Rhythms Magazine - November-December 2023 Media by rhythmsmag

F R E E S U BS C R I B E R M U S I C D O W N L O A D

e i r a M y e n t r u o C s w e r And

“I’d say my three favourite singers are Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin.”

$15.00 inc GST NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 ISSUE: 320

PLUS: Robert Ellis Black Stump Band Madison Cunningham Perry Keyes Tex Perkins Paper Kites Jackie Venson Buddy Miller Graham Nash HISTORY

Touring The UK & Europe with Mick Thomas & Jen Anderson Fender’s Vintera II Series

THIRD THIRD ARTIST ARTIST LINEUP LINEUP JUST JUST ANNOUNCED! ANNOUNCED!

PORTUGaL. the man ziggy alberts

snarky puppy Blind boys of alabama meshell ndegeocello

ﬁona Boyes & The Fortune Tellers the turner brown band pierce brothers • velvet trip Roshani • Sweet Talk and many more to come!

BYRON EVENTS FARM - BYRON BAY, NSW, Australia.

www.bluesfest.com.au easter long weekend • THU 28TH MARCH - MON 1ST APRIL 2024 VIP Camping tent-motel Glamping TIPI

CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

LUCINDA WILLIAMS

SUNDAY ARCHIES CREEK HOTEL

DEC 10TH AFTERNOON SHOW TICKETS AT WWW.ARCHIESCREEKHOTEL.COM.AU 8 9 - 9 1 ARCHIES CREEK RD, ARCHIES CREEK

DOORS 2:30PM / SHO\N 3PM

Democracy is the big winner in our annual readers poll where we offer you the chance to have your say in choosing the best albums, gigs, music books and films of the year. It’s true democracy in action in the only poll that really counts. All of the artists have created their music, books and films and now is your chance to reward the ones you love.

You will find some fairly comprehensive lists of albums, box sets etc to choose from but you do not have to restrict yourself to these choices. You can add your own if you think we have left something out! Simply go to rhythms.com.au for a link to the poll!

VOTING CLOSES AT MIDDAY ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 10, 2023 Results of the Readers Poll will be published in the January/February edition of Rhythms and online on January1, 2024.

Volume No. 320 November/December 2023

UPFRONT

07 10

The Word. By Brian Wise. The Sampler:

Nashville Skyline Anne McCue writes about Amelia White.

BIRD NOISES

MILLER TIME

A Cheersquad Festival Sampler. Only available to subscribers!

COVER STORIES 14

FUTURE PERFECT

THE TEXAS PIANO MAN RETURNS

During the recent Americana Music Festival Courtney Marie Andrews, touring here soon, spoke to Anne McCue and Brian Wise. Robert Ellis, here soon, met up with Brian Wise in West Texas.

FEATURES STEVE BELL’S BLUESFEST PREVIEWS

BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

Tim Freedman reimagines The Whitlams’ music in a country vein – with the help of some friends.

NEW TEXAS BLUES

FLYING A KITE

Austin-bred singer-songwriter/guitarist Jackie Venson defies genre.

Melbourne indie-folk quintet The Paper Kites chose the most Australian locale imaginable to create their sixth album, At The Roadhouse.

NEW RELEASES & TOURS 24

WATERLOO SUNSET

THE MAN IS BACK

Perry Keyes brings it all back home on his new album. By Jeff Jenkins Tex Perkins is busier than ever with shows in homage to Johnny Cash and the Cruel Sea celebrating 30 years of The Honeymoon Is Over. By Steve Bell.

MUSIC MAKER Leah Senior’s new album arrived after a change of location. By Ian McFarlane.

NASH RAMBLING Graham Nash returns next year with a new album but mourning a lost colleague. By Brian Wise. Wallis Bird is excited to be coming back to Australia. By Chris Lambie.

Buddy & Julie Miller release yet another great album together. By Brian Wise.

HISTORY 40

UK AND IRELAND ON A SHOESTRING

Mick Thomas and Jen Anderson hit the UK roads in a little Blue Ford Fiesta. By Jen Anderson.

MUSICIAN 46 48

FENDER BENDER

Joe Fulco road tests the new Fender Vintera II guitar series.

MADISON BLUES

Madison Cunningham is one of Fender’s ambassadors and one of the hottest acts in the USA. By Brian Wise.

COLUMNS 51 53 54

33 1/3 Revelations: Jonathan Wilson. By Martin Jones

55 56

You Won’t Hear This On Radio: By Trevor J. Leeden

Waitin’ Around To Die: Primitive Guitar. By Chris Familton

Lost In The Shuffle: Gove’s Heavy Cowboy. By Keith Glass Classic Album: Neil Young’s Time Fades Away. By Billy Pinnell

Underwater Is Where The Action Is. By Christopher Hollow

REVIEWS 59

FEATURE ALBUM REVIEWS:

69 71 73 75 77 79 80

GENERAL ALBUMS

81 82

Festival Guide Get out your dancing gear.

Wilco, The Rolling Stones, Glen Hansard, Sand Pebbles, Teddy Thompson, Clayton Doley and more.

Blues: By Al Hensley World Music & Folk: By Tony Hillier Vinyl: Willie Nelson, Coloured Balls, Lucksmiths. By Steve Bell Jazz 2: By Des Cowley Books 1: Leon Russell by Bill Janovitz. By Des Cowley. Books Too! Eagles: Dark Desert Highway by Mick Wall. By Stuart Coupe

Hello & Goodbye By Sue Barrett.

G N OU Y NEIL BE denied WON’T >> The lyrics tell a version of Young’s story. Growing up in Canada, his father leaving when he was a young boy, beat up at school, dreams of stardom, leaving Canada for Hollywood, courted by “business men” who came to hear “the golden sound.” The key verse is the fifth one, especially coming as it did after the success of Harvest. Neil Young writing to himself, writing to his dead friend, writing to every wannabe rock star.

THE NEW

RHYTHMS T-SHIRT

“Well, all that glitters isn’t gold/ I guess you’ve heard the story told/ But I’m a pauper in a naked disguise/ A millionaire through a business man’s eyes/ Oh friend of mine/ Don’t be denied.”

CREDITS And the chorus, which at times during the tour he would scream: “Don’t be denied/ denied/ Don’t be denied /No no, don’t Managing Editor:Don’t Brianbe Wise be denied.” Senior Contributor: Martin Jones Senior Michael Goldberg Stuart Coupe On this Contributors: version however, he reprieves the /fourth verse, the one Design & Layout: Sally Syleto - Sally’s about business men coming hear theStudio “golden sound.” Accounts: Alicia Wise On a tour where Young was challenging his audience with an Website/Online Management: Robert Wise album’s worth of new material, perhaps with this song he was Proofreading: Gerald McNamara insisting one has to follow their vision, no matter the cost.

Certainly, he was saying there’s more to life than money –

CONTRIBUTORS something he certainly knew by then. “‘Don’t Be Denied’ has a lot

to doBarrett with Danny, I think,” Young told McDonough. think that’s Christopher “…I Hollow Sue the first major life-and-death event that really Hylands affected me in what Denise Steve Bell I was trying to do… you kinda reassessJeff yourself as to what you’re Jenkins Des Cowley doing – because you realize that life is so impermanent. So, you Martin Jones Stuart Coupe wanna do the best you can while you’re here, to say whatever the Chris Lambie Meg Crawford fuck it is you wanna say. Express yourself.” Trevor J. Leeden Brett Leigh Dicks Michael Goldberg, a former Rolling Stone SeniorMcFadyen Writer and Warwick Chris Familton founder J. of Fell the original Addicted To Noise online magazine, is Ian McFarlane Samuel authorGlass of three rock & roll novels including Anne 2016’s McCueUntitled. (Nashville) Keith Megan Gnad Michael Goldberg (San Francisco) Al Hensley Tony Hillier

Billy Pinnell Jo Roberts Michael Smith Bernard Zuel

CONTACTS Advertising: admin@rhythms.com.au Festival Coverage Contact: admin@rhythms.com.au Rates/Specs/Deadlines: bookings@rhythms.com.au Subscription Enquiries: subscriber@rhythms.com.au General Enquiries: admin@rhythms.com.au

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elcome to the end of year edition of Rhythms. I hope that you enjoy the festive season and equally enjoy reading this issue. It has been a couple of big months since our special Americana/Out On The Weekend/Dashville September/October edition. In September I attended the Americana Music Festival & Conference in Nashville armed with 3000 or so Rhythms cards with QR links to a special digital Americana edition of the magazine and our latest music selection. Hopefully, it will let a lot more people know about Rhythms and about Australian music which has an increasing presence internationally. I was also able to carry out quite a few interviews that you will see in these pages over coming issues, and also hear on the Rhythms podcasts which you can find on Podbean, Apple, Amazon and Spotify. Apart from Americana there was Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Los Angeles, The Trans Pecos Festival in Texas and a day at San Francisco’s amazing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park with more than 150,00 other fans. Of course, I loved seeing old favourites like Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Clapton (looking and playing great), Los Lobos and many others. (You can read my reviews at rhythms.com.au). But there was also the equal thrill of discovering new musicians that I had never heard of before. This was reinforced when I returned in time for Out on The Weekend and saw bluesman Nat Myers, a really impressive new artist discovered by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Sounding as if he had been transported from the 1930s Myers was a real revelation and, along with artists such as Melissa Carper (also at OOTW), is keeping alive ‘old timey music’ and bringing it to a completely new audience in much the same way that Ry Cooder did 50 years ago. This is also part of the Rhythms mission. While there is widespread excitement about the fact that the Rolling Stones have Hi Br released the band’s first album of new songs in 18 years which is getting rave reviews ian, T en ot – and I confess to being one of the excited – I have spent a lot of time listening to hers: the brilliant new Wilco album Cousin which I find to be even more exciting and Live a t t he St maybe something that I will be playing for a lot longer. Of course, this is part of the a Bam Balam tion ‘76 Rhythms mission too: honour the legends that we love but also celebrate newer and s - Gen The S innovative acts (though someone pointed out that Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is now in uine R laugh term The J his mid-50s!). I can assure you we spend a lot of time thinking about how best to en - G & R Medic ohnn ine Sh ospel ys - H achieve this mission. Redg ow (‘8 Gold ighlig um comp 8) h t s C I have taken on board feedback about the last download card and its QR code. of A D ilatio augh Peter n t a in ( n ‘9 L gerou The A illee4 or e This seemed to be a bridge too far in terms of technology for many of you and s Life ct (Li Poetr arly a John ve ‘83 (‘86) y &W lbum Kenn we have returned to the previous method for the time being. o e s) edy r earl stern John H y ( ‘9 a a K ve So lbum 6) Finally, please make sure you go to the Rhythms website (rhythms.com.au) enne n s ) d g s y T Will T – Inne Bone and vote in the 2023 Rhythms Readers Poll. ravel s - Ca r Wes comp t: Gre nnot Git - F Have a great festive season. I’ll see you on the flipside. ilatio S atest ettle lower n (‘90 B D it s o s&P w (‘03) Texic ) n ( Enjoy the music. ‘9 ieces ali Ro 5) comp se – T C o i lation e s mic C Cheers, xicali (2001 owbo Rose D ) y ( u ‘9 B d 7) e Ran Brian ob Sh ch, 2B illing oB Ra dio Ta ree

get feedback. selves, and naturally you’re going to , Tracy McNeil, It’s a thankless task that you set your sden Lum y included. Jimmy Little, Fann For mine, There’s a number that I’m thrilled you d. liste see to sing plea rly icula Days was part t. debu Lisa Miller, Charcoal Lane – Roaring the with live is their masterpiece, but I can Tex Don and Charlie’s All is Forgiven t The debu d’s Woo t find place for Things of Stone and the on rd I cannot believe that a list of 50 can’ awa Year the of ter gwri rded the APRA Son Yearning, which saw Greg Arnold awa ly). No prior body ious prev s ette cass of le coup a y uabl strength of a single debut album (arg r Australian single that debut. I can’t think of any othe of work – entirely on the strength of “While we fear the t. the Thingies put it out as their debu that was anti-the first Gulf War, but .” in global petrol price loss of life, our leaders fear the rise eymoon is Over, for mine, are the Cruel Sea’s The Hon nt orta Less obvious, but still very imp the Sun. All very in Time m albu nd seco or’s Australia, Juni Carus’ Three Boxes and, from South deserving of spots on this list. ions as well as mine. I’m sure there will be many other opin Cheers, Bernhard Sayer, Port Fairy

THE LETTER THE TOP 50 AUSTRALIAN ROOTS ROCK ALBUMS This major feature in the last issue caused somewhat of a stir and we received some feedback which we are happy to share some of that with you.

IT’S A CHEERSQUAD CHRISTMAS! CHEERSQUAD RECORDS AND TAPES WANT YOU TO CELEBRATE THE FESTIVE SEASON BY SAMPLING THEIR FANTASTIC CATALOGUE. Welcome to our festive Cheersquad Christmas stocking which will introduce you to a whole new world of music. Cheersquad Records & Tapes is a relatively young label but has made a massive impact in a short time with a whole range of artists, from veteran to newcomers, of interest to the Rhythms readership.

Thanks to Cheersquad Records & Tapes.

Simply go to downloadcards.com.au and enter the code on your card (subscribers only) and you can download the tracks to your favourite device.

1. Persecution Blues

10. Soul Movers

2. Meghan Maike

11. Wesley Fuller

3. David M Western

12. T Wilds

‘Old Dirty Blues’ from the album Downright Dirty

‘Chase the Wind’ from the album Dead Horse Creek ‘Pressed Flowers’ from there album On, On & On

4. Patrick Wilson

‘All You Could Do’from the album It’ll Be Alright

5. Elephant Stone

‘House of Love’ from the album All Fuller No Filler

19. Lisa Miller

‘Curious Moon (Astral Mix)’ single, original version from the album Ten Songs

20. Joyce Prescher

‘Wave’ from the album The Silversound

21. Checkerboard Lounge

‘It’s Not Love’ from the album We Need To Be Free

22. Freya Josephine Hollick

‘Eye On You’ from the album Ghost Heroin

23. Cahill Kelly

’Scratch That Itch’. Single.

24. Even

13. The Silversound

‘Lost in a Dream’ from the album Back Into The Dream

14. Jodi Phillis

‘Hard Land’ from the album Landlocked, Faithless & Free

15. Fenn Wilson

‘Could You Would You’ from the album Full Bloom

16. Benny J Ward

6. Chris Wilson 7. Rinehearts

8. Stephen Cummings

17. Georgia Knight

9. Matt Walker

18. Marcel Borrack

‘What a Silly Thing’ from the album 100 Years From Now ‘I Listen to the Night’ from the album I Listen to the Night

‘Dumb Luck’ from the album Dumb Luck

‘Hell on Bent Street’ from the EP Hell on Bent Street

’Shakedown’ from the album Telecaster Diaries

‘Why Not Your Baby’ from the album Car Tape ‘City Lights’ from the album Out Of My Mind (Featuring Khristian Mizzi on vocals)

‘Came To Get My Heart Back’ from the album Roller Coaster ‘Holdin’ On The Ones You Love’ from the album The Real World

‘Bluesday Chews’ from the album Classical & Cool Jazz ’Show Me Some Discipline’ from the album Down The Shops

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PLUS: ekend Out On The We line Dashville Sky per Car ground.” of QUOTE: issa lot a Mel ed we cover you go, Oh my God, Brennen Leigh you look back and “All of a sudden senger Hiss Golden MesOndara PLUS: Summer Dean

Subscribe to Rhythms Print or Print & Digital today and you’ll get access to our Cheersquad Records & Tapes Christmas Hamper. (We Will Also Have Our 2023 Best Of Compilation Available For The January/February Issue But It Is Available Only To Print And Print + Digital Subscribers). Then you can go to the Cheersquad ad and check out all the albums and artists in our hamper and buy all of them! GO TO: rhythms.com.au/subscribe

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G E T TI CK E TS AT B L U E S F E ST To U R s . Co M . A U

ne of the best songwriters at Americana was most certainly Amelia White who played a set at The 5 Spot. The sound was impeccable - it sounded as good as a record - and she had a band that was entirely sympatico with her songs and personality including Dave Coleman (guitar) Chris Benelli (drums) Paul Niehaus (pedal steel) and Parker Hawkins (bass.) White is not your run-of-the-mill 3-chords-and-acapo songwriter which is refreshing because there’s an awful lot of that going on around here. There seems to be a focus on ‘Lyrics’ rather than ‘Music and Lyrics’ and that’s why we are hearing the same melodies and a lack of musical interest in a lot of the songs being written in the Country and Americana genres. At some point they forgot about the concepts of melody and harmony. I recently read a book written by a songwriter/ songwriting teacher and they never once mentioned what key they were in, what chords they were playing, where and how they modulated for the bridge (they probably didn’t) or how the melody came to them as if in a dream (it probably didn’t.) There’s a lot of high school type copying going on and it just involves moving the capo up and down the neck playing the same chord shapes in each song and singing the most obvious diatonic notes that one can find. It makes one yearn for the days when there was a person who wrote the music - a composer - and another who wrote the lyrics - two separate creators collaborating from their own expert perspectives. The loss of the composer has taken its toll on popular and country style music. All that to say, Amelia White is not one of those cookie cutter writers - musically or lyrically. I first heard her song ‘Snakes and Pushers’ about twenty years ago and it immediately drew me in. Other gems over the years include ‘Skeleton Key’, ‘Motorcycle Dream’, ‘Tupelo Train’ and ‘Rhythm Of The Rain’. These are the kinds of songs I wish more people would cover because they are original both lyrically and melodically. Unfortunately, everyone writes their own songs now instead of singing the great songs already written and under heard. This came about because ‘that’s where the money is’ -

money never having been a great Muse but rather more like a killer of anything good. Song interpretation by masters of the art form such as Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday has all but disappeared and people are writing songs for all the wrong reasons. Which brings me back to Amelia White who, goddess love her, is a bit of a true artist with a calling to write songs - which has become something else that is being lost even as I write this. Having said that, it was great to see that an artist like Amelia White actually got an official showcase this year at Americana Festival. These showcases are slim pickings for artists who actually live in Nashville, especially Eastside which is more alternative and therefore seemingly less interesting to the gatekeepers. Of course, there is a handful of artists who get to play every year, but they do not represent the deep pool of really interesting stuff going on in this town.

Some people are better than others at the ‘Musical Chairs’ nature of the music business - you really do have to hustle and elbow and be willing to push a person off their seat if you want to make it in this business. Who’s got the energy? I think it’s true that if you are really focused on succeeding and are good at the business side you don’t really have to be all that great at songwriting. But the filthy lucre will never replace divine inspiration as muse.

AMELIA WHITE: A TRUE ARTIST

In other news, I was honoured to be invited to sing the title track at Them Vibes’ Americana Fest Tribute to Lucinda’s classic album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. Other guest artists included Chuck Adams and Caroline Spence. Lucinda was in attendance, and I was told she cried a number of times during the performance. And as if that wasn’t enough Lucinda (given that I reviewed her book last issue) I went to see her at The Ryman last Saturday. She started the show playing her acoustic guitar. It was a big deal, given that she has been unable to play guitar since her stroke. She did struggle at first to get going but once she was underway she was fine. I think it was a bit traumatic for her though, as she apparently hasn’t played the guitar on any dates since. But still, it’s a great step! The show was an intimate night of great stories and songs with the band trying out new feels on most of the songs and she threw in a few covers that influenced her in the early days

such as Hank’s ‘Jambalaya’ and Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Freight Train’.

This week, Allison Russell played a short set at The Blue Room at Jack White’s Third

Man Records. She started with a song called ‘Superlove’ which referenced Israel, Gaza and Tennessee. Her charisma comes from her heart - she really cares a lot and exudes empathy and compassion. Her short set was followed by Olivia Jean and her band, turned up to 11. The bass player was one of the most rock’n’roll musicians I have ever seen in this town and Olivia Jean is a really fun guitar player playing a schlocky brand of riff based retro rock. It would have been more fun if we could hear everything clearly instead of just this wall of sound with uncontrolled frequencies. I’m blaming the sound engineer this time. After all, if you have to wear earplugs, what’s the point?

LINKS: ameliawhite.com/ allisonrussell.com/ lucindawilliams.com/oliviajeanmusic.com 13

ince her last visit to Australia nearly two years ago, Courtney Marie Andrews has been able to overcome some of the challenges of heartbreak that she wrote about on her album Old Flowers to create a recording of an entirely different nature. Released just after the start of the pandemic Old Flowers, nominated for a Grammy, was unable to receive the sort of promotion that it perhaps deserved given the vibe for its predecessor May Your Kindness Remain in 2018. But the latest album - bearing the foreboding title of Loose Future - sees Andrews in a completely different space. It has been a long journey for the 33-year-old singer songwriter – originally from Phoenix, Arizona and now a resident of Nashville - considering she released her first recordings back in 2008. Andrews went on to record and tour with Jimmy Eat World, joined Damien Jurado’s Band as a guitar player in and then lived in Belgium for four months before recording her fifth studio album Honest Life, released in 2016 as the first of five albums so far for the Fat Possum label. There was also her first book of poetry, Old Monarch, in 2021 as well as the first gallery showing of her paintings. “It took eight albums,” laughs Andrews when asked how long it took to find her own voice. We are in the Sound Stage Studios in Nashville and she has dropped in for a session for the radio show we are recording. Soon, when she starts singing everyone is stunned by the beauty of her voice. “Every record you feel like you found your voice. It is sort of filling up little thimbles every time and then eventually you’re like, ‘Hey, I think I know myself pretty well and what I want’.” “I’ve lived many lives,” says Andrews when asked how her experiences have contributed to making her what she is now. “Oh man, that’s a very complex answer,” she muses. “Just like anybody, everybody has many stories that build who they are now. Lots of things have informed my life. I spent many years as a backup singer but also before that toured around busking and taking buses places. I’ve lived many lives and I think that I have a well of stories to write about.”>>>

Courtney Marie Andrews tours Australia in December with her acclaimed latest album Loose Future. Anne McCue and Brian Wise spoke to her during the recent Americana Music Festival in Nashville.

Courtney Marie Andrews. Photos by Alex Viscius.

>>> “My mother would take me to this karaoke bar called Mr. Lucky’s,” recalls Andrews of her childhood, “and there was a Friday night Fish Fry. It was a saloon and kind of old honky-tonk type place. There was hay on the floor; that type of place. I would sing karaoke in the Karaoke Kid competition every Friday night and I never won at Mr. Lucky’s because I didn’t dance. I just kept my hands in my pockets. I just am a stubborn person and I just kept trying and wanted to sing since then.” “I was releasing records when I was really young,” she explains when asked how she came to join Jimmy Eat World, also a seminal influence on her career. “At that point, I had three kind of self-released DIY records out. And Jim [Adkins] had come to my shows. I would throw these DIY shows in Phoenix, and he came and asked if I wanted to sing on his record and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a shot’. I don’t know anything about backup singing but I sang in the choir, so I give it a try and he liked it. I was on a Greyhound bus and got a call on my Motorola Razr flip telephone. He said, do you want to come on tour? And I was like, ‘Sure’.” “I was in Seattle before, and the classic story went through a breakup, wanted a change, moved across country,” she explains about her move to Nashville. “I’d never lived in a town that was solely a music place. I’d made a lot of friends and it was between LA and Nashville and LA was a harder place to tour out of financially, just expensive to live in. So, I chose Nashville and I’ve been here for five years now. “I feel like I’m the type of person I can create anywhere I am. If anything, I create more when I’m not here. There’s too many people fishing in the pond. The air is all clogged up. I’m just kidding. But I do tend to write a lot more when I’m not home, like when I’m in a place dedicated for writing.” At least one review positions Andrews somewhere between Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen which is not a bad starting point. Add Aimee Mann and Jenny Lewis to that and you have an idea of her musical location. “Yeah, it’s hard to pin down,” agrees Andrews and then adds, “In terms of vocals, I’d say my three favourite singers are Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday, and Aretha Franklin.” Obviously, Fat Possum Records heard something special in Andrews when they decided to sign her eight years ago. Normally, associated with blues artists, the label sports an eclectic roster. “They were signing blues artists before they picked up a lot of those kind of older blues records,” explains Andrews. “In some ways, they were kind of one of the pioneer labels of Americana, I would say, even if it wasn’t labeling it like that. But they kind of just sign what they like.” “I think it was created because people didn’t want to be labeled,” says Andrews when asked about the Americana label. “It’s hard to find descriptions for things. So, it is quite vague genre, just like indie music is. It can mean many things.” For Loose Future, Andrews enlisted Sam Griffin Owens (aka Sam Evian) as co-producer and holed up in his Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskill Mountains near Woodstock, NY. The recording also features Grizzly Bear’s Chris Bear on drums and guests such as Bonnie Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman. “He’s incredible,” she says of Evian who has also worked with Cass McCombs, Okkervil River, Sam Amidon and Big Thief. “I lived up there for three months. We worked very slowly, but took a long time, took our time. It’s the most pandemic record. We didn’t leave the house, we just swam in the creek and made music.” 16

“They kind of built out their barn and have a studio now that has sound treatment and everything,” explains Andrews about Evian’s studio. “But at the time, it was the upstairs of their house; so, it was literally like a house and kind of this wood panel cabin. So, not controlled or created for sound. It was just a place with a really good engineer, a musician.” “I would say most of the songs on my records are written by me,” she adds about the writing process,” but I have a couple co-writes. Actually, the only two co-writes I have are on Loose Future [the title track and ‘Change My Mind’] with this lovely writer named Kate York and she’s a Nashville friend. We just get together and eat dinner and talk about our lives, and then songs come out. So, that’s kind of how I like to write. I don’t like to wake up at nine and go into the office.” “I don’t like to associate it with money or discipline,” says Andrews when asked about the pressure of coming up with a batch of songs for the album. “To me, it’s an art form. I started writing when I was a teenager so I didn’t have that experience of having to make money.” The resultant album, Loose Future, lives up to its title which suggests a carefree approach to life, free of the burdens of the past. “I have learned from my mistakes/There’s parts of me I can’t give away,” she sings on the cruisy title song which opens the album and adds. “I just wanna take it slow/Don’t wanna give a yes or no/Can we play it cool?/ Loose future, if you wanna ride with me.” On the following song, ‘Older Now’, she sings, “Life is better without plans” reflecting her new attitude after admitting to having a traumatic past and reflecting, “I am older now/ And I am ready for a change”. The song also contains one of the few negative memories of the past: “Let’s be honest, it’s not what /Our parents all said it was / No one stays together now /No one gives a damn about / Pushing through until the end /I’m never calling you again.” Maybe the best example of Andrews latest approach to life is exemplified in the song ‘These Are the Good Old Days,’ reminiscent of some of the songs on Joni Mitchell’s Court & Spark. Ostensibly a song about a young love affair she sings, “People like me think feelings are facts / Falling in love gives us a heart attack/ One foot in the future, one in the past/ Wanna know for sure if it’s gonna last” before adding “These are the good old days/Don’t let time slip away.” This is aptly followed by ‘I’ll Be Thinkin’ On You’ On’ suggesting things are indeed different. ‘You Do What You Want’ is about a character reminiscent of Blaze Foley in Lucinda Williams’ ‘Drunken Angel’. (In fact, Williams’ Car Wheels On A Gravel Road has been one of Andrews’ inspirations on her latter albums). On ‘Satellite’, released as a the first single, she sings about someone who is her ‘favorite piece of the sky’ amidst an ethereal backdrop. The album’s closer, ‘Me & Jerry’, again raises the spectre of Mitchell if only because it shares the same ability to capture the emotional and psychological impact of a relationship. In the end, Loose Future is an album of ten beautifully crafted songs performed in just 33 minutes with great playing and sympathetic production that never gets in the way of Andrews’ voice which exhibits perhaps a gentler, emotive tone. Andrews will be bringing a four-piece outfit to Australia, her first band tour here. Robert Ellis, touring with her will be sitting in on keys. “I love touring Australia,” says Andrews. “It’s fun. Lots of beach time!” Courtney Andrews will be touring in December with Robert Ellis. Loose Future is available at courtneymarieandrews.com

S A X S E N T R U T THE E R N A M O N PIA “The music that I make is not for everybody. I think there’s some weirdos, some people out there who really like it but by nature it’s not going to be for everybody and it’s something that I really appreciate.”

