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This website brings you the latest Australian country music news. News releases can be sent to news@countrymusicbulletin.com.au |
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Bush Ballad winners Winners of the 2021 Stan Coster Memorial Bush Ballad Awards were announced from Bungendore NSW last night in a special online event.
Dianne Lindsay (pictured) was named winner of the Female Vocal award with the Joy McKean penned Graveyard Hill while the vocal collaboration of Justin Standley & Virginia Coad took out the Group/Duo award with Camooweal. Wally Brummell won the Songwriter category with Barcoo Water (recorded by Tracy Coster) and Shane Butterworth took out New Talent with The Guitar Man. Instrumental went to Lindsay Waddington with Roadworn and Patricia Thompson won Comedy/Novelty with I Wanna Go Home (recorded by Graham Rodger). The Awards are set to return as a live presentation in 2022 during the Bungendore Country Music Muster which was cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last night's Awards announcement event can be viewed on youtube here. Weblink – bcmm.com.au. New podcast launched for Tamworth 2022 A dedicated podcast has been launched with content focusing on the history, attributes and activities of Australia's Country Music Capital, leading up to the 50th Tamworth Country Music Festival and Golden Guitar Awards.
The program will focus on one aspect of the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival each week covering the many attractions and activities that have taken place over the years. It will also include news and information about plans for the 50th festival and Golden Guitar Awards. Max Ellis, country music historian and one of the founding fathers of both the festival and the campaign to establish Tamworth as Australia's Country Music Capital, will feature in most episodes of the series. "His depth and wealth of knowledge on the subject is extraordinary," said Bob Kirchner from the Country Music Bulletin, producers of the program. The first two episodes have been combined as they necessarily cover how the festival began and how Tamworth became Country Music Capital. It runs for a little under half an hour. Following programs will aim to have a duration of around 15 minutes. Episodes 1 and 2 combined will be uploaded to podcast platform anchor.fm tomorrow, the same day the program goes to air for the first time on Capital Country Radio at 5pm with repeats at 6am every Monday and 12noon Wednesdays. It will be accessible as a podcast all the time. Weblink – www.capitalcountryradio.com. Kyabram festival announces artist roster The ninth annual Kyabram Country Music Festival, postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, is set to go ahead this November with an impressive line-up of artists.
The RV-Friendly town of Kyabram is located between Shepparton and Echuca in north-central Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, about 200 kilometres north of Melbourne with the festival habing become a popular destination for RV and caravan enthusiasts, especially, over the past decade. Kyabram Showgrounds is the venue for the event wgich runs over four days, from Thursday, November 4 to Sunday November 7. Kyabram's annual bush market will run in the main street on Friday November 5. For campers and caravanners, the showgrounds will open for a full week (from Monday November 1) to accommodate travellers who want to spend a few extra days in town before or after the festival. Although advertised traditionally as the Kyabram RV Country Music Festival, the event is open to the general public. Weblink – www.kyrvcountry.com.au. Adam reveals meaning behind special song Adam Harvey has revealed the touching meaning behind one of his latest songs, explaining how difficult and emotional it was to get the words on paper. The 46-year-old released his new album Songs From Highway One on Friday and, while Adam says all the songs are special – telling of his travels around Australia – there’s one in particular that is incredibly close to his heart, and it’s dedicated to his late father.
With its opening phrase – "Les would say the ’60s were the golden years – the story that led to the creation of the song is a personal one for the country star. “I actually went up to Mackay to write a song with Graeme about my dad,” Adam said. “Dad spent a lot of time in Mackay. Until the day he died, he always said it was his favourite place. Dad worked up there on a boat called the ‘Elizabeth E’, taking tourists around all the islands and the [Great] Barrier Reef. It was his favourite place in the world. "I’ve always wanted to write the song, and I think for me it’s probably, personally, one of the most special songs, because it’s all about Dad. It was a tough song to write, because I was very emotional, but I’m so glad with the way it came out. Even Graeme himself said to me a few times that it’s one of the favourite songs he’s ever written.” Although the song has a special meaning to Adam, he said the feeling it generated was something many have likely experienced and would be able to connect with. Adam said he hoped the album, dedicated to travelling around Australia would entice people to hit the road. “It doesn’t have to be in a caravan. You could start going for a week here and there,” he said. “So many people, me included, have been flying to all corners of the world – America, England – but why not do it right here? Australia has so much to offer and it’s amazing to see more people are starting to realise that.” Adam is about to hit the road again to showcase his new work. Starting this month, the tour will run through to September in the ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. Weblink – adamharvey.com.au. New from The Western Distributors The Western Distributors – a seven piece outfit featuring a number of stalwarts of the Sydney country music scene – are set to release a new album this year.
