Category: News
My Soundtrack – Matt Cornell’s defining album
By Rebecca Belt
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST and singer-songwriter Matt Cornell is stepping firmly into the country music spotlight with his new album, My Soundtrack, released Friday, March 24.
The Sydney artist said this was the first album that truly represented who he was as an artist.
Although this is Cornell’s fourth record and second country release, My Soundtrack cements who he is as an artist and as a person and he wrote or co-wrote all but one song on the album in two months.
“It was a crazy eight weeks, writing most days. Sometimes I was literally coming up with concepts and ideas to write about whilst driving to the writing sessions.”
In This Town, written with Allan Caswell, was the first single released from the album last year. Cornell drew on his experiences of travelling through country towns for the song. It tells the story of two characters – a retired old boxer and a young widowed mother who lost her husband in Iraq.
The singer-songwriter has found his home in country music thanks to advice from good mate, Adam Brand.
“Adam, after hearing my 2011 album, Out Of Suburbia, said to me, ‘you don’t know it, but your songs are already country’, as he pointed out I tell stories through my songs; songs about the ups and downs of life. ‘That’s country’, Adam said.” The Sydney artist has been warmly welcomed into the country music fold, being a 2014 CMC Music Awards New Oz Artist of the Year finalist, and has been nominated again, this time for Male Artist Of The Year at the 2017 CMC Music Awards. Cornell also enjoyed eight weeks in the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Country Chart as part of Adam Brand & The Outlaws.
It is the title track that defines this album. Written with Drew McAlister and Allan Caswell, it tells the story of the songs, bands and artists that Cornell grew up on. There’s even mention of a Richard Marx song, who Cornell supported on his 2016 national tour.
“I grew up on 80s music, as well as lots of albums from my parents’ vinyl collection. They would go on to define me as a musician and as an artist. When I hear a particular song, I can remember a particular time of my life.”
Cornell also wrote with good mate and Golden Guitar winner Damien Leith.
“I toured in Damien’s band shortly after he won Idol – that was ten years ago. Although we go way back, we’d never written together, so we finally made it happen, and ‘Rest Of Our Lives’ was born. There’s two love stories in this song, the couple mentioned, and the town they’re from.”
The one heartbreak track came from Cornell’s personal experience sixteen months ago close to Christmas. He described Unbreak My Heart as one of the most raw and honest songs he’d ever written.
“This song is highly personal for me, I started writing it at a time when I was as flat and heartbroken as you could be. It was close to two years ago now so the scars have healed, but out of that experience came this song, and I’m so proud of it.”
My Soundtrack is an album full of positivity, though, and Cornell wants people to take it on the road with them.
“It’s a great road trip album. Every track has a message with an infectious feel-good nature permeating the sound and stories.”
Cornell is currently on the road with Adam Brand’s Get On Your Feet tour, opening with Gemma Kirby, and performing a songs from My Soundtrack.
“Playing live and touring is a great way to build my fanbase, make new friends, and connect with people through my songs.”
My Soundtrack is released on March 24 and launched at The Bridge Hotel in Rozelle, Sydney, on March 29.
Eric Paslay rocks Australia and CMC
By Rebecca Belt
AS CMC Rocks Queensland fans roll into Willowbank and set up camp, Eric Paslay prepares to bring his brand of music to the masses.
By the time he takes to the stage, he will have already been in Australia for about 10 days, so he’s well and truly acclimatised and has enjoyed taking in the sights of Sydney and beyond.
“It’s my first trip to Australia,” he said. “My parents lived in Thailand for six years and I always wanted to come down, but never got there.”
Paslay said his Australian fiddle player, Luke Moller, had warned him about the wildlife including the kangaroos and the drop bears, but it hadn’t scared them off.
“Luke is the man and we love him to death and we’re so glad we’re getting to rock Australia,” he said.