Robert Ellis returns to Australia with a new lease on life and the release of his most introspective album to date. By Brian Wise

t’s over a decade since I first met Texas musician Robert Ellis in the little town of Marfa, West Texas. We were at the Trans Pecos Festival of Music + Love held in the El Cosmico campground just out of town. He was performing. I was a festivalgoer. We bonded over the after-dark game of stump whereby you had to take a shot of tequila and attempt to drive a nail into a tree stump one-handed with a small hammer. Luckily, there were no accidents. Both our lives have changed a lot since that first meeting, neither of us drink anymore and are as reckless; though we have ended up in Marfa most years since, apart from the pandemic and a motorcycle accident (mine). Marfa is an artistic community of around 2,000 18

about two-and-a-half hours’ drive from El Paso and about 700km from Austin. It is an artistic community, haven for musicians and the overlook for allegedly mysterious lights that appear across the nearby Mitchell Flat, though I have spent hours there and never seen them. (Maybe it depends on other factors!). The Trans Pecos Festival is small, maybe 1500 people. Started in 2005 by hotelier Liz Lambert, who seems to own half of Texas, the biggest line-up was pulled by Wilco a few years back after which they limited ticket numbers. Los Lobos have been there and so has Robert Plant who appeared in 2009 to maybe 500 people! Meshell Ndgeocello usually appears each year with a trio that includes an Australian drummer, Abe Rounds. This year’s headliners were Ndgeocello and Spoon. Revelations also this year were The Heavy Heavy, Neal Francis from Chicago and Jess Williamson. To outsiders it seems an unremarkable event but as Bruno Lawrence said in The Castle, “It’s the vibe.” We catch up with the same friends each year, sit in the same place, enjoy the solitude during the day and carefully avoid the spiders and rattlesnakes. When I first met him, Ellis was based in Houston but he has since moved to Fort Worth where he built a home studio, started his own record label and runs a bar. His latest album Yesterday’s

News (released here on Love Police Records) is quieter and more introspective than its predecessor, the enthusiastic Texas Piano Man. It reflects Ellis’s current life and state of mind as a married man and father of two young children. It also reflects the environment of Texas and the space, something with which Australians can identify. “It is,” agrees Ellis when I mention that Marfa is a long way from anywhere. We meet on a sunny Friday afternoon in El Cosmico as the night’s first band soundchecks. A full moon later rises and lights up the sky behind the single stage. “Not to the degree that Perth is a long way from everywhere but I think there’s a corollary there. This is a very weird little town in the middle of the desert. It’s pretty remote. What’s interesting is that up until a couple years ago, you’d come out here and there wouldn’t be a restaurant open. There’d be nowhere to eat, there’d be nowhere to get groceries. You really can’t explain how small of a town it is but it’s a town with a really interesting and rich history as it pertains to art and music and culture. Donald Judd, the famous sculpture artist and visual artist from New York moved his family down here and essentially made this a part of his life and his art and not only installed these massive, beautiful sculptures out here but I think a lot of his work is really influenced by the landscape here. These are really interesting shapes in this vast openness. “It’s something that I think about in writing a lot. Just space, ways to use space and ways to use focus: something in the foreground and the way that it feels different based on what’s in the background. It’s really hard to put your finger on but you get a feeling when you’re out here. You can just look in every direction and there’s no obstructions. It just looks like it goes on forever and the sky is so huge. I’ve always said, [from] the first time I ever visited Australia, ‘This is so similar to Texas, the people, the landscape’. There’s so many things about it that it doesn’t feel like the States but it feels like Texas in many ways. To me.” It’s that kind of that space that also partly inspired Ellis’s latest album Yesterday’s News. “There’s some songs that specifically reference West Texas on the new record and it definitely has that feeling of there’s not a lot happening,” he explains. “It’s just me and a guitar and an upright bass. We did the whole thing live in two days. It’s all tracked live straight to tape in a very particular way. So, on its face, there’s not a lot happening. There’s not a lot of excitement but there’s a lot happening in the details.

There’s a lot in the lyrics. I was just very intentional with every word that was on the record and every note that was played. I was just trying to do the most with a small amount as possible - just guitar, bass and vocal - and see what you can explore harmonically with those elements.” Obviously, Ellis’s life has changed dramatically since we first met and so has his approach to life and recording. “A combination of things have all coalesced in the past couple years and I’m in an entirely different place than I’ve ever really been,” he confesses. “I’m not stressed very often anymore. I’m trying to just enjoy my life as much as possible. I don’t know, kids maybe put that in perspective a little bit.” Ellis also admits that he had to overcome what he calls the illusion with every record release that it is going to be hugely successful and “fundamentally change the trajectory of your life and then you’re going to have more money, you’re going to have more people at shows”. Instead, he realised that the changes were more likely to be incremental. “You start to come to this realisation that this is just the program,” he says. “Writing songs is just what I do for a living. I enjoy doing it and I guess looking forward to the future is something that I wasted a lot of time on previously. Now, I’m not really thinking so much about what the next thing is going to be but just making music and enjoying it.” “I’m pretty relaxed. I’m not drinking. That’s a fairly new thing but I’m just experimenting with sobriety and that’s been really insightful. I don’t think I’ve ever had a crazy problem or anything but I just looked up and realised that for over 15 years, the only thing I haven’t really done is be totally sober for a prolonged period of time. So, I want to see what that’s like, check that out for a bit. I’ve also been super into meditation and just exercising and kind of on a different trip.” “Things never look the way that you imagine them looking when you were a kid,” he adds, “regardless of what you’re doing. In my case, I grew up watching Led Zeppelin and wanting to have a giant rock band that played arenas. I was obsessed with the Madison Square Garden DVD and I just think that was what I always aspired to. [But] in the time that I started putting out records, the record industry was falling to pieces. “I also have just realised that my sensibilities, the things I like, are just not for everybody. The music that I make is not for everybody. I think there’s some weirdos, some people out there who really like it, but by nature it’s not going to be for everybody and it’s something that I really appreciate. Now, generally at my shows the people that come are pretty educated. Music listeners who really like lyrics, they respond to complicated, interesting harmony. I don’t know. What more could you ask?” Ellis cites Richard Thompson as someone who continually inspires him and some reviews have mentioned the influence of Thompson and Nick Drake on the latest album. “I mean he was definitely instrumental in helping change my perspective to be where I am now,” says Ellis of Thompson. “Seeing just the way that he just tirelessly wants to create interesting things. That’s his pursuit and everything else is kind of irrelevant. We played a gig a couple years back and he invited me to come sit in on this little song swap thing with him. We were just sitting backstage and talking and I was like, ‘Let’s play a Django tune’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, I would love to.’ We played four or five minutes of just trading solos on an instrumental Django tune and he can get as excited about that as he can about a verbose song with a narrative lyric structure. “He’s just a lover of music and in some ways that’s why music is cool too. You find your people as a kid. I was raised in a very small town. I didn’t have a lot of people that I related to in my immediate vicinity but through records I feel like I met people that I was like, ‘These are my people’. There is also John Prine, for instance. He’s got all of the same touchstones of where I come from but he’s clearly weird for where he comes from.” Robert Ellis is touring Australia with Courtney Marie Andrews in December. Yesterdays’ News is available on Love Police Records. 19

2024 PREVIEW

BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

In art as in life, sometimes even the most offhand of projects take on a mysterious momentum of their own accord. By Steve Bell

hen The Whitlams’ founder and frontman Tim Freedman decided, virtually on a whim, to give some of his band’s alt-rock songs the country treatment to see how they’d fly, little did he know that the endeavour would take on a life of its own in no time flat. After the humblest of beginnings, his new project The Whitlams Black Stump Band - also featuring The Whitlams’ long-term drummer Terepai Richmond and a handpicked team of country stalwarts - are on the verge of releasing their debut album in early-2024 and celebrating the birth by spending Easter spreading the word at Byron Bay Bluesfest. “It was just a shot in the dark, an experiment,” Freedman recalls of the band’s formation. “I was doing a lot of solo shows in 2021 and touring in the country regions, so I rang Matt Fell who’s produced so many great country albums and said, ‘Let’s put a band together and have some fun!’ “So, May ‘21 was the first time I met Rod McCormack, our banjo player and acoustic guitarist, and Ollie Thorpe our pedal steel player, and since then we’ve just been putting one foot in front of the other. “We all had a good time doing the album, we booked a big studio for four days, so it was a good old-fashioned session where you work

up the tunes together. It was the basement of Sony in East Sydney, which sadly is gone now like so many good studios. “But the fellas enjoyed it and I heard them say, ‘This would be fun to play live’, so I booked a tour and it’s gone from there.” Freedman attests that not only was the band’s initial run of touring earlier this year a lot of fun, but he got a crash course in authentic country music to boot. “I’ve had an urban relationship with country music,” he smiles. “The Whitlams in ’92 was an acoustic guitar and a double-bass, and with Stevie Plunder, my late colleague, we played quite a bit of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline as we went up and down the coast. “I always loved The Band and Bob Dylan’s ‘60s records, and artists like Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. So, I didn’t come from a classic country background but I do love my roots music. “And, of late, Rod knows so many of the great bluegrass musicians in America, and having him, Ollie and Matt play DJ in the Kia Carnival as we drive up the coast has given me a wonderful education, I’m learning a hell of a lot. “I’m really enjoying playing music where we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we’re just trying to enjoy a genre and add our touches, so I don’t feel the same pressure to stake out my own territory which sometimes happens in so called ‘indie music’.” Freedman seems slightly bemused at the traction that The Whitlams Black Stump Band has gathered in such a short period of time. “I’m really pleased with the way it’s going two years after its scrappy genesis,” he chuckles. “We debuted at Tamworth in 2022 and went back there this year as well and

we’ve done Deni Ute Muster, and Bluesfest of course is a famous and auspicious show to do, so I’m counting my lucky stars. “I’m just trying to respect the opportunity and work hard and stay in shape, and just become a better singer with these fellas that I’m lucky enough to play with. The Whitlams four-piece played Bluesfest once and I really enjoyed it. I’ve attended the festival a lot more as a punter than I’ve played at it. “The Whitlams have a very strong history with the Northern Rivers, our first shows out of Sydney were at the Railway Hotel and we used to play The Great Northern quite often, but we sort of paddled our own canoe a lot. “We were never really part of a festival circuit, so this is only the second time I’ve ever got to play at Bluesfest even though our band’s got a 30-year history with the Northern Rivers, so I’m just very pleased to be able to do it.” And with only a finite cache of The Whitlams songs at this disposal to countrify, Freedman admits that a new approach may be required moving forward. “When we’ve been selecting songs for Black Stump Band, I make suggestions to Matt Fell - he’s producing the records - and we’ll just run through on the mandolin and the piano and decide how it would be treated in this genre,” he explains. “Ninety percent of them have worked. I think I’m probably reaching the end of the most suitable songs from The Whitlams repertoire, so now it’s time to write some new songs just for the project. “There’s one co-write on the new album between Perry Keyes, Matt Fell and I that I’m excited about, and I’d like to continue to do that as the project moves towards the second album inevitably.”

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2024 PREVIEW

THE NEW TEXAS BLUES

Austin-bred singer-songwriter/guitarist Jackie Venson has never allowed herself to be defined by one style or genre. By Steve Bell

Jackie Venson. Photo by Ismael Quintanilla.

rom her solid foundations in the blues - a trained pianist in her youth, she was inspired to swap to the guitar in part by the legendary Buddy Guy - she’s used her music to explore everything from rock, country and soul to R&B, jazz and reggae. With her triple-threat attributes of blazing guitar skills, strong singing voice and increasingly polished songcraft it’s little wonder that Venson has been turning heads in the States, even if there’s one of those three skillsets she values far above the others. “Oh, the songwriting part is the best part!” she stresses. “The songwriting part is why I still do the gigs! I mean I like playing them plenty but the gigs can be really, really hard to get to and that wears on you, and after a while the gigs start rolling into one another. “But the gigs make me money and mean that I don’t have to get a job, so I can sit in my room for hours and just dream. Gigs give me that freedom, so it’s like this tangible push and pull between physical hard work and doing what you love.” Gig destinations don’t get much further away from Venson’s native Texas than Australia, yet she’s still looking forward to making the long trek next Easter. “I’ve actually never been to Australia so it’s super exciting,” she smiles. “Right now, next year is a bit of a blank canvas - I only have a couple of gigs booked so far - so it’s like, ‘Blank canvas, new year, new me!’ “Australia will be right at the beginning of the working year for me pretty much, so that will be the perfect time for me to make a trip that epic. It’s right when I’ve had the winter off, so I’ll have a lot of energy at that point. “I’m really excited about Bluesfest, I tend to lean towards festivals that offer more than one kind of sound. I saw the line-up and it’s very diverse, but there’s definitely a lot of good blues stuff represented as well. But I like the diversity, if I’m going to be there for five days then I’m going to want to see a bunch of different things.” Excitingly the musically amorphous Venson will arrive armed with her new fifth album Ghost In The Machine, another stylistic turn which finds her experimenting with synths and voice modulators to stunning effect. “I’m calling the album’s sound ‘jazz rock’, that’s really what I think it is,” she offers. “If you want to know what that sounds like, if you don’t like jazz and you don’t like rock then you mightn’t dig this so much.

“I’m interested in just being known as a songwriter. The same way that you can’t put Stevie Wonder in a genre - he’s not a genre, he’s a collection of songs that you grew up with. He’s a person who arranged and wrote amazing songs that became, over time, familiar in your life, and now you love him because of his songs. That’s what I’m trying to be. “Each song on the album has the main track and then its own outro jam as a buffer, because if you listen to the main songs back-to-back all the way through, it’s a lot of information. It’s intense, and the arrangements are really fine-tuned, and the production on it is kinda big-sounding, especially if you put it on some speakers or headphones. It’s huge.” Throughout her career to date Venson has done things defiantly on her own terms, including the manner in which she honed her powerful singing voice - working at a karaoke bar. “What a great way to hone your skills,” she laughs. “There’s no pressure, there’s no stakes, nobody’s going remember it and everybody’s bad. Actually, not only is everybody bad but that’s literally the point! The literal point is that people go up who don’t usually get to do this and they just get to let it all out, and the fact that they are bad is the reason that we want to see it - that’s the best part about it. “Just like anything else - artistic or not - if you do something often, over time you’re going to get better at it because you did it repetitively. So, getting paid to sing songs intermittently throughout the night was great, and some nights to get things started - just because people weren’t drunk enough yet - I’d be singing for 35-40 minutes in a row. “I had a list of songs that were too hard for me to sing, and I just wanted to see how much too hard they were: like are they super, super too hard, or are they just a little bit too hard and actually within my range? “It’s probably like the number one way to learn how to sing, besides maybe singing in church or something. That repetitive singing in front of people definitely laid the groundwork for me singing in front of people now.” Jackie Venson will be appearing at Bluesfest 2024 and her current studio album Evolution of Joy is available at jackievenson. com/#music. Keep a look out for her latest album Ghost In The Machine. 21

2024 PREVIEW

Melbourne indie-folk quintet The Paper Kites have been an international concern pretty much from the get-go in 2010 when their debut single ‘Bloom’ became a worldwide sleeper hit - organically racking up over half a billion streams and earning platinum accreditation in the States - yet they chose the most Australian locale imaginable to create their accomplished sixth album, At The Roadhouse. By Steve Bell

ssembling their own makeshift dive bar in an old gold miners’ supply store building adjacent to their studio in the small Victorian town of Campbells Creek, the band would record during the week and then on the weekends throw open the bar doors and perform free shows for a graduallyexpanding throng of curious locals. “That was a beautiful experience,” beams guitarist Dave Powys. “We had the idea for the bar and the residency already and we were already keen on checking out that studio, but then we found out about the old storehouse out the front of the property and it was perfect. Honestly, I still can’t believe it all fell into place. “The Roadhouse bar we set up with Matilda Woodruff as a set designer: we brought stuff in and she brought in a heap of stuff, as well as hiring things and buying things. Then the studio was right out the back, so we were able to track things during the day and play the residency shows during the night. 22

H I G H F LY I N G K I T E S

“We lived in nearby Castlemaine for a month. We all lived in one big house together sometimes our families would come up on weekends - it as just great, a fully immersive creative experience. “To live with all eight band members including the three we’ve added for At The Roadhouse - eating our meals together and making coffee in the morning, driving to the studio: it felt really holistic and really immersive, and that brought about a lot of magic in the studio and also in the evenings when we played the shows.” Opening your own venue in the middle of nowhere whilst in the midst of tracking an album is an ambitious undertaking by any measure, but Powys explains that it somehow all went off without a hitch to the point that some nights they were turning people away. “We didn’t know how those shows were going to go,” he smiles. “Obviously the main goals for those nights - the Friday and Saturday nights - were to film them, just to get footage of the band playing and let the story unfold about a band who’s playing a residency at this dive bar and playing each night possibly to no people. “We had no idea who was going to show up, so we thought ‘Alright, we can do this one of two ways’: we can just put some flyers out in town and just set up the room and hope people come, or we can promote it and sell tickets - because the room was really capped at 30 or 35 people - and try and fill every night and go that way. “We opted to go the organic route and just put flyers out in town. It made it really authentic and really exciting every night, as we had no idea who was coming. “And we were playing brand new songs - we just played the album start to finish, with a

little break in-between - and we didn’t know any of the people who came, it was just locals who saw that that there was some free live music and decided to check it out. “A few people started coming back - they came back two or three nights and brought some friends - and we haven’t had that kind of experience in years: playing brand new songs, a tiny little stage and playing to brand new people - it was just a really exciting feeling that we haven’t had in a long time.” The first time Aussie fans will get to hear these new songs in the flesh will be at Easter, when The Paper Kites return for their third Bluesfest appearance. “We’ve got two North American runs and a European tour before we head back home, so by the time we get to Bluesfest the band will be cooking nicely,” Powys offers. “We’ve played at Bluesfest twice in the past and we’ve absolutely loved it, it’s definitely one of my favourite Australian festivals that’s for sure. “We haven’t been with our kids before though, so this will be our first trip with the families which will be a lot of fun. It’s such a great festival, and I fully prescribe to familyfriendly festivals. To some people that’s a bit of a stigma but I love places like Bluesfest or Port Fairy Folk - or even heaps of the North American blues festivals - where people are camping out with their kids, and the young kids are running around in undies and gumboots. “It just feels so good that people can enjoy music with family around, and there’s all of the generations experiencing it together. It just feels really wholesome and authentic, and that’s what I love about Bluesfest.” The Paper Kites album At The Roadhouse is available through the Nettwork Music Group.

Current Artist Line-Up ALICE SKYE • CAM COLE (ENG) • CAT CLYDE (CAN) COOL OUT SUN • DAMON SMITH • DAOIRI FARRELL (IRE) FANNY LUMSDEN • GABY MORENO (GTM) • GANGAR (NOR) GNOSS (SCO) • GOOD HABITS (ENG) • GRAHAM NASH (USA) JOHN CRAIGIE (USA) • JUDY COLLINS (USA) • KATE MILLER-HEIDKE THE LITTLE STEVIES • LORRAINE NASH (IRE) • LUKA BLOOM (IRE) THE MERINDAS • NIGEL WEARNE • ONDARA (USA) • QUEENIE QUOTE THE RAVEN (CAN) • RALPH McTELL (ENG) SARAH BLASKO • SHARON SHANNON BIG BAND (IRE) THE SONGBIRDS (INT) • SONS OF THE EAST TEENY TINY STEVIES • TEHO (FIN)

oo l r e t a W t e s n u S

Perry Keyes is bringing it all back home on his superb new album. By Jeff Jenkins

s T.S. Eliot wrote, “Home is where one starts from.” Sydney’s Perry Keyes grew up on “The Block” in Redfern, at 23 Louis Street, a house that was later purchased by the Whitlam Government and given to the Aboriginal Housing Company. “We were one of the few displaced white people,” Keyes jokes. More than three decades later, the songwriter met Gough Whitlam at a Whitlams gig. “G’day Gough,” he said, “I want my house back.” Since 1980, Keyes has been living in social housing in the neighbouring suburb of Waterloo. But he might not be there much longer. The block of flats that he calls home is listed for demolition. He’s one of 2500 people who will be displaced while the NSW Land & Housing Corporation redevelops the area. “That’s the way it goes,” Keyes says with grim resignation. “That’s the way it’s always gone.” The bureaucrats call it “urban renewal”. But there’s a human face to the story. Keyes’ bedroom overlooks the front lawn, where his neighbour, Judith, has a tiny garden. Earlier this year, on a sunny Saturday morning, Keyes was playing his guitar when he overheard a conversation Judith had with her friend. The encounter played out like this: “Hi Judith, how are you?” “Hello, Love.” “The Labor Party, they said if we voted for them, they wouldn’t kick us out.” “Oh well, you can’t trust them.” Judith’s friend burst into tears. She was inconsolable. “It was heartbreaking seeing it play out in front of me,” Keyes says. “Judith and her friend will be rehoused, but they won’t be rehoused together. They may never see each other again.” Keyes says governments don’t understand that people living in poor areas can still be happy. “It’s not about stuff,” he points out. “It’s about family, community, friends, neighbours, the people you work with … that’s still a part of our lives here. Those things never change. They’re the things that hold people together. “These are people’s homes – where they’ve grown up, fallen in love, fallen out of love, raised their children, dealt with the hardest things you can possibly deal with and had those rare moments of wonderfulness.” As Keyes declares in one of his new songs, ‘Down On My Street’: “I got everything that I need down on my street.”

The new Perry Keyes record, Black & White Town – his sixth album and first to be released on vinyl – is about Waterloo. “I didn’t want to get too literal: they’re tearing the flats down and we have to go somewhere else,” Keyes explains. “That would have been a bad version of Grapes of Wrath. “But these songs represent the here and now. It’s not a nostalgic record. It’s me describing what I see right now.” Acclaimed author Larry Writer has written books about shipwrecks, the St George rugby league team, crime and tennis. And he collaborated with Chrissy Amphlett on her best-selling memoir, Pleasure and Pain. When he heard Keyes’ debut album, Meter, he was so moved he nearly drove off the road. “Yes, I’d read Steinbeck and loved Springsteen, but Perry Keyes was singing about not the battlers of the Oklahoma dust bowl or New Jersey, but my city, Sydney, and it resonated,” Writer says. “I felt I knew the lovers, the grifters and dealers, the cars and kebab stands and the wide streets glistening in the rain on a loaded Saturday night.” Keyes says writing songs helps him make sense of the world. “Great music won’t save you from everything, but it will give you a place to go when you need to recover and heal, or just give you a chance to understand. “And in a song,” he adds, “I’m far more eloquent and understandable than I am when I’m having a beer at the pub with a mate or doing an interview with Rhythms.” Tim Freedman is another big fan of Keyes’ work. “The details draw you into the emotion of each story. Keyes isn’t sitting in a comfortable seat dispensing wisdom. He is right in the housing commission with them, an authentic voice from the heart of a disappearing world.” The Whitlams Black Stump Band recently covered Keyes’ ‘The Day John Sattler Broke His Jaw’, a song inspired by one of the singer’s childhood heroes, South Sydney captain John Sattler, who famously led his team to victory in the 1970 rugby league Grand Final – despite the fact his jaw had been broken in the third minute of the game. Freedman says it’s the greatest song ever written about rugby league. “Tim did a great version,” Keyes says. “I was very flattered – it’s stupefying that anyone would cover one of my songs.” Triple R’s Neil Rogers has championed Keyes’ music since hearing his first album. He believes the artist is as much social historian as songwriter. But Keyes is not so sure. >>> 25

KEYES TRACKS

>>> “That might be a bit of an overreach, and I’m probably not the most accurate source of information – as a songwriter, you tend to bend and stretch certain scenarios. “But it all comes from a real place.” In ‘Elevator Down’, the songwriter wanders the streets of Waterloo as “real estate junkies punch hard into their phones”. Then, in ‘Inner-City Now’, he laments: “The street feels like a disco/ In my home there is nothing left … Because all you want is gone.” The songs are all set in Sydney, but, as Larry Writer notes, they’re universal. “His people exist everywhere – the poor and marginalised, the powerless, the crooked, the despairing … people who, despite their hard lives, can still find reasons, often against all the evidence, to hope for a better future.” The new album finishes with ‘Abandoned Car Problems’, “a love song to Waterloo”. “It’s my version of ‘Penny Lane’,” Keyes smiles. The singer is not sure where he’ll end up. And despite the critical praise, he’s never confident he’ll get to make another album. When he presented ‘Abandoned Car Problems’ to producer Michael Carpenter, he said: “If I never make another record, I’m happy for this to be the last song on the last album.” Set to an elegiac, cinematic piece of music that Jimmy Webb could have written for Glen Campbell, the song concludes: For Sale signs hang on old balconies To the sound of flat-screen TVs A young girl pushes a cheap pram Down the empty street, calling for her man She don’t care, but she understands You need a working man in this town In this town Black & White Town is released on November 17 on MGM. 26

Listening to Black & White Town three influences leap out. Rhythms asked Perry Keyes about the holy trinity: Lou Reed: Out of the three, Lou looms the largest. I had an old VHS, A Night With Lou Reed – Lou live at The Bottom Line in 1983. It was Lou, Robert Quine, Fred Maher and Fernando Saunders. I played it over and over on my little TV in my bedroom. Sound turned up, lights off, and I’d jam along on my electric guitar. It taught me how to play guitar. New York could be his greatest album; it certainly was for me. I remember listening to it every day for like six months and I ended up writing differently after it. The Clash: My favourite Clash album is London Calling. It covers a lot of ground, but it’s really accessible: from rockabilly to punk and ska and reggae, and they pull it all off so convincingly. The opening track on Black & White Town features the line, “Strummer Rules!”. That’s me at 16 putting a hero into a song. It could have been Mark Knopfler, but I’m glad it’s Joe Strummer. Bruce Springsteen: My go-to Bruce record is Darkness On The Edge Of Town. It’s such an emotional record, from the way he wails and moans in the vocals to his guitar playing. That album hangs together as good as anything he’s ever done. To me, there’s not a dud on it.

A song-for-song recreation of Bob Dylan’s fabled live set. 15 timeless Dylan classics recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Out November 10

THE After 40 years at the musical coalface in various guises Oz rock legend Tex Perkins is used to a busy schedule, but it’s probably not often during his career that he’s been staring down a dance-card as packed as his final few months of 2023: reprising his role in the Johnny Cash homage and celebrating the th 30 anniversary of The Honeymoon Is Over with The Cruel Sea. By Steve Bell

irst, he’s faced with a run reprising his iconic role in the revamped stage production Tex Perkins: The Man In Black, a career overview of the great Johnny Cash that he first played back in 2009 and has returned to at various junctures with his crack backing band ever since. “I’m really looking forward to stepping back into those enormous shoes,” the singer smiles. “We’ve refreshed the show a bit - it’s the same people playing onstage and a lot of the same songs, but we’ve re-written the script and I guess the equation is that there’s now less talking and more music. “We kinda of fast-track things a bit, where the old script sort of laboured over a few things. As far as the words go it moves a lot quicker and there’s more music, and hopefully more emphasis on the Rick Rubin-era than we had before. I think the last ten years of Johnny’s life and career are nearly as important as the first ten. The more I listen to that stuff the more weight it holds. “I never really had much taste for religious material but a lot of that later stuff had a religious aspect to it - not overly church-y - but songs like ‘Wayfaring Stranger and ‘God’s Going To Cut You Down’ I feel more comfortable singing those now. “Also, what I’ve found myself is that I’m doing less of an impersonation, because now I feel comfortable in those songs and

they suit my voice. I mean obviously you’ve got to sing them in the general vicinity of how Johnny did, but I now seem to be singing it more as myself with far fewer affectations. “Ultimately what you’re getting is a more truthful performance. Some of the old songs are really fun, but the later you get the heavier it gets and it’s really moving. I actually have to really control myself at times, because I get moved by certain of the songs that I sing… which is real, but you don’t want to completely lose your shit, you know? “But it’s good to see actual emotion, I think that’s far more important than a clinical impersonation or impression. Serving the songs is what I’m doing, and it feels really good.” >>> >>> Incredibly, despite being cherry-picked to play the role by oblivious producers, Johnny Cash has long been a part of Perkins’ musical journey from the get-go, a cursory online search unveiling live footage of him singing Cash covers in Brisbane in the early-‘80s out the front of his first band Tex Deadly and The Dum Dums. “Half our set was bloody Cash!” he laughs at the memory. “We were attracted to that music because of its simplicity, it seemed achievable, but also it had cool lyrics, like, ‘I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die’. The footage of me in PVC pants doing ‘Ring Of Fire’, I reckon that was our first ever gig.