Andrew and Cathy are backed up by Guy Donnellan on guitars, John Kaldor on pedal steel and dobro, Brendan Kleem on double bass, Clare O’Meara on fiddle/accordion and piano and Nerida Wu on drums. The band's music is described as "an eclectic mix of originals and covers of honky tonk, rockabilly, rock 'n' roll and country songs in the style of the '50s and '60s "golden years" of country music. Their debut, self-titled album, released in March 2018, featured two songs that had chart success, Between The Suns and No One Will Miss Me. The new, album, Off In The Distance, will contain 12 all original un-released songs. The title track has been released to radio as a promotional single for the upcoming release. Country acts up for Vanda & Young prize
They are... Kaylee Bell with That Summer, written by Kaylee with Taylor Acorn & Andrew Pacheco... Emily Hatton with Why’d You Have To, written by Emily with Timothy Hickey & Lachlan Coffey... And Missy Lancaster with Wild, written by Alexandra Lancaster, Isabella Kearney-Nurse & Roberto De Sa. The competition carries a first prize of $50,000 from APRA AMCOS, Alberts and BMG; second place A$10,000 from Banki Haddock Fiora and third place, A$5,000 by courtesy of Aon. As well as providing songwriters with a platform during a turbulent time for music, the generosity of an anonymous donor means that more songwriters will take home cash with 10 runner-up prizes of $1,000 selectd from the top 40. And, from the more than half of the top 40 that were provided by unpublished songwriters, one will win the $5,000 AMPAL Emerging Songwriter Prize. At the heart of the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition is the financial support songwriters provide with their $50 entry fee directly supporting the transformative programs of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia. In the 12 years of the competition’s existence, entrants have contributed more than $1.4million. This year alone, an all-time record 4,061 entries were received from 46 countries raising more than $203,000. Weblink here. New from Destiny Band Oz Destiny Band Oz have released a new song – This Is Our Land – as a preview to their next album – Who I Might Be which is due in July. This Is Our Land was written by Thomas and Tessa Libreri about their love for Australia and how blessed they feel for their fortunate way of life “in this great land of amazing and diverse scenery, climates and people”.
February 13 was chosen as the release date instead due to its significance as National Apology Day, the day in 2008 when then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples, particularly the “stolen generations” whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and indigenous assimilation. In releasing the new song, Destiny Band Oz also announced a unique promotion for their upcoming album, a competition with a prize of a vintage Fender Stratocaster Metallic Cherry Red (replica) guitar by Guitar Technology. Donated and autographed by Thomas and Tessa, entry to the competition is open to all who pre-order the album, either in hard copy CD or by digital download. The winner will be drawn at the launch of Who I Might Be in July. Competition details can be obtained here. Destiny Band Oz are multi award-winning Australian husband and wife singer/songwriter team Thomas and Tessa Libreri. Based in Gippsland, Victoria, the duo has had multiple number one and top 10 hits for their country, rock and soul style music on Australian and international independent charts. Weblink – www.facebook.com/destinybandoz. Nev launches book Country Music Hands of Famer Nev Molloy has released a book. The well-known and in-demand guitarist says people had been telling him for years he ought to write a book, but he's been “way too busy living”.
The Forbes Advocate reported that Nev was travelling interstate when pandemic border closures were announced so he dashed from the Spencer Gulf in South Australia back home to Forbes, and realised it might be time to tackle the much-suggested project. He has spent much of his life on the road, travelling and working, so there was no shortage of material for a book... it was just a matter of “pulling all those yarns and memories together”. "It took me three or four months to write the manuscript and round up all the pictures," he told the Advocate. "Then my daughter Kellie Dwyer and friend Trisha Ward did all the editing, book and cover design, arranging pictures and text and all the things that make a book a book." Nev has toured with Lindsay Butler, Troy Cassar-Daley, Bill Chambers, the Howie Brothers, Paul Lester, Brian Letton and Chad Morgan. He was house guitarist for Rick (Ford) Aitchison's Cavalcade of Country, backing every artist that appeared over the 10-day event. As well as performing, Nev spent years in Broken Hill, recording more than 60 albums for many artists. As well as the Hands of Fame in Tamworth, he was inducted into the SA Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and has received the Richard Holmes Lifetime Achievement Living Legend Award and induction into the Australian Southern Cross Music Association Entertainment Honour Roll. Nev has had copies of his book in his hand for a number of weeks and has so far sent copies to every state of Australia. So what now for this busy musician? "Most of my life has been spent living in caravans on the road with music or working or traveling to somewhere in Australia, these days nothing much has changed," he says. But at the moment he is putting together a book of poems he has written over those years on the road, so watch this space! Weblink – www.facebook.com/nev.molloy. New from Innocent Eve Sibling duo Innocent Eve (Rachel and Bec Olsson) are set to launch their third studio album – Viking – later this month. With two successful single pre-releases – Mixed Bag and the title track – a third single – Three Quarter Time – has just hit the airwaves.
