doing it. His answer was surprising, and led to him talking about his writing process in general.Listen to Brook Chivell on Apple MusicListen to Brook Chivell on SpotifyListen to ‘Like a Country Girl’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roo Arcus became a singer unintentionally – he didn’t know he could sing until he was somewhat strong-armed into it in a group setting. The cattle farmer from the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales has been on the land all of his life and spent his formative years listening to what he calls ‘the golden era’ of country music.Arcus spends a lot of time in the United States of America where he’s asked, ‘How can you talk like an Aussie and sing like a Texan?’ His singing voice developed, he says, due to what he was listening to and singing along to when he was younger. His first album was called Station Boy and it’s not available on streaming services, although the albums since are – including his fifth, The Man I Am, which was created in the wake of a devastating fire on his property, which destroyed not only farm vehicles and equipment but instruments and his children’s belongings. (This is captured in the song ‘Just an Old Shed’ on the album.)The recording of the album in Texas was booked, however, and Arcus pressed ahead with it despite not having all the songs ready. What emerged was, perhaps, the truest expression of where he was in his life because he didn’t have time to think about it much or try to edit himself. The resulting album is not raw so much as honest, and Arcus too is honest about the impact of that time in this interview.We also talk about his longtime affection for the US, where he travels several times a year, and especially for Texas, which is his second home. Even after three decades in music, Arcus says he still feels like ‘a cattleman that sings … I don’t know how I ended up in this business.’ While that may be true, he’s stayed in it because he writes songs that reflect his experiences and they connect with people, as does his voice, and you’ll find out all about the development of both in this chat. Listen to The Man I Am on Apple MusicListen to The Man I Am on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Songs can become our best friend. And sometimes songs can save a life.’Laura T Davis, a singer-songwriter from northern New South Wales, says this a fair way into our interview. The reason for the interview was her latest single, ‘Not Your Fault’, and the story behind that song is that Davis is a victim-survivor of extreme sexual violence perpetrated upon her in her teens. So when she talks about songs saving a life, she’s talking about what songs have meant to her and also what writing this song has done for her. We talk at length about this part of her story, in particular, and also the other parts of her life, such as her beloved animals – horses and dogs – who are, she says, ‘part of my healing’. We talk about her musical background, being classically trained in piano and voice, and the time she spent performing for hours each day on ships on Sydney Harbour. About how, she says, there is a calling for music in her heart.Davis released a single in 2020 called ‘Make It Till Christmas’, which was partly about how people on the land will hold on – to make it to Christmas, for example. It was inspired by what she saw around her, in the region she lives in, which is also an area that has been so badly affected by floods. By these acts of God that have been visited upon the residents. Acts that are not their fault any more than what happened to Davis was hers.‘You have to tell yourself it’s not your fault,’ she says of the realisation she came to after years spent in the aftermath of the violence done to her. ‘You have to forgive yourself … That was the catalyst for this [song]. It was probably the only way that I could heal ... I didn’t want to suffer in silence any more.’Davis is no longer suffering in silence but she is also incredibly self-aware and articulate about what it has taken for her to arrive at the place where she could not only write this song but record it and release it. For anyone who has been through a similar experience – and I sincerely hope you have not – I believe her story will give you heart. For anyone who has not, I hope you will listen to her with an open heart. That’s what she is offering to the world, when we have no right to expect it of her.Listen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each interview I do is, obviously, different because each artist is different – they have unique backgrounds, sounds and stories. Some of them turn out to be packed with lots of interesting elements – subjects I could have pursued for much longer conversations, except I’m mindful of trying to keep the chats relatively short and focused on music. This interview with Jo Page, a country music artist from Port Lincoln in South Australia, was one of those. I start off asking Page about Port Lincoln – which is Australia’s seafood capital, which I didn’t previously know. Page also mentions that she won Port Lincoln’s Got Talent as part of Tunarama at the age of 20 – and, well, I had to ask her about something called Tunarama! You’ll have to watch/listen to find out what she said …Page has been performing live since that time, although, as she says, at school she was ‘always the nerdy choir chick that would give up lunchtimes to do music stuff’. But it was the competition which led to her being introduced to a local producer with whom she formed a duo and then a band. She has only recently started writing songs, however, because she only started playing guitar three years ago. Now she’s written hundreds – as she says, you need to write a lot in order to find the gems – and one of those is ‘Fire In His Eyes’, which she wrote with Kevin Bennett and recorded with Matt