MAN IS BACK times over, a success Perkins attributes largely to studio dexterity of the late, great Tony Cohen helping them reach a wider audience. The legendary producer had also overseen their previous album This Is Not The Way Home (1991), but this time - given the band had in the interim aligned with a major “It describes this world of - he now had the luxury of mud, blood and beer which more time and budget at his seems grimy and gritty disposal. and dark and dirty but fun “He spent that time just - and it just grabbed me tweaking it and getting the immediately. That was my strong bits clear, he played first peak into the dark side if such an important role,” you will.” Perkins marvels. “We’d been thinking about radio airplay Then, once those obligations a bit - the general goal back are over, it’s time for Perkins then was to get on radio - but to walk a different line, this there was triple j and then time rejoining his beloved there was “the other radio’, ‘80s and ‘90s outfit The Cruel Sea for a national run of and to get on ‘the other shows celebrating the first radio’ was something else. ever release on vinyl of their “We thought, ‘This is good smash hit third album The music, it’s not super weird Honeymoon Is Over (1993) for or challenging, it’s just good The Cruel Sea. Photo by Stu Spence. its 30th anniversary. music so why wouldn’t more people like it?’ So, without “The Honeymoon Is Over even considering compromising or selling out our core values and the originally came out when vinyl was virtually redundant in the ‘90s so way we did things, we just spent a bit more time on it and it paid off. It as a result it was only ever released on CD at the time, so it was some young, idealistic people at Universal who through of re-releasing it on paid off more than we could have ever imagined beforehand! vinyl for the 30th anniversary, and bless them for doing so,” Perkins “And we were so lucky with the timing, there was an opening for a smiles. “It’s kickstarted a bit of activity within The Cruel Sea, which has band at radio because all of the ‘80s stalwarts like Crowded House, now culminated in our first live shows in quite some time. Midnight Oil and INXS were all on the wane - Farnham had had his day - and yet the next generation like Silverchair, Regurgitator and You Am “Sadly, one of our good mates, and founding member, James I had yet to come through, they weren’t quite ready yet. Cruickshank passed away eight years ago - which is one of the main reasons that there hasn’t been any activity since - so we’ve had to get “So, we owned 92-’93-’94, and by ’95 - even though [1995 fourth over that, and I guess we didn’t want to go there really for a while. album] Three Legged Dog did pretty well - the new generation was happening and the industry had changed. We were in that gap, and it “But fortunately, I know a fellow called Matt Walker - he and Ash was a one-horse race.” Davies used to open for us heaps in the ‘90s and we loved them - and we have a lot of respect for Matt. I’ve been working with him a lot over The success of The Honeymoon Is Over culminated in The Cruel Sea the last few years in various guises, so he just seemed like the perfect winning an incredible five ARIA Awards at the 1993 industry shindig, a guy to get involved. surreal turn of events for the notoriously “outsider” rock stalwart. “Then we just decided to get into the rehearsal room together and see “It was weird to the point of being uncomfortable,” Perkins admits. if it’s any good, and I approached that rehearsal room thinking, ‘If we “Every band wants to get a wider audience and everything, but when can get through six songs that will be a good start’, but we just burnt you get there and then suddenly, you’re accepted by the mainstream through 15 songs straight off the bat! Everyone came really prepared, and you’re welcome on Hey Hey It’s Saturday it’s, like, ‘Oh, fuck’. and by the second rehearsal I really took the time to notice and “It was all uncomfortable, and probably our least happy period as a appreciate how good this band is. band was then: post-ARIA Awards and being the biggest band in the “Once you get a bit of distance from an aspect of your career you country for 18 months, that was not fun. can see things with fresh eyes again, and I was able to have this new “Even though we’d been pushing for the success we didn’t enjoy appreciation of these guys as musicians. They’re all unique individually, that period of time, and the next album we made was deliberately but the way they fit together - and the whole thing fits together - is a lot looser and messier and tougher, and we lost basically half the the next part of the magic. So far, it’s just been totally joyful.” audience - which was okay, because the audience was fucking huge The Honeymoon Is Over catapulted The Cruel Sea firmly into the anyway. It was cool, but the pressure was less, and we were enjoying it mainstream, rising to #4 on the charts and going Platinum three more, and in a band that’s really important.” “But my love of Johnny goes back even further than that. I remember hearing ‘A Boy Named Sue’ on the radio when I was five - up until then it was all sunshine and lollipops and ‘Yeah, yeah, she loves you’, then I hear this song about a guy that wants to kill his father because he gave him a girl’s name!

MAKING MUSIC AND ASKING THE

BIG QUESTIONS By Ian McFarlane

t was about two years ago that singer songwriter Leah Senior decided to leave the noise of inner-city Melbourne behind her for a quieter life on the surf coast. Along with partner-guitarist-keyboardist-engineer Jesse Williams, she moved their lives and modest studio equipment and hasn’t looked back since. “I had wanted to move for a long time,” she explains. “I’d been visiting my mother and took a walk along the beach and there were Southern Right whales in the bay, and I thought I must move to the beach for my own peace of mind.” This new location has fed directly into the song writing for her fourth album, The Music That I Make. “Yeah, I think any changes will feed in, in their own way. Being quiet and more solitary has been good. I’m probably playing more but feeling like I’m in my own world. I feel that the music I’ve been making has been a little bit more peaceful.” In my preparatory notes for our interview, I had written down the word “QUIET!” With this album, the singer has recorded simply, with little in the way of adornment, which makes for greater impact. I tell Senior that to me it’s as if she is having a competition with herself to see how gentle and quiet she can be on record. “Haha, you think so? And I do feel it’s almost more defiant to make something quiet as opposed to the incredibly noisy world around us. I love to do that. I’ve always been a bit of a purist. I don’t like things to be over produced.” And I love that about this album. Via her previous albums, Senior has already established herself as one of the country’s foremost folk rock performers and devotees. I was particularly enchanted by The Passing Scene, and this album has likewise fulfilled my expectations. The quietest numbers include ‘Room’, where the delicate interplay of her finger picked acoustic guitar and gorgeous whisper of a voice draw the listener in for a closer look, and the instrumental ‘Downpour’ where the sound of raindrops almost drowns out the sweet music at its heart. It’s a lost art now to be so deliberately unobtrusive. With the song arrangements, Senior uses gorgeous chord progressions and adds in various dynamics at surprising

“I do feel it’s almost more defiant to make something quiet as opposed to the incredibly noisy world around us.” moments. To me a lot of modern music is so monochromatic, there are no dynamics. She puts in little changeups which make my ears prick up, and I go wow! She has proven herself to be a master melodicist. “That’s nice to hear. I don’t know, I guess I’m just following my ear mostly. I really like coming up with melodies. With a lot of the instrumental parts on the album I just sing over the top and then I see what instrument could fit there.” Furthermore, this album is about vulnerability. It’s as autobiographical as a song writer can get. The title track, ‘Room’, ‘Where Am I Now?’, ‘Pony’, they’re all about questioning one’s existence. The title track lays out Senior’s thoughts, bearing her soul and emotions in surprising ways. She sings, “It’s a labour of love / It’s a labour of love / And I’m thankful that I’ve got the direction / And the gift of expression”. “Uh-hmm. I really wanted to push myself to give more away. I thought what’s the point of adding more noise to the world. Especially I’m acutely aware that the music I play can be quite nostalgic, an older style of music. To make it valid I had to put myself in to the songs, to be more vulnerable. I think I really wanted to reveal the tension. I feel rarely are things always good, or just bad. I wanted to capture those messy feelings associated with creativity.” It’s a brave stance to take. She’s full of wisdom and maturity beyond her years. I like the reference to the Palamino pony in ‘Pony’. I ask her, is that a metaphor? To which she replies, “I feel it became a sort of

Leah Senior and Band. Photo by Substation metaphor for hope and optimism, I guess, or freedom. I feel with horse riding, that’s what it evokes for me.” And the song ‘Critic’, who is that? She sings, “And nothing is stopping you now / Just the critic in the tower”. “Um, it could be any critic. The chorus is, ‘If you don’t want to get in / Don’t tell me how to sing’. I think I was talking about the people who are too afraid themselves to make a start, and they’re usually the ones that judge others harshly. I guess the song is kind of to

encourage, to give things a go. It can also be just about your inner voice. People who criticise others often have the most critical inner voices.” Alongside Senior and Williams, the crew on this record comprises drummer Luke Brennan, bassist Jack Robbins and her sister Andi Senior on harmony vocals. (Guest player Katia Mestrovic adds harp.) As I write, Senior and her band will be touring the States (she toured in 2022 as opening act for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard).

“I’m taking the full band again and it’ll be our first attempt at a headline tour of America. Mostly we’re playing smaller venues; clubs and bars. I’ve got a booking agent over there who’s organised it. It’s all a bit of a mystery at the moment. I just hope that it all works out. I’m sure it will. I like playing all kinds of venues. Here, when we play those smaller rural venues, it can work really well. It’s great to see somebody free dancing to the Brigid St John song that we play, ‘Ask Me No Questions’. It’s kind of the best feeling. I love

those intimate, wacky shows more than the bigger ones.” “I feel good about this record. We’ve generally had a good response. It’s been a positive experience for us. I’ve got a really great team around me helping, so I feel very supported.” The Music That I Make by Leah Senior is released through Poison City Records. 31

NASH RAMBLE Graham Nash will be in Australia next March for his first solo headline tour, having released a new studio album Now. By Brian Wise

s a founding member of both the Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash (and later Young), Graham Nash’s legend is secure. You can add to his musical achievements his work as a photographer and innovator in image processing, a compiler of anthologies from his own career and that of his colleagues and an author of the memoir Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee returns to Australia for his first solo headline tour in March 2024 as well as a two-day stop at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. Nash will be touring his first album for seven years, Now, with a band that includes his long-time collaborator, Shane Fontayne on guitar and vocals and Todd Caldwell on keyboards and backing vocals. You can hear Nash and his impressive band on last year’s live album Songs For Beginners/Wild Tales. Last time Nash was in Australia it was with David Crosby and Stephen Stills and since that tour and their appearance at Bluesfest Crosby has passed away after a turbulent life during which he admitted in later years to having alienated many of his friends. Nash, who remained one of those friends a lot longer than most, helped to compile a comprehensive and beautifully presented career-spanning anthology of Crosby’s career. “It was both a wrench and and a shock,” admits Nash when I mention Crosby’s death in January this year. “The truth is that even Crosby admitted that we expected him to pass a decade ago. But David was a dear friend, of course, and towards the end then we were in contact and emailing and voice mailing. So, it was a shock.” “It wasn’t a decade either,” says Nash, refuting rumours of a longrunning disagreement. “It’s just the last couple of years we were arguing for no reason at all.” The other person who was crucial in Nash’s career and who has recently made a remarkable return to music is Joni Mitchell, who was partly responsible for him getting together with Crosby and Stills. “I think everyone is glad that she’s alive and thriving,” says Nash. “The truth is that we had almost lost her. She almost died. But to see her come back so brilliantly is thrilling. “She was the only witness to Crosby, Stills and Nash’s beginnings. I’d already met David, of course, and I’d met Stephen very briefly, but I had come from London to spend some time with Joni, got to the parking lot and there were other voices in there, but it was David and Stephen. They were having dinner with Joni and after that dinner, they were working on a song and I added my harmony and our lives changed.” More than 50 years later, and at the age of 81, Nash is still recording and touring. With the recent Paul McCartney tour here, Ringo Starr touring in the USA, the Rolling Stones releasing a new album and about to tour, there doesn’t seem to be a time limit on rock ‘n’ rollers.

“Don’t forget, it was Mick Jagger that said you don’t trust anybody over 30,” laughs Nash. “The truth is that it doesn’t matter how old you are. If you’re passionate about music, you can still rock it. I mean, I’m 81 now and the shows are going tremendously well and lots of people coming and my voice is in great shape - and every voice on my new record is me.” It must say something about the quality of the music that Nash has made over the years that people still want to hear the old songs and also hear the new songs. “Absolutely,” he agrees, “and I realise that they want to hear ‘Our House’ and ‘Teach Your Children’, of course, and I want them to know that I’m going to sing them with the same passion I had when I wrote those songs.” The latest album also has echoes of the past in many of the songs. In fact, Nash is joined by Allan Clarke, his old band mate from the Hollies, on the song ‘Buddy’ Back’, a tribute to Buddy Holly and a reminisce about the origins of The Hollies. “It was a privilege and an honor to sing with Alan,” says Nash. “I think I’m on ten tracks of his solo record.” The songs ‘A Better Life’, co-written with George Merrill, and ‘It Feels Like Home’, written with Joe Vitale, are almost a companion pieces to ‘Our House’ from the classic Déjà Vu album but the former song has a darker tone as Nash sings, ‘Let’s make it a better life/Leave it for the kids’. “We’re not,” replies Nash when I ask if we are leaving a better life for the next generation. “But we must continue to hope because if we don’t hope then we just fall victim to bad news. But there is hope, particularly amongst the children in America. There’s a lot of younger people getting into politics and that’s a good thing. We need to leave this place a better place. And in a way, it was an extension of my thoughts when I was writing ‘Teach Your Children’. “I do believe that we have passed the point of no return in terms of climate change. I think it’s going to be awful, and it’s going to be faster and it’s going to be more deadly. I think millions of people are going to be displaced and hundreds of thousands of people are going to die because of climate change. I believe it’s our most important problem that we have to deal with.” On the other hand, Nash is still politically committed as well. In the last American Presidential election campaign he supported Bernie Sanders. He and Crosby played an Occupy Wall Street rally and when I spoke to him a few years ago Crosby recalled the negative reaction they sometimes got when touring the southern states of the USA. “We were talking what we considered to be our truth about George Bush,” recalls Nash, “and we knew that some people were fans of George Bush and would not like what we were saying. We understood

Graham Nash Live. Photo by Ralf Louis. that, but we didn’t care because I would like to talk to all those people now and see what they think about George Bush now, because obviously he was a horrible president.” “With a song like ‘Stars and Stripes’ on my new record, that’s a song I wrote because I realised that Donald Trump was destroying the truth and that didn’t sit well with me,” explains Nash, “and that’s why I started to write that song.’ ‘Golden Idols’ is song about the January 6th 2020 insurrection. “It was a very important event in the history of the United States.” What does he think the response will be to some of the political songs like ‘Stars and Stripes’ and ‘Golden Idols’ in certain places? “They’re going to love it because they know that we’re talking from our hearts,” he responds, “and one of the great things about living in America is that you get to be able to speak your mind. And that’s very, very important, of course. “We used to think that Richard Nixon was crazy but he was nothing compared to Trump. Trump has divided the American people down right down the middle and I know that only a third of the voters support him but there is a real chance that he could be president

again. I mean, that’s how crazy the politics are in the States right now.” Finally, another song that kind of harks back to the past and tells the story possibly of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is ‘I Watched It All Come Down’. “I was very happy with the music that Crosby Stills, Nash, and Young made,” says Nash. “I do believe we made some magical music, but on the other end of it, it all crumbled into dust and now David’s gone and there won’t be any CSN or CSNY.” Nash adds that he is working on a new Crosby, Stills & Nash live anthology to be released next year, having already put together the box set for the legendary CSNY 1974 tour. “But who knows what could have happened,” he says of his old bandmates., “Right now we have no choice. I talk to Stephen and I talk to Neil. Of course, I don’t think that we’ve got any music to make right now but who knows in the future if Neil or Stephen or I have good songs. We’re musicians and we’ll be on it. I’ve always had a good relationship with Stephen and Neil always.” Graham Nash is touring Australia in March 2024. Now is available through BMG. 33

HANDS ON Wallis Bird is excited to be back on the road and coming to Australia. By Chris lambie

hen I last spoke to Wallis Bird, the Berlin-based Irish artist said she really missed visiting Australia since lockdown times. The nature, the music, the people. Her return in 2024 will likely show how much fans here have missed her unique and compelling songcraft and stage presence. The release of her seventh studio album HANDS in 2022, was met with rave reviews. The cover photo indicates the relevance of its title. Bird – a multiinstrumentalist - plays guitar in a style adapted for her ‘nine and half fingers’. A childhood accident saw “four fingers reconnected, one lost”. But HANDS reveals more about her evolving sense of identity, her priorities and world view. Insights on substance abuse, gender equality, corporate and political lies are informed by reflection, trust and love. The songs glide between the innovative and experimental to solid punk-pop and into dreamy meanderings; From electronic and elastic to acoustic and unplugged. ‘I’ll Never Hide My Love Away’ builds from intimate guitar to a lush orchestral plane. ‘F.K.K. (No Pants Dance)’ is a Prince-worthy trip: “My neighbours are naked again!/Five of them dancing like the drugs are good/I’m not looking... but I’ve had a look/ What a good time to be had…” Vocally, Bird could sit high on contemporary pop/RnB charts. But she’s far too bold and bright to settle for a well-worn path. Her messages are pointed, her sharing candid, her creative drive intense. She challenges, ‘What’s Wrong With Changing?’ as the track launches with crisp vocal and percussion. Change can be good, can bring hope and renewal. Another track ‘The Power Of A Word’ now bears particular relevance in Australia. “The power of words can make change for good or bad. Choose carefully. It tells you a lot. There’s poetry and romance in the world and it really shows how you use it.” Before knowing the outcome of our referendum, she recognised that, “Indigenous people were born with and live with better knowledge of the land than anyone. The older I get the more I despise the white colonialism ideology I live in…Wishing everyone focus, patience and care”. With so much change in the air, I asked Bird how the songs on HANDS may have evolved since the recording. “If the songs don’t change relevance as soon as they’re delivered then an opportunity is missed. As many artists might tell you, a song can be written with little understanding at the present and one day, perhaps many many moons later, eureka will hit you like a ton of bricks. Also, because people find their own meanings in the song, they show you what it is and it could be anything from positive to concerning, that’s the absolute beauty of subjective art.” Her recent tour of Europe, the UK and US has surprised and thrilled audiences. “Being back on the road, the most exciting part is watching people in the audience react to other people’s performance. It’s a special kind of beauty to see moving natural reactions. People clasp their heart because they feel a memory, turn to hug their friend or partner. The chat in the toilets about the show or about their personal lives. Concerts are like airports - the most honest human connection comes to life. (It’s) really inspiring now after such a long disconnect.” Bird is joined onstage by sound engineer Aidan Floatinghome (clarinet, vocals, effects) and her partner, singer Tracey Kelliher. “We always do a three-part harmony section of the show, so that will be returning. I’m hoping to gather many pals of mine to the show such as Áine Tyrell, Tullara, Mama Kin Spender, Liz Stringer, William Creighton… So, guys, if you’re reading this: Tunes?! I’ve also reached out online for people to link me up with new artists as my new MO is to collaborate with people not in my genre. I’d love to work with or at least talk with Mo’Ju, Emily Wurramara, Coodz Mac Gurridyula and Brody Simpson. Today I’m floating all over England in the finest halls with Gabrielle and there’s not a hint of Covid, yet there is the obvious pain of Brexit and poverty hitting the UK streets. Touring for me has become more about social observation these past two years. I’m gathering my thoughts and putting melodies to them. This is a strong writing period.” For tour dates visit: wallisbird.com/live

IN THE THROES OF

GREATNESS

Buddy and Julie Miller have released their fourth album together in twenty years and it’s another gem. By Brian Wise

ny album that Buddy and Julie Miller record is met with great anticipation. First, because they are a duo on a par with some of the greats. Think Richard and Linda Thompson for a start. Second, because Julie is one of the great modern songwriters. Her songs have been recorded by Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Dianna Krall, Lee Ann Womack, Allison Moorer, Miranda Lambert, Wynonna Judd and more while the co-compositions with Buddy have been covered by dozens more. Third, because Buddy is one of Nashville’s great instrumentalists and producers. Each year he runs the stage band for the Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman. He has also produced a host of greats including Solomon Burke, Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and more as well as playing on recordings with Emmylou, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson, amongst many others. He was in Emmylou’s Spyboy and spent years in Steve Earle’s touring band. Together they have a Grammy Award plus several nominations and 14 Americana Music Association Awards. Together, as their voices and music blend, Buddy and Julie create their own unique sound. Their latest album, In The Throes, is just their fourth under the duo moniker, although they are vitally involved in each other’s other projects. The 12-song set was produced by Buddy but also features Emmylou Harris, Regina McCrary, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams and Gurf Morlix. It follows the 2019 Breakdown on 20th Ave. South, their first album in a decade and the 9-track Lockdown Songs, released online in October 2020 (with one song that also appears on the new album). In The Throes also features a co-write with Bob Dylan, the ultimate accolade for their collective talents. In Nashville for the Americana Music Festival & Conference, I am eager to talk to Buddy about the new album but for him this is the busiest time of the year. Early in the week, as band leader, Miller was rehearsing for the spectacular Americana Music Association Honors & Awards Ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium. (Missing their usual bass player Don Was). Then he had to prepare for a Friday evening showcase at Centennial

Park. The following week he was headed to San Francisco for a major five-hour show featuring his ‘cavalcade of stars’ (including Bettye Lavette, Brennen Leigh, the McCrary Sisters and more) at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park on the final day of September. I get tired just thinking about Miller’s schedule for the fortnight. A window of opportunity arrives on the Friday evening after Miller’s show at Musicians Corner in Centennial Park – near a full-size replica of The Parthenon (I kid you not) on the penultimate evening of AmericanaFest. This happens thanks to a pretty terrific record label and its VP of Media along with some major patience from Miller. “My brain is fried, I apologise,” says Buddy when I catch up with him sitting on a camp

“He had to approve it and he did. That blew my mind because there’s nobody like Bob Dylan. There never will be another like Bob Dylan.”

Buddy & Julie Miller02: Buddy & Julie Miller. Photo supplied by Jeff Fassano

Buddy & JulieMiller : Buddy and Julie Miller. Photo by Jeff Fassano

chair and hastily grabbing a bite to eat after a short but stunning set that featured a guest spot from Emmylou Harris, who I can see in the background backstage. This is the only time that he has available. I tell him to keep eating while I ask the questions! If there is a nicer musician than Buddy Miller then I have yet to meet them. It seems that every time we have met up in person for an interview, he has gone out of his way to make it happen. The very first time was back in 1997 when he was touring with Steve Earle and came into the Triple R radio studio early on a Saturday morning after a show the night before and played a few songs on the mandolin. (I tell him that I could have happily retired after that). There have been phone calls during intervening years when he has released albums and then a few years back we met at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco when I cornered him and interrupted him talking to Lyle Lovett just before he went on stage. Now, I am regaling him almost as soon as he gets off

stage. I am fairly certain that Miller must do some sort of Zen meditation because I realise that for most musicians this is probably really annoying. To say that Miller is a legend on the Nashville Americana music scene seems not quite enough. He is the Nashville music scene! But getting to that point is a journey that took him from Dayton, Ohio, to Austin where he met Julie Griffin who was to become his life and musical partner. In 1980 they moved to New York where he formed a band and played with musicians who were to become lifelong friends: Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale and Larry Campbell. “Larry and I met in 1979 or 1980 up in New York when Julie and I moved to New York to ride this funny little country wave,” recalls Miller. “It was actually very cool with a place called The Lone Star Cafe, and I had my own band with Julie and Larry was in it. Larry and I would play with Kinky Friedman on Sundays at The Lone Star, and it was just a phenomenal time.”

A decade later, after a brief stint in Los Angeles, the Millers moved to Nashville and Buddy released his first solo album in 1995. Julie had already released her own debut album in 1990, after already recording with Buddy in a project years earlier and she had a deal with a gospel label prior to recording secular albums. You can hear her magnificent song ‘All My Tears’ on Emmylou Harris’s classic 1995 album Wrecking Ball. Julie has released seven albums under her own name and four albums with Buddy. Like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings their sound is immediately distinctive and inseparable. I compared them to Richard and Linda Thompson earlier because they don’t have the sweet sound of some of the classic country duos, rather there is an edge to the harmonies which suggests a darkness behind the lyrics. It makes you wonder what else is happening there. It’s not all easy listening either. The raw and jagged ‘I Been Around’ could have been included on a Tom Waits album! >>> 37

IN THE THROES

OF GREATNESS

Buddy Miller & BetyeLavette: Buddy Miller & Bettye Lavette. Photo courtesy of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. >>> “It was sort of an accidental record,” says Miller of In The Throes. “A lot of the times you make records and we’ll go in the studio with that intent, or just get in the room and see what we’ve got this time. It was actually the song ‘We’re Leavin’’ that we had started - a project that we never got to because of Covid with Victoria Williams, Larry Campbell and his wife, Theresa Williams. They’re dear, dear friends and old friends. We were going to do sort of a gospel record together. “Then Covid happened. Victoria has MS, she lives out in Joshua Tree and we thought, there’s no need to die for this record. I didn’t want her getting on a plane when Covid was starting. Looking back now it seems so distant but it was so strange. The whole world changed. So, we stopped that. But Larry and Theresa would come through town and we would sit ten feet apart and we would sing together every month or two. “So, that song stuck with me, and I thought this could be a cornerstone of a new record and we just started working on songs for fun and a record came out of it. We’re fortunate to have a label like New West that will go, ‘Yeah, we’ll put it out’. So, everything we’ve ever done, we’ve made at home. I don’t think we’ve ever gone in a studio. We just have a studio in our home.” Apparently, Julie had nearly 100 songs written before the sessions started. Buddy says he can check that figure on his phone and scrolls through bringing up a fraction of a longer song list and lyrics that he shows me. “It’s huge,” he laughs of the list. “We still have them and we may get to them, or she may just write new songs. We’ve been together now for over 40 years. So, everything we do is intuitive. We don’t exactly mesh together on musical tastes completely. I love old classic hardcore country and the Grateful Dead and she grew up in Texas, and sometimes country gets a little too much for her, but she’s such a great songwriter and 38

she’s such a great country songwriter too. So, we kind of know what we can read each other’s minds.” The album is titled In the Throes but what were they in the throes of? “Both sides of the coin there,” replies Miller. “It’s tough and it’s good and it’s working together and working with your partner can be difficult. But it was a lot of things. Then she struggles with a lot of health issues, so it’s hard for her. And that makes it even more special when we do work together. “With your partner, you’re going to be brutally honest and Julie doesn’t like everything I do. She can come up with a lot of parts on the songs she’ll visualise. Working with your partner it’s harder because you don’t necessarily tap dance around. You can be brutally honest to the point where it can be difficult to continue working together for a while and you just shut it down for a while, where you wouldn’t do that with even a really good friend. I think she likes what I do by now. At least she’s gotten used to it. “Julie wrote every song on this record pretty much, except for one co-write and she wrote a lot of that, but she wrote it all by herself, and I just felt like it was coming together as her record and I wanted it to be that. She pointed at me for singing a bunch of it. So, it felt like a Buddy and Julie record, but it felt like a Julie record too.” The one co-write on the album that Miller refers to just happens to be also one of the standout songs, ‘Don’t Make Her Cry,’ started by Bob Dylan and Regina McCrary of the famous McCrary Sisters and finished by Julie Miller. “Regina McCrary sang with Bob, I guess on Slow Train, Saved and Shot of Love and afterwards,” explains Miller, “and this was something that her father Sam McCrary, who started the Fairfield Four back in the late 1920s, said. Anyway, her father came to

one of Bob’s shows and spoke those words to Bob. Regina just filed it away and she never wrote it. But just a few years ago she got with Bob and finished the lyrics and then said, ‘What are we going to do with the music?’ Because I met him, he knew about me and said, ‘Just give it to Buddy’. “So, honestly - and we have the lyric sheet with both their handwritings on it and everything - that’s what Regina gave us. I just was scratching my head and Julie started singing it. She wrote a lot of words to it too, probably a third. There’s some lines that are definite Bob Dylan lines but it’s Regina’s story.” “He had to approve it and he did,” adds Miller of Dylan. “That blew my mind because there’s nobody like Bob Dylan. There never will be another like Bob Dylan. I don’t think it’s just a one-off. There’s nobody that creative, that deep in every way. We could just love his singing but his songwriting, there’s never been anybody like that. Another song that resonates strongly given the epidemic of deaths caused by painkillers in the USA is ‘The Painkillers Ain’t Workin’.’ “You can look at that a bunch of different ways,” says Miller, “but Julie basically wrote about the fact that the healthcare system in this country is screwed up and people in pain can get help or can be demonised or can get too much of the wrong kind of help. It just was her life at that point because she struggles with a lot of chronic pain. So that’s kind of what that came out of. There is the pain and then there’s the horrible epidemic of the opioids too. So, that’s the other side. I don’t want to get into doctors!” How does the songwriting process and the composing process work? Does Julie write the lyrics while Buddy handles the music? “It all depends,” says Miller. “She does much more of the lyrics. Sometimes I will get in there, but she doesn’t need me, whereas I need her.” It’s unlikely that Buddy and Julie will be able to come to Australia to tour as the trip is probably too long for Julie who deals with health issues. But will he ever make it back? He has toured with Steve Earle and Emmylou here in the past. “You know what I got to say, the first time I went to Australia, it was to Byron Bay, and that was the greatest time I ever had at a festival,” he replies. “I love it in Australia, the flight was a little rough, but it was well worth it. I love Steve so much. I’ve been so lucky to play with just the most incredible talents and writers and people and Steve was so inspiring every night. That was so much fun. I would love to find a way to come back.” You can always see Buddy Miller each September at the Americana Honors & Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and a week or so later at Hardly Strictly in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Of course, if you want to hear Buddy & Julie Miller just buy In The Throes! In The Throes is available now through New West Records.

NEW SHOW!