The single was produced by Matt Fell with an accompanying video shot by Duncan Toombs, bith multi Golden Guitar winners for their work. Of the video, Bec said: “The setting was a sewing room belonging to the Gosford Musical Society. The costume creation room was the perfect setting to conjure up a melancholy scene for a solitary seamstress to pour her loneliness into sewing a dress for an upcoming event. With the haunting and beautiful mannequin as her muse and eventual dance partner, the lonely seamstress chooses her solitude over the outside world once more.” This year is set to be a big year for Innocent Eve with the release of Viking set for Friday, February 19. While they are bound together through the power of music, the bind has become even stronger as Bec is amid an ongoing battle with cancer. Rachel is her ever present companion and biggest supporter. In fact, as Three Quarter Time is released, Bec returns for another round of radiation treatment. Rachel said of the process: “We just want to move forward and share our music. There’s no such thing as a perfect time, and with the uncertainty around Bec’s cancer, we just want to get it out into the world.” Innocent Eve have racked up many touring miles since their 2015 inception. At the end of 2019 they opened for John Williamson at the Airlie Beach Festival of Music. They were also guest artists of Luke O’Shea at the Songhouse Sessions in 2020 and have supported many industry heavyweights including Casey Barnes, Brad Butcher and Shannon Noll. They have also toured up and down the eastern states throughout many regional areas. Their 2020 tour in support of the Viking single was sadly cut short due to Bec’s cancer diagnosis and future gigs in 2021 will be subject to COVID restrictions, along with Bec’s recovery. Weblink – www.innocenteve.com.au. Mornington festival The 2021 Mornington Country Music Festival will be staged on Saturday March 6 with an impressive line-up of performers.
Kasey Chambers (pictured) will headline this year’s event with Bo’Ness, Darlinghurst, Jayne Denham, Shane Nicholson, Shannon Noll and Gretta Ziller. The venue is The Briars at Mt Martha on Victoria’s Mornington Pensinsula in a natural amphitheatre setting. Last year saw the likes of Lee Kernaghan as the headline with Hurricane Fall, Gareth Leach, The Sunny Cowgirls and Andrew Swift drawing thousands of country music fans. Described as a family friendly event, the festival will also have amusement rides and plenty of food and drink. Weblink – www.morningtoncountrymusicfestival.com.au. New from Daniel Singer/songwriter Daniel Reeves has released his third album, Defined.
“From a songwriter’s point of view, the stories… are close to me, and are about things I’ve experienced, seen or heard through close friends and observations…” Daniel said. “This is very much about people and the struggles and heartaches in life that we experience on our travels.” With two successful singles already from the album – Into The Sun and Don’t Know Who I Can Trust – the new work is looking promising. Melbourne based Daniel spent most of last year in lockdown and says he wants to encourage people to talk about their feelings and open up through listening to his music. New from Ben Ben Ransom has released his fourth album, Brave New World. “We finished recording the album in 2019,” Ben said, “and were waiting for the right time to release it… and then 2020 came along!”
A number of singles have been pre-released from the new work, all of which gained widespread airplay…. Night After Night, Coming Down In Spades, Mamma Said and Raise Some Hell. “I wrote all the songs on this album myself,” Ben said, “and I am really proud of how I have developed as a songwriter. I tried hard to avoid the ‘cookie cutter’ clichés and sounds that have become a staple of the material that seems to proliferate the current scene.” For Brave New World, Ben enlisted ARIA and Golden Guitar Award winning producer Matt Fell to helm the recording and some “incredible players”… “We worked with drummers who have played for artists like Keith Urban, Luke Bryan and Kelly Clarkson, incredible guitarists whose credits include Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Jimmy Buffett, George Michael and Sting,” Ben said. New CEO for ARIA and PPCA The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) have announced that Annabelle Herd (pictured) is taking over the Chief Executive Officer role following the resignation of Dan Rosen who is taking the helm at Warner Music Australasia.
