I have had to do a double dose of The Single Life this week! So many! And a couple that I forgot!
First up is Andy Golledge with Love like this off his upcoming album. This is a rippa – I am going to be dancing in the shower to this one – it is a bit dark in lyrics at times but it is also a happy tune. Aussies are perfecting this.
Brendan McMahon (Mr Prolific) has a newbie, Gundry’s Track. Something that songwriters and us mere mortals are doing a lot of these days, reflecting on simple times and better times. There are some cool surprise solo instrumental interludes on this song.
The beginning of the end is a very groovy track from Catherine Britt and Lachlan Bryan (and a few Wildes, I suspect) calling themselves The Pleasures. It has a 60’s feel which is fine by me. I was supposed to be seeing them at Tamworth. Hope to see them next month in Melbourne. Awesome start, folks.
After the Breakdown is the latest from McAlister Kemp. Kempy had a big year last year and now he teams up again with Drew. A beaut country rock song wth some fine and clever lyrics.
The Kootingal Kid – Ashleigh Dallas, had me dancing in the shower this morning with Dancing in the Kitchen. Probably the only two places that you can dance in at the moment. A fun and catchy song.
Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley have released a beautiful song, Star of the Show. Stunning. Chills are multiplying. Bring out an album soon please, you two.
Mr Gunn – Benn with two Ns, Gunn with two Ns has released A Bit More Aussie – very apt for January in particular. Very catchy and a foot stomper.
I have a bit of catching up to do, but here is the first Single Life for 2022. The first song is Anita Spring with Not that Kind of girl. This is a real yee Haa song – which sounds like a lot of fun but it also has a message. It addresses a few issues in country music.
Kristy Cox builds up to her new album with Appalachian Blue. The bluegrass doesn’t get much more bluer than it does here. The A word is a big mouthful to sing in a song with a quick beat. Kristy flies the flag well for us on the USA.
Lynchburg was going to launch their new album at Tamworth but that has been delayed. Sir Allan and Prince Waddo have given us a taste with I love this rodeo. It feels like Caswell has gone full circle, after winning best new talent with King of the Rodeo to this song. I love listening to Allan’s songs because they have a real storyline. You get a book in a song.
Michelle Gardiner has quite possibly nearly shoved my fave MG song into second place with her long awaited new song, Things that I don’t have. It is not only a beaut song and a song for the times, but it also highlights her fantastic voice.
Jamie Lindsay has a similar theme going with Carry on. It is actually a very powerful song. It could be an anthem for many endeavours.
Silence on the line is the product of modern technology, allowing one of our finest legends, the late Reg Lindsay to sing with Tamworth songbird, Jodie Crosby. It is a wonderful song and it is great to hear them both again.
Poor boy by Jamie McDell is another reason why I can’t wait to hear the upcoming album. Jamie was one of the breakthrough artists in 2021. She is definitely one to watch.
Brad Butcher is a good bloke. He produced one of the best albums in Australian Country Music. That’s always a hard act to follow. This album is his journey so far, including songs from that album. I always get the feeling that with Brad, he is building and crafting and that he is also experimenting and in 20 years time, he will have a fifth best of album out.
He is always quality. He wrote or co-wrote most of the songs here, with the only exception being a Rodney Crowell song, I walk the line revisited which is one of the best tracks of his last album. I love Rodney Crowell, so I am cool with that.
The album starts with the fun and all too real song – Cutting People’s Grass, which is Brad’s latest.
It finishes with Conversations and Complications
Brad mentioned that the songs have been remastered. I replied that they sounded bloody great the first time. I get it though – I can hear the difference. Some of the songs have been ‘updated and refreshed’.
If you have been a Brad Butcher fan for a while, like me, you will already be in love with these tracks and you will be happy that they are in the one place.
If you are new to Brad, you will be first drawn to his distinctive voice and then you will be hauled in to soak up the lyrics. The melodies are fabulous, but with Brad, it tends to go that way, on first listen.
I am usually a lyrics person first, so if a voice comes first, it has to be a sensational voice. And it is.
To be honest, Brad is a triple threat – voice, lyrics, melody.
From The Bottom of a well, Well Dressed Man, I’m All In, Freshwater Lady, Oh Marie, The Old Man’s Gone are all here and they are accompanied by the stories behind the songs, which is great, especially for new fans.
I didn’t know the story behind Crawl, Beg and Cry – a fan favourite and a song that I will hear differently in the future.
The uplifting Conversations and Complications is a good way to finish the album.
The stories in between 1 and 15 cover family, friends, travelling, work, Australia, love and a little bit of heartbreak.
Brad’s Grandfather gets a few mentions, in two of Brad’s best songs, Well Dressed Man and Oh Marie.
The new version of Lay your head is a standout. Jamestown is a great history lesson as is Freshwater Lady.