Uk and Irela ON A SHOESTRING eatre, Wellingborough

Mick & Jen @ The Castle Th

By Jen Anderson. (Photos courtesy of Jen Anderson)

Mick & Jen Tour Poster

and

Mick Thomas and the Little Blue Ford Fiesta Tour.

ick Thomas rarely stops thinking about his music unless it’s to sleep, watch his beloved St Kilda, or read a book. Even then I suspect a fair portion of his brain is chugging away at a project, either new or in progress. His creative drive propels him along a continuous path of productivity, a case in point illustrated by his calendar for the first 6 months of this year: finalising, promoting and releasing his new album (Where Only Memory Can Find You) alongside a graphic novel; touring the release nationally over several weeks, then hopping on a plane to do ten shows over eleven days throughout the UK, with a final gig in Dublin. Where do I come into this story? Well, last year I took up Mick’s offer to write some string arrangements for this latest Roving Commission offering. I found myself not only recording violin on the arrangements, but contributing solos and parts to quite a few other tracks as well. Which meant it was only natural I’d come along for the ride when it was time to promote the album around Australia. And it all culminated in an opportunity to tour overseas with him in June of this year. Mick is in the music business for the long haul. He’s traversed the highs and lows of the industry, from experiencing the thrill of a hit single to working out how to stay afloat during Victoria’s multiple COVID lockdowns a few years ago. Having largely steered his own career trajectory without managerial oversight in past years, he knows how to make a tour work on a tight budget. >>> 41

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The Little Blue Ford Fiesta

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>>> Our trip to the UK was no exception. The impetus for the tour was an invite from Billy Bragg to take up a spot on his curated Left Field Stage at Glastonbury ’23. Who wouldn’t want to play at the largest arts festival in the world? But competing with the likes of Elton John, Blondie and Queens of the Stone Age for a share of the artist budget meant that the fee on offer was modest; certainly not enough to justify bringing the whole band over. Mick asked if I would like to play as a duo. I was really up for this idea; it’s refreshing performing in an acoustic format, providing a great opportunity to treat the songs differently, stretch out with solos and try out different vocal harmonies. To complement the Glastonbury booking, old UK friends Nigel and Marianne Williamson booked a run of boutique pub and cafe gigs that would see us traversing the country from Sheffield to Shoreham and everywhere in between. Chelsea Dave Suttie (former WPA merch man extraordinaire) came on board as tour manager, driver and, of course, merch captain. We did a lot of driving between shows as we crisscrossed the country, and our tour vehicle was none other than a tiny blue Ford Fiesta hatchback, borrowed from friends. Picture this – Mick and Dave up front, myself in the back with the spare seat folded down to accommodate all the luggage, instruments, amps, food supplies, beer, and a very large merch supply. I had to lobby hard to keep my tiny piece of real estate in the car, sometimes dodging boxes of stray CDs or extraneous clothing as it tumbled down from the ceiling-high pile beside me. Nigel and Marianne kept bringing more merch along to various gigs from their house in London, things that Mick had left behind from past UK trips. Compounding the whole merch storage issue, Billy Bragg had surprised them with a knock on their door a few months back, offloading several boxes of WPA’s No show Without Punch (released on his Utility label years ago); Billy wanted to clear his garage out too! It was all stuffed into the little blue Ford Fiesta until the car simply couldn’t take any more. I’m pleased to say that C. Dave did a magnificent job of selling copious amounts of merch, and by the end of the tour I could stretch right out in that back seat. We played the prestigious Glastonbury Festival, the Castle Theatre in Wellingborough with its ritzy seating and beautiful acoustics, and the loud and sweaty rock n roll Water Rats in London, but the real heart of our tour lay in the pub and cafe shows. A few of them only held about 50 people, but what a joy it was performing in these intimate venues to people who really love live music, and revere Mick’s songwriting and storytelling. A small entourage of fans came to every show; they included two Aussies, two Germans and an English couple. Having been cocooned by security presence and the refuge of backstage rooms over many years of touring with different groups, I’m used to observing obsessive fans from afar, but there were no such buffers in these smaller venues.

and friends from the UK who’d travelled especially to be with us, and a lovely warm atmosphere abounded. A high note to finish on indeed. And so, we came home to our families, tired but happy with our accomplishments. We’d covered a lot of ground in a short space of time, reconnecting with old mates and making some new friends along the way, and we even returned with a bit of coin in our pockets. The little blue Ford Fiesta retired from touring life and was reinstated as the little Reading run around. I will always recall the memory of her rather fondly despite the travelling discomforts: especially now knowing that the last ever Fiesta rolled off the production line in early July this year, on the very day we returned to Australia. She was one of a kind that car and little did we know that we’d been travelling in a soon-to-be-forgotten piece of history!

The Glastonbury Pass

Mick already knew them all, as they’ve been following his every move over the years, but it was an unusual experience for me. I relished hearing the stories, witnessing some of their quirky ways (like posting the set list to socials as soon as it hit the stage floor) and hanging out with them after the shows, it was a bit like travelling with a slightly nutty but loveable family. With the nightly set list placed under the global scrutiny of social media, and to enhance our own performing pleasure, Mick gladly took up the challenge of ensuring each show would be different. Along with a good smattering of songs off the new album, he pulled out many gems from his extensive back catalogue. Personal favourites for me were ‘In Your Room’, ‘He Forgot She Was Beautiful’, ‘Walkerville’, ‘Sisters of Mercy’, and ‘Disrepair’. So many gigs in such a short amount of time; the intensity of touring in this way tends to blur the memory of shows into one continuous event. But there are cherished highlights standing out beyond the monotony of long travel days endured in that little blue Ford Fiesta, the tedious waits between soundchecks and gigs, and the largely forgettable meals and beds. Apart from the daily pleasure of earning a living whilst playing violin to appreciative audiences, I carry an indelible memory of the awesome hugeness of Glastonbury; its barely contained energy, the colourful exuberance of punters, the sheer humanity and logistics of it all – wow! And even better, I got to perform there with Billy Bragg and Mick Thomas and sing Lisa O’Neill’s verse on ‘Rebels of ’48’! That’s a big tick off the bucket list for me. In stark contrast was the Café #9 gig in Sheffield - the smallest in capacity of our shows. But this one really sticks in my mind. Such warm hospitality, gorgeous kitsch décor, the audience bunched up on benches and crammed into corners, quite a few faces never seen before, many long- time fans singing the words to all the songs. My violin sounded sweet and true, Mick and I clicked like we’d never stopped playing together these past 30 years, and everyone in the room was smiling in unison. Sometimes there’s just this indefinable ‘otherworldly’ bliss that comes from sharing music with others in small spaces, and that gig provided one of those special moments. I can’t finish my list of highlights without mentioning Dublin. How can Dublin in any shape or form not be a highlight? It’s such a gorgeous city containing a rich potpourri of humanity, a fascinating history, beautiful buildings and, of course, the best pubs. The gig was great because every gig is great in Dublin – people always enjoy themselves no matter what’s happening in their lives. It was all the more special due to being the last gig of the tour. There were friends from Australia

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AVAILABLE AT ALLIGATOR.COM AND OTHER FINE RETAILERS

GENUINE HOUSEROCKIN’ MUSIC SINCE 1971

By Joe Fulco

Celebrating a vintage era of iconic instruments with the updated Vintera series. FENDER VINTERA II SERIES

ender have released the Vintera II Series. As the name suggests, it celebrates the vintage era of the iconic instruments. The Vintera series originally launched in 2019, and this updated series takes a deeper dive. While Strats, Teles, Jazzmasters and more are well represented here, the new range also features rare models including the

Mustang, the 70’s Telecaster Deluxe, the 60’s Bass VI and a maple neck Jaguar. The Vintera range of guitars approach each instrument by summing up each decade’s best features. So, the ’50’s Stratocaster will not be based on a singular guitar from say, 1956, and copy its specs. Fender do that kind of detailed work elsewhere. This broad range boasts era correct neck shapes that feel worn

in and comfortable in the hands. The pickups are ‘vintage voiced’ delivering the tones you would hope for from each era, and Fender’s instantly recognisable custom colours are also featured. Lovers of Fender will be very happy to know rosewood fretboards are back. This range of guitars draw from the classics and are kept relatively affordable by being made in Mexico, as opposed to the factory just over the border in California.

THE 70’S MUSTANG

The Mustang features an alder body and a maple neck with a 7.25” radius rosewood fingerboard. The ‘C’ shape neck is based on a classic ’70’s profile. I think it’s the best aspect of this guitar. Feels just like the Strat neck I’ve played for thirty years…and it’s brand new ! The tuning pegs are ‘F’ stamped and have aged white buttons. The pick guard is 4-ply aged white pearloid. The mustang comes in two colour options. Competition Orange and Competition Burgundy. They look great. The ‘competition’ stripe will be down to personal taste, but it kind of grows on you.

This is one solid guitar. The 70’s Tele Deluxe is an interesting prospect. Probably as a result of competing with other guitar brands that came with humbuckers in the 70’s, Fender threw their hat in the ring by combining two tried and true body designs. Big Strat headstock and tremolo system on a Telecaster body, and a pair of vintage style 70’s wide range humbucking pickups. For a Fender player, the Deluxe Tele is a safe bet if you want to lean into Gibson territory but want to keep a body shape and feel you are accustomed too, and also, they are much more affordable. Fender had hired the Gibson humbucking pickup guru Seth Lover in the late 60’s, and he came up with the Fender wide range pickup. The pickup was designed to have a slightly brighter sound than what he had previously designed elsewhere. The Vintera II Tele Deluxe features this pickup design and they sound fat, compressed while letting that top end sparkle through. It’s the sound of these pickups that drives this guitar and will influence what you play. It only takes a minute to forget what you might expect from a Telecaster and let these humbuckers drag you somewhere different. And that’s why we own more than one guitar, right? The Tele Deluxe features an alder body, a ’70’s ‘U’ shape 9.5” radius maple neck with vintage tall frets that feels big but still comfortable, and a synchronised tremolo with block saddles making for easier and accurate intonation. Also, the 3 bolt neck plate with micro tilt adjustment and the bullet style easy to access headstock truss rod should get you setting this guitar up just right for your individual needs. The tremolo unit is the big difference this time around for the Vintera 11 Tele Deluxe, while Vintera I had the string through body hard tail bridge. This might be a step too far for the more traditional Tele player, but this guitar is about options and additions to the norm. This guitar is aesthetically very pleasing, comes in Surf Green or Vintage White, feels and sounds great and is definitely worth picking up, plucking on and seeing what you think of it for yourself.

Vintera II 70’s Mustang This guitar is a lot of fun to play. It felt comfortable and balanced straight away, so it was right into playing and getting sounds. And many sounds are available here. The Mustang comes with vintage style 70’s single coil pickups, giving warmth and clarity. But for me, it’s the two pickup selection switches, and the different configurations where you can get into some cool spacey territory. Variables of in and out of phase sounds, coupled with the ‘floating’ tremolo system for subtle or greater effect give you a wide scope of sonic possibilities. Get your favourite reverb pedal out and we’ll see you in a few hours.

You can check out a couple audio demos online or in the digital edition. (Demos recorded using UAD Apollo 4 with the UAD LUNA software.) Vintera II 70’s Telecaster Deluxe 47

S O U N D S Grammy Award winner Madison Cunningham is one of the ambassadors for Fender’s Vintera II series. By Brian Wise

t the age of just 27 Madison Cunningham has already won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for her latest album Revealer, having been nominated four times in three categories – as well as Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Album - since 2020. That’s covering a lot of bases in a very short time, but it reflects a meteoric rise in the past few years. Cunningham, singer/songwriter/guitarist, is currently on tour in America as support for Hozier until the end of the November as well as doing some of her own dates and appearing at the Austin City Limits Festival. Early next year she heads off as support to John Mayer on a European tour. Born and raised in California, Cunningham started playing guitar at the age of 7, performed in church and at 18 initially released a religious oriented album before her music became more secular and propelled her to stardom (she recently claimed that ‘I’m becoming more and more of an agnostic every day’). Cunningham cites numerous influences, from the classic such as the Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan to the contemporary such as Radiohead, Fiona Apple, Juana Molina and Jeff Buckley. In 2017, she even joined the cast of the popular NPR radio show Live from Here, presented by Chris Thile of the Punch Brothers with whom she became a frequent collaborator, while she also toured with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird and was credited for vocals in his 2019 album, My Finest Work Yet. Cunningham is now also an ambassador for Fender’s new Vintera II series of guitars, and 48

you can see her on YouTube or at the Fender website playing a ‘50s Jazzmaster® along with the legendary Wendy Melvoin (from Wendy & Lisa and Prince’s backing band The Revolution) on a cover of The Flamingos’ 50s hit ‘I Only Have Eyes for You.’ (Melvoin plays a ‘50s Nocaster®). It is one of a series of videos featuring a contemporary player and a legendary artist covering an iconic song from the ‘50s, ‘60s & ‘70s. While Cunningham was on tour in Montreal and I was in Nashville for the Americana Music Festival we caught up by Zoom to have a chat about her career and, of course, guitars. Cunningham won a Grammy for Best Folk album and has been nominated in the Americana category but it is difficult to easily pigeon-hole her music in either camp. “I would never identify myself as anything, but I would never identify myself as folk,” she says when I tell her that I am in Nashville and there have been plenty of discussions about the nature of Americana. “I found it to be confusing for a while until I was able to understand it from the perspective of it being just another word for singer songwriter. I just think the folk genre has just had some of the greatest songwriters alive on its roster. So, I’ve just decided to identify with that. All I really care about is songwriting more than anything, more than guitar playing, more than singing. That’s the vehicle. That’s the thing to kind of stick your flag in. So, I am not bothered by it anymore. I just think it’s quite funny. I just laugh.” Even though she doesn’t identify with the folk category, Cunningham is certainly not going to give the Grammy award back. “It would be a little hard to do and a little irreverent probably. So no, I won’t be giving it back,” she laughs. “These [labels] are just ways to make people feel comfortable clicking on your music. I don’t know. We need those little training wheels sometimes.” “Some of my favourite musicians and artists I came to later in my life,” she explains when I ask her to elaborate on her musical influences.

I’m always on the quest for ways to make guitar playing sound more like myself, feel more like myself. I think that’s just a constant question always.

“I was probably 17 or 18 when I was introduced to the likes of The Beatles or Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. The list goes on. That was my sort of musical awakening. I grew up in a musical family but it was inside of church, so my knowledge of musical depth was very small. “Then suddenly the gateway drugs were all available to me and I just overdosed basically on just so much music and possibility and deep lyricism. As a songwriter, I was immediately changed and started getting deeper and deeper into it. I still am. My taste, I would say, is still constantly developing, and I hope it will for the rest of my life. “But in terms of guitar players, I’m still influenced by the same stuff. Still the greatest guitar player to me is George Harrison and his melodic capabilities and the way that he prioritises melody over anything else, over showmanship. I think Jon Brion is another huge one for me. An artist named Juan Molina changed the landscape for me. Joni Mitchell too. She was a guitar player who really taught me a lot about rhythm and voicings and open tunings, all of it. Rarely do I ever play in standard. Most of the songs are in open tunings and it’s where I like to live.” I suggest that you can hear echoes in some of Cunningham’s songs of Mitchell’s guitar playing, especially on some of the albums when Mitchell used the VG8 guitar. “That’s so cool,” replies Cunningham. “I’m deeply complimented by that. She’s amazing, obviously.” Another influence that comes through – one who is probably not mentioned all that much but was enormously influential to a lot of people - was Jeff Buckley. You can also hear elements of his song structures in some of Cunningham’s work. “He was another just life-changing artist for me,” she explains. “He’s in my top five. He is the person that I would say that I shamelessly rip off all the time because I think that we all need that sort of wellspring to draw from. He’s just one of the main ones and such a musical force and died so young but accessed that sort of those deep waters really young. It’s unbelievable. “I mean, he was one of those as a singer, really blew me away. But then as a guitar player, I think he remained pretty uncredited for that. He would pull out these voicings that I had never heard anyone else do up until him. I mean so much so that the phrase ‘Buckley Voicings’ were sort of coined because of him and he blows me away.” Speaking of guitar playing and influences, I ask Cunningham how the tie-in with Fender’s Vintera II campaign came about. 50

“I very luckily was asked to be involved in it,” she responds, “and I jumped at the chance to do it because Fender’s obviously such a staple in my world as a guitar player and the world of almost everybody I know as a musician as well. Also, just I think this being the sort of 50’s iteration of these models was really important because that was kind of really the birthplace of the electric guitar and the Jazzmaster itself. That is a guitar that’s just meant a lot to me and informed my playing and has been a very trusty road companion for the last six or seven years of my life. So it was, again, just quite the honour to be able to lend my voice to it in some way and then to pick out a song from the fifties that meant a lot to me.” So, for the non-guitar players amongst us what’s the difference in tone from the Jazzmaster and the Stratocaster et cetera? Why did Cunningham choose that particular guitar? “Well, in particular, I was really getting into low tunings and open tunings,” she explains, “and a Stratocaster is historically very bright and articulate in that way and my playing in the way that I hear music and write songs never really lent itself to that guitar. So, I ended up gravitating towards the Jazzmaster for very materialistic reasons. I really loved the look and the shape. I loved the price and what I realised about it as I started to play it and before purchasing it was just the depth that it could hold and the intonation. I felt like it was a very sort of open canvas for ideas, and I felt really at home on the fretboard. So, I’ve stuck with it and feel quite married to it in a way. Just every time I’ve been in a certain situation it’s lent itself to whatever situation that is musically. So, I’ve stayed true to it for those reasons.” “It’s a lot heavier than the one that I play now,” says Cunningham of the 50s Vintera II version of the Jazzmaster. “The body itself is thicker and more dense but the sound is slightly different. It feels a little bit lighter in some ways. The fretboard was a little bit in some ways easier to play than mine. There was lighter strings on it than the strings I usually play. But the differences weren’t immense but they were slight, and I really enjoyed the challenge it posed. The slight difference jarred me enough and it caused me to play a little bit differently. I always liked that feeling.” I mention to Cunningham that when I interviewed Rebecca Lovell earlier in this year, she was saying how women can be just as nerdy as guys when it comes to guitars. That was very pleasing to hear because you can go down a rabbit hole when it comes to guitars. “It’s endless!” agrees Cunningham. “I’m always on the quest for ways to make guitar playing sound more like myself, feel more like myself. I think that’s just a constant question always. As a person and a player, I’m always changing. So yeah, I think nerding out is kind of just par for the course.

“I actually do have a Vintera on the road. So, that means I have five guitars right now in total. But I have one acoustic, two electrics that are in different tunings and then I have one rubber bridge guitar, which is a baritone, but just a completely different sound and intonation. So, they all serve different purposes. So, the guitar boat keeps getting longer and longer in order to fit all the guitar necks.” Cunningham has said that there’s a sense of conflict about revealing anything about herself, thus the title of the latest album, Revealer. I suggest to her that, particularly in these days when everybody’s on Facebook and Instagram, it’s almost impossible to have any privacy at all. “The whole conflict is self-promotion, and all of that is in my job description, but it’s really unnatural to me, and I always feel gross and slightly sick about it,” she replies. “So, songwriting for me is always this dance of how much of my personal life and my willing to give and how much of it is actually a sacrifice that somebody who is sort of married to the idea of telling the truth and honesty and songwriting sort of just asked to compromise in. So, I think I liked calling the album that: it just was maybe the plainest way that I could. It was the plainest title for all of the songs and what I felt like they were trying to convey. I think the album tries to convey that sort of sense of conflict with revealing anything to anybody and then also allowing the truth to become exposed to yourself. That’s the hardest thing about living at all. “It feels like you’re committing sort of social suicide if you say, I’m done with this part of it, I’m going to disappear from this entirely. I was just talking to a friend about this, and he was saying, I want to unplug from all of it, but I just don’t feel like I’m permitted to. I relate to that idea very deeply. It just feels like we’re kind of trapped in that cyclone of outlets and social media and that is what it is until we can figure out another way. But also, what I was saying to my friend too was that maybe it’s all a lie. Maybe if one brave person did decide to pull the plug, we would only find that people would still buy tickets and come to shows. You know what I mean? A key song on the new album is titled ‘Who Are You Now?’ (Also, the title of her 2019 album)? Who is she now compared to then? “It’s the question of this whole year. I don’t know. That’s actually why I loved that title, because I just felt like it was always going to have relevance and I was always going to get teased for that title and it was going to always get pitted against me. But I love it because it’s a really important question and every seven years we have to ask it, or more every year, really. But I don’t know. The answer is, I don’t know! I’m just, who am I now? I’m just a touring person trying to make sure that she eats enough food and drinks enough water every day. That’s it.”

By Martin Jones

WICKED IVORY HOT THUMBS O’REILLY/JIM PEMBROKE

EAT THE WORM JONATHAN WILSON

onathan Wilson has always harboured a psychedelic bent, but on his latest, Eat the Worm, he hoists his freak flag as high as he can. Songs writhe and twist out of your grasp, eschewing conventional structures and embracing everything they can snatch up in their paths. One might be tempted to point to Sgt Pepper’s and Pet Sounds as classic influences, and certainly you can hear the freedom of Zappa and Beefheart in Eat the Worm, but Wilson’s primary inspiration was far more obscure – a 1972 album by Jim Pembroke. British-born Pembroke relocated to Helsinki in the mid-‘60s and wound up as leader of psych rock outfit Wigwam. Wicked Ivory was his first solo album, released in 1972 under the pseudonym Hot Thumbs O’Reilly. It makes Sgt Pepper’s and Pet Sounds sound conformist. Even at its folkiest, where it approaches The Piper at the Gates of Dawn territory, it refuses to concede to popular melodic, topical or structural expectations. Wicked Ivory is set up like a live talent show, with a Southern American narrator introducing each song as a new act, complete with background audience noise. At one point a ‘performer’, who is rambling in an old timey prospector voice, seems to suffer an on-stage stroke, and the narrator comes in, apologising for the interruption in the schedule and begging someone to play the piano, play anything. In comes some tinkling piano, with the crowd still muttering, but what emerges is an organ fuelled widescreen psychedelic rock song. Something that Wilson himself might have created…. In full flight, the song, ‘Grass for Blades’ is suddenly interrupted by the narrator, explaining that the night has run over schedule and needs to be wrapped up. He introduces the band and its fictional members, including Mr Hot Thumbs O’Reilly on piano. At times you could be forgiven you’re listening to a Goon Show broadcast and, indeed, Pembroke was reportedly influenced by British radio sketches. Musically there’s a lot to digest, from the proto-prog of ‘Warm Rumours’, to the nods to early British experimenters like The Kinks, Bowie, and Floyd, to barrelhouse piano and blues, to classical vignettes. All centrepieced by a truly bizarre spoken word piece ‘Cosmic Rot’. It’s a strange, wild ride, and Wilson was particularly inspired by Pembroke’s freedom and willingness to chase down any whim, no matter how, err, whimsical.

Wilson recently told Americana-uk.com that he abandoned any obligation to the listener on Eat the Worm. “I will be really honest with you and it’s not that I don’t care but this is the first time I didn’t consider that as part of the process. If I wander too far from the Californian canyon guy or whatever, people are not going to understand, but this time it was just balls to the wall.” While on first listen, Eat the Worm is a serious earful to take on, compared to Wicked Ivory it’s easy listening. Wilson hasn’t made a total departure from the melodic pysch that featured on much of his past recordings; ‘The Village is Dead’ and ‘Hey Love’ are evidence of that. But that aesthetic is jumbled up with electronica, folk, orchestral ‘60s pop.. sometimes all in the one song! Lyrically, Wilson seems to take stock on the history of popular music and his place in it. In first single ‘Marzipan’ he talks of Hank Williams, Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins before revealing the Pembroke influence: “Well we’ve come to the place in the song right now Where I’m going to fuck around Go for broke like my boy Jim Pembroke He inspired me to do a little something right here” There’s a song called ‘Charlie Parker’ with Parker sax riffs blasted over the top. Bonamassa, Daniel Lanois and Stevie Ray Vaughan get mentions. And then there’s ‘BFF’ in which Wilson inhabits an egotistical musician “living a bald-faced lie” and “making epic scenes” before delivering this vicious line: “So bring me the head of John Mayer And all of them other Jerry imposters In their online designer tie-dye.” I punched the air when I heard that line, but I doubt that Wilson’s Mayer hate is too serious. As Wilson has stated, he just went ‘balls to wall’ with throwing instinctual music and lyrics at this album. And after all, his own main gig is still playing David Gilmour’s guitar solos on tour with Roger Waters! 51

BY KEITH GLASS In the 60’s/70’s/80’s major record labels worldwide maintained a massive album release schedule. Only a comparatively few artists scored a hit, others became ‘cult’ classics. Beyond that exists an underbelly of almost totally ignored work, (much never reissued) that time has been kind to. This is a page for the crate diggers.

GOVE HEAVY COWBOY TRX Records 1002 (Released 1971)

ichard Gove Scrivenor remains a very cool cat to this day but back in ’71 he was a folkie oddity who majored in autoharp with side lick as guitarist plus a bluesy vocal style that sounded like it was distilled in Mississippi but in the artist’s case actually nurtured in New Haven, CT. Oddity finds its own and in Gove’s case that was a back room of Acuff-Rose Publishing/Hickory Records where the eccentric label TRX came to be. Hickory mainstays Roy Acuff and Wesley Rose were very traditional Country music figures, but they had their own ‘fringe’ asylum where producer/songwriter Don Gant was let loose to do his thing. Gant had found a degree of success with the wonderfully named Tupper Saussy in a duo called The Neon Philharmonic and the hit record Morning Girl - now he was patron to any number of left of centre writers (i.e. Mickey Newbury) who might have provided material for a newly emerging change of the Nashville guard whilst also having the ability to put out ‘side products’ on TRX from the likes of Gene & Debby, Troy Shondell, Tom Dooley & the wonderfully named Bryllig & The Nymbol Swabes. Only a few albums

were released on the label and the by now down to first name only ‘Gove’ was album 1002. The cover isn’t giving much away - a drawing with the stark name ‘GOVE’ on the left - a wooden back porch on the right and a few strange coated semi-human critters lurking around with the title underplayed at the bottom at a line drawn track intersection. The back features notes written by Tom Donahue proclaiming the artist as being influenced by everyone from Howling Wolf to Roy Orbison. With the exception of three songs (Leadbelly’s Silver City Bound, Bonnie Dobson’s Morning Dew & Son House’s Death Letter Blues) Scrivenor wrote all the material (oops - bar also the traditional Amazing Grace). Vocally he shows shades of the aforementioned Mickey Newbury and maybe House whilst musically serving out more of an understated psychedelic twist perhaps promoted by producer Gant, consistent with some other Nashvillian products of the day. However, if we sit back and examine the commercial potential of what’s going on here the answer would be slim or none. The second song in Your Eyes is an early stand-out and evidence we are in the hands of an artist / producer team with greatness in their grasp. Either David Briggs or Beige Cruser provide the Harpsichord that takes this song into a new zone - it ain’t exactly Country but it is exactly right. Elements of Blues / Folk / and spiritual (the traditional Amazing Grace closes) continues on throughout in a mood zone only the two amazing initial Mickey Newbury albums on Elektra (for me) have ever matched but Scrivenor was driving his own bus…..unfortunately sales wise here it stopped pretty much at the back door of Acuff-Rose and whilst the artist was able to maintain a musical career to this very day the potential wider calling here never eventuated. Gove became a ‘go-to’ autoharp guy and that’s a good thing as the instrument has been at least a folk/country side-staple since The Carter Family heyday’s but his later albums (including a few for the great Chicago based Flying Fish label) don’t include the experimental nature of this initial work. I’ve been lucky to see him live a few times and he is an American original still active as I write. Long may he push those buttons. 53

By Billy Pinnell

NEIL YOUNG

TIME FADES AWAY

Reprise

n 1987 Neil Young told an interviewer that Time Fades Away his first live album was “the worst record I ever made, but as a documentary of what was happening to me it was a great record.” “I was on stage, and I was playing all these songs that nobody had heard before, recording them and I didn’t have the right band, it was just an uncomfortable tour.” The mainstream success in 1972 of his Harvest album and its number one single ‘Heart Of Gold’ caught Young off guard. His first instinct was to back away from stardom once describing ‘Heart Of Gold’ as “the song that put me in the middle of the road, travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch, a rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.” So, he sanctioned a live album full of previously unreleased songs to be recorded during his biggest ever tour, 65 shows in 90 days to follow up the million selling Harvest. The circumstances surrounding the recording of this album were bizarre and would emotionally scar Young for life. At first he put together members of The Stray Gators - Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar), Jack Nitzsche (piano), Tim Drummond (bass), Kenny Buttrey (drums) who had backed Young on Harvest - and Crazy Horse guitarist/singer Danny Whitten. During rehearsals it became clear that Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. Young had no choices but to fire his friend. Shortly after, Whitten was found dead of an overdose. Young described the incident, “we were rehearsing with him and he couldn’t remember anything, he was too far gone. I had to tell him to go back home to Los Angeles. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he’d OD’d. I loved Danny. I felt responsible and from there I had to go right out on this tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and insecure.’ The ill-fated tour went ahead with more setbacks waiting in the wings. The format featured an acoustic set with Young followed by an electric set with The Stray Gators. Following on the heels of the successful

country-tinged Harvest tour audiences did not always react positively to the new songs, neither were they fond of The Stray Gators’ new sound that was more reminiscent of the hard rocking Crazy Horse. As the tour progressed the motif of death and gloom was taking its toll on the musicians resulting in Buttrey abandoning ship. He was replaced by ex-Turtles/CSNY/Jefferson Starship drummer Johnny Barbata who plays on all of the tracks on this album. Then towards tour’s end Young’s voice began to give out. Graham Nash and David Crosby answered an SOS adding moral support and much needed vocal harmonies. Despite all the setbacks, Time Fades Away endures as one on Young’s most fascinating releases. The title track with its tale of junkies and politicians features bar-room piano, wavering harmonica and dodgy backing vocals from Keith. There’s also a reference (repeated on so many of his songs) to the Canada of Young’s youth. On ‘Journey Through The Past’ (not included on the film soundtrack of the same name) Young, backed only by piano, continues to reminisce on days gone by, ‘I’m going back to Canada on a journey through the past’, while the autobiographical ‘Don’t Be Denied’ details his parents’ marital breakup, being bullied at school, the formation in 1963 of The Squires the band in which he first started writing songs, the success of Buffalo Springfield. ‘L.A.’ written as early as 1968 was Young’s fantasy vision of an earthquake destroying Los Angeles. ‘Yonder Stands The Sinner’ is an attack on institutionalised religion, the gentle ‘Love In Mind’ with just vocal and piano would have been a comfortable fit on Harvest, ‘The Bridge’ with minimal piano and harmonica was inspired by the Hart Crane poem of the same name. Drenched in Young’s desperate off-key vocals and unrelenting guitar, ‘Last Dance’ - the final and longest track at nearly nine minutes - remains one of those unforgettable moments in the Young canon. Time Fades Away long remained the only officially released Neil Young album unavailable on CD until September 23rd, 2022, when it was finally released on that format.

