Category: New release

Paul Costa goes Off The Grid

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Off The Grid, the first single from multi-award winning artist Paul Costa’s much anticipated new album Whisper in the Crowd, hits the airwaves today, Friday, February  17.

single-coverFans got a taste of Off The Grid at the 2017 Tamworth Country Music Festival and the reaction to the re-introduction of Paul Costa to the Australian country music industry has been outstanding.

“This song is unapologetically rocking, relevant and fun,” Costa said. “I want people to turn it up loud on their stereos when they want to escape the daily grind. We are spending more and more time on social media, and have forgotten how good it feels to be free from technology and “off the grid”…I dare people to try it!” Continue reading →

Get On Your Feet with Brand’s new album

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IT’S time to Get On Your Feet with Adam Brand back with a new album brimming with positivity. He got the party started at the Tamworth Country Music Festival where he kicked off his Wormall Civil Get On Your Feet tour. Today, February 10, though, fans get their hands on the album.
“I want the album to make you feel like dancing, jumping up on your seat, raising your glass in the air and waving your arms around,” Brand said.
“There is light and shade, though … and there’s a lot of fun stuff on there. There are different textures and flavours that you probably wouldn’t expect. The last thing I want is for people to listen and think that’s just another Brandy album.”

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Photo: Andrew Hennell

The singer-songwriter said that he was constantly striving to push the bar even higher on his music with each album and enjoyed challenging himself with two female producers working on the album and taking his music in new directions.

In another break from tradition, Brand didn’t write any of the songs on the album, instead opting for songs written by others that he whittled down to 10 he couldn’t stop listening to.
“I approached the song search in a totally different way and started collecting songs for about 18 months before I went into the studio,” Brand said.
“I contacted songwriting friends and people I’ve written with in Nashville and everytime they sent me a song, I’d add it to my playlist and I would play them in the car. Songs I didn’t like got deleted and, by natural selection, I ended up with 10 songs that I wanted to keep pressing repeat on – that was my album. I thought how good that you can spend a year listening to songs and the 10 songs I loved the most, that’s your album.” Continue reading →

Matt Henry launches first album – Love Without Co-Dependency

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By Rebecca Belt
THE Tamworth Country Music Festival is the ideal place to launch new product for artists, but for Matt Henry, this moment has been 20 years in the making.
Love Without Co-Dependency is an album that’s been 20 years in the making and was released on the first day of festival, January 20.matthenrylovewithoutcodependency
“It seems like it’s been a long time coming because I started recording with Shane (Nicholson) in December last year for two weeks then went back to him in May and recorded more,” Henry said. “I’ve been working on these songs for a couple of years.”
Henry said choosing the songs was a collaboration between Nicholson and himself as he wrote and sent him a bunch of songs and Nicholson chose the songs he believed were the strongest to formulate a sound and create the album.
“I was probably listening to a lot of Americana and bluegrass while I was writing, so there is more of that sound on the album,” Henry said. “In America, it’s been a really strong, solid sub-genre of its own for a long time and now, in Australia, it’s growing.”
Continue reading →

McClymonts show their Endless talents

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By Rebecca Belt

FRIDAY the 13th is a lucky day for country trio, The McClymonts in January 2017, as they release their latest album, Endless. The musical surprises are endless on this offering as they take listeners to an even fresher place in country than they’ve ever gone, while keeping the sound undeniably theirs.

mcclymonts-endless-coverOne-third of the sister trio, Mollie McClymont, spoke to The Country Journo about the making of the album and their upcoming trip to the 2017 Tamworth Country Music Festival. It’s been a massive 12 months for the trio welcoming another member to the family, with the birth of Mollie’s first child, Ned, to husband, Aaron Blackburn, and now the birth of a new album.
“We are so excited about this album,” she said. “It feels like it’s been a long time coming.”

Produced by Andy Mak, his experience with pop albums shines through, while Brooke, Sam and Mollie McClymont retain their country style.
“He plays a lot with his brother, so got the sibling harmony stuff and this was his first country album,” Mollie said. “We were looking for producers and looking for someone new and fresh. We all just clicked and had an instant connection.”

Mollie said, prior to the release, that any nerves she experienced were outweighed by the excitement of the new offering for fans.
“Personally, I think it’s our best album yet,” she said.

The youngest McClymont sibling said she had a few favourite tracks on Endless, but was attached to all of them.
“I really love Unsaveable because it really means something,” she said. “I loved ‘Like We Used To’ the first time I heard it. Brooke wrote it with other people and I played it on repeat because it is so catchy. I love not being a writer and hearing a song and instantly having a connection to it. It was instant love for me with that song.”

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With Mollie and Brooke both being mothers now, Mollie said it had changed their outlook on life and influenced their writing.
“We wrote, Don’t Wish It All Away, about our children,” she said. “We were sitting around talking about how, when you have children, you can’t wait until they walk and talk, but this is the time we need to enjoy and just reflect on what’s going at the moment. It’s important to enjoy them and don’t miss anything – the kids were definitely an influence on the whole album because it does affect your outlook on life and your priorities in life. Family is important and makes your music better as well.”