This album is here to keep us occupied while Brad puts together the next batch of new material and to shut this devotee up while I not so patiently wait!
As I alluded to earlier – you always expect that Brad is building to something. I still think that Brad is yet to reach his peak – and that is a big call considering that one of his albums is no. 4 in my favourite all time Aussie Country albums. He is a stunning artist with a hell of a lot to be proud of.
I hope that he doesn’t leave our shores but he deserves to be heard all over. This is is a CD set for many spins.
I am a Well Impressed Woman. See what I did there? Thank you Brad.
I usually put a track listing of all the albums that I review, but with a 3cd collection of 62 songs, I think that it would be more like War and Peace.
Lee comes from one of Australia’s most successful and significant musical families. He is only a year younger than I, so I remember seeing him in Tamworth from a very young age. My Dad loved his Dad, Ray, and he thinks Fiona is the best Kernaghan! I’ve been a ‘Tan Fan’ forever. Lee is undoubtedly the most famous and commercially successful of the family, He even won Australian of the year.
It is a bit confusing, though, as it is promoted and imaged as 14thJanuary, 2022, but there is an indication that it is also released in 2019. And even 1992! (I know that is not right) I have never seen it packaged like this. So let’s go with the 2022!
My favourite album of Lee’s is 1959, indeed it is one of my fave Australian country albums ever.
Lee Kernaghan is prolific, as this huge collection testifies. There are a handful of names that non country music fans know about in Australia, Lee is one of them.
If you are new to Lee, this is probably a good album to start with. It has all of the songs that you would expect from the record breaking singer and also a few have been left out.
The Outback Club, Boys From The Bush, Flying With The King, Three Chain Road, High Country, Missing Slim, Hat Town are all there, there would probably be a public outcry if they weren’t.
Lee’s early stuff is hard to beat, there are some classics here, with some very clear nods to Slim Dusty and some other Australian Country Music Pioneers.
In later years, Lee hasn’t slowed down, in fact, he has probably sped up and changed his style to more of a country rock feel.
I still prefer the twang, but in venturing down different not so much dirt roads, he has a new audience.
I must confess that there are a few songs that I haven’t heard before, that I like, Dust on my Boots and The Burning Heart amongst others.
If you aren’t Australian, you may need to consult a dictionary of Aussie slang and an Atlas, but if you are a true Aussie, you will understand every word.
Lee has some songs which are formulamatic – he knows what his fans relate to and there is a certain theme and rhyme to his songs. From the selection here, in part, he is as much the son of Slim as he is the son of Ray.
Where as his siblings are more known for their songwriting, Lee is more well known for his timing and his collaborations. As I said earlier, he has a formula, which has worked for him. He knows when to hold ‘em and he knows when to fold ‘em…,,,
There are some well known tracks borrowed from great Aussies here and some anthemic collaborations which will go down well.
There are songs to dance to, drink to,clap to and hum and sing a long to. 40 years ago, he won Starmaker. It is probably a few more years than that since I met him at one of his Dad’s shows in Tamworth.
It is an unmistakably Australian Country Music album, with many mentions of utes, the outback, droving, cattle, horses, ANZACs, flood, drought, the road , the Bush etc.
There are a few surprises here but mainly the ultimate package for an ardent Lee fan or a good sampler for a newby.
Not too young is the first track and it is one of those tracks that answers a lot of critics of young artists singing in any genre, really. Sonny French has always chosen his songs carefully, probably with expert help from his parents, Stuie and Camille. The song sets up the album from classics to a few originals. Camille and the youngest French, Manaia appear on the album, but it is mainly Stuie and Sonny with a plethora of amazing artists. Where’s Chet French?
There is a lot of fine picking on here, as you would expect from this mob. I love Like My Old Man and the salutes to Merle and co.
Us Aussies and Kiwis have had a big gap in our country music scene since the French Family moved to Nashville, but it is a great adventure for them and we have to learn to share one of our greatest assets.
We have been lucky enough to have them doing online gigs and I am so glad that people are hearing them over there and getting to love what we have loved for years.
There is an even mix of instrumentals and songs on here. In one respect, it sounds like a fun jam session, in another, it is a polished and well crafted album. The combination of the two aspects makes it enjoyable and fun and very fast moving.
Sonny has a great gift, with the benefit of having a mum with one of the best voices in the world and a Dad who is one of the greatest guitarists that I have ever heard guiding him. The thing with the French Family is that it is not just about talent, it is also about heart. They always sound and look like they are having fun. That is contagious and you will find it hard not to get into it.
It is a very relaxing album but it is also toe tapping and full of a happy energy.
I am an album girl, so a lot of these songs are from albums. Like The Kazzies, I like to spread the love around. Some songs were released in 2020 off albums that I reviewed in 2021, so they fell into 2020 calculations. I had to cut some awesome songs because you guys are just too talented and it was hard to choose! I think that you will have to agree that this is a pretty good representation of the generations and the 95 types of country music.