Fell at Wilder in Tasmania. The character in the song, says Page in the interview, is based on how she envisages her grandfather, who was a cowboy – and there’s more to it but, again, you’ll need to watch/listen to find out!Page is pursuing her music while also being a frontline domestic violence worker and mental health advocate. We talk about how she takes care of her own mental health, and a lot more besides. Maybe next time I’ll get to pursue those other subjects in more detail, but I certainly enjoyed this chat and hope you do too. Listen to ‘Fire In His Eyes’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Fire In His Eyes’ on SpotifyWatch/listen to the song on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tom Nethersole released a country single, ‘Ardmona Rd’. I hadn’t heard of Nethersole before that – his previous releases were mainly pop songs – but I loved the song and therefore was happy to chat to him about it. It was a great pleasure to interview him, so when he told me that he had a new folk-tinged song, ‘Holiday Spirit’, written and recorded with fellow Victorian Kye Arnot, of course I wanted to talk to them both.Arnot has developed quite a following on TikTok, and we talk about that aspect of being an artist these days, as well as his single ‘Common Things’. Nethersole has also released an EP, Father, Son & the space in between, since we last spoke and it’s been on high rotation for me, because he has a certain way with melody and words so that his songs don’t let you go. ‘Holiday Spirit’ is no exception. It’s an ode to loved ones lost, and how that loss affects what is supposedly a festive season. In our interview Nethersole and Arnot talk about how they came to write together, and how the recording worked – and they reveal that there is, in fact, another recorded version of the song in existence, which frankly I would very much like to hear!While there is nothing at all country-music about ‘Holiday Spirit’, one of the benefits of Sunburnt Country Music being an independent enterprise, and me being the only person here, is that I can cover what I like if I think it’s worth telling you about. I value your time and attention, and this enterprise keeps growing – across multiple platforms – because of it. These two artists are special, I think, and they’ve made something special together. I hope you enjoy meeting them, and listening to their song.Listen to ‘Holiday Spirit’ on Apple Music           Listen to ‘Holiday Spirit’ on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last year singer-songwriter Saralyn won the Mothertone Gympie Muster Talent Search, which was a terrific achievement – but she was also working on something else significant at the same time, and it wasn’t until this year that we found out what it was.Auditioning on the hit TV show The Voice, Saralyn turned the chair of judge Ronan Keating and joined his team. Although she didn’t make it through to the finals, she cherishes the experience, as she told me in this recent interview. It turned out she applied for the show two years ago and wasn’t selected to audition; this time around she was approached instead, and it was, she says, the right time. She has in competitions from a young age, and performing in festivals for several years. The Voice offered something that allowed her to deepen her already extensive experience. Now Saralyn has released her version of ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’, a song written by Garth Brooks and very popularly covered by Keating. It’s a song that is tied to and emblematic of her time on The Voice, and now she has her own unique version of it.It was clear during our chat that Saralyn was invigorated and motivated by her experience on The Voice, ready to step even more fully into her creative life, which has included some really lovely singles, such as ‘White Butterfly’. If you hadn’t heard of her before The Voice, there are some great songs to catch up on – and, no doubt, to look forward to. Watch the video for ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ on YouTubeListen to Saralyn on Apple MusicListen to Saralyn on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Team Love are a six-piece alt-country and folk band (full list of members below) from Victoria who released their first album during the pandemic. Since then lead singer and songwriter Ruby McGrath-Lester and partner/bandmate Shaun Stolk have become parents, so they’ve had a little bit on their plate. But as I found out when I chatted with McGrath-Lester recently, they have been writing songs – and there were around two dozen which were candidates for their second album, the recently released Now Things Ain’t Coloured Rose. The band worked up all of the songs before making a decision on which to record, and the resulting eleven songs are in part McGrath-Lester showing us some fairly tender parts of herself. Being vulnerable in art usually requires not only a commitment but a leap of faith for the artist, and part of what’s great about these songs is that in acknowledging that there are some things that aren’t ‘ideal’ (depending on how that is defined), she’s not going to change them. There’s a comfort in that for the listener – a reassurance that, no, we don’t all have to fix ourselves all the time. Because maybe we actually don’t need fixing – we just don’t to be more self-accepting.The band’s tenth anniversary is looming, and there may well be some live shows in honour of it, so keep an eye on the band’s socials for news of upcoming gigs. And a note on the audio: towards the end my wi-fi connection became unstable (as Zoom likes to say) so I had to cut the part where I’m attempting to say goodbye to Ruby!Team Love are:Ruby McGrath-Lester (vocals, acoustic guitar)Ruby Cattell (violin, vocals)Monique Bricknell (keys, vocals)Shaun Stolk (guitars, vocals)Paddy