Happy 50th Birthday, Beccy Cole! I haven’t seen this woman live in concert 54 times for nothing. There is nothing like a Beccy Cole gig. What you see is what you get.
Beccy gives you everything in a gig, nothing is left in the tank. She makes you laugh, she makes you cry, she surprises you with a song that you don’t expect and a story that is always worth the price of admission.
She jumps from drums to guitar to keyboards to even a fiddle all in the one song. Her energy and her passion for her craft and her genuine love for her family, friends and her fans is unmatched.
Beccy Cole is an original. She even has her name on a rock in Tamworth, now and her hands in cement there too, not many have both.
People much more knowledgeable than I have called her the greatest entertainer in the world. I have seen most of the greats and on that basis, I have to agree.
She’s our poster girl, the one that you would miss the lifeboat for and definitely our Sweet (and sassy) Rebecca.
Thank you for the music and the uplifting feeling that we get when we leave a Beccy Cole gig. It’s wine time. Raise a glass of Mummy’s medicine to our Beccy, here’s to the next 50 years!
If you like Paul Kelly, Colin Hay, Van Morrison, Jackson Browne, and Lachlan Bryan, chances are you will like Aussie Don Hillman.
He mixes the coast with country, sort of like Surf and Turf! This is a cruisey album, definitely to my taste.
It is well produced, but I can’t see who by. I am also gathering that Don wrote or co-wrote most of the songs, if not all.
As I said, this album is cruisey, very laid back but there are also a few more uptempo, catchy songs. Where the major strengths are his lyrics and his voice which is an echo of previously mentioned artists, the music is at times tenderly experimental and definitely varies in mood and style.
I love Crackly Radio which is very Van Morrisonish. Time’s Runnin’ could have been part of The Big Chill soundtrack. It has that 60’s vibe. It is Uber cool.
The album ends up with a chillaxed love song, Whenever I’m With You.
A lot of the songs have a bit of a travel theme to them. Gypsy Station Wagon, which opens the album , is evidence of that.
King Parrot Creek is very Paul Kellyish. It has a peaceful feeling and it is very Australian.
The title track again has that coastal, surfer feeling. It is easy to paint the picture of this song.
Rollin’Waves Forever and Headin’ Down South continue the theme. Somebody to talk to is another one with that late 60’s/early 70’s feel.
With the music, it tends to match the emotion or theme of the song – I felt the vibe of Lost from the opening chords. I usually pay more attention to lyrics, but the tunes were incredibly magnetic on these songs. The guitar work is quite amazing.
This is a lovely surprise. Well done Don. I hope to hear more from you.
Ben, Ben, Ben, oh Ben Ransom! Blame it on the wine, but you have turned into a smoothie! Great song, son! Hold me tonight! Buy it now folks – holy Dooley.
Gotta love me some Travis. Just the away – what a beaut song, with some cool vocal gymnastics. Some cool guitar licks and Brett Eldridge co-wrote it. Hot stuff!
Sami Cooke – Our own love song – a catchy song that will stick in your head. This gal has so much talent. I met Trav and Sami when they were teenagers. Look at ‘em now, all grown up! It was always there and it always will be.
Darcy Fox is actually a local for me. This dog, Ashamed is powerful and it shows off Darcy’s amazing voice – it does come with a warning, though. A couple of words but don’t worry – they are apt.
The Sydney based Zac and George released Red Wine and Roses but I am a bit late to this one. A nice rocking beat. A toe tapper. Voices harmonise well.
Josie Laver released her single, Honey Moon (co-written with Matt Joe Gow) – it is a sleepy, soulful song which will have you sinking into the couch.
There’s blokes who write and play great country music as a spectator and then there are blokes that write and play great country music who live it. Tom Curtain is in the latter category.
He’s a cowboy and a showman and a man from the outback. You can visualise each song from the first track, the anthemic When the rain comes down to the yee Haa Country Boys.
Tom and producer, Garth Porter, have mixed it up with a couple of novelty/humorous songs, some ballads, some toe tapping numbers and all with a rich Aussie country flavour.
It is very easy to imagine being in the outback on a horse or on a motorbike or just standing in the middle of nowhere but everywhere.
Blokes like Tom have provided a new wave of uniquely Australian country songs – Luke O’Shea, Matt Sculllion, Dean Perrett, Jeff Brown, Chris Matthews, Michael Waugh and co – keeping the genre alive and thriving.