By Trevor J. Leeden THE SPINNERS

AIN’T NO PRICE ON HAPPINESS Soul Music Records/Planet

MARK TINSON’S SURFCATS VOL.II: MOONGLOW Independent

DAVID McWILLIAMS REACHING FOR THE SUN Cherry Red/Planet

ELI ‘PAPERBOY’ REED HITS AND MISSES Yep Roc/Redeye/Planet

Being dropped by Motown was the best gift The Spinners ever received. Legendary producer Thom Bell heard what others didn’t; he signed the group to Atlantic Records, introduced lush strings, added sultry horns, turned up the seductive undertones, and The Spinners would define the Philadelphia Sound. This definitive 7-disc box set contains all eight Bell produced studio albums, all expanded and superbly remastered. One of the truly great soul hitmaking machines of the 70’s, The Spinners were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.

The second instalment of Newcastle icon Mark Tinson’s Surfcats instrumental outfit continues on from where its predecessor left off, irrepressibly riding the crest of a pulsating surf rock wave. Hanging five and trading twang-heavy licks with Tinson are fellow surf guitar legends Martin Cilia (The Atlantics) and Dave Russell (Ray Columbus & The Invaders), as well as local luminaries Brien McVernon and David Hinds. Two tracks recorded by 70’s glam rockers Rabbit have received an unlikely retrofit as foaming tremolo-benders, and Dave Thompson’s mariachi horn embellishes a brace of laid-back sunset gazers; surf’s up.

Managerial disillusionment (and a lack of financial reward) led to McWilliams temporarily stepping away from music in 1969, yet it shouldn’t have been that way. The Irish troubadour released three highly acclaimed folk albums (all in the space of eight months), notable for the heavily orchestrated string arrangements. Stylistically drawing upon Donovan, Dylan and Fred Neil, this is the first complete anthology of McWilliams’ recordings for Major Minor, including all three albums as well as stereo and mono versions of his signature tune, the magnificent “The Days Of Pearly Spencer”.

Retro-soul, vintage soul, blue-eyed soul, call it what you like, but any way you serve it the Massachusetts Rhythm & Blues/soul shouter is in a class of his own. This set consists primarily of songs previously released only as singles, and along the way he brilliantly transforms tunes from the likes of Steely Dan, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Hughes and…Motorhead! The Paperboy delivers in spades, ‘Ace Of Spades’ to be precise, recording several tracks in Muscle Shoals with the original Swampers. Seriously, what’s not to like.

THE THIRD MIND

STACKRIDGE

MARIA RAQUEL

STEEP CANYON RANGERS

MUCHA MUJER Chulo Records/Redeye/Planet

MORNING SHIFT Yep Roc/Redeye/Planet

The New York based Colombian’s debut album goes straight to the heart of Latin music. Recorded live to analog tape, Raquel is backed by a 16-piece ensemble featuring some of the genre’s finest practitioners, the ten originals provide a nostalgia-inspired trip into the world of Latin Cumbia and bolero. Irrepressibly pulsating up-tempo Cumbias are entwined in the sensual seductivity of the boleros, Raquel’s smoky alto simmers with fire and passion, reminiscent of the classic singers of the past like Celia Cruz and La Lupe; a genuinely mesmerising debut.

Fourteen albums in and the brilliance of North Carolina’s redoubtable purveyors of bluegrass show no sign of waning. Indeed, each new album sees them expanding their traditional roots to new progressive horizons, and Morning Shift is no exception. Producer Darrell Scott flawlessly steers the ship, allowing the band members to expand their sonic palette whilst keeping one foot grounded in their Appalachian folk heritage; there’s even room for bagpipes on ‘Ghost Of Glasgow’. Expanded to 6-piece with the addition of new guitarist/vocalist Aaron Burdett, the Rangers remain a force to be reckoned with. 55

THE THIRD MIND 2 Yep Roc/Redeye/Planet

MR. MICK Esoteric/Planet

After the unadulterated success of their first foray into blues-folk-psychedelia infused improvisations, it was only logical that this unlikely star-spangled quintet would re-enter the studio. Sticking to the same formula, a handful of under-the-radar songs from the likes of Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield’s Electric Flag, Fred Neil, The Jaynetts (‘Sally Go Round The Roses’), and Gene Clark’s ‘Why Not Your Baby’ are all given a mind expanding facelift, Dave Alvin’s incendiary lead guitar licks sharing centre stage with Jesse Sykes’ haunting vocals.

Stackridge’s fifth and final album of the 70’s was, even for them, slightly eccentric. The concept was typically obtuse; Mr. Mick was a story written by children’s book author Steve Augarde, to be delivered as spoken word interspersed with musical interludes written by Stackridge. Initially rejected by their record label, the album was heavily edited. This 2-disc expanded edition pairs the final released version with the original album in its entirety, a concept album about “an elderly man who frequents a dump and drifts in and out of reality”. Pure Stackridge!

By Christopher Hollow

FOLK IMPLOSION

WHITNEY K

THE PARTICLES

Domino If truth be told, Kids is not a film I need to see again. It was a bleak verité take on teenagers in New York City that introduced us to writer Harmony Korine and actors Chloë Sevigny and Rosario Dawson back in 1995. But turns out, the soundtrack, which I did love, absolutely stands up. It was dominated by Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh) and John Davis as the Folk Implosion. I always loved the name Folk Implosion, a great pisstake on the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion but one that proved just as energising and instructive. Now, nearly 30 years later, comes Music for Kids, which expands the Folk Implosions contributions. One thing that sticks out: the gleeful use of samples. For the unexpected breakout US Top 40 hit, ‘Natural One’, they used The Left Banke’s ‘I Haven’t Got the Nerve’ and for ‘Wet Stuff’ you can hear Erik Satie’s ‘Gnossienne No. 1’. Meanwhile, the mad minute rush of ‘Daddy Never Understood’, with its hyper handclaps, hits just as hard as it did back when Paul Keating was prime minister.

Maple Death Are live albums even a thing anymore? There was a time when a concert record was a jewel in the crown of any worthwhile act. I would posit, in this Pro-Tools age, with every release put together in such a digital-fine-tooth-comb way, that live albums have never been more important. (This idea is with the knowledge that many old great live albums were patched over, dressed up and doctored). Anyway, when listening to Whitney K’s last album, 2021s Two Years, I did wonder how great the songs contained would sound live? Enter Vivi! and they do sound outstanding. FYI, Whitney K is the pseudonym for Canadian Konner Whitney, and this is recorded live in Montreal with the band well-drilled and free. New track, ‘Dire Straits’, has the easy feeling of its namesake, the thin wild mercury anthem ‘Trans-Canada Oil Boom Blues’ is a fitting finale, but the showstopper is ‘Maryland’ and whilst I’ve never been to Maryland, and the likelihood that I will ever go seems very remote, I’d be happy for that song to soundtrack my time in Maryland. It sounds like America in miniature. Well, the kind of America via Canadian aesthetics that I love.

Chapter “Arranging background music to a bunch of drunks?” That’s the killer line from the Oz cult classic, Coolangatta Gold, that references Australia’s pub rock culture from the late 70s, early 80s. it’s safe to say Sydney band, The Particles, got destroyed playing their creatively haywire music in the great beer barns of yesteryear. I’ve got a theory that Australian audiences/bands are locked into a perennial party set list that always starts hot, maybe has an energy dip somewhere in the middle and must finish hotter than a blazing pistol. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a country band, an indie band, a cover band, a punk band or any other. Everyone does variations on this tried-and-tested formula, and it helps if you’re The Angels. But what if your band had a velvet touch? Played quieter, more sensitive music but still had to brave the taverns? I first heard The Particles on the 2001 Chapter Music compilation, Can’t Stop It: Australian Post-Punk 1978-82. ‘Apricot’s Dream’ was the best song contained, so quiet and compelling. The band released three EPs and a handful of compilation tracks before splitting in the mid-80s. They’re all gathered here.

MUSIC FOR KIDS

VIVI!

1980S BUBBLEGUM

By Chris Familton

he acoustic guitar has been a mainstay of popular music through a myriad of genres over the last 150+ years. Through folk, country, blues, jazz and classical music it’s persisted and provided the soundtrack for generations of players, from the back porch to concert halls, juke joints to folk clubs. One particular strand that emerged in the 1950s was termed American primitive guitar, a derivative of country blues fingerpicking that was developed initially by John Fahey, who incorporated non-traditional melodic and harmonic elements and took influence from both classical and Indian music. In the 21st century, the style has enjoyed renewed popularity through players such as Jack Rose, William Tyler, Jim O’Rourke, James Blackshaw and Gwenifer Raymond. Here in Australia, we have some local exponents of the form who have carved out their own niche in the primitive guitar realm, most recently Darren D.C Cross, and relative newcomer Levi J. Burr. Cross came to fame in the 90s as one third of indie electro-rock group Gerling before expanding his talents into the E.L.F, Jep and Dep and a solo career that has swerved from singer-songwriter material to electronic excursions. While he’s still occasionally releasing experimental rock records, for now he seems intent on continuing to establish himself as an auteur of the six-string acoustic guitar. Cross’ brand new fourth instalment of instrumental fingerpicked compositions is Wizrad, which continues his clever run album titles – Ecstatic Racquet, Terabithian and HotWire The Lay-Low. From the opening recording of a curious neighbour across the back fence, we’re led into a wildly evocative collection of pieces that intoxicate, hypnotise and invigorate with an independent spirit and restless creativity. You can trace a real arc in the technical development of Cross’ playing since the album Ecstatic Racquet in 2019. Those compositions were simpler and based around singular ideas

whereas Wizrad is a step into whirling dervish playing where he creates the illusion of multiple instruments with cascading, overlapping melodies, delivering a serotonin rush to the listener. Technically he’s taken another leap forward, sounding more relaxed yet more urgently inspired to thrill the listener, but never for the sake of showing off. ‘A Harebrained Adventure of An Amateur Shaman’ is a great example of how Cross establishes a rhythmic drone and then flies in all manner of stepping patterns and darting runs of notes, while still maintaining that initial central undercurrent to the piece, even as the song gallops to a pulse-quickening climax. “Brumby Revisited’ does the same while embarking on supremely melodic and exquisitely levitational passages. There’s a wonderful lyrical quality to Cross’ playing which combines mood and melody. That combination of note selection and harmonic interplay forges a feeling of melancholy, nostalgia, sadness, excitement and blissed-out reverie at various times. What really impresses is how he is able to guide and shape his compositions into places that avoid cliched new age or hippie peace jams. At times there are referential hints to the tunings and cool swerves of underground rock bands like Sonic Youth, which add to the compelling nature of Cross’ playing. Cross still casts a nod to his more cosmic and psychedelic side with the hazed-out vapour trails of ‘New Page’ and closer ‘The Astral Plane’, which are more akin to the ambient, gravityfree drift of GAS or Eno. ‘Pathway To The Oboe Guitarist’ combines the digitally processed avant-garde with the acoustic instrument, like a machine trying to replicate the human form. As a result, Wizrad conjures up both the untamed Australian landscape and the contemporary suburban experience, an impressive feat for an instrumental record. Another resident of the Western suburbs of Sydney is Levi J. Burr, accomplished guitarist

who takes a more traditional approach to his finger-picked compositions on his debut album Another Domino Map. D.C Cross makes an appearance on one track and Burr also calls on the considerable pedal steel talents of international guests Chuck Johnson, B.J. Cole and Will Van Horn plus local player JyPerry Banks, to add a more cosmic twang and ambient Americana feel to his work. ‘The South Western’ appealingly approaches country music with its elements of twang, while ‘Ego Daze’ utilises soft cymbal washes and “Vested Over’ delights with a backdrop of bird song. ‘In Christ There Is No Inner West’ resembles more of a traditional folk song, or even sea shanty of the English or Irish kind, yet another example of the subtle diversity in Burr’s repertoire – a key ingredient in ensuring the listener stays engaged and inspired. The Cole-featuring ’Magpie Drop’ employs percussion as the pair engage in a playful dance with each other before the song drifts to a rewarding close. Burr leaves us with the album title-track, another example of the dynamic, holistic and creative playing across the album, that feels physical and intellectual, both in its creation and the resulting effect on the listener.

By Steve Bell

WILCO

COUSIN dBpm/Sony

S outfit Wilco has been around for 30 years now and the current inveterate six-piece line-up - which came together in 2004 has been a constant for nearly two decades, in the process forming a bond and simpatico as friends and musicians which has helped elevate them to the position of widespread adulation that they currently enjoy. They spent years shaking off the Americana tag they’d earned via their trenchant (and pioneering) alt-country roots to position themselves as purveyors of refined indie rock, one of the most dexterous and adaptable bands of the modern era. Amidst the lockdown mayhem of 2022 Wilco released their 12th album Cruel Country, the double-LP an overt quest to return to those altcountry roots that they’d worked so hard to shed, so - given that the band’s front man and chief songwriter Jeff Tweedy is creatively restless by nature - it’s no surprise that the follow-up Cousin is a return to the more subtly experimental bent of their fertile mid-career period. One notable change is that Tweedy has ceded complete control of production for the first time in the band’s career, roping in Welsh art-pop singer Cate Le Bon (who’s worked in similar roles with acts including Devendra Banhart, John Grant and Kurt Vile) to take the reins in the studio. No such outsider has shared Wilco production credits since John Scott co-produced 2009’s Wilco (The Album), but nobody has had such major studio influence on the band since Jim O’Rourke sprinkled magic dust on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) and A Ghost Is Born (2004). And while Cruel Country found the band reveling in the simple postlockdown pleasure of human interaction by playing live in a room together, for Cousin Le Bon has opted for almost the diametrically opposite approach - recording all of the instruments separately in isolation then piecing it all together post-fact - almost the musical equivalent of a trust fall. The result is a densely layered collection of predominantly mid-tempo songs which slowly unveil themselves fully over repeated listens, featuring untraditional arrangements and unorthodox approaches which - despite the detachment inherent in the recording process marry together to bring a tangible warmth to proceedings (despite the sometimes cold or seemingly detached veneer). Lyrically - as with the predecessor - Tweedy seems bewildered with the state of modern society, although many songs have a more personal bent as they pick apart and analyse the fracturing of a romantic relationship. ‘Infinite Surprise’ opens on an adventurous note, featuring abstract echo-laden guitars softly slathered with distortion and pummelling strings, climaxing with sharply crackling static, Tweedy as inscrutable as ever with his lyricism (“It’s good to be alive/It’s good to know we die”). The album’s most overtly political moment comes with ‘Ten Dead’, tackling the inanity of US gun violence with a numb countenance or disconnect atop a strangely beguiling string arrangement, before the

gently meandering ‘Levee’ finds Tweedy making a plea for emotional help from a loved one (“Why worry about the wind and the rain/When I know it comes from within”). Mellow, acoustic-driven lead single ‘Evicted’ is another paean to lost love, favouring a mostly upbeat vibe as Tweedy pours out his heart (“I’m evicted/From your heart/I deserve it”), while the beautiful ‘Sunlight Ends’ - which rides atop an off-kilter drum machine beat - is conversely an ode to the complexities of a love in full bloom, the sparse arrangements gradually filling with intricate noodling and shading as the song progresses and builds. Despite gorgeous instrumentation ‘A Bowl And A Pudding’ dives deeper into melancholia (“How long this night is going to be/And the one you love is not me”), the title track ‘Cousin’ seeming almost chipper in comparison with its choppy, upbeat vibe. The quiet ‘Pittsburgh’ is where Le Bon’s production shines the brightest, the sonically separated instrumentation spellbinding in the way it intertwines and interacts before dissonant guitars push briefly to the forefront. Melodic strumming, a twangy guitar solo and Tweedy’s almost happy-sounding vocals help make ‘Soldier Child’ the album’s most accessible moment from a musical vantage point, although in the finest country tradition they too mask deceptively dark lyrics (“So good to see you/To see you again/I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to feel this pain”). Final track ‘Meant To Be’ bring things home on a note of positivity after Tweedy’s earlier streaks of doubt and gnashing of teeth, favouring an almost playful arrangement as the album closes lyrically with the hopeful sentiment, “And I still believe you’re the only one/Our love is meant to be/It is to me”. Throughout it seems the band members have sacrificed individual flair in the interest of overall aesthetic, with guitar virtuoso Nels Cline and avant-garde drummer Glenn Kotchke both reining in their wilder tendencies to best serve the songs, although musicians of their calibre can trigger beauty and profundity with the subtlest of embellishments. ‘Cousin’ is overall a gorgeous album, albeit one that requires an element of personal investment to bring out its true essence - not just in terms of giving it repeated spins but perhaps paying it your undivided attention at nighttime or listening intently on headphones but such effort will no doubt prove a rewarding sacrifice. Another fine addition to the Wilco canon. 59

By Brian Wise

THE ROLLING STONES

HACKNEY DIAMONDS UMA

here’s good news and there’s better news! The good news first. This is definitely the best Rolling Stones album since Steel Wheels in 1989 and comes within shouting distance of Tattoo You in 1981 if not quite that good. The better news is that incredibly at least 10 of the 12 mostly original songs here could go into the band’s touring set and feel right at home. (I can’t believe I have written that!) To say that Hackney Diamonds - with its appalling cover that seems to be AI generated but bears some relation to the meaning of the title - exceeds our wildest expectations is not saying much. I doubt if most peoples’ expectations of an album of new songs from the Stones were very high in the first place; however, this album’s collection is far better and more focused than so many of their other efforts that it makes you wonder how it could possibly have taken the band 18 years to get around to a new album. Blue & Lonesome in 2016 answered the prayers of many long-time fans with its dozen blues interpretations and at least got the band back to its roots. But it was never going to be enough for Mick Jagger who for some reason seems to want to prove that a 60-year-old band can mix it with a much younger generation. I am not sure that Hackney Diamonds will win over any new fans, but it will certainly shore up the old-timers and drag back some stragglers. If your old uncle is going to turn up to a family 21st party and mix with the kids he wants to make sure that his wig or hair dye is not obvious, his shirt is tucked in, and he is not going to keel over after the first beer. When it came to a new Stones’ album, I would have been more than happy to have a Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos one. But Uncles Mick, Keith and Ronnie somehow pull this off without even coming near to embarrassing themselves. Was it a danger using the word ‘hackney’ in the title when it could have so easily been employed to describe the music? Thankfully, for the most part not. The band’s reputation could also have been shattered like the glass on the streets of London after a smash and grab. But long-time fans will now have something to celebrate rather than create a raft of excuses. You may ask yourself, to paraphrase David Byrne in ‘Once In A Lifetime’, how did they get here? Or why did they get here? Good questions. Like Dylan, McCartney, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Marianne Faithfull, Neil Young, Patti Smith and others of their ilk the drive to 60

create recordings and tour must be strong after you’ve been doing it for more than five decades. The drive to prove that you are still the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band must be even stronger, especially when you know you couldn’t possibly have that much longer to go. Obviously, there will be a huge money-raking tour behind this release and for the first time the band will have a number of new songs that people might actually listen to in concert. It was interesting to hear Sir Paul McCartney recently joking that fans didn’t want to hear any of his new songs, but he was going to play them anyway (and most of them were pretty good). Keith Richards certainly won’t have to cringe when the new material is showcased. I suspect a lot of the credit for the success of the new album must go to 33-year-old producer Andrew Watt who has worked with various generations of musicians from Britney Spears and Elton John to Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and Eddie Vedder. I don’t know what instructions Watt might have been given by Messrs Jagger and Richards but I suspect that he immersed himself in the Stones earlier classic albums from the late ‘60s/early ‘70s and figured out a template for what a great contemporary Rolling Stones album should sound like. Possibly the first thing he did was to insist that the album be no more than 12 songs and he probably thought that was two too many. At least three of the band’s albums in the late '90s and early 2000s were way too long. The sound here is massive and modern but it still sounds like a rock band in there somewhere. Watt, who is credited on some songs and also plays bass, has already won one Grammy as Producer of The Year in 2019. It wouldn’t surprise me if he won another for this album. He has managed to distil the essence of the band and create something that they haven’t been able to do for decades – a fine album. So, what do we get? Songs with immediately recognisable Keith Richards riffs: ‘Angry’ (the first single with its terrible video clip),

‘Get Close’ and ‘Driving Me Hard’ (echoing ‘Tumbling Dice’). A huge, orchestrated ballad for Jagger to sing on ‘Depending On You,’ with Benmont Tench on keyboards and organ. An infectious dance hit in ‘Mess It Up’, one of two tracks featuring Charlie Watts and way better than ‘Emotional Rescue’ in 1980 or ‘Miss You’, which I hated, from 1978. A huge hit single in another era. There’s the gospel infused song in ‘Sweet Sound of Heaven’ with Stevie Wonder on keys and Lady Gaga as surrogate Venetta Fields a la ‘Shine A Light’ on Exile On Main Street. An all too brief classic Keith Richards’ ballad in ‘Tell Me Straight’ on which he sings ‘is my future all in the past?’ A great country-tinged ballad in ‘Dreamy Skies’ (another terrible title by the way) in the vein of ‘Sweet Virginia’ - it even mentions Hank Williams in case you didn’t get the country inflection. Listen to it a few times and it starts sounding like a classic. There’s even a punk raver in ‘Bite My Head Off’ featuring bass from Sir Paul while the tune is a direct borrowing of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Liar’. Add a driving modern rocker in ‘Whole Wide World’ which references the subject of the album’s title with Mick singing like Johnny Rotten just to ram home the Sex Pistols reference and more energetically than you can believe. Pretty good guv’? Not so good is ‘Live By The Sword’ - with Bill Wyman guesting on bass, Elton John on keys and Don Was on additional production - which has dubious lyrics but a great guitar solo. To finish off, there is the blues classic in Muddy Waters’ ‘Rolling Stone Blues’ which gave the band their name in the first place– and I wonder if there is a message in the fact that it bookends the album. Of course, the lyrics on Hackney Diamonds are basic (or hackneyed), and they mainly deal with interpersonal relationships, conflict that you think they might have sorted out by now and found something different to write about. Mick and Keith obviously haven’t spent the last 18 years reading the classics. I’m pretty certain that Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass isn’t on their bookshelves. At least they did

tackle some broader subjects in recent years on a few singles. Here ‘Dreamy Skies’ explores an escape from the rat race and ‘Sweet Sound of Heaven’ has a vaguely religious undercurrent. But hey, this is rock ‘n’ roll not Shakespeare, what do you want from the Rolling Stones, a philosophy lesson? Mick and Keith will never win the Nobel Prize for Literature! In the end all the guests are a nice touch but probably superfluous. The key players are still Keith and Ronnie Wood on guitars and drummer Steve Jordan while Mick Jagger sounds so amazing at the age of 8o that it is difficult to believe that he wasn’t using Autotune or some sort of computer processing (AI?). (If he isn’t then we all need to be taking whatever he is having). I have checked a video of the recent album launch at a New York club and Mick sounds slightly more like a senior citizen but still astonishingly energetic. I have to say that I approached this album with my cynic’s hat on amidst the avalanche of publicity which included a host of interviews and early rave reviews. Could the album possibly be as good as it was being suggested? It is. I have now listened to this album more than I have listened to any of the Stones’ previous albums since 1981, with the exception of Blue & Lonesome, combined. If this marked a full stop in the band’s recording career then it would be a fitting, if not great, place to end. After all, how many bands are making great rock ‘n’ roll albums anymore? AC/DC and…….? Finally, when I recently saw Paul McCartney in his fabulous show, I was awestruck by the fact that more than 60 years after his first recording he was still recording and touring. Then I considered that Dylan and Van Morrison are also touring at present and Joni Mitchell has recently made a comeback to performance. It feels good that we can be positive about a new album from what surely is the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band while it is still around to celebrate. As Keith says, let’s hope our future is not behind us. 61

By Bernard Zuel

GLEN HANSARD

ALL THAT WAS EAST IS WEST OF ME NOW Anti-

ntensity isn’t new for Glen Hansard, nor particularly noteworthy. Let’s be honest, intensity is a base-line measure for the Irishman whether the songs are solo, romantic, argumentative or philosophical, and the measuring of difference is in degrees. And just to be clear, intensity in this context has little to nothing to do with volume, or for that matter anger or force. I’m talking about the depth of feeling and the grip it has on performance and then in the hearing. So, when I say that this new album has a compelling power, a kind of focused internal energy within its quietest moments and something physically greater still in its rockier ones, that at times burns both its deliverer and its listener, I’m not pissing about and neither is Hansard. Does this necessarily make the album better? That is more open to debate. What is not in question is that with a full electric band, including several members of his alma mater, The Frames, Hansard has made an album that on a number of tracks hits harder than he has for some time. Since the last Frames album, really.

‘The Feast Of St John’ drenches its stern tempo – the snare snapping shut like a slammed door; the bass almost dragging behind like a reluctant younger brother – with sheets of aggravated guitars that build defensive steps like an early Pearl Jam song. But that tempo doesn’t change, doesn’t relieve. When Hansard sings “Oh like birds of bad weather/Oh here they come/Oh may they all fall together/Oh monsters begone “, we could mistake it for a lashing out, an attack, his roughening voice some call to action before the countering brute of a guitar solo. But wait. Even more so, ‘Down On Our Knees’, which opens with piano and a vibrating beyond the horizon that resolves itself into a febrile post-punk bass, becomes an ever thickening collation of guitars and synthesisers and cello and piano, all pushing Hansard’s voice forward and then upwards to remain in the lead. He lists some kind of apocalyptic catalogue of ills and declaims, appropriately biblically, “We’ll all go down on our knees, won’t we?/Eventually”. Hellfire. Damnation. But wait. In a whiplash moment, this storming opening double gives way to acoustic guitar and voice, to piano and upright bass, to ‘No Mountain’, a song which as it expands its arrangement to include mandolin, drums and strings, opens its arms to high mountains gospel and Celtic soul. And it opens its arms to succour, Hansard noting, even as “the thunder came roaring in and cut me down to size”, even as he accepts that “there’s no doubt blues is running the game”, that a unity of purpose and support can push back. “You said ‘no, there is no mountain great or small you can’t climb’,” he sings, and he believes enough. God or friendship? Love or solidarity? It doesn’t matter which you choose to hear in that but it is there, and it was there are also in the preceding tracks, you realise. ‘The Feast Of St John’ in retrospect 62

reads more like a shout back at the despair that might lead someone to take their own way out and leave a “lover attending and her arms all around/And her anger and her ire and her blood raging full”. The rage of ‘Down On Our Knees’, the cry to “Throw your alms to heaven, throw your arms round me/Throw your alms to heaven, die for what we believe”, may yet be an antidote to futility. This is where things, on the surface, turn. Barring one more full-band rock song later, (the gruff, pointed, ‘Bearing Witness’), the album pulls back to Van Morrison-like folk and piano-led intimacies, to murmured ballads in sometimes tense strings and low-burbling electronics. To songs where the voices of Ruth and Amelia O’Mahony-Brady feel elemental, tangible, or the theremin of ‘Via Mardot’ feels ephemeral but yet visible. However, beneath that surface, Hansard’s resolve throbs harder, more clearly exposed in the absence of sonic “intensity”, and more clearly the fruit of some hard experience and earned wisdom as captured in the album’s title which reflects the passage of time and the assumed knowledge that has passed. Everywhere there seems to be a fight to pull someone back from abandonment or present an alternative argument to those who have watched someone give in and go. Nothing is minor and nothing can be overlooked. In ‘Short Life’, which carries some connection to his work with Marketa Irglova in Once and Swell Season, as well as the more tortured gloaming of David Berman, in its mix of European cabaret and country bar, Hansard approaches once again the idea of time cut down early and the possibility/wisdom of doing all we can within that and seems to be reaching out. The uncertainty expressed by a friend in ‘Between Us There Is Music’, the question of whether to “crash and break and burn” as a measure of how others see us, is countered by strings on a gentle incline and a resolution that “perhaps there is a song … answers of our own” between us, and judgement cannot be left to judges because “it’s yours and only your concern”. These feelings are not slight or passing. Nor are the dilemmas easy. Within the Leonard Cohen-does-chanson ‘Sure As The Rain’, a slow waltz where strings replace accordion and David Hingerty’s drums sometimes feel barely there, the advice goes both ways: to a lover who doubted because love may have strayed, and the one who now recognises “the very best of everything is you … I have no thought for leaving no more”. But here too is something that goes beyond, that goes to the core of this record and its principal plea/argument. “Light luminescent, hold on somehow/Burn low if you have to, but don’t go out.”