Mollie admitted she was nervous about their Tamworth Country Music Festival show.
“We are going to be playing all these new songs and it’s such a huge show to start the year with,” Mollie said. “I’m excited to show people the new songs, though, and it’s going to be a huge Tamworth. We are so busy, but it’s a good way to start the year.”

Their Tamworth show on Wednesday, January 25 at 7pm with see them performing plenty of the new songs from Endless while not forgetting the favourites.
“It’s going to be high-energy,” Mollie promised.

The McClymonts will also perform at the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia on Saturday, January 28 to finish off their festival commitments.
“It’s going to be awesome – we’ve got our dresses sorted and the girls will be my date,” Mollie said.

Following Tamworth, the girls will hit the road with shows promoting Endless until June and then, no doubt, they’ll add even more gigs to their calendar.

 

Buddy Goode delights with More Rubbish

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By Rebecca Belt
BUDDY Goode is back with another album of trashy music sure to tickle your funny bone. More Rubbish was released on Friday, December 16, and he has dedicated to the fans he has spoken to after shows and who have left comments on his Facebook page.
“Over the years, you tend to read Facebook and get lovely comments after the shows,” he said. “Some of the people think you’re rubbish, so I’ve dedicated this to the people who think I’m rubbish. Here is more rubbish.”more_rubbish_cover Continue reading →

Rural fiction with Christmas spirit

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RURAL fiction is getting in the Christmas spirit with Karly Lane’s latest novel and book launch on the NSW North Coast on Saturday, December 3.
Karly’s Christmas-themed book, Third Time Lucky, took a slightly different road to being written than her previous works and began life as a novella. Avid readers may have picked up December’s Wish, a novella that Karly wrote in 2013.

third-time-luckyAfter the success of December’s Wish, Karly has developed the story of Seth Hunter and December Doyle. The couple began as teenage lovers who were torn apart by circumstance and a town’s prejudices. After more than a decade apart, they are reunited in the town they grew up in, Christmas Creek . They’re older and perhaps a little wiser, but the course of true love never runs smooth and such is the case in the relationship of Seth and December.
“I did love their story and, with life experience, they come back different, knowing each other in the past growing up, but they were now different people,” Karly said.
Turning a novella into a novel was also not entirely smooth sailing.
“It was harder than I thought,” Karly said.
“I was assuming that it was going to be easy because I had already written the novella, but I found it difficult. I think it was more my process of writing because I don’t plot or outline anything usually and, being a novella, it felt like it was a plotted out story and each scene felt like an outline.” Continue reading →

Jody Direen to Shake Up

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COUNTRY singer Jody Direen is keen to shake up the Australian and New Zealand country music scenes with her latest album, released today, November 4.

Jody Direen

Jody described the new offering, Shake Up, as her “greatest achievement yet” and said there were very few nerves with the release of this offering, because they were squashed by the level of her excitement
“I think, with this album. I really pushed the boundaries in terms of my sound direction,” she said.
“I’ve been so excited about all my albums but, with this one, I want to create a unique sound that’s mine and people can recognise me by it. There are a lot of pop and rock influences because I’m very influenced by what’s happening in the US country scene. People will be taken on a journey of my life for the last 12 months.”

shake-upThe New Zealand singer-songwriter, who moved to Brisbane this year, said she was just a normal girl working hard at her dream, so plenty of listeners would related to the songs on Shake Up.
“They’ve got an upbeat, party anthem vibe and I’ve gone for a really big sound, so live, these songs are huge,” she said.
“There are some slower songs, as well. I can’t wait to hear what people think of it and can’t wait to play the whole album live. I feel like it’s my greatest achievement yet.”

Already the winner of New Zealand’s 2015 CMANZ Female Artist of the Year Award, VAC Female Vocalist of the Year and a NZCMA Best Album of the Year finalist, Jody has also had nominations for CMC awards and top 10 hits in Australia and New Zealand.

It’s been a whirlwind month for Jody after being part of the This Crazy Life tour with artists including Wolfe Brothers, Caitlyn Shadbolt and Canadian country superstar Gord Bamford and releasing the first single, Gimme The Beat.
“I had an absolute ball because it was my first Australian tour and I saw parts of Australia I hadn’t seen before,” she said.
“Australian fans are just amazing to perform to and it was a great opportunity to play some songs off the new album.
“I didn’t know anybody on the tour before I started and I was a little bit anxious with three girls, in the same industry trying to achieve the same thing, but there was nothing like that – everybody was in there together and we all just got on like a big happy family.”Photo: Tony Banks

Although she only recently made the move to Australia, the singer-songwriter said she felt welcomed by the country scene here and was keen to get more live shows under her belt, with her next major festival being the Tamworth Country Music Festival.  She will also open for LeAnn Rimes and Scotty McCreery in New Zealand.

Shake Up is sure to make a mark on the Australia and New Zealand country music scenes with Jody having her sights set on Nashville, but said she wanted to nurture the local markets first.
“I’m very much living in the moment and always going to be aiming for that, but enjoying what’s happening now,” she said.