McGrath-Lester (drums, vocals, guitars, percussion, mandolin)Tom Thomas (bass, additional keys)Listen to Now Things Ain’t Coloured Rose on Apple MusicListen to Now Things Ain’t Coloured Rose on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Country-pop artist Courtney Keil started her musical life in Melbourne and now lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales, where she is an integral member of what has long been an established country music community (which includes Lyn Bowtell, Kasey Chambers, Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham, and previously Beccy Cole and Shane Nicholson) and which now has more venues opening and, therefore, more opportunities for artists to perform.In our chat about her latest single, ‘Friends for Life’, I asked Keil about what’s happening with music on the coast, and we talked about the organisation Central Coast Music and Arts, which I was very pleased to learn about! We also talked about Keil’s other musical project, the duo The Midnight Black, and her next album, which she’s working towards. ‘Friends for Life’ was recorded in Nashville, with Keil’s longtime producer Rod McCormack – who, along with his wife, Gina Jeffreys, is also an important part of that coast country community. The song was written with McCormack and Sally Barris, with whom Keil has written before, and it’s all about honouring friendships – and as Keil mentions, given she had a rocky start to this year, her friends have been a great support. We also talk about her decision to record in Nashville – and it transpires it’s been five years in the making …This interview was recorded towards the start of November, and Keil already had her Christmas tree up, so of course I had to ask her about that – and it turns out she will be performing on Christmas Eve at The Entrance, so if you’re in the area make sure to pack your picnic rug and get along! And she’ll be appearing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on 18 January at the show That’s Where the Faith Comes In – tickets available here.It's always great to chat to Courtney Keil – this interview was no exception – and if it’s your introduction to her, I hope you enjoy it and the song!Listen to ‘Friends for Life’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Friends for Life’ on SpotifyYouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Mac is a country music artist from south-east Queensland who has extensive experience as both a performing and recording artist, whose story – as I found out during this interview – has many strands to it, all of them weaving together to form the artist who is now releasing the songs he’s always wanted to bring to people, including his latest single, ‘Nomadic’.Mac was in his car when we spoke, with his guitar, Maton ECW80 cutaway, in the back seat, so I decided to start the conversation there, and he certainly had some stories to tell about it! However, Mac’s first instrument was piano, which he started playing at eight, encouraged by his mother, who was a primary school music teacher who also introduced him into musicals at school, including Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. The experience in musicals stands him in very good stead as a performer today, in large part because of the singing involved and the confidence to do it. As he says, ‘A lot of people can sing, they just don’t know that they can.’By his late teens, though, Mac wanted to play Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi – and also play an instrument that was of his own choosing. And ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was the first song he learned to play on guitar. Mac started playing gigs – lots of gigs – and developed his repertoire of covers, before moving into original music, and his experiences there were not straightforward. He released music in a genre other than country music, under a different name, but it wasn’t the direction he really wanted to be in. It’s only in the last couple of years that he’s started releasing country songs, and the latest of those is ‘Nomadic’, which started life as a riff Mac heard on social media – performed by a busker in Byron Bay – and became a song inspired by some of the many adventures he’s had, travelling around Australia and performing.Listen to ‘Nomadic’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Nomadic’ on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newcastle, NSW artist Sandy Louise started her musical life on flute and picked up guitar at the age of eighteen, which is also when she started writing songs – and songwriting has become a passion of hers.Influenced by Kasey Chambers, The Cranberries and Alanis Morissette, Sandy has been writing songs ever since and is now an integral member of the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA), acting as the regional coordinator in her area. In that capacity she organises open-mic nights – and it was at a different open-mic night that she met Bill Chambers, father of Kasey.Chambers subsequently became Sandy’s producer and is the co-writer of her latest single, ‘Tears in the Driveway’. Inspired by what actually happened at the end of a visit by Sandy to her sister in South Australia, it’s about leaving behind love ones and how we manage that distance when those we hold dear are so far away.Sandy has released four albums, and she’s currently working towards a fifth. She runs her musical life in tandem with full-time work and family life. Although it can be hard to fit creativity in and around those sorts of demands, it was clear during our interview that the music side of her life is not negotiable. If you’re in the Newcastle area and would like to participate in one of the open-mic nights run by Sandy, she talks about those in the interview. You can also go to the ASA website.Listen to Sandy Louise on Apple