By Ian McFarlane

SAND PEBBLES

THE ANTAGONIST Kasumuen / Career Records

am amazed that at 22 years and eight albums – one being a compilation – into their career, Melbourne-based psych rock mavericks Sand Pebbles are still making me scratch my head. Not in a bad or confused way, mind, more in a “Gee, I wasn’t expecting that” kind of way. It means that my ears are constantly on alert to hear where they’re taking me next. The Antagonist is assuredly Sand Pebbles music but where I might have expected to hear something akin to the mercurial strands of ‘Wild Season’, they give me the steady Velvet Underground meets Neu! beat of opening track ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’. Where I might have expected to hear something akin to the pulsating crash of their 12-minute space rock epic ‘Black Sun Ensemble’, they give me the diamond-tipped existential angst of the Richard Thomson meets Neil Young-like ‘Field of the Lord’. Guitarist / vocalist Andrew Tanner sings, “I’m afraid of death, no I won’t deny it / Every day it’s getting closer, creeping up behind me /

And all I can do to put it to the sword / Is to be at play in the field of the Lord”. In addition to Tanner – who divides his time between Sand Pebbles, The Silversound and The Woodland Hunters; he’s a busy fellow – the current line-up comprises longterm members Ben Michael X (guitar, who wrote the first half of the record including ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’ and ‘Field of the Lord’) and Christopher Hollow (bass; he cowrote the second half of the album, and we can’t forget his Rhythms contributions – see his Underwater is Where the Action Is column) with Gareth Skinner (cello, vocals), Leroy Cope (drums) and Malcolm McDowell (guitar, vocals). Guest players are Britta Phillips (from Luna, on backing vocals), Murray Ono Jamieson (soprano, tenor, baritone saxes, bass clarinet, drums), James Dean (organ, synth) and Kath Dohelguy (beats, bass), so the sound is full without being over-wrought. For example, ‘The Antagonist’ (another Ben Michael X song) is sparsely arranged but spectacularly creepy. Tanner whispers, “Your hands around my throat / Your hands wrapped around my throat / You’re killing me / Your hands wrapped around my throat / You’re kissing me”. ‘Sweet Tenderloin’ (by Ben Michael X again) tells a tale of stumbling around the seedy underbelly of a possible Sin City in search of a little action. It’s meant to be a bit of a

goof-off but it’s as funky as all get out. Not James Brown ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine’ funk, but white boy funk like the way The Doors’ ‘Peace Frog’ was super slinky and presaged almost the entire career of the Stone Roses. ‘Elemental Thing’ and ‘Self Talk’ come mid-stream while highlighting again that Sand Pebbles present their music cleanly and simply arranged. For me ‘Russian Ending’ – co-written by Hollow and McDowell – is the highlight of the set. It’s the mix of the Pink Floyd ‘Obscured by Clouds’ drone meets subtle Robert Fripp chord progressions, with the added delight of Britta Phillips’ guest vocals, which hooks me right in. (I probably should cease with the musical comparisons because the Sand Pebbles have a signature sound but it’s what I hear. The listener should make up their own mind about that.) Conceptually ‘Russian Ending’ might contain allusions to Russian literature (Crime and Punishment, The Master and Margurita, possibly) or the Russian invasion of Ukraine but as the band explains, they wrote the song before that conflict began. “But that will end in tears too. If only one of them could make a French exit” they further state, not unreasonably. To wrap up, all you need to know is that the Sand Pebbles, like any good entertainers, are here to amaze and entertain you. Are they pandering to a mass audience though? No, but get in on the right stuff while you can. 63

By Jeff Jenkins THE RONSON HANGUP

CENTAURUS Independent

CENTAUR OF ATTENTION The Ronson Hangup’s long-awaited second album is alive on arrival.

entaurus. It’s a great album title for a band that’s filled with stars. Out front is Steve Pinkerton, drummer in Dallas Crane and whose previous band, The Anyones, toured America with Jet. On guitar is Ashley Naylor, the ubiquitous, omnipresent human jukebox, who’s also a member of Even, The Church and Paul Kelly’s band. On drums is Dave Mudie from Courtney Barnett’s band. On bass is Luke Thomas, from Davey Lane’s band The Pictures. And on backing vocals is Erica Menting, who has also performed with The Golden Rail and Nick Batterham. Together, they are The Ronson Hangup, an indie rock supergroup named after Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson, who also co-produced ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ and played on John Mellencamp’s ‘Jack & Diane’. Sadly, Pinkerton never got to see his hero live: he died of liver cancer in 1993 when he was just 46. But the spirit of Ronson – the mix of heavy riffing and heavenly harmonies – lives on in this band. In Greek mythology, Centaurus is a creature that’s half-human, halfhorse. The Ronson vibe is half-Beatles, half-Zeppelin, as represented in the title track, “a daydream fantasy about finding an alternative place to live” as the earth self-destructs. “Leaving for Centaurus,” Pinkerton sings, “must be something for us.” Pinkerton admires Dallas Crane’s “clear vision” and “singular focus on power”, whereas “Ronson’s got a more confused vision, but I also like that we are an amalgam of five players”. He highlights Mudie’s drumming, “a mix of precision and looseness; he’s somewhere between Rush and Charlie Watts”. The album also features some stellar guests – classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan, jazz great Tony Gould, pedal steel player Shane Reilly, and Pinkerton’s sister Jane, a former member of Opera Australia. The band recorded half of the album with Sydney producer Wayne Connolly at Alberts Studio, working on a desk that helped create the early AC/DC sound. “We love that warm, old analogue sound … not that we’re tragically trapped in the past,” Pinkerton laughs. Michael Witheford, member of much-loved Tasmanian band The Fish John West Reject, recently released a memoir, Turn It Up!, in which he writes about Ash Naylor. “Early on, I realised that the guy had a gift and that whatever I could do, I couldn’t do what he did, and virtually nobody else could. Virtuosity and versatility, as well as modesty. Ash looks the same now as he did in 1994. I think there’s some sort of witchery going on.” Pinkerton is also in awe of his bandmate. “Ash is a maestro. He can make every dumb idea I have sound brilliant.”

The duo bonded when The Anyones and Even did a national tour in 2001. When they decided to start a band, their mate Ross McLennan, the singer in Snout, mentioned he’d always wanted to call a band the Ronson Hangup 2000 – after the hair dryer he’d noticed in hotels across the country. Coming 14 years after their self-titled debut, Centaurus assumed almost mythical status in the Melbourne music scene, like a local version of Chinese Democracy. But unlike the Guns N’ Roses LP, there were no feuds with record companies, legal dramas or budget blowouts. The delay was due to something a little less rock ’n’ roll – family. “I call it the child-rearing years,” Pinkerton smiles. “Your focus shifts when you have a family.” The kids are now grown up and The Ronson Hangup has grown into a family affair, with Pinkerton and Naylor’s sons often appearing live with the band, and James Pinkerton singing on two tracks on the album. With help from the next generation, Pinkerton is confident the next Ronson record won’t take 14 years, even though the members will continue to pursue other projects. “When we do manage to get together, it’s unadulterated fun,” says Pinkerton, who’s also made an album with Sports star Andrew Pendlebury, which will be released next year. “The Ronson Hangup is a celebration of the music and I hope that comes across on the record.” Centaurus is released on November 3.

PLAYING FAVOURITES Guitars are at the forefront of The Ronson Hangup. Aside from Ash Naylor and Andrew Pendlebury, who are Steve Pinkerton’s three favourite guitarists? Mick Taylor: Such a virtuoso and his lead breaks were so singable. He enhanced Keith Richards’ work with beautiful melody. Mick Ronson: The personification of ’70s rock: the merging of both melody and Les Paul-driven power. Johnny Marr: Also very melodic. Intricate, clever guitarpicking and chord structures.

By Bernard Zuel

TEDDY THOMPSON

MY LOVE OF COUNTRY Chalky Sounds

TEDDY THOMPSON

MY LOVE OF COUNTRY Chalky Sounds

Yes, just as it says on the tin. Breaking no new ground, nor claiming to; done with reverence rather than adventure, and proudly so, this is a record which reflects in every way Teddy Thompson’s love of country music. Old country music. 1950s and 1960s country music, principally. Music that leans into strings and sweet choirs, that sits most comfortably in ballads, that views heartache as life’s default setting and longing as its heartbeat. Music that would say with no irony “Imagine a world where no music was playing/Then think of a church with nobody praying.” Music Thompson says he grew up with, fell in love with and learned to play along with. Even if, or possibly because of – considering one of the songs here is written by a certain R. Thompson – he grew up with (separated) parents, Richard and Linda, best known for folk music, and British folk at that, not the fruit of Bakersfield and Nashville. Mixing aficionado selections alongside gold-plated standards, My Love Of Country plays it straight in every way. A lesser-known Dolly Parton, ‘Love And Learn’ – written by her uncle Bill Owens – begins with pedal steel (weeping, of course) upfront and mandolin (busy, as preferred) towards the back, piano in the corner and Aoife O’Donovan’s just below the horizon. Next to it is ‘A Satisfied Mind’, made quite famous by Porter “I discovered Dolly you know” Wagoner, with fiddle the plaintive echo to the sad-eyed vocals. Everything neat and in place. ‘I Fall To Pieces’ is brisk enough in its tempo to have couples take a turn across the dance floor but Thompson is halting enough in his phrasing to have the lonely turned back to their nursed drink. While Buck Owens’ ‘Cryin’ Time’, touched up with a bit of accordion to sit against the pedal steel and losing the strings Ray Charles had, brings in Rodney Crowell for underplayed harmonies that mimic the way the song underplays the bruised emotions.

Most of the instruments are played by producer David Mansfield, though bass player Byron Isaacs (part of the experienced rhythm section with drummer Charlie Drayton and pianist Jon Cowherd) is a lovely subtle influence. The glamour, if you will, comes in the backing vocalist/harmonisers who, apart from O’Donovan and Crowell, include Krystle Warren, Logan Ledger, and Vince Gill. It is Gill who bounces off Thompson in Randy Travis’ ‘Is It Still Over’, a fast-skipping spin through the youngest of the songs here. This kind of deep tribute to what these days is considered “classic country”, though for decades it was viewed as the syrupy, popinfluenced cleaning up of “real country”, is not uncommon at the moment. Joshua Headley and Charley Crockett are just two who have donned the suits and ties recently, mostly with original material but an eye for the covers too. And they made really enjoyable records that walked the line between soft route copy and refreshing the pool. (Incidentally, it may be accidental but doesn’t Thompson look like a not-as-high-hair version of Lyle Lovett on the cover?) So the issue for Thompson may be two-fold: is he any good; does he bring anything to the songs that make us see them in a different light? Refreshed even if not renewed? To the second question first: no. While a quality songwriter and thoughtful producer himself, Thompson never intended to do anything but respectful reinterpretations, and bar a tempo change or different instrument occasionally, that’s pretty much what we’ve got. Even the worn denim and scuffed boots take on Richard and Linda Thompson’s ‘I’ll Regret It All In The Morning’, takes its chances more in shadings than redesign. It’s a shame because these songs obviously have the potential to be re-moulded by an interpreter, but on the other hand, that is not what he set out to do. And the first question? Yes. He and this is good. Thompson’s voice is a charm, whether in the nasally pitch of ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’, the elegantly relaxed delivery of ‘You Don’t Know Me’, or the slightly fragile but still firmly held ‘Oh, What a Feeling’ (with Krystle Warren the vocal smoke around that microphone). As familiar as the arrangements are, they still work 30, 40 or 60 years on. It’s hard to dislike this record. After all, the songs are the songs are the songs, and Teddy Thomson knows that. Loves that. Just as it says on the tin. 65

By Michael George Smith

CLAYTON DOLEY

OPTIMISTIC Independent (available at Bandcamp)

he Sydney Blues Society’s Keyboards Player of the Year for the fifth year running, Clayton Doley has to be one of the busiest musicians in the country at the moment, the go-to sideman for both national acts – Jimmy Barnes in particular – and international ones, regularly touring North America with Harry Manx, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Joe Bonamassa among others. Then there’s been the Pacey, King & Doley project, and the Organ Trio with Ray Beadle and Andrew Dickeson. You have to wonder where he could get the time to write let alone cut an album bearing his own name. He talked to Michael George Smith about his latest album, Optimistic, his first “solo” album since 2015’s Bayou Billabong. “I’m always writing,” he admits. “I guess it was just timing really, with the COVID situation. I’ve actually already got enough stuff for another two albums ready to go. It’s big band, so it’s hard to get everyone together in the same room, the same State! Everyone’s off doing their own thing, on tours – everyone’s busy. The only way I can make it work is to have a big pool of band members and then you try and get who you can. So I just used the eleven most prepared songs I had at the time. Joining Doley for this outing are guitarists Ray Beadle, Franco Raggatt and Illya Szwec, trombonists James Greening and Mike Raper, trumpeter Jack Purdon, Matt Keegan and Steve Fitzmaurice on tenor and baritone saxes respectively, bass player Jan Bangma and drummer Jamie Cameron. The new album showcases Doley as not only “King of the Hammond” but something of a “King of the Rhyme”. “Thanks,” he chuckles. “I do work hard on the lyrics.” Those lyrics manage to cover pretty much every aspect of that curious collection of contradictions that go by the name of relationships. “It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, that’s for sure,” he laughs. “That ‘Petrified Mess’ for instance, that’s the classic femme fatale story. It was fun to write those lyrics. I was almost a bit too scared to write them down just in case – you never know how far to go. It could be in the ‘Cancel Culture’, it could be the end of me. I sort of made it funny to get away with it I think – hopefully.” With Optimistic, Doley also stretches out beyond the strict New Orleans Blues piano tradition, bringing in ska, reggae and even salsa with a dash of the classic James Bond theme in the song ‘Cruel Reminder’. “That’s another one I was wondering if I’d gone too far! I’m just waiting to get sued by John Barry, the composer of that theme. I was actually listening to a version of ‘Sonny’, the classic I guess you’d call it jazz standard – classic pop song really. It’s one of the most recorded songs ever and I thought I actually want to write a song like that, where every chorus goes up a semi-tone. So that’s where the idea started and it somehow ended up with a bit of a James Bond feeling about it. And I wanted it to be one of those ‘why is the world great when you’re not feeling great’ kind of songs, like that Nancy Sinatra song ‘End of the World’.”

“When I was writing ‘Love and Warmth’, it was like a ballad I suppose, but it just had that optimistic feel about it. For some reason it had a sort Caribbean feel to it. I was imagining a sort of slow Bob Dylan guitar strum conveying a happy message. So it just seemed to work, taking it into reggae. The other reggae song, ‘Stay with Me Tonight’ is actually a really old song from a band I was with almost thirty years ago called Papa Lips (with guitarists Mitchell and Kara Grainger) – Kara sang it. Once I started working with a horn section, I started revisiting some of the old songs ‘cos they sounded so powerful with the horns, so I decided to record it. Where I was going with ‘Optimistic’, I was just trying to channel Mose Allison because I like the wit, the humour – it’s just an ironic way of writing your message down.” That horn section also allows Doley to explore the soul/R&B side of things, on ‘Bad Decisions’ and ‘Scorched Earth’. “My aim with that one was a little genre crossing I tried – Memphis Soul meets New Orleans second line, with some James Brown stinging guitar, where ‘Bad Decisions’ was an attempt at being a bit more Motown. I mean, you go in and try and copy your heroes and then the result ends up being your own personal stamp, even if you don’t try very hard to do that. It still sounds like me I think, even though I’m just copying the greats.” Delivering those stinging blues licks is Ray Beadle, across five of the songs, while Franco Raggatt covers the other six, with Illya Szwec across the whole album. “The idea with the three players was to have that counter-line, sort of how James Brown or Fela Kuti sympathetic lines that work together. Illya’s a very respectful kind of guitar player. He’s really good at staying out of the way. When you need him to step up and go crazy, he’s there, so he was the perfect choice. He’s also very skilled at the reggae stuff, and the other two guitar players are the icing. Ray does the blistering guitar solos on the blues songs and Franco does the really tasteful soundscapes, works with delays and things like that. So they all complement each other.” Optimistic was recorded live in Sydney’s EMI Studios 301 over two days, in the classic way most of the original blues and jazz albums were back in the day, allowing the players to interact “in the moment” and thereby creating a really exciting and honest sonic document. It also matched the availabilities better, so James Greening was in laying down his trombone parts one day, and Mike Raper was in the next. “We didn’t really work out the solos,” Doley admits. “Because we were all in the room together, and everybody was playing live, the solos worked out organically. There’s a feeling that you get when you’re following the soloist which just doesn’t happen with an overdub.”

By Bernard Zuel

TERRA LIGHTFOOT

HEALING POWER Midnight Choir

ust after midnight in Vancouver, back at her temporary base after a show in the city’s fabled Commodore Ballroom (“It was a huge rock ‘n’ roll show.”) Canadian guitarist and commanding soul/rock singer, Terra Lightfoot is looking surprisingly perky and even more surprisingly amused. She’s just been told that her new album, Healing Power, starts with a song that has me picturing her with asymmetric hair, a bank of synths behind her and everyone around her doing that classic ‘80s big armswinging dance. No hiding it, ‘Cross Border Lovers’, is such a big burst of pop, almost acrylic and practically beaming in day-glo. “It sounds funny now to think of it, but I wrote it on a beautiful lake. My neighbours have this beautiful cottage and it was in the middle of the summer and I had of couple of days at home and I said can I go to your cottage and sit on the porch and see what happens? And that song was one of those ones that happens really quickly, and it was immediately something,” Lightfoot says. “I came home, and I played it for my husband and he said, oh yeah, that’s something. And he’s a songwriter too … so I got this very nice affirmation. Then with the production [with her old producer Gus Van Gogh] I said, ‘you wanna go 80s? Let’s do it!’, So we plugged in a Jazz Chorus [amplifier] and it was all over.” After that exuberant opening, on the next song, I Need You Tonight, she sings “Can’t get enough of you, you’re the kind of man I need by my side”. Ok, we’re only two tracks in, but we could even think she is happy. Like, really happy. “Oh my God!” Lightfoot chuckles. “It’s possible. It’s funny because I wrote ‘Cross Border Lovers’ for two other couples, so I thought, but my partner is not Canadian, decidedly, and obviously I realised that it is about us too. So, there is a certain level of happiness [on the album] and ‘I Need You Tonight’ is an unapologetic torch song to him. Yeah, it does feel nice. I am happy.” This sort of thing could catch on. Musician happy. Musician writing happy songs about being happy. Musician happily living a good life. “I spent so many years on the road with nobody at home, nothing to come back to. I just felt totally disconnected in some ways. Being with Jon for the past five years or something [saw her realise] that’s a solid base to jump from. And to me that means everything,” Lightfoot says. “It enables me to go out in the world and do my thing and feel

connected to something. That’s what I really needed. It’s not for everybody but for me it has changed how I work, how I do everything.” The supposed ideal of the travelling musician is that they are deliberately without ties and always looking to where they go next, but even ye olde troubadours find they like having a centre, a base, someone on the end of the line or someone there when they get home. It shouldn’t surprise that it makes such a difference. But then for Lightfoot, this newfound place has given her “a musical and creative jumping off point”, going past the happy love story to something wider and deeper, to friendships and death, but with something more than grief. “With this record too, I had the luxury to write about people not being around anymore. Which I had written about on the last record but now there is a sense of, yes that person is not around anymore but we are, and we should be so grateful that we are,” says Lightfoot, adding with a wry laugh. “There’s a track that I thought was a love song and I showed it to my husband, and he was like, this is a song about death, I’m sorry.” It’s more than a song about death, it’s also a song about how people who matter are honoured by us going on and being better people ourselves, being to others what they were to us. “Yeah, like just being grateful to be with someone in this moment, in this day.”

By Michael George Smith LES THOMAS

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE SUPERSTARS Independent (lesthomasmusic.bandcamp.com)

t’s been ten years since Melbourne singer-songwriter Les Thomas released his debut album, Survivor’s Tale, but he hasn’t been idle, what with recording singles that he’s been putting up on his Bandcamp page and running his Unpaved Songwriter Sessions. Throw in an international pandemic and the economics of life as an unsigned independent artist, but the wait is finally over with the release of second album All My Friends Are Superstars. Michael George Smith asks the questions. “We’re living in a time where singles are more and more part of the music economy,” he explains, “so I’ve been putting out round about a single a year. But I’ve been constantly writing in that time. Recording an album is an enormous financial undertaking so it wasn’t something I was willing to rush at all and being an independent artist, I really do rely on the support of those who follow my work. The singles that came out in the interim, a number of the songs were commissioned. ‘Freedom Fighters’ and ‘Guantanamo Blues’ for example, they were things I was privileged just to be approached. ‘Song for Justin Townes Earle’ is another one, where I felt moved to express my feelings at the time. ‘The Great Betrayal (Rojava)’ is the most viral thing I’ve ever done because it just found a place among the Kurdish diaspora at a time when the whole world was kind of looking away. I’ve just tried to honestly respond to the world around me, followed my instincts and my heart.” Unlike those singles from Thomas or songs on Survivor’s Tale, the focus of those on All My Friends Are Superstars is much more on the interior experience – the politics of the personal and of relationships. “I’ve always really admired and respected artists that cover all of the aspects of life; the inside and the outside. I think we are complete, rounded human beings so I wouldn’t want to just present one side of where I’m coming from. If you like people like Steve Earle or Billy Bragg, they do reserve the right to write the occasional love song,” he chuckles. “For me the personal is political and vice versa.” That said, there’s always a broader subtext in even the songs that appear to be simple personal observations. For instance, the album opens with a tune titled ‘Man on Fire’, with the protagonist in a sense apologising for having once been “the angry young man”. “For me it’s story about transforming, going through the kind of torment of very intense activism and literally losing the plot, losing my mental health and the emotions and need for recovery that flowed on from that. I’m always going to be a passionate person but if I’m going to live a purposeful and effective life I can’t really afford to just completely burn out. I still do have a fire in the belly but it’s one that’s hopefully contained! It can nurture and warm rather than consume.” There are of course other stories Thomas tells that aren’t necessarily drawn from his own experiences. Take ‘The Ghost of Melbourne City’. “That was written during Lockdown when I was fantasising about travelling to other parts of the world. I’ve never visited New York City, but I thought I’d just write a song set in New York looking back on its gangster history. My wife came home, and I presented it to her and she said ‘What the fuck are you doing talking about New York? You live in Melbourne!’ She had a point, so I quickly converted it to talking about Melbourne’s own criminal history and the gang wars between Squizzy Taylor and Snowy Cutmore. When we’re talking about ghosts,

we’re talking about unresolved matters on this terrestrial plain, and I think that’s always been really powerful in so many songs. I also wanted to create, in the instrumentation and recording of ‘The Ghost of Melbourne City’ a really full world within a world kind of soundscape, something Stephen Grady and I really enjoyed piecing together.” Grady is better known as one half of The Ahern Brothers and All My Friends Are Superstars is his first foray into production. “I met Stephen through organising the tribute for Justin Townes Earle and his family after his sad death from an accidental overdose in 2020. I spoke to Chris Ahearn, Justin’s Australian publicist about the show and Chris said, ‘You need to involve Stephen,’ which of course I did. He’s got an incredible voice and he’s a great musician. Unfortunately, a short while after that show he broke a foot playing touch football, but he said, ‘Hey, I don’t really have much I can do at the moment but if you want to look at maybe recording some stuff, come around,’ which I did. I don’t think he quite realised at the time what he was getting into, but a year later we had a whole album.” Among the players Grady brought into the project were pedal steel player Jy-Perry Banks, drummer Justin Olsson and, on strings, Jason Bunn, moonlighting from Australian Chamber Orchestra. Thomas discovered the extraordinary Cekari Greenwood. “I found her after a good old search around the Internet, listening to samples. She’s an LAbased session artist and I was really excited to include a great Gospel singer who helped with the backing vocals and arrangements. She just took it to a much higher level.” The song on which she features is ‘Bring Down Babylon’. “History and mythology I think really occupy a lot of my imagination. We have these concepts about mythological places, like Babylon representing greed and oppression, the sort of things that Bob Marley and so many in the Rastafarian tradition sang about. It’s a really, really different song for me because it does come from a sort of political space but also a spiritual one. I see music itself as being such an important means to sort of elevate ourselves above the mundane and give us a sense of spiritual sustenance to keep going in a world that is fundamentally unjust in so many ways. So that’s really the point to me of a song like ‘Bring down Babylon’.”

ALBUMS: General ERNEST AINES

SPIRAL BOUND Independent

The myth is that it was rock’n’roll that brought revolution to the youngsters of the 1960s, but the truth is it was folk music, and it’s folk music in all its contemporary variations, embracing as it does everything from Americana to string music that still presents us with the deeper truths of our lives, and Aines is a true contemporary master of the form. It’s there in his simple, delicate melodies that can quietly deliver the most incisive lyrical “bombs”. Take this line for instance, “Men are a cone of silence/wrapped up in strings of violence” from ‘I Won’t Take Your Honesty Away’. It cuts right to the core of all too many relationships. No wonder Tom Paxton bailed him up backstage at a gig, shook him and said, “Never stop doing this, you are incredible!” In terms of genres, across the ten songs on this remarkable debut album Aines has managed to weave elements of everyone from Peter Gabriel to Donovan to Art Garfunkel in a sonic tapestry that is just breathtaking. ‘Lady In Waiting’ is folk/madrigal/ Gabriel-era Genesis/Fortheringay/ Fairport/Steeleye all wrapped up in wonderfulness. From spare to sumptuous, delicate to anthemic, Spiral Bound deserves to be heard. Aines may be Australian but he has created something universal, borderless and timeless. MICHAEL GEORGE SMITH

JO JO SMITH

HERE’S TO YOU Independent

Press play on the aptly titled ‘Smooth Ride’, track one on Jo Jo Smith’s new album, and you could easily believe you’re listening to Bonnie Raitt. Smith’s sound simply oozes class. I was turned onto Smith’s work by Rhythms’ Billy Pinnell, who stumbled across her in a Melbourne pub, heard her singing ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and was instantly hooked. Billy believes Smith – who grew up in New Zealand and moved to Australia in the mid-’70s – is one of the finest soul singers he’s ever heard. And he’s not her only high-profile fan. The late great Renée Geyer declared: “Jo Jo has been an inspiration to myself and many other musicians in Australia for many years. She truly sings from the heart.” And Ella Hooper showcased Smith’s voice on her recent solo album, Small Town Temple. But Jo Jo Smith is not as wellknown as she deserves to be. This album – her first in nine years and just her fifth solo offering – sees her gather songs from friends and fellow musicians, including Lucie Thorne, Carl Pannuzzo, Laura Nobel, Aaron West, Rick Fenn, producer Greg Lyon and engineer Paul Cheeseman. And there’s a quality cover of Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon’. Everything sounds so effortless and assured. Yep, here’s to you, Jo Jo Smith. You might not be a household name, but you’re on regular rotation in my house. JEFF JENKINS

JULIAN TAYLOR

ROSS WILSON

Howling Turtle, Inc./ Warner Music/ADA

Bloodlines

ANTHOLOGY Vol. 1

You may not be familiar with Toronto-based singer-songwriter Julian Taylor. In fact, the Canadian, of West Indian and Mohawk descent, boasts a vast back catalogue of award-winning releases over the past two decades. This 18-track retrospective is an ideal introduction to Taylor for new listeners. Starting out in alt-rock band Staggered Crossing, Taylor went on to form the Julian Taylor Band. Now in high demand on live stages, his solo work blends a melting pot of roots influences. Three newly recorded songs include ‘Long Time Ago’, washed in a sunny Tom Petty feel. ‘Carefree’ is the first lyric heard. Indeed, Taylor’s rich effortless vocals and uplifting words convey a warm and carefree atmosphere. Even darker tracks shine melodic light on twisted folk tales. His most recent solo LPs followed an Americana bent. The Western patina of ‘Georgia Moon’ sees a bandit in a ‘55 Chevy Impala being chased up a highway, running free. With songs initially formed on piano or acoustic guitar, some have grown to encompass subtle touches of country-folk, blues and soul. Lonesome slide echoes the hard times story of ‘City Song’. A familiar lament: “Had no money so I sold my guitar.” ‘Zero To Eleven’ (2014) introduces a driving funk vibe. The rolling rhythm of ‘Seeds’ – a duet with Carson Gray - is accompanied by violin. Horns, organ and rocking beats garnish other tracks. But at the heart of the whole, is Taylor’s tender and vivid portrayal of love, adventure and human struggles. From sweeping natural landscapes to urban alleyways, he paints vibrant portraits of people and places. Sorrow fades into hope. Nature offers the promise of elementary delight. Named 2022’s best male artist in the International Acoustic Music Awards, Julian Taylor makes music that’s a freewheeling balm for the ears and the soul. With his prolific writing and recording history, Volume 2 should follow before too long. CHRIS LAMBIE

SHE’S STUCK ON FACEBOOK ALL THE TIME EP

All too often when people talk about the blues, there’s this assumption that it’s all about someone, usually your girl/mistress/wife has “done me wrong” or some such scenario that’s left me down and broken-hearted. The reality of course that throughout the history of the blues, apart from the obvious sexual innuendoes that rock’n’roll inherited, there’s always been massive amount of tongue-in-cheek and self-deprecating humour in play, and that’s the seam of the blues Ross Wilson mined in Daddy Cool 50 years ago and returns to once again in this all too brief shuffle round the coffee table, at least on the first of these first four new songs from him in 13 years. According to the title track of this EP, in this third decade of the 21st century, the girl/mistress/ wife’s crime is spending too much time on social media rather than “catering” to the needs of her “lovin’ man” – remember to keep that tongue firmly in cheek. Matt Taylor and Chain should give it their Oz Blues treatment. The intent in ‘Desolation Blues’ is a little more serious, replete as it is in references to the tragedy that was and, God forbid, might again be Trump’s America. ‘No Fool Quite like Me’ is in more traditional “she done me wrong” chugging blues territory with some “shoo-waa” pop embellishments, while ‘Housewife in a floral Dress’ is pure ‘love lost’ slow pop balladry, and gently nostalgic. All up, as a taster of where Ross Wilson’s muse is sitting in the 2020s, bring on the full album as soon as possible. MICHAEL GEORGE SMITH

ALBUMS: General ASHLEY NAYLOR SOUNDTRACKS VOLUME 2 El Reno

Does this guy ever sleep? After an American tour with The Church, shows with Paul Kelly, Even and the RocKwiz Orkestra, a new album with The Ronson Hangup, and playing on the recent record by Fanny Lumsden, Ashley Naylor has somehow managed to make a new solo album, a collection of instrumentals called Soundtracks Volume 2, the sequel to 2020’s Volume 1. “I’m just a lucky guy, really,” Naylor reflected recently. It’s hard to fathom that a guitar god can be so down to earth and modest. But he is. And he’s more than happy to let his guitar do all the talking. And talk it does. The 8.50-minute opening cut, ‘Spaceship’, starts with a groove. Naylor remains locked into that groove for the duration of the song, working his hypnotic magic as the track builds. It’s a remarkable scene-setter. The guitarist initially planned to call the second song after his partner, but when she nixed the idea, he turned it into a homage to Les Paul – ‘Les Paul Waltz’, which he recorded on his 2013 Les Paul Traditional.