115 – Redemption – Mason Hope
114 – The Old Home’s Gone – Shaza Leigh
113- Maybe – Emily Hatton and Troy Kemp
112 – Light As A Feather – Kylie Adams-Collier
111 – The Granville Train – Michael Fix and Mark Cryle
110 – One Breath at a Time – Andrew Swift
109 – She Rode Like The Wind – Bill Jackson
108 – I Wanna Remember This – Jayne Denham
107 – Mother Please – Riley Catherall
106 – Drinking to forget you – Lynchburg
105 – Secrets from the Saddle – Dean Perrett
104 – We Don’t Stand Together – Natalie Henry
103 – From Down Here – Georgia State Line
102- Like Nothing Ever Happened – Sherry Rich and the Grievous Angels
101- I found home – Raechel Whitchurch
100- I take my whiskey neat – Bill Jackson
99 – An Eastbound Train – Tracy Coster and Pete Donahue
98 – Blue Side of Love – Michael Carpenter and The Banks Brothers
97 – Smokin’ and Cryin’ – Kora Naughton
96 – Pushing Through Blue – Ben Mastwyk
95 – Coming Home to You – Daniel Reeves
94 – I Feel A Change – Brendan McMahon
93 – The Cowboy Song – Montgomery Church
92 – This World – Daniel Reeves
91- All Over The World – Aaron D’Arcy
90 – Your House or mine – Natalie Henry
89 – Person of the Year – Kristy Cox
88 – Let’s have a drink to not drinking again – Angus Gill And Jerry Salley
87 – Ain’t no ash will burn – The Weeping Willows
86 – You Don’t mix whiskey – Blake Dantier and Adam Harvey
85 – Real this time – The Bloomvilles
84 – Sister in song – Logan and Lyn
83 – Sounds like Country to me – Dianne Lindsay and Peter Simpson
82 – Blackjack Blues Again – Lynchburg
81- Sad, Sad Situation – Elisha Francesca
80 – There’s enough to go around – Raechel Whitchurch
79- Dust Beneath My Boots – Jason Lee and Tania Kernaghan
78- Dear August – Darren and Olivia Coggan
77- My Old Friend – Gina Jeffreys and Tania Kernaghan
The one good thing that has come out of 2021 and Covid, is that Australian Country Music is more diverse and better than ever. It was hard not to be able to go interstate for most of the year, festivals cancelled or impacted, gigs cancelled, lockdowns etc. The music that has come out of it, here and in America has been amazing. A current trend in USA is for the stars of the 90’s have released albums after a long break and new artists have released music which is reminiscent of those times. That’s a good thing. Alt. Country or Americana, which is basically a fusion of trad, folk and blues is expanding. There are now 95 types of country music. In my Australian album reviews this year, I reviewed albums from most types. From Reg Poole and Rex Dallas to Riley Catherall, Ian Burns, Natalie Henry, Ben Mastwyk, Gareth Leach, Aaron D’Arcy, Catherine Britt, Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes, Ben Ransom, Georgia State Line, The Eagle and The Wolf, Montgomery Church, Jayne Denham, Bill Jackson, Kerryn Fields, Michael Waugh, Hayley Jensen, Alice Benfer, The Weeping Willows, Michael Carpenter, Matt Ward, Matt Scullion, Andrew Swift, Katie Bates, etc. such a great mix. Such an amazing array of new talent coming through too.
The Kazzies were particularly tough to judge – the guys stepped up to the plate this year. The women have dominated over the last few years, and they still do in the new talent category, but here and in America, there was a lot of male domination. I actually had to cut a few really big old hands out of the nominations and winners in the International section, because of some new guys coming through (who ironically had a similar style).
I am excited about a lot of the new talent coming through and the continuing evolving from those who had already made a start. The tenaciousness of old hands who have been consistently good and are mentoring young ones is impressive.
The respect that a lot of young talents have for the older brigade and the love that they show for our pioneers is amazing.
I would like to thank the Community radio stations and the country music media and the suffering venues for the support of our artists.
On a personal level, I would like to thank Mal Norton and the gang at Dubbo for my award this year, which I share very proudly with every artist that it represents. I would love to thank Leonie and Vickiree and Bruber for your constant encouragement and support of what I am trying to do. Mostly, I want to thank the artists, you guys and gals are the reasons that I put one foot in front of the other and breathe on and out each day. My country music family – including my fellow fans too, are very special to me. Thank you.
Tamworth won’t be quite the same but it will be Tamworth. We have lost some special folks this year – we have had some hard times but hopefully, this too, shall pass and we can see a shining light ahead of us.
There are lots of new albums coming in 2022. I look forward to them.
Cowgirlup 