Even when Tom gets into a rockier groove, his songs are still unmistakably country. It is not just the subject matter and Tom’s Aussie accent, it is an atmosphere that he creates in your head and heart.
It’s hard picking favourites, but there are some standouts amongst the gold. We’re gonna ride is pretty special as is The Best Horse and Believers. It is hard to fault any of the 10 tracks. As I mentioned before, there is a good balance between styles of country music, even though the theme and essence are obvious in each song.
Tom has firmly planted his boots in the stirrups. Whether you are line dancing, toe tapping, humming, singing along , or kicking back, there is something for all lovers of good country music.
Thanks to my fellow country music tragic, Leonie, I learned about Pete, or that and a little bit that I was able to find out otherwise.
As most of you know, I am a folk music gal first, and country second. Now with the 95 types of country music, we have folktry, and Pete is all that.
This EEP gives us a taste of what we hope to hear more of in the near future. Bring to the Dawn reminds me a little of the one Pink Floyd song that I love, Wish you were here – (don’t shoot me Pink Floyd fans, I know that is a sin for 1970’s teenagers to admit) . There is definitely an added thread of country to it.
Maya Simmons features on a few tracks and her voice complements Pete’s. I always love a waltz, a Celtic sound, a folk feel and a country ballad – all these aspects are here.
Solstice is an instrumental worth just chilling to.
Sands has a soft Travelling Wilburys’ feel. It is probably my favourite song on the EEP.
Pete’s music is easy to listen to but it is not without layers and depth. It will make you feel mellow but it will also make you think.
Pete wrote the songs and Marc Scully produced them.
There is definitely a Dylanesque quality to his music.
All tracks produced by Sam Hawksley and Matt Fell bar * produced by Matt Fell
Callum and Jackson McPharlane are twins. They almost seem like veterans now. They say that when brothers or sisters sing together, there is an inbuilt harmony. This is the case with these two. If you think The Everly Brothers, The McClymonts, The Crosby Sisters,The Jetty Road gals, then you get the picture.
Even though Bo’Ness have already been around the traps for a while, they are only 22. They have a gift and they know what to do with it .
When you also consider that the songs on this EEP are produced by Sam and Matt or Matt alone and that they are written or co-written by or with Chris Cheney, Mike Carr, David Carter, Drew and Troy and Lachlan Bryan, you can’t go wrong.
I have been lucky enough to see the boys LIVE a few times and they have a definite stage presence and are amazingly talented.
These songs cover a few of the 95 types of country. Having Chris and Drew and Troy involved, there’s a bit of country rock there and most likely the path that they will go. Having two of my favourite songwriters, Mike and Lachlan in the mix and David Carter from Carter and Carter who is a man of many talents there, can only be of great benefit to the young ones.
The EEP starts with the gently country rocking ballad, Mirrors and Smoke which has the campfire and the Carter touch, definitely showcases their softer side.
We Don’t Need This Town is probably the most ‘country’ song on the EEP, thematically and has just the right amount of torch and twang. It is co-written with Lachlan. Enough said.
Fight me is from Drew and Troy’s Hard to Tame album. These two young ones could be a junior version of one of Australia’s most famous duos, just a wee bit more on the mellow side.
Makes Me Me again has the Carter touch. It is both toe tapping and melodic.
Two Chris Cheney songs are interestingly added, showing the boys diversity. They can certainly more than handle the change in tempo and and the vocal gymnastics in Light up the airwaves and highlights their harmonies in Won’t fall apart.
Still Young is co-written with my favourite fella, Mike Carr, who has been a mentor in many ways for the brothers. It is almost anthem like and very apt for them to sing.
This won’t be the last that we hear of the boys, it is just the beginning.
This single life has some extra special entries. I am supposed to be at Sarah Catania’s single launch tonight but a bit hard from Me e. She’s a beaut young singer/songwriter and Venus and Mars is only a teaser at what this talented young girl can do.
Nothing I can do is the latest from my brother from another mother, Darren Colston. . I can’t lie, everything that Daz does, I love, but this type of song is his best kind of song. If you have a pulse, you will agree.
One of my Melbourne buddies, Sandee Facy, has released the beautiful Lucky Charm. She is a consistently wonderful performer.
Another one of my Melbourne sons, Nathan Seeckts , has released a deeply personal song, I get to see my baby. It is so deep and toe tapping at the same time.
Morgan Evans held all of our hearts in his hands with this incredible song Over for you. Wow just wow.
Honorary Aussie, Kiwi Kaylee Bell is on a roll lately. Small Town Friday Nights is a Keith Urbanish (ironically) sounding rollicking country rock song. It will continue her roll.