MusicListen to Sandy Louise on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australians of a certain age who grew up in certain locations will remember El Caballo Blanco. It was a show featuring dancing white horses – hence the name – and as I grew up in Sydney, one of two Australian sites for El Caballo Blanco, I remember the TV ad, despite the fact I was only allowed to watch half an hour of television a day. That’s how effective the marketing machine of Western Australian artist Olive Mae’s grandfather was. Her grandfather was a remarkable entrepreneur who founded several businesses apart from El Caballo Blanco. He died before Mae was born but, intrigued by his story, she wrote a song about it with esteemed artist Gretta Ziller, and has now released the single, entitled ‘El Caballo Blanco’, which was produced by Matt Fell. Mae met Ziller at one of the SHE Songwriting Retreats run by Lyn Bowtell – you can find Bowtell talking about these in my recent interviews with her (as referenced by Mae in our own interview!) – but they didn’t write the song until later. Mae then went on to attend the Academy of Country Music – of which Bowtell is the director – and found it a valuable experience, not least because she is in WA and, as she says, while there several country music artists in that state, they’re all spread out, and Academy is an opportunity to form connections with other artists. The first time I interviewed Mae, a little while ago now, I found her a hoot and the experience was repeated this time. She’s also a really thoughtful and interesting artist, and it sounds like there are more songs on the near horizon, so stay tuned for more great stories from Olive Mae. Listen to Olive Mae on Apple MusicListen to Olive Mae on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If Sydney-area country music artist Sara Berki had only released her EP In the Neon earlier in the year, played her first headline tour – which was a two-set affair – as well as major festivals, and the NRLW Grand Final, as well as two Golden Guitar nominations (for New Talent and Female Artist of the Year) that would be a year in which she could put her feet up by now and have earnt a rest. Instead, she has just released another EP, Outrun, which is moving and memorable, offering a different musical treatment to In the Neon although still very much complementary to it.When we spoke about the EP, I wanted to ask about individual songs, as they cannot be taken as a group. The single, ‘Porch Light’, which was released first, has quite a story behind it, as Berki tells me in this interview. ‘Happy House’ needed a separate conversation – you will understand why when you watch or listen to the interview – and the title track felt like an origin story, so it was great to discover the context for it. The last two tracks, ‘Lily of the Valley’ and ‘Heaven & Hell’, see Berki in storyteller mode. Berki wrote four of the tracks alone – which is how she has mostly worked – and ‘Lily of the Valley’ with Nashville songwriters Brand Hood and Billy Montana. Since her first single she’s always demonstrated that she’s an exceptional songwriter; this EP is her taking those skills and adding (even more) courage as she shows us more of herself, telling more of her story. Although I’ve interviewed Berki several times, there’s always more to discover, and so it was in this conversation too.Listen to Outrun on Apple MusicListen to Outrun on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tate Cole grew up on a small family farm in south-east Queensland, heavily involved in the rodeo scene from a young age, following the lead of his father. At the same time as he was taking his chances on horses and cattle, he was developing his musical talents. His mother encouraged him and his brother to learn piano even before they’d started school, and while he was still in primary school Cole asked if he could learn guitar. Growing up, he heard country tunes in the family car on the long drives that will be familiar to anyone who has lived in or spent time in the country, and he would sing along – so those songs shaped his taste as well as his voice. Once he started to write music of his own, he found that he has ‘a tendency to write sad lyrics to upbeat songs’, and that was how his first single, ‘Purgatory’, came to be.His second single is ‘Whiskey River’, penned by Cole with Kane Vincent and Cody Walker (contacts he made through the Academy of Country Music), whom he’s known for a couple of years, in a serendipitous fashion, and produced by Jared Adlam, who also works with James Johnston, amongst others. Cole plays regularly in Brisbane, and you can find the dates on his website. And a note about the sound in this interview: there were some wifi issues in the second half, so you’ll hear a slight delay in his responses. I could edit it out but, hey, I tend to like these conversations to be presented to you as they happened.Listen to Tate Cole on Apple MusicListen to Tate Cole on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mak & Shar are a duo and they are also brothers. They have been making music together since childhood, as two-thirds of Brothers3, and also pursued music and musical studies individually. So they have already achieved a lot, and they’ve also been through a lot, which we have discussed in previous interviews and they elaborate on it in this one. Their debut album together is called New Problems but both the song and the album are uplifting – the new problems are not big problems. As Shar says during the interview, ‘With our family, I don’t think you’re allowed to be really upset too often’ – and when you learn the context for that, and know what the brothers have experienced, this statement is all the more extraordinary. They could so easily make music that is heavy, and no one would question that. Instead they