NIGEL WEARNE THE RECKONING nigelwearne.bandcamp.com nigelwearen.bandcamp.com

Naylor’s “guitarsenal” for this record also includes an Indonesian Squier Strat, a Mexican Tele, and he played ‘South Fremantle’ on Dom Mariani’s Maton acoustic. The different instruments bring distinct flavours to each of the eight tracks, while Naylor dips his lid to some of his guitar heroes, including Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton, and the Allman Brothers’ Dickey Betts, as well as American composer and producer David Axelrod. And Parliament-Funkadelic’s lead guitarist Eddie Hazel is name-checked in the title of two tracks – ‘Hazel’ and ‘Hazel Returns’. There are no vocals; Naylor can make his instrument sing. His guitar lines are dripping with melody. And he has a wonderful description of instrumental music: “It can be background music, or it can be a complete assault on the senses, and I want it to be all of those things.” So, if this record was the soundtrack to an actual movie, what sort of movie would it be? A cosmic sci-fi fantasy? A riotous road trip? An action thriller? A seaside romance? A crime caper? Soundtracks Volume 2 could be all of those things. Choose your own adventure. Ashley Naylor – the human jukebox – can play anything. JEFF JENKINS

The Reckoning is the third album for Victorian guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Nigel Wearne. With the 11 songs ranging from blues, jazz and soul styles, the record is tailor made for fans of Tom Waits as it utilises a similar sonic pallet that incorporates Hammond organ, reeds, horns and Wearne’s own smoky barroom croon. Opener ‘Choir of the Done Wrong’ is one of the albums more up-tempo moments, complete with fire and brimstone lyrics that recall Nick Cave at his most religiously fervent. First single ‘Black Behind the Blue’ is a blues shuffle with a New Orleans jazz feel. The Tom Waits similarities comes through most strongly on ‘A Moment Too Soon’, a drunken rumba with hints of jazz and mariachi, and the title track. ‘The Reckoning’ features sneering vocals and surf guitar that sounds like its being played underwater very much in the style of long-time Waits associate Marc Ribot. The album is produced by Wearne with assistance from composer, arranger and musician Aurélien Tomasi. For me the highlight of the album is ‘To the Edge’, a duet with Yorkshire singer-songwriter Lauren Housley. An ominous torch song with Morriconeesque horns than reminds me of The Delines at their more soulful. Nigel has had a busy year – apart from releasing this new album he’s toured the US three times, the UK twice and played a bunch of festivals including MerleFest in North Carolina, the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK and the Old Settler’s Music Festival near Austin, Texas. Australian fans can get a chance to experience The Reckoning live when he plays The Port Fairy Folk Festival 2024. NICK CORR

ALBUMS: General CAITLIN HARNETT & THE PONY BOYS ALL NIGHT LONG Spunk Records

PERRY KEYES BLACK & WHITE TOWN EH Records

DAN BRODIE THE BALLAD OF COWBOY DAN INDEPENDENT

nigelwearen.bandcamp.com

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Sydney’s Caitlin Harnett released her first band album with The Pony Boys, but in fact three years have passed. In the meantime, through a pandemic, Harnett’s career has gone from strength to strength, becoming an in demand live act across the country and scoring some impressive international supports for the likes of Charley Crockett and Orville Peck. The good news is that her success hasn’t distracted from writing another superb batch of songs and capturing the spirit, verve and heartstring swerves of them in these rich and organic recordings. This time around the band sound even more relaxed and in the pocket, allowing space for melodies to unfurl, repeat and evolve as Harnett narrates the soundtrack to one’s rebuild after climbing out of a dissolving relationship. Brilliant horns (on ‘Can’t Have It All’) and an enhanced swing in the band’s sound adds both weight and sweet relief when needed. At times there’s the wooziness of a Mac DeMarco or Kurt Vile (‘Lil Ripper’), Crazy Horse meets Mazzy Starlike dream pop (‘Only Dreaming’), 70s West Coast perfection (‘Sidelines’), pure and infectious pop moments (‘Even Cowgirls Cry’), heartbreaking odes to lost friends (‘Max’s Song’) and plenty of soulful Americana. A wider sonic palette with a greater focus on space, tone and texture, a balance of lushness and grit and Harnett’s intoxicating melancholic ache and twang combine with absolutely world class songwriting right across All Night Long. A strong contender for Australian alt-country album of the year. CHRIS FAMILTON

‘Last Night In Redfern Park’ sets the scene perfectly as the opening track tumbles out of the speakers. With the urgency of life in the inner city and the the bruises and exultant times that comes with that lifestyle, Keyes sets a lofty standard out of the gate and not unexpectedly he more than matches it across the nine songs that follow. Across his previous five albums, Keyes has carved out a commanding catalogue of songs that dissect Australian society, particularly in Sydney, unflinchingly chronicling the lives of its inhabitants. He’s without doubt one of this country’s most underrated songwriters. Keyes is a poet as much as a musician and singer. His words describe vivid and moving scenes and vignettes. He doesn’t attempt to paint a rosy picture, instead he sharpens his lens takes off the filer and zooms in. In his own words, “These are stories of displacement, anarchy, homelessness and of people trying to hang onto each other in the face of what’s happening on the hard streets of the inner-city right now.” You can hear the influence of Reed, Dylan, Springsteen and Strummer in these songs, which possess a poetic and emotional impact similar to lyricists such as Willy Vlautin and James McMurtry. Musically, producer and musician Michael Carpenter has perfectly captured the passion and dynamic sonic range required to convey the weight of Keyes’ words. Songs such as ‘Cracker Night’, ‘Down On My Street’ and ‘Streets of a Black & White Town’ are particular highlights but really there’s zero filler on this landmark Australian album. CHRIS FAMILTON .

The Stuart Highway runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia and its northern starting point is the home of songwriter David Garnham, who has penned this concept album of sorts. The songs take in the geography, lifestyle and characters that populate and travel the NT section of the highway. Calling on a number of guest singers, Garnham and band have created a kind of sonic documentary of the region, with tales of coffee days and red wine nights, truck stops, servos, pubs and on ‘Ilbilgini Agiyabarda (When the Water Goes Down)’ (feat. Stuart Joel Nuggett) the critical matter of fracking in the Beetaloo Basin. ‘If I Never’, co-written with the mayor of Tennant Creek is a brilliant, dark and moody swamp rock tale, ‘TFC’ is sweet and swaying country rock, ‘Blue Sky Blues’ equates the highway to escaping failed love and a full choir (The Choir of Men) are utilised to great effect on the rousing sing-along ‘Beer and Nicotine’. This is the country music of red dirt and melting bitumen, parched tongues and hardy souls. Garnham and band bring to life a part of Australia that many know little about and they do it with an alt-country palette that serves the varied songs perfectly. This isn’t a travel show, this is real life in all its poetic glory. CHRIS FAMILTON

ALBUMS: Blues BY AL HENSLEY BOB CORRITORE & FRIENDS

COCO MONTOYA

HIGH RISE BLUES

WRITING ON THE WALL

VizzTone/Red Eye Distribution

Alligator/Only Blues Music

There seems to be no end to the array of historic blues material collected in the vaults of harmonica player/producer Bob Corritore, a long-time Phoenix, Arizona transplant from Chicago. This entry in Corritore’s series of archival releases presents 14 previously unreleased sides by some of the all-time great Chicago blues artists, recorded between 1992 and 2002 during visits to Phoenix for appearances in his blues club The Rhythm Room. What makes this one so special is that all but two of the featured performers have long since departed this world. Corritore’s weighty harp is the thread that binds together each cut, a revolving door of expert musicians on guitar, piano, bass and drums providing ballast in the rhythm section. Widely influential singing guitarists Jimmy Rogers, Magic Slim, Luther Tucker, Eddie Taylor Jr., John Primer, John Brim, Bo Diddley, Eddy Clearwater and Lil’ Ed Williams provide powerful doses of traditional Windy City blues. Likewise, pianist/vocalist Pinetop Perkins, singing drummers Sam Lay and Chico Chism and Chicago’s acknowledged queen of the blues vocalist Koko Taylor epitomise the genre. Hearing something new from legendary inspirational figures such as these will delight blues followers.

For his 12th title in a solo career spanning nearly three decades, left-handed guitar virtuoso and heartfelt singer Coco Montoya brings his own road-tested quartet into the studio for the first time. The result is an eclectic 13-song set of smoking originals and incendiary covers of Bobby Bland’s stop-time soul blues ‘You Got Me (Where You Want Me)’, Lonnie Mack’s scorching slow burner ‘Stop’ and one by British rocker Andy Fraser. Montoya co-wrote four tunes including the call-andresponse shuffle ‘Baby, You’re A Drag’ where he trades stinging licks and hard-hitting vocals with session guest Ronnie Baker Brooks. Among four selections by songwriter Dave Steen are the Chicago bluesinspired ‘I Was Wrong’, ‘The Three Kings And Me’ reflecting the Texas blues tradition of T-Bone Walker, and the R&B stand-out ‘Save It For The Last Fool’. While contemporary blues predominates, it is just one colour of Montoya’s broad musical palette stretching from soul ballads and material with pronounced rock influences to the zydeco-inflected doubleclutchin’ rhythm of the album’s title song. Four years since his last studio release, this recording, again produced by award-winner Tony Braunagel, sees the West Coast bluesman still in top form.

MIKE BOURNE BAND Featuring Johnny Burgin

MIKE MORGAN & THE CRAWL

CRUISIN’ KANSAS CITY

THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN DALLAS

Blue Heart

M.C. Records/Only Blues Music

Much like New Orleans, Kansas City was a melting pot of jazz and blues music styles that played a large part in influencing what would become R&B and rock’n’roll in the 1950s. Guitar playing singer/songwriter Mike Bourne returned to the Missouri border city where he grew up and formed his band Kansas City Boogie after extended stints playing in Chicago and Atlanta. In a tribute to his hometown’s distinguished musical heritage and the late night gigs where he forged his own sound in the city’s famous 18th and Vine district clubs, Bourne recorded this album of 13 original songs. Backed by his full band and special guests including former Chicago blues guitarist Johnny Burgin, Bourne honours Kansas City legends like Jay McShann and Big Joe Turner on the swinging instrumental title tune opener and its jump blues follow-up ‘Lose Your Rings, Keep Your Fingers’. Bourne’s fullthroated vocals and excellent fretwork slice cleanly across the beat as he takes his cue from his Chicago blues bag for ‘Golden Rule’ and ‘Hollow Man’. From sweaty funk to rollicking blues grooves and horn-laden classic R&B Bourne keeps the city’s celebrated music legacy alive.

Since he took over as lead singer in his band in 2000 Texas guitar slinger Mike Morgan’s convincing vocal talents have become as impressive as his dazzling fretboard prowess. This release is Morgan’s welcome return to the fold after a 15 year hiatus when he quit a career of just under three decades recording and touring to work a day job in a Dallas motorcycle dealership. Playing part time around his hometown on weekends has kept Morgan’s formidable playing skills in check as he excels in both performance and songwriting here. While Morgan is first and foremost an exponent of the South West blues tradition, his originals diversify into various strands of Texas music including roadhouse rock-a-billy, soul, funk, Tex-Mex and ballads. One of Morgan’s songs pays homage to his inspiration the late Louisiana swamp blues artist Lazy Lester. The only non-originals are Lester’s ‘A Woman’, Robert Nighthawk’s ‘Going Down To Eli’s’ and Jerry McCain’s good time rocker ‘Ding Dong Daddy’. Producer/guitarist Anson Funderburgh sits in with the foot-stompin’ trio and brings in fellow Texas axeman Shawn Pittman alongside other guests on keys, horns and vocal backup.

72 Available now at rhythms.com.au Available now at rhythms.com.au Got The Blues - Linda Bull, Factory - Sal Kimber, Miss YouRed - Simon Bailey, Salt IOf The Earth - Dan Lethbridge, SilverGirl Train - Nick Barker, Little Rooster SaltMiller, Of TheStar Earth - Dan Lethbridge, - Nick Barker, Little Red Rooster Loretta Star - Justin Garner. Silver BonusTrain Track: Midnight Rambler by Nick Barker, Loretta Miller, Star Star Justin Garner. Bonus Track: Midnight Rambler by Nick Barker, recorded live at the Caravan Music Club. recorded live at the Caravan Music Club.

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ALBUMS: World Music Folk BY TONY HILLIER NANO STERN CANTA A VICTOR JARA Independent

MOKOOMBA TUSONA Outhere Records

SOEMA MONTENEGRO CIRCULO RADIANTE Mais Um

SANGIT OOROO Riverboat

This year marks 50 years since the military junta in Chile, while usurping the country’s democratically elected government of the time, brutally extinguished the legendary singer-songwriter Víctor Jara. No 21st century Chilean is better qualified to celebrate the troubadour and humanitarian’s career than Nano Stern, who’s widely recognised as the keeper of the Nueva Canción (New Chilean Song) flame ignited by Jara. The young maestro renders a selection of his hero’s impressive back catalogue, from Jara’s first composition ‘Paloma Quiero Contarte’ to his most popular number ‘Te Recuerdo Amanda’ and final posthumously released recordings. Stern sings achingly sad songs such as ‘Lo Único Que Tengo’ and ‘Luchin’ with characteristic tenderness and passion, showing his virtuosity on acoustic guitar throughout, especially so in his transposition of the Andean-accented charango instrumental ‘La Partida’.

Although Mokoomba might be regarded as Zimbabwe’s most celebrated modern music export, the band’s first album in six years arguably consolidates its claims as a pan-African champion. Bolstered by the backing of a Ghanaian highlife brass section, alongside its own dancing soukous-accented guitars and keyboards, Mokoomba offers a melange of funky dance grooves, influenced by West, Southern, East and Central African rhythms, in some half-a-dozen languages — plus the odd a cappella harmony song — supplemented by three upbeat new renditions of numbers from their 2017 album Luyando. Lead singer Mathias Muzaza’s soaring and soulful voice is comparable to that of Afro-pop greats such as Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour.

The seductive singing and thoughtprovoking songs of Argentinian Soema Montenegro, who’s been tagged the “shaman-poet”, cast a spell in this, her spiritually charged fifth full-length album. Channelling chant-like sounds that echo the traditions of ancestral communities and cosmology, her voice mesmerises above a variety of South American folk rhythms, backed by a combination of electro-oriented music and more organic pipes, stringed instruments and percussion. ‘Punay’, based on a traditional Andean Altiplano rhythm and featuring oompah brass, the more up-tempo carnival-esque ‘San Pedro’, the bullish ‘Toro’ and the contrastingly gentle ballad ‘Viente Norte’ are among the highlights of what is a uniformly impressive set.

IDRISSA SOUMAORO DIRÉ Mieruba

CATRIN FINCH & AOIFE NÍ BHRIAIN DOUBLE YOU Bendigedig

With his latest enterprise, Israeli composer, producer and multiinstrumentalist Sangit strikes an admirable balance between modern musical multicultural trends and the preservation of traditions. In Ooroo, a select guest list of songstresses from around the globe interprets the heartfelt lyrics of Israeli composer Noa Golan in their native languages. The contributors include such well-established international performers as Yasmin Levy, who has helped ignite interest in Jewish Ladino music traditions around the world, and the West African Grammy Award winner Dobet Gnahoré. But it’s the powerhouse singing of such as Mali’s young soul siren Sadio Sidibé, Spanish cantaora Sheila Quero and the Brazilian diva Mariene de Castro, who performed at the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics, which impresses most.

YAMANDU COSTA & DOMINGO EL COLORAO DE VIDA Y VUELTA Brasil Calling

Those who witnessed his stunning performances at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival back in the noughties will know that Yamandu Costa, a 7-string guitar player from the deep south of Brazil, is a veritable maestro. So, too, is his partner-in-rhyme here, Domingo El Colorao, a traditional musician from Fuerteventura who plays timple — a small ukulele-like five stringed instrument. Their duo album is a dynamic celebration of the relationship between the music of the Canary Islands and Latin America (specifically Venezuelan, Argentinian, Paraguayan and Brazilan). As such, it’s a unique transatlantic integration.

He might not be widely known outside of his native Mali, but singer-songwriter Idrissa Soumaoro is highly regarded in his West African homeland, where he was a member of the legendary Bamako band Les Ambassadeurs (alongside Salif Keita) and collaborated with the similarly deified Ali Farka Touré on a track that figured in the soundtrack to the blockbuster US movie Black Panther. Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam fame contributes a guitar track to the punchy afro-pop piece ‘Yélé’’, one of the best cuts on Soumaoro’s new solo album, along with the bluesy organ suffused ‘Kalata’, which the singer delivers in lower register, and the desert blues flavoured ‘Sally’. On the debit side, the riff in the Afro-Cuban-infused ‘Idjdja’ is a tad too close to ‘Guantanamera’ for comfort.

Here’s an organic partnership that bridges the Irish Sea. Linking the Celtic music of the celebrated Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, whose collaborations with West African kora player Seckou Keita have wowed punters and critics alike, and the lauded Irish traditional violinist, Aoife Ní Bhriain, it draws in equal parts on the pair’s background as classical players and their on-going fascination with folk. A set that features all single word titles starting with the letter ‘W’ peaks with ‘Wish’, a cleverly contrived combination of Welsh classic ‘The Ash Grove’ and the 17th century Eire favourite ‘Give Me Your Hand’. Elsewhere, this well-matched female duo drops quotes from Bach and Mendelssohn while morphing from major to minor keys.

DUDU TASSA & JONNY GREENWOOD JARAK QARIBAK World Circuit

Radiohead guitar gun Jonny Greenwood’s thirst for musical adventure beyond avantgarde Brit-rock continues in a fascinating dialogue with Israeli bandleader, producer and musician Dudu Tassa and a strong support crew, to extend the sonic boundaries of the modern Middle Eastern songbook. Enlisting a range of Arabic vocalists ensures the integrity of a selection of love songs from Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Morocco while allowing the intrepid Greenwood considerable elasticity. The singers’ Arabic maqam (melodic modes) and microtonal scales fuse seamlessly with the guitarist’s blues-based riffs and Western harmonics and Tassa’s simpatico synth beds. 74

STUART COUPE PRESENTS ANGE BOXALL

Debuting at #1 on the ARIA Country Charts and #7 for all Australian Albums, is Tasmanian Songstress, Ange Boxall’s, newest release.This is a beautifully crafted album of 11 songs, each with a story to tell. These are not your typical female ‘noughtys’ throw away pop, they are honed lyrics that have been deeply thought about with compositions that have been meticulously worked. It all sounds cohesive and more-ish. This is good old-fashioned song writing with the power of the old LP where you want to listen from start to finish. Ange Boxall, has performed, written, recorded, and released albums throughout the USA, UK, Europe and Australia. She hails from the serene but wild beaches of eastern Tasmania and for over a decade was based between London and Nashville. She has co-written, recorded and performed with worldrenowned songwriters and musicians, including J.D. Souther of Eagles and Linda Ronstadt fame, multiGrammy Award winner Jim Lauderdale, and the late Bones Hillman of Australia’s own Midnight Oil. Made up of 11 original Americana, Folk-Pop-Rock songs, the album has tension and authentic honesty. https://www.angeboxall.com

CJ CUMMERFORD & THE SUPERTONES

DAVE WELLS

CJ Commerford & The Supertones are back, this time with some energetic chaos in soul/rock form with their brand new single ‘Money Ain’t No Thing’. Recorded in a batch of three at LMC studios tucked away in Melbournes south-east suburbs in Cheltenham, the band continue to refine their sound with what CJ claims are some of the best written tunes in his 10 years of composing. The good word of the Supertones is gaining traction reflected in their continuous shows as the opening act for iconic australian music legends Ross Wilson, The Black Sorrows, Russell Morris, Brian Cadd, Taxiride, Relax With Max & The Badloves and more. CJ and the gang are set to release the single at ‘The Night Cat’ in Fitzroy on Friday October 27th Tickets are available via their website, or via the venus website. Come see what all the fuss is about! Visit: cjsupertones.com

The tea leaves tell us that this will be a big year for Wells, who has been quietly making music with world-renowned producer and engineer Nick DiDia (Pearl Jam, Something For Kate, Powderfinger) at his prestigious Byron Bay studio. There’s whispers of a dark, acoustic record that tips its hat to sonically sparse recordings like Bruce Springsteen’s seminal Nebraska. “It felt more like a creative collaboration rather than trying to relinquish creative control”, Wells says. “We took a live, simplistic approach that focused purely on the uniqueness, emotive character and sonic delivery of each song.” There’s no question that Wells’ storytelling tackles grand themes, situations and characters that speak to the very essence of our shared humanity, always painted in succinct empathetic strokes. It takes a musical talent with the range and depth of Wells’ to do such stories justice. The new singles include ‘Hey Mate’, ‘Ella’ and ‘Wandering Boy’. All of which, can be found on a limited-edition vinyl album release. Visit: https://www.davewellslive.com

COREY LEGGE

ANOUSHA VICTOIRE

Anousha Victoire is a weaver of everyday dreams, stitching together folk influenced melodies with bell-over-water clarity of vocal tone. The introspective singer-songwriter blends delicate ideas with a heart-aching immediacy. Her new EP release ‘Embers of the Night’ is the follow up to her full length album ‘Precious Things’, released in 2020 under the shadow of a bushfire summer and a global pandemic. The new EP, produced by Gareth Hudson, while still focused around her trademark guitar style and distinctive vocals, delivers a breadth of moods helped by lush string layers, gentle harmonies, pared back rhythm and tight storytelling. From the gentle road trip nostalgia-fest Mole Creek, to the pulsing climate change anthem ‘Phoenix Rising’, to the beauty of a sensory child finding ease dancing alone under a night sky moon by the sea in the title track, Embers of the Night delivers mature songwriting, accomplished production and an emotional journey. https://anoushavictoire.bandcamp.com

‘IF WE HAD OUR TIME AGAIN’

DOG TRUMPET

‘Friday Nights’ is the first single from Corey Legge’s forthcoming 4th studio album and is one of the catchiest releases yet from the Bega-born, Wollongong-based singer-songwriter. Recorded with producer Nash Chambers and co-produced by Syd Green, this alt-country/rock track reminisces on good times with good company around the campfire. In signature Corey Legge style, this track seamlessly mixes driving rhythms and classy guitar licks with melancholy lyrics to deliver one hell of a punch. Earlier in 2023 Corey toured Europe, with solo shows in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. To launch the ‘Friday Nights’ single and film clip Corey has just toured NSW and WA, with stand-out performances at the West Australian Guitar Festival ‘Strings Attached’. Corey will be performing at Tamworth Country Music Festival in January 2024. Fans can expect further single releases throughout early 2024, leading up to the release of Corey’s 4th studio album in mid-2024. For upcoming shows, CD’s and merchandise visit www.coreylegge.com

Dog Trumpet is spearheaded by brothers Peter O’Doherty and Reg Mombassa, original members of iconic Aria award winning and Hall of Fame band Mental As Anything. They are touring their new album Shadowland featuring: ‘Nina Simone’, ‘Fucking Idiots’, ‘The Ballad of Clayton Looby’, ‘Shadowland’ and ‘No More Travelling’. They will be showcasing the new album Shadowland along with Dog Trumpet and Mentals favourites. Tickets: www.dogtrumpet.net/gigs Performing at Brunswick Ballroom Matinee show Saturday 4th Nov 2023 Archies Creek Hotel Sunday 5th Nov 2023 w/special guests Jonny Goes To Church feat. Jon Von Goes & Celia Church Dog Trumpet: www.dogtrumpet.net

ALBUMS: Vinyl BY STEVE BELL WILLIE NELSON

THE LUCKSMITHS

Rhino/Atlantic

Lost & Lonesome

PHASES AND STAGES

CLASSIC ‘70S COUNTRY As part of Atlantic Records’ 75th birthday celebrations they’ve reissued Willie Nelson’s classic 1974 album Phases And Stages, right on 50 years since the country icon recorded the album at Muscle Shoals Sound System with producer Jerry Wexler and legendary session band The Swampers. Nelson had been poached by Atlantic a couple of years earlier with the promise of more creative control, but his decision to record the album away from the country music capital Nashville - and make the first ever country album recorded at the Alabama studio famed for its high-class R&B recordings - caused much consternation at the label (to the point that the album was entirely re-recorded later in Nashville, those finished sessions only scrapped when a furious Wexler found out and sparked a messy scenario that cost numerous people their jobs). A concept album of sorts, Phases And Stages tells the story of a divorce from both sides - side one is written from the woman’s perspective, the flip-side from the man’s - accompanied by sparse, laidback arrangements and occasional strings which only serve to heighten the already visceral emotional intensity. Of the wife’s songs ‘Walkin’’ and ‘Pretend I Never Happened’ offer a brutally honest perspective, while from the man’s narratives the classic ‘Bloody Mary Morning’ and the painfully sad ‘I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone’ are standouts. It all seems remarkably free of contrivance for a concept album - although the ‘Phases and Stages (Theme)’ segueing between many of the tracks is perhaps redundant - the sad tales delivered with a conviction and authenticity that makes the listening experience a devastating one even 50 years down the track, no mean feat.

COLOURED BALLS

HAPPY SECRET

BALL POWER

‘90S INDIE-POP It’s the perfect time for Melbourne indie Lost & Lonesome (in conjunction with US label Matinée Recordings) to press the 1999 compilation Happy Secrets by beloved Melbourne indie-pop purveyors The Lucksmiths onto vinyl for the first ever time, because - as the collection’s subtitle ‘A Bunch Of Songs From 1998’ attests - it’s documenting a period precisely 25 years ago when this great band were rapidly approaching their creative peak. The trio had recently released their landmark fourth album A Good Kind Of Nervous (1997) on Candle Records, a startlingly great record which had really consolidated both their sound and songcraft and - on top of exponentially lifting their profile in Australia - had started earning the band what would soon be serious traction and attention from overseas. During 1998 The Lucksmiths toured Europe, North America and New Zealand (twice) and released two 7” EPs on foreign labels - as well as a smattering of recordings for various label compilations - which all came together on CD as Happy Secrets the following year. Despite this ad hoc genesis (and occasional lo-fi recording conditions, such as ‘Paper Planes’ which was recorded on a bedroom four-track) the ten tracks have always hung together well as an accurate representation of the band’s aesthetic at the time, chock full of their entrancingly witty lyricism and collectively upbeat disposition (although there are plenty of melancholy moments amongst the collection). At the time The Lucksmiths were poised on the verge of blossoming into the fertile period they enjoyed in the early years of the new millennium, but Happy Secrets tracks like ‘Untidy Towns’, ‘Southernmost’ and ‘The Art Of Cooking For Two’ remain among the most enduring moments of the band’s consistently excellent canon. Available on limited edition transparent blue or black vinyl.