Brittany Elise has released Like Me That Way. This is a song that a lot of gals will relate to this song. Truly one of our most underestimated talents.
Joy, Joy, Joy is the new single from Amber Rae Slade. It has a fifties/sixties sounding song. It is an absolutely fabulous song.
Billie-Jo Porter released Let it all roll out – even Tamworth gets a mention! This is a cool song. It has a catchy country melody and Shane Nicholson sound – not sure if he produced it but it has that Shane feel.
Sarah Leete, I’m sorry, I thought that I reviewed this song! Girl Next door is a fine song with a bit of banjo and a nice easy drumbeat. Love it.
My favourite Scot, Duncan Phillips, has a new song, Did I wonder? It is catchy and it gets in your head. Duncan has a big voice. Some great guitar work and some hard hits in the drums. Good stuff.
Overnight (Australian time) we lost a legend of country music, Loretta Lynn. She was more than that, though. She broke so many rules, with love, life and in the music industry and she built a platform for many other women to stand tall, courageous and just never give up.
She is pictured above with her friend, Patsy Cline. Both women paved the way for many others.
When I was a kid and teenager growing up In Gosford, Taree and Tamworth, my Dad was forever playing country music. My mum liked it too, but her taste was broader.
My sister and I knew every country song but we were probably more into rock, pop, musicals and in my case folk music. A wise rock legend once said that you will find country music in all music if you dig deep enough.
In those years, I sang, sometimes mockingly and thinking that they were novelty songs – Loretta’s One’s on the way, Tammy’s D.I.V.O.R.CE, and the like fun songs. It took me a few more years to realise that there was more to those songs.
When I was 14, I fell in love with a song called Don’t it make my brown eyes Blue by Crystal Gayle. That was more my style. I didn’t realise for a while that Loretta and Crystal were sisters. I had more Crystal music than Loretta.
In 1980, a movie came out that would change a lot of things in my life – Coalminer’s Daughter. I watched it mainly because one of my favourite actresses, Sissy Spacek was in it and one of my rock heroes, Levon Helm was playing Loretta’s Dad. Sissy won the Oscar and I got to know Loretta. Loretta said there were flaws in the movie script but she was proud of Sissy and they became close friends. Sweet Dreams about Patsy Cline came out about the same time with the fab Jessica Lange. I was a young feminist and these two along with Jane Fonda, Lillian Hellman, Helene Hanff, and Vanessa Redgrave as well as Maggie Tabberer and Ita Buttrose showed me from a young age that gals could be just as good as guys – sometimes better.
Coalminer’s daughter is still my favourite Loretta song but there are many others. She married very young, had a batch of kids, rose above the basic life that she had and persevered against all odds and in her honest, true grit style, forged a multi award winning , totally groundbreaking career. She has influenced so many, won the respect of people outside of country music and continually challenged boundaries and jumped hurdles.
Loretta Lynn recently paid tribute to Olivia Newton-John, despite folks saying that there was animosity between them. Loretta was all embracing- she had some songs that were banned, like The Pill, and a lot of songs about her husband, Doo, that wee true but not exactly flattering. She saw her share of tragedy, outliving some of her kids and close friends. She spoke out loud and proud til the end, never stopping to challenge herself with albums like the award winning Van Lear Rose with Jack White and still producing new albums in her 80’s.
I never saw her LIVE but that doesn’t matter. She gave me lessons in love, life, strength, persistence and resilience. She has left a legacy which has spread across the world, beyond the world of country music. She fought the good fight. She lived a life for her and Patsy who died too young. A lot of artists all over the world – women and men – have been influenced by her.
That 11 year old who sang one’s on the way and the 17 year old who watched Coalminer’s daughter and the nearly 60 year old who cries tonight because she’s lost a hero and smiles because she can say she’s stronger for knowing her music and her story, thanks her for the music and the light that she shone on all of us.
The Buckleys – siblings Sarah, Lachlan and Molly – have shifted from Hippie Country to a more defined country pop and a bit of country rock here on this EEP.
It is fun, light hearted and uncomplicated music. It is flirty, tuneful, catchy and something that your toes can tap to.
The 5 songs on here will appeal mainly to a younger audience. They are more pop than country, however they are well crafted and inoffensive tunes that have nice harmonies and crossover appeal.
The title track is probably the most impressive. Oops, I love ya sticks in your head. Love me wrong is a nice and easy song
Cowgirlup 