She left the COO role in April last year soon after it was announced CEO Paul Anderson would be stepping down from his position. The network had in 2017 entered administration, but been saved by American giant CBS, which bought the troubled broadcaster. CBS subsequently merged with Viacom forming ViacomCBS and now operates locally without a solo CEO, with responsibilities shared between a chief content officer/ executive vice president, and chief operating and commercial officer. Prior to her time in broadcasting, Annabelle worked in various Government roles in Canberra including four years as senior advisor (broadcasting and copyright) and acting chief of staff for Richard Alston who was then communications minister within the Howard Government. She has also been on the board for Freeview Australia and Free TV Australia, and currently sits on the Save The Children Australia board and is a council member of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). “I am delighted to be taking on this role serving and supporting our amazing Australian music industry at a time when the inspiration, connection and joy that our artists and musicians give us is more important than ever,” Annabelle said. “The last year has been challenging for our artists and members, so I look forward to representing and advancing the interests of those who make our industry so special given the pivotal time that we are in.”
ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin congratulated Annabella and Lynne on their apointments. “We are delighted that Annabelle has joined the organisation and we look forward to the wonderful value and experience that she brings to the role. “With her unique quality background, skills, and leadership, as well as her tremendous passion for Australian music, we know that she will help take ARIA forward into a new era and achieve so much for the artists and industry,” he said. “I would also like to congratulate Lynne Small on her well-deserved new role, and we all recognise how integral Lynne is to ARIA and PPCA.” George Ash, Chairman of PPCA, added: “We are excited to have Annabelle join the organisation in her new role as CEO. Annabelle will bring an incredible new focus to our organisation representing artists and labels across the industry. “She brings immense skills and experience from the entertainment industry and a true love of artists and music. We look forward a new future at PPCA where Annabelle’s innovation and energy will bring a new outlook to the organisation and our artist community.” Weblinks – www.aria.com.au • www.ppca.com.au.
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Peter Coad (pictured) was the biggest winner taking out Male Vocal Lonely Outback Moon and Album of the Year with Full Circle.
Titled "Tamworth Country Music 50 50" ("50 special episodes over 50 weeks leading up to the 50th"), the podcast will also feature as a dedicated program on specialist Australian country music internet radio station Capital Country Radio and will be made available to other stations that might like to broadcast the program.
Owen Blundell, Don Costa, Brian Letton (pictured), Grant Luhrs, Kiara Rodrigues, Don Costa and Ged & Trudy Hintz will headline, supported by Sharon Benjamin, Country Horizon, Sandie Dodd, George Farnham, Evan Platschinda, Lachie & Georgia, Joe Musico and Rod & Rhonda
Speaking about the songwriting process, which he shared with friends Graeme Connors and Colin Buchanan, Adam said: "Lindeman Again is the 'beating heart' of the record'.
Stretching back some years, the band has Golden Guitars winners The Happening Thang's Andrew Travers and Cathy Wearne (“Miss Cathy” in the interim years better known as “Mama Cath”) out front on lead vocals.
A number of country acts are finalists for the 2021 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition.
The song was originally to be released on Australia Day but because of controversial debate surrounding January 26 – and the fact they wanted the song to be “all inclusive” – it was decided to wait.
When COVID-19 brought Nev’s travels to a halt, he found himself with the time to put pen to paper.
Bec says of the new song: “I wrote this song during a lonely time in my life, after moving a long way from my family and friends. I suppose Three Quarter Time is a cry for help, about wanting someone to take my loneliness away. I had an aching for connection during a long, self-imposed solitude, but at the same time I was so afraid to connect with anyone.”
It will be the second festival in the series which kicked off successfully last year just prior to the pandemic taking its grip on Australia and the rest of the world.
On the day of release, the new work debuted at number one on the iTunes Country Albums Chart and number 11 on the iTunes All Genres Albums Chart.
After the upheaval and unpredictability of the past year, the title Brave New World, felt like the perfect one to not only reflect the combination of songs embodied on the release but how we will navigate this new world we are now living in, Ben said.
Annabelle was formerly with Network 10 for more than 15 years, most recently as Chief Operating Officer, leading the network’s broadcast operations, group strategy, corporate and internal communications, interstate markets, and policy, as well as regulatory, compliance and government affairs, and lobbying/ stakeholder relations.
Together with the CEO announcement, ARIA and PPCA executive Lynne Small (pictured) has been elevated to Chief Operating Officer. Lynne joined the organisation in 1996 and has most recently fulfilled the role of General Manager.