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Rory Phillips celebrates Cars and Guitars
RELEASING an EP at the age of 10 is impressive enough, but co-writing three tracks and playing guitars on all six is the icing on this first release from Rory Phillips. Cars & Guitars sees the young guitar virtuoso from Tumut mixing his blues style with country roots and rock influences.
Photo: Nick Moir
With Roger Corbett of The Valley Studio in the production seat, Phillips’ guitars and vocals are given room to shine. The title track is Phillips’ story in song, co-written with Corbett.
“The whole reason I got into music in the first place was cars,” he said. “I’ve always loved cars and dad played me Joe Walsh’s In My Car, because he thought I’d love it. I would listen to that song over and over, and that created an interest with guitars.” Continue reading
Music lovers welcome Long Time Coming
Natalie Pearson‘s EP was a Long Time Coming, but the West Australian artist is celebrating a No. 2 debut on the iTunes Country Chart. Out today, February 24, the Perth singer was up early to check the chart position with all the hard work worth it for such a strong debut.
The 2016 winner of the Mu
sicOz Australian Independent Music Awards Best Country title gives listeners a piece of herself through the songs.
“I’m really excited to share my music,” Pearson said. “The EP is like going into my life and it is really personal.”
The resulting seven-track EP, Long Time Coming, reflects Pearson’s pop, rock and country influences encompassing a mix of ballads and up-tempo songs.
“I’ve been holding on for a little while waiting for the right timing, professionally and also emotionally,” she said. “I would like people to walk away from the EP feeling like they can relate, and that everything that happens, good or bad, helps us grow as individuals. It’s an acceptance that has been a long time coming.”
The second single, Don’t Ask Me This, is a deeply personal song for the young artist.
“While recording it, I had to take so many breaks because I would just start crying,” she said. “It’s about a sad kind of heartbreak. Being in love with someone, but knowing that it’s probably not going to work out, because you want different things in life. It’s about knowing that an impending deal-breaker will ultimately end in goodbye, and there’s no way around it.”
The Perth singer played her first Tamworth Country Music Festival this year, picking up new fans along the way with her heartfelt performances.
“I played (Don’t Ask Me This) acoustically at the Writers in The Round at Tamworth Services Club at the festival, and made it through to the last chorus before I got choked up and had a little cry on stage – how embarrassing,” she laughed. “I think people really felt my story, though. I had one person come and give me a hug afterwards because they felt I needed one. It was beautiful.”
Long Time Coming is out now through Maven Records/Sony Music Entertainment Australia. It is available for purchase on iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/LTComing
Catch Pearson in action:
5 April, Perth Arena Foyer (Dixie Chicks Concert) WA
21 April, Riverside Hotel, Northam WA
22 April, Aggies Cottage, Dandaragan WA
23 April, Venue TBA, Narrogin WA
26 April, Club Acoustica, Indi Bar, Scarborough WA
26 May, Support for Bloom (Adele & Amy Songbook), The Basement, Sydney NSW
Paul Costa goes Off The Grid
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.
Fans 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
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.”
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
No stopping Lyn Bowtell
By Rebecca Belt
MULTI-GOLDEN Guitar finalist Lyn Bowtell is the embodiment of the show must go on mantra. Not one to let anyone down, the singer-songwriter has been unwell since mid-December and hospitalised three times since but kept up all music commitments. She directed the CMAA Academy of Country Music for the first two weeks of January then threw herself into Tamworth Country Music Festival appearances and shows.
Last Sunday, though, she was again hospitalised, spending Sunday night and Monday in Tamworth Hospital.
“I was watching Toyota Star Maker, being the 20th year since I won, and supporting all the people who has entered,” Bowtell said.
“I sat down with the students from the academy and we got to half time and I stood up to get dinner the pain hit severely.”
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Matt Henry launches first album – Love Without Co-Dependency
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.
“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.”
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McClymonts show their Endless talents
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.
One-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.”
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.
Bec Gracie Publicity 