OZ ROCK PIONEERS Although Coloured Balls are far from a household name, their incendiary 1973 debut studio album Ball Power (released on EMI at the time but now given a 50th anniversary vinyl reissue by US label Just Add Water) remains an incredibly influential moment in the evolution of Aussie rock’n’roll. Formed in Melbourne in 1972 by Brisbane-bred guitar legend Lobby Loyde - fresh from a fruitful stint alongside his old school friend Billy Thorpe in The Aztecs, after earlier coming to prominence in bands like The Purple Hearts and The Wild Cherries - the fourpiece favoured a brand of hyper-charged, high-octane boogie rock’n’roll quite unlike anything else happening at the time (either in Australia or further afield). Loyde’s frenetic axe-work combined wonderfully with that of fellow veteran rhythm guitarist Bobsy Millar - the pair perfectly underwritten by the powerful rhythm section of bassist John Miglans and drummer Trevor Young - the group’s chemistry obvious and undeniable. Ball Power’s songs veered from old-school blues-rock (‘Flash’, ‘Hey! What’s Your Name’) to raw, melodic porto-punk (‘Mama Don’t You Get Me Wrong’, ‘Won’t You Make Up Your Mind’) to proggy, psych-tinged epics (‘Human Being’, ‘That’s What Mama Said’), with a raucous rendition of the Jerry Lee Lewis staple ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’’ thrown in for good measure. This band of outsiders were tapping into something vital and real amongst the then-conservative scene, an energy soon being harnessed (in different ways) by bands such as AC/DC, The Saints and Radio Birdman. Importantly this pressing was sourced directly from the 1973 quarter-inch master tapes and the analogue rendering sounds fantastic, presumably as close to what Lobby and co. intended as we’ll ever get. 75

Just Add Water

ALBUMS: Jazz 1 BY DES COWLEY MIKE NOCK HEARING ABC Jazz, CD release

HELEN SVOBODA THE ODD RIVER Earshift Music, CD & digital release

VISIONS OF NAR DAUGHTER OF THE SEAS Earshift Music, CD & digital release

ADAM HALLIWELL FREEDOM LAPSE Elations Recordings, Vinyl & digital release

Hard to believe that Hearing represents pianist Mike Nock’s first solo outing since 1993’s Touch. At 82-years of age, with more than six decades of recorded work behind him, he has little left to prove. This late entry into his discography – entirely unexpected – feels almost like a gift, a summing up of sorts. The album’s brief opener ‘Prologue’, with its Satie-like minimalism, functions as an entry-point. It leads directly into ‘Sunrise’, a deeply lyrical and evocative piece, dripping with refined grace, that originally appeared on Nock’s first solo album Talisman (1978). There is a sense, with Hearing, that Nock is taking stock, addressing time’s passing, in particular the loss of friends. ‘Vale John’, elegiac in tone, is a moving tribute to drummer John Pochée, who died just days before these sessions, and whose absence contributes to the album’s undercurrent of yearning. It can be heard too in Nock’s ravishing version of his late friend, saxophonist Bernie McGann’s ‘Spirit Song’, a genuine classic of the Australian jazz songbook. Dotted throughout the album are to be found a series of brief improvised pieces, jewel-like miniatures demonstrating Nock’s boundless creativity. The album’s high watermark comes with Nock’s magisterial arrangement of Jonathan Zwartz’s ‘And in the Night Comes Rain’, its stark beauty literarily rends the heart. ‘Windows of Arquez’, which closes the album, is another homage, this time to late friend and composer Bryce Rohde, surely one of Australia’s great unsung jazz figures. With Hearing, Nock’s lyrical take on life’s fleetingness has resulted in a latecareer masterpiece.

The cover of The Odd River reveals Helen Svoboda’s eye peering out from a sea of darkness. It’s an enigmatic image that somehow captures the music contained within, awash as it is with otherness, strange lyrics, and oddball instrumentation. Melbournebased, Finnish-born Svoboda is something of a virtuoso, meshing double-bass prowess with vocals and composition. A self-avowed nature lover, she has displayed a penchant for writing songs about vegetables, even going so far as to record a solo album Vegetable Bass made up of vegetable-themed pieces. The Odd River grew out of her 2020 Freedman Jazz Fellowship, and has been conceived as both album, and film project with filmmaker Angus Kirby. Conceptually themed, it comprises eleven brief tracks, all composed (or co-composed) by Svoboda, totally some half-hour’s music. Seamlessly fabricated, it unfolds like an immersive experience, a testament to Svoboda’s sweeping vision and underlying quirkiness. Opener ‘Apple Choir’ is literally twenty-seven seconds of the sound of an apple being munched. It segues into ‘Pick Me’, fashioned from delicate arco bass, overlain with Svoboda’s ethereal voice, which shimmers and floats, evincing an uncommon purity. The breath-taking two-part ‘Blue’ finds Niran Dasika’s trumpet weaving, looping, dancing, as it mimics Svoboda’s fluttering voice. Throughout, Svoboda is joined by a stellar cast – including saxophonists Andrew Saragossi and Flora Carbo, pianists Erik Griswold and Joe O’Connor, percussionist Chloe Kim – whose delicate insertions lend vivid colouration and an ultra-fine veneer to this music. The Odd River is mysterious, radiant, and beautiful, sure-fire evidence of Svoboda’s extraordinary talents.

Visions of Nar is an exciting new project bringing together saxophonist Jeremy Rose, best known for his work with The Vampires, and Armenian pianist Zela Margossian, who has led her Sydney-based Quintet since 2017. This is a meeting that melds several traditions, from the ethno-jazz Margossian first heard when living and studying in Armenia, through to Rose’s avowed love of Balkan music and Afrobeat. They are joined on the album by renowned tabla player Bobby Singh; award-winning guitarist Hilary Geddes; and Kurdish percussionist Adem Yilmaz. The project came about via an ABC Fresh Start initiative, allowing Margossian the opportunity to explore her Armenian roots, in this case delving into the ancient mythology surrounding Nar, the goddess of water and ocean. For Rose, it provided the chance to dive headlong into Armenian melodies, integrating them into his own background in contemporary jazz. In many ways, it’s an album forged from contrasting elements: Geddes’ intense electric soundscapes fused with Singh’s rhythmic beats; Armenian folk mashed with contemporary classical. As the title suggests, there’s a visionary quality to this music, an expansiveness played out over its seventy-minute duration. Opening track ‘The Beginning’ manifests these varied strengths: tinged with middleeastern inflections, and mesmerising beats, Margossian’s spacious piano conjures distant shores, while Rose’s soprano sax recalls Coltrane’s use of the instrument on modal pieces like ‘Spiritual’ or ‘India’. Brimming with haunting melodies, Daughter of the Seas plays out as a vast rhythmic and percussive dance, an album shotthrough with beguiling beauty, its measured cadences spellbinding and hypnotic.

I first heard this music in a record store in Collingwood. I detected elements of Miles Davis’s seventies electric funk, shades of Jon Hasell’s Fourth World futurism, but it sounded too now for that. I was so taken, my immediate thought was: surely, I must know this music. Turned out I was listening to an extended piece called ‘Cyborg Dance’, featuring trumpeter Reuben Lewis, off Melbourne-based Adam Halliwell’s new solo album Freedom Lapse. Now, I knew Adam a little, mainly as bass player in Lewis’s improvising ensemble I Hold the Lion’s Paw. But truth be told, I’ve only since twigged to his local renown as a multi-instrumentalist, and his role in Aria-award winning psychedelic fusion band Midlife. Regardless, Freedom Lapse, his debut solo outing, counts as a significant step up. Over six tracks and fortyminutes of music, Halliwell composes and performs all instruments (except on the aforementioned ‘Cyborg Dance’) contributing bass, organ, flute, percussion, electronics. The album kicks off with ‘Memory Gold’, an ambient scene-setter, five-minutes of organ, meted out over minimalist, chunky percussion and electronics. ‘Banana Leaf’ elongates the mood, an extended wash of bass, organ, electronics, and percussive effects. The title track could double as an imagery soundtrack, something mysterious, near-spiritual. ‘Cyborg Dance’ is the album’s highwater mark, Rueben Lewis’s dark trumpet tones dancing across a subdued bedrock of slow-burn electronica. Lesson learnt: never underestimate the bass player. Halliwell’s music resides somewhere in the contiguous frontiers criss-crossing minimalism, ambient and electronica, a music steeped in atmospherics, secret meditations, rhythmic pulses, dream-haunted vistas. 77

STUART COUPE PRESENTS JO CASELEY

THE BEATNIK PREACHERS

THIS WAY NORTH

“She can deliver a soulful jazz-inflected croon as convincingly as a raunchy country-rock holler and a sweet country-pop serenade. That range, combined with her affecting stories makes Jo a manifold and endlessly fascinating songwriter.” - Chris Familton Jo Caseley is an emotive singer/songwriter/multiinstrumentalist who transports her audience through all the feels. Influenced by the clever wit of John Prine, the yesteryear of Gillian Welch and the honest soundscapes of Paul Kelly and Kasey Chambers, her style sees her driving with one hand on the wheel at all times, steering steadily down her own lane. The 2023 Senior Graduate of the Academy of Country Music and top 5 Finalist in the TSA Salute Awards will release her third album High on Heartstrings under her own independent label Flynnella Records with the first single, Houseless Never Homeless expected for release October 27th 2023. Houseless Never Homeless was co-written with Bill Chambers (ARIA winner, Golden Guitar winner and father of Kasey Chambers) 10 years ago. Until now, it lay dormant in a closed book along with hundreds of other songs from the prolific writer. The songs may have been collecting dust for some time, but Caseley never felt any rush to release them, preferring instead to wait for the right time to bring them to life. Website www.jocaseley.com

Musically Exquisite, Lyrically Explicit - Artistically Evocative, Socially Provocative - the Beatnik Preachers meld a blistering style of jazz with original beat-poetry to form a unique ensemble that provides a palette for both the ears and the mind. Anthony Norris (trumpet and spoken word) joined by Rob Burke (sax) gather the funky drumming of Miles Henry and the groove of bassist Nick Haywood to drive a quintet allowing the sublime piano of Joel Louis to evoke and provoke both melody and harmony. Norris and Burke are melodically divine yet technically elaborate, thereby adding a unique interplay of risk and trust within the ensemble that is joyous and raucous. Firmly in the spirit of jazz whilst celebrating the human condition and investigating issues that currently face each and every one of us. Their debut album “Jazz Is Not a Dirty Word” has been receiving extremely positive responses from all who hear it - a melding of Jazz with Hip-Hop and the Spoken Word. Available direct: www. beatnikpreachers.au or through Bandcamp: https:// beatnikpreachers.bandcamp.com The second album (due for release early 2024) sees the addition of a vocal section to complement the quintet, thereby allowing a richer palette of textures and incredible voices - the Preachettes. the Beatnik Preachers are also on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL.

‘My Love’ is the first single from This Way North’s forthcoming debut album ‘Punching Underwater’. Featuring Inuit throat singer Christine Tootoo from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, My Love is a driving groove full of strength and celebration. Co-produced by award winning songwriter and performer Ainslie Wills and sound engineer Jono Steer, ‘My Love’ showcases a new direction, focusing on the written word and cinematic nuance of harmony and instrumentation. Taking advantage of the amazing location in Iqaluit, Leahy and Jungalwalla teamed up with cinematographer’s Vincent Desrosiers and Claudine Bergeron to shoot the ‘My Love’ film clip. With temperatures hovering around a balmy 6 degrees, filming took place above a river with ice floating in the current, the howls of husky sled dogs blowing by on the breeze. My Love is a declaration of that devotion and trust, the ride or die status deeply cemented with every line, drumbeat, and strum. www.thiswaynorth.com

KEVIN SULLIVAN & THE SULLI-VANS

VALLEY ROAD

Led by award-winning singer-songwriter Kevin Sullivan, The Sulli-Vans are a family of multi-generational artists renowned for their energy, soul and three-part harmonies. They perform original music, characterised by great Australian storytelling, humour and love, along with memorable covers of iconic country and contemporary music. They won hearts around the country when they appeared on The Voice Generations. Their shows take audiences on an unforgettable journey from traditional ballads to anthems and rock. Sullivan writes and performs songs that relate to people, places and culture of Australia, particularly the outback. On Wednesday 24th January 2024, Kevin Sullivan will launch songs from his new album Three Ways, accompanied by the Sulli-Vans, at Blazes, Wests Tamworth Leagues, during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Three Ways was recorded in Nashville and Australia, and will feature High Country Snows, a duet co-written and performed with the legend Bill Chambers. Website: www.kevinsullivanmusic.com

Folk duo Valley Road are releasing their debut selftitled album on 27th October, a timeless collection of beautiful, honest songs of people and place, that are brought to life through their signature aching harmonies and Rod McCormack’s minimal production. The pair have been steadily winning hearts and capturing the attention of folk and country audiences alike since the release of their first singles, ‘The Wind Blew West’ in mid-2023, and followup singles ‘1982’ and ‘The Briny Blue’, garnering wide-spread radio play and being featured on ABC’s Saturday Night Country and Grass Roots. Rebecca Jane Howell and Marty Mckenna are friends from Central Victoria who have been singing together for over a decade, and this connection shines throughout the album. Their distinct voices create an unexpectedly harmonious and emotive blend, enhanced by their delicate and thoughtful guitar playing. Their album is available on 27th October via all streaming platforms.

LADY LYON

Cowgirl blues at its finest, Lady Lyon writes their songs like they make love. Pure, threatening, and sumptuous nostalgia for the heart that will linger in you long after your feet stop the inevitable two-step. Her distinct alt-country and rock sound is both familiar and fresh, thanks to her nuanced and relatable lyricism paired with unconventional melodies. Lady Lyon invites her listeners on a journey into the darker parts of their hearts, inviting them to immerse themselves in the introspective narratives she weaves. The band have just released their second EP Friends In Hell - a rocking, rolling and soulful journey through the highs and lows of life, love and friendship - via Sydney indie label Evening Records. For fans of Sharon Van Etten, Neko Case and Nikki Lane. Lady Lyon are touring nationally this November. Link to everything: https://ladylyon.komi.io/

By Des Cowley

Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History By Bill Janovitz (Hachette Books, h/b)

first saw Mad Dogs & Englishmen as a teenager at my local cinema. That was often how you got to see great overseas acts at the time, via concert films: Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, Pink Floyd Live at Pompei, The Last Waltz. What I recall, half-a-century on, about Mad Dogs, was the shambolic nature of it all (later gazumped by Bob’s Rolling Thunder Revue), alongside Joe’s electrifying presence. But what mostly fixed itself in my mind was Leon Russell: his piano, his voice, his baleful stare, his colourful costumes. He strutted the stage like he owned it, looking like a character escaped from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. For a few brief years, in the early seventies, Leon and his music loomed large. So much so, I was convinced that he, rather than Dylan, had penned the classic ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna-Fall’. Beginning with his self-titled debut album in 1970, on through The Shelter People and Carney, to his monster triplealbum Leon Live in 1973, he could seemingly do no wrong. Then, it was like the wheels came off the bus. Leon’s biographer Bill Janovitz routinely defaults to the bus metaphor when describing the ways in which Russell, time and again, wilfully appeared to drive his career into the ditch. Scratching for explanations, he concedes it is probable that – when push came to shove – Leon was just plain uncomfortable with his own fame. Who else would bankroll, then shelve, a self-documentary by the great filmmaker Les Blank? (The movie A Poem is a Naked Person, shot in the early seventies, was only approved for release by Russell, in 2015, after Blank’s death). Janovitz’s book goes a long way to chronicling Russell’s pre-Mad Dogs contributions to the development of popular American music. Already, by the late fifties, while still in school, he was gigging nightly in his hometown Tulsa, habitually opening for Jerry Lee Lewis. But things cranked up a notch once he re-located to LA, where his piano, songwriting, and arranging skills came to the attention of studio producers. He contributed to hundreds of classic sessions – Frank Sinatra, the Everly Brothers, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, Sam Cook, Aretha Franklin, Beach Boys, the Byrds – as well as playing a

crucial role in both the Wrecking Crew, and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Steady work as a session musician – aside from bringing in cash – enabled Russell to gather around him a large family of musicians who would go on to play a key role in the burgeoning development of Americana music: JJ Cale, Carl Radle, Bobby Keys, Don Nix, Jesse Ed Davis, Jim Gordon, Rita Coolidge, Bobby Whitlock, Delaney Bramlett, Jim Keltner. Out of this maze of talent would emerge Bonnie & Delaney, Derek & the Dominoes, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass sessions, and, of course, the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour with Cocker. Janovitz lays bare the chaotic nature of the Mad Dogs tour, with its associated film and recording, drawing wherever possible on interviews with those present. While Cocker and Russell began on good terms – Russell had contributed ‘Delta Lady’ and ‘Hello, Little Friend’ to Cocker’s second album – Cocker subsequently felt he’d been hijacked by Russell. As Janovitz states: “in the immediate wake of the tour, Leon became the biggest star.” As the tour careened through fortyeight cities, Cocker was on a downhill trajectory: his voice was shot, he was mostly drunk, and, aside from when onstage, he had little to do with his fellow musicians, nor with the endless partying that took place. He would never forgive, nor forget, and later resolved to have nothing further to do with Russell – a promise he kept. Janovitz paints Russell as fiscally challenged. Despite money pouring in, via publishing royalties (George Benson’s stratospheric

chartbusting ‘Masquerade’, and the Carpenters’ version of ‘A Song for You’ proved rivers of gold), and via his own Shelter Records, it went out just as fast. He had a penchant for buying houses, cars, for building studios, buying expensive video equipment, antiques, for looking after extended family, wives, children. Keeping a large band on the road was expensive, and his habitual chopping and changing of musical styles – from the Hank Wilson country and bluegrass outings through to synth-driven duos with wife Mary McCreary – had the effect of alienating much of his core fanbase. While Russell receded from the public eye during the 1980s and onwards, he never stopped recording and touring, regularly chalking up hundreds of performances each year. There were occasional successes – collaborative ventures with friend Willie Nelson and Bruce Hornby – but by and large, it was a case of diminishing returns. Increasingly, songwriting came hard to him. He loved food, especially Southern style, with the inevitable consequences. By his late forties, he looked considerably older, a far cry from the svelte Leon of old. According to some Janovitz spoke with, he was most likely on the spectrum, possibly bipolar. It goes a long way to explaining the many contradictions of his character. There’s an upbeat ending of sorts, when Elton John, whose early career drew inspiration from Russell’s example, took the reins, engineering the 2010 comeback album The Union, itself a first step along the road to Russell’s reclamation and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Latterly came tours with Dylan, with Little Feat. Russell even found himself back where it all started, when the Tedeschi Trucks band organised a reunion concert of Mad Dogs & Englishmen in 2015. When looking at the cover portrait of Russell’s near-to-last album Life’s Journey, it feels like you are staring into the face of a man who has lived more than his share. Thanks to Janovitz’s biography – which is destined to stand as the definitive account – we now have a fuller, deeper understanding of the strange, troubled, and idiosyncratic genius that was Leon Russell, who so vividly graced the screen of my local cinema all those years ago.

Rhythms Books Too

By Stuart Coupe

K, how many books do you want to read about the Eagles? Maybe you don’t want to answer that. Maybe you hate the Eagles. Maybe you love them but don’t really want to ready any more – or anything – about their career and well documented internal power struggles, egos and seemingly drug fuelled obsessiveness and craziness. There are at least three books about the classic and of course mega successful country rock band. And disclaimer here – I love a real lot of the Eagles records, especially the early ones. And I’ve seen them three or four times since they first visited Australia in around 1976 and every time they’ve been singularly one of the dullest live bands I’ve ever experienced. To that end I’ve never actually read the first serious book about them – To The Limit: The Untold Story Of The Eagles by Marc Eliot but I have it and it does like pretty definitive. I do now know how much Don Henley hates it so maybe that’s reason enough to go there. Not so long ago I did read – and really enjoyed – Don Felder’s Heaven And Hell: My Life In The Eagles (1974 – 2001), written with Wendy Holden, which so many people told me was really great – and for the most part it is. Felder doesn’t hold back on the machinations of the Eagles, one which concludes with his removal from the band and him referring to Henley and Glenn Frey simply as ‘The Gods’. I’d actually gone to the Felder book after buying Mick Wall’s new book Eagles: Dark Desert Highway which is subtitled How America’s Dream Band Turned Into A Nightmare. I posted the cover on social media and was deluged with messages about how I really needed to read Felder’s book so I bought that and devoured it first. But dear reader, what I really really needed to immerse myself in was Wall’s book which is simply magnificent and one of THE best music books I’ve read in a very long time. What makes that even more remarkable is that Wall doesn’t actually talk to anyone, relying totally on an already well documented story and secondary sources, including Australian writer Debbie Kruger’s 1997 interview with J.D Souther. Wall has written several dozen for the most part unauthorised rock’n’roll biographies. I’ve only read a few. Some are pretty good, others feel like they’ve been phoned in from a remote outpost from the Island of I Really Need The Money But Don’t Care About The Subject. So, what makes this such a great book and impossible to put down? For starters Wall really immerses himself in this story and his writing and insights are simply incredible. He clearly can’t stand the Eagles or anyone associated with them but sets out to tell their story with such style and attitude that you simply can’t put it down. Yes, within pages you’re sucked totally into the vortex of a band that you really thought you never needed to ever read another word about. You – and trust me here – will become totally and completely engaged with a book that on one level contains no new information and simply reinforces everything you’ve ever known or suspected about the Eagles. You already know that Henley and Frey increasingly dominated the band. You know about the causalities, the battles between the two Gods, the role of Irving Azoff in all this. The drugs. The sexual escapades. The bullying. The power struggles. The money. Oh, the money. But you’ve never had it spun in such a beautiful chronicled and written way as Wall does. The book begins with a few short pages about how much Don Henley hated – absolutely HATED – Eliot’s book. That was until Felder’s book

came along and he totally hated that even more. And as Wall says, “So yeah, Don Henley does not like books about the Eagles.” Wall then proceeds to write one that Henley probably hates even more than Eliot and Felder’s put together. Now – let’s be clear – Wall at no point comes out and bags the Eagles. He’s too good for that. Whatever conclusions you may draw are simply because of the way Wall tells the story, the clever asides. When Henley takes over from Felder and records the vocals on ‘Victim Of Love’ there’s tension. In steps manager Azoff: “It’s Irving who has to take Felder to dinner and break the news. Felder tells Irving it’s not fair. That he feels Henley has just taken the song from him. Irving gives it some there-there, a little coke and sympathy. Then points Felder back to what Henley has actually done with ‘his’ song. ‘There was no way to argue with my vocal versus Don Henley’s vocal.’ No shit, Sherlock.” And on Hotel California, Wall writes: “A far more convincing concept album than the overly contrived Desperado, nearly half a century later Hotel California is now rightly regarded as the quintessential lateseventies American musical text, a true document of a time when the ultimate Hollywood highs and subterranean LA lows were blurred beyond recognition, blinded by white-powdered double visions and buried beneath greenback mountains. A truly gothic American fable.” So, Eagles: Dark Desert Highway – much to my surprise – is one of the best music books of 2023. And it does what all writing of this nature should do – takes you back with fresh ears to songs and recordings you’ve heard a thousand times and makes you go and investigate lesser songs and recordings. And I bet Henley loathes it.

November November 3 – 6 Maldon Folk Festival Maldon, VIC

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November 10 – 12 Blues At Bridgetown Bridgetown, WA

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January 13-15 Cygnet Folk Festival Cygnet, TAS

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January 25-28 Newstead Live Newstead, VIC

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March 8-11, 2024 Port Fairy Folk Festival Port F airy, VIC March 26-28 Moruya Blues & Roots Festival Moruya, NSW

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Big Sing by the Sea – Baraya Djukal Garuwaga – takes place in Forster, NSW on the weekend of 10-12 Nov – with the singing guided by Rachel Hore & Sandra Kwa. Rachel also has a Greatest Hits & Old Faves (singing) Workshop on Sun 3 Dec in Blackheath, NSW. www.rachelhore.com/whats-on Australian singer/songwriter Jon Davis recorded a video about winning the Rudy Brandsma Award for Songwriting Excellence (and a Maton guitar) at the recent Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) National Songwriting Awards. www.jondavis.com.au www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqtBUaGAwso Since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began accelerating, online record store Bandcamp has waived its revenue share on the first Friday of each month to support its artists. The next dates for Bandcamp Friday are 3 Nov and 1 Dec (USA dates) – perfect timing for Christmas gifts. www.bandcamp.com …AND

Neal Langford (50), bassist for American band The Shins, died North Carolina, USA (July) English guitarist Bernie Marsden (72), of Whitesnake, died in August Gillian Bibby (77), New Zealand composer and pianist, died New Zealand (Aug) Australian singer/songwriter Louis Tillett (64), died NSW, Australia (Aug) Ron S Peno (68), of Australian groups Screaming Tribesmen and Died Pretty, died Vic, Australia (Aug) British artist, designer and anarchist Jamie Reid (76), whose works include record covers for Sex Pistols, died England (Aug) Brian McBride (53), American musician with Stars of the Lid, died in August Canadian-born singer/songwriter Robbie Robertson (80) of The Band, who wrote ‘The Weight’, ‘Across the Great Divide’, ‘The Night They 82

smoke, dust, mould, bacteria, pollen, etc.), my go-to masks are PPE Tech and AMD. And I have KN95 masks from USA stores Bona Fide Masks (coloured headband Powecom masks) and MASKC.

The late American singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith’s novel, Two of a Kind Heart, has just been published. Nanci began writing the story around the time she was writing songs for her debut album, There’s a Light Beyond These Woods. On her death in 2021, the manuscript was bequeathed to record producer Jim Rooney, who has overseen its publication. Young Australian singer/songwriter Sari Abbott was another winner at the ASA National Songwriting Awards, taking out the Open category with her song, ‘Burning’. www. sariabbottmusic.com.au George Mann’s album, This Chain, takes its title from a song he wrote in a teardrop trailer while quarantining on his return to California after his 2022 Australian tour. In addition to his own songs, the album has songs by Townes Van Zandt, Si Kahn, Utah Phillips, Dorsey Dixon. American singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff has a new edition of her album, Silent Night. Other new Christmas albums include: Cher, Christmas; Gregory Porter, Christmas Wish; Mark Tremonti, Christmas Classics Old and New. If you’re looking for Australian-made P2 face masks (to protect against COVID-19, flu,

Among the new music releases are: Charlotte Le Lievre, Songs from the Barrier Line; Tret Fure, Lavender Moonshine; Taking Back Sunday, 152; Lillian Leadbetter, State of Romance; Ed Sweeney (with Cathy ClasperTorch), A Sunday Drive; Sadie Mustoe, Shades of Yellow; Steven Gellman, All You Need; Pete Mancini & Rich Lanahan, Silent Troubadour: Songs of Gene Clark; Emma’s Revolution, Rooted; Katie Dahl, Seven Stones; Eric Kilburn, My Own Mistakes; Becky Wiles, Free Kind of Me; LJ Parks, All Caught Up; Loryn Taggart, The Lost Art of Pulling Through; John Forster, Location, Location, Location; LP, Love Lines; Sage Roadknight, Living Thing; Emmett Doyle, Rust Belt Ballads; Hannah Acfield, Live at The Aviary; Nick Barker, Exoskeleton; Vagabon, Sorry I Haven’t Called; The Black Skeleton, The Rear View; Kelly Hunt, Ozark Symphony; SONiA (disappear fear), Album 23; Phil Jamieson, Somebody Else; Old Crow Medicine Show, Jubilee; The Folk Legacy Trio; Homecoming

Drove Old Dixie Down’ and ‘Up on Cripple Creek’, died California, USA (Aug) Toussaint McCall (89), American singer and musician, died California, USA (Aug) English keyboardist John Gosling (75), of The Kinks, died in August Roger Sprung (92), an inductee of the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame, died Connecticut, USA (Aug) Canadian singer/songwriter Richard Laviolette (41), whose battle with Huntington’s Disease led him to choose MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) and who has a posthumous album coming (All Wild Things Are Shy), died Canada (Sept) Ramla Begum (77), Mappilapattu singer and Kathaprasangam artist, died India (Sept) Kenyan-born singer Roger Whittaker (87), died France (Sept) Paul Woseen (56), of The Screaming Jets, died in September American musician and songwriter Terry Kirkman (83), of The Association, died California, USA (Sept) David McCallum (90), Scottish musician and actor, died New York, USA (Sept) Spooky Tooth’s Gary Wright (80), died California, USA (Sept)

Steve Harwell (56), singer with Smash Mouth, died Idaho, USA (Sept) American singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett (76), died New York, USA (Sept) Robert Tree Cody (72), Native American flutist and vocalist, died New Mexico, USA (Sept) Canadian musician Bruce Guthro (62), of Runrig, died Canada (Sept) Katherine Anderson (79), singer with The Marvelettes, died in September English musician Brendan Croker (70), of Five O’Clock Shadows and The Notting Hillbillies, died in September Matthew Stewart (41), trumpeter for Streetlight Manifesto, died in September American singer/songwriter Charlie Robison (59), whose siblings Bruce Robison and Robyn Ludwick are also singer/songwriters, died Texas, USA (Sept) Steve Roden (59), American musician and artist, died California, USA (Sept) American jazz bassist Richard Davis (93), died Wisconsin, USA (Sept) Larry Chance (82), of The Earls, died New York, USA (Sept)