choose to pursue open heartedness and joy – and making music together, despite naysayers. As Mak says, ‘It’s really important to look at the positives in life and keep on grinding.’The latest single from New Problems is ‘Simple Things’, written with Robbie Mortimer, and I ask each of them about the simple things that bring them joy – and they have great answers for that. I also ask Mak about ‘Amara’s Song’, which was written for his eldest daughter at the time she was an only child … He now has another daughter, so obviously needs to write a song for her!Each time I’ve interviewed Mak and Shar I have very much enjoyed how they interact with each other – because they genuinely like each other, quite apart from being brothers – and admired how they have made a commitment to continuing to make music together, and the processes they follow to do that. They are musical artists to their cores, and I think that shines through in this chat.Listen to New Problems on Apple MusicListen to New Problems on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the saying goes, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Three-time Golden Guitar winner Andrew Swift has named his latest album Lucky Stars, and it’s his document of the last few years in his life, which have been full of personal and professional opportunity – and the album itself is testament to the ‘preparation’ part of the equation.Swift is an accomplished and astute songwriter who also loves live performance, honing his sound and his instinct on the road to ensure he presents his audience with an album that is not only memorable but clear in its communication. The themes of the album are set with opening track ‘Nothing Better’, and consolidated throughout.Swift is currently on the road and has shows and festivals booked through until March next year (dates below) and no doubt beyond. He’s also recently been to Canada, as he’s signed with a Canadian management company. In this interview we talk about that decision, as well as the newest Swift: his daughter, Valentine, for whom he and partner Simone Sordello wrote and recorded a song that appears on the album. Given everything going on in his life, Swift might be forgiven for not having time to be aware of all the good things in life, but it’s clear in this conversation that he means what he says in the album title: he counts his lucky stars. And he also takes them on the road, and into songs, for others to enjoy.SEE ANDREW SWIFT LIVE21st November - St Andrews Hotel - St Andrews VIC22nd November - Bellarine Estate - Bellarine VIC23rd November - Kindred Bandroom - Footscray VIC24th January - Blazes Showroom - Tamworth Country Music Festival NSW5th February - Mt Gambier Bowls Club - Mt Gambier SA6th February - Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide SA7th February - Quorn Hall - Quorn SA8th February - Murray Delta Juke Joint - Goolwa SA14th February - Boyup Brook Country Music Muster - Boyup Brook WA28th March - Echuca Country Music Festival - Echuca VICTickets on sale now and available via www.andrewswift.com.auListen to Lucky Stars on Apple MusicListen to Lucky Stars on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There will never not be a lot for me to talk to Fanny Lumsden about. The two-time ARIA and multiple Golden Guitar-winning singer, songwriter, videographer, tour specialist and joy bringer from the Upper Murray region of New South Wales has a full life that has this year seen her tour the United Kingdom and Ireland, supported Paul Kelly on his European and Australian tours, record new songs and release the single ‘Look At Me Now’ and its accompanying video, which features moments from Lumsden’s whole career and was made by her husband, bandmate and collaborator, Dan Stanley Freeman. This is combined with raising two children, being a mentor for others in the music industry and general and specific fabulousness. So this is not a quick chat that I had with Lumsden. I’ve been a fan since her debut EP – which I mention in this interview – and that was for her music first. Lumsden is a fantastic songwriter, telling stories that are evocative, inspiring and also relatable. It was her songs I loved first – and then I started seeing her play live. The live enterprise that is Fanny Lumsden and her band, the Prawnstars, has taken her around Australia multiple times, building her audience through the Country Halls Tours, as well as to the Glastonbury Festival, which in turn spurred her UK tours. Her upcoming Australian capital cities tour is the reason for this interview but it’s by far the only topic we cover. I will say this, though: I will never be unbiased on the subject of Lumsden, her music and her shows. She is one of the most powerful forces for good in the Australian culture, leading by example and excellence, always pushing herself to create work that is more exciting, more insightful, more uplifting, more entertaining. For a fan, what could be more exciting? So that’s why I go to every single show she puts on in my home town (Sydney) and I encourage you to see her play live too. There will be laughter and playfulness and unexpected moments – and always, always there will be the songs and the harmonies and the excellent band. The dates to see Fanny Lumsden live are listed below.Tickets available at https://www.fannylumsden.net/tourdatesFriday February 6 - Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WASaturday February 7 - Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide, SAFriday February 13 - Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, VicSaturday February 14 - The Triffid, Brisbane, QldFriday February 20 - Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSWSaturday February 21  - UC Hub, Canberra, ACTListen to Fanny Lumsden on Apple MusicListen to Fanny Lumsden on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.