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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Category: News
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.
Keith Urban adds to Golden Guitars with Ripcord
INTERNATIONAL country music superstar, Keith Urban, has added to his Golden Guitar tally with the 2017 Sanity Top Selling Australian Album of the Year award.
Platinum-selling album, Ripcord, was the highest selling country selling album of the year based on sales figures complied by ARIA for 2016. This is the first time the award has been based on the ARIA figures and brings Keith’s Golden Guitar tally to 12.
His album finished the year at No. 2 overall with an unbroken run in the top 20 and held the top spot for two weeks on release.
Rounding out the Top 5 top selling Australian country albums on the ARIA end of year Country Album chart are:
#2 Adam Brand & The Outlaws – Adam Brand & The Outlaws
#3 John Williamson – His Favourite Collection
#4 Troy Cassar-Daley – Things I Carry Around
#5 Graeme Connors – 60 Summers: The Ultimate Collection
The Sanity Top Selling Australian Album of the Year award will be presented at the 2017 CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia on Saturday, January 28 at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre.
The Golden Guitar Awards are the nation’s longest running music awards and play a vital role in developing and promoting Australian country music talent. The awards are the pinnacle event of the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Tickets are on sale now and available from www.tcmf.com.au, but if you can’t make it to Tamworth, be part of the awards with the Toyota Country Music Festival live stream at www.tcmf.com.au/live.
Buddy Goode delights with More Rubbish
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.”
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Beddingfield brings international flavour to Tamworth Country Music Festival
By Rebecca Belt
THE first weekend of the Tamworth Country Music Festival will have an international flavour with Eric Lee Beddingfield headlining CowboyUp.
The rodeo, ute and musical event is an initiative of the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association (ABCRA) and is new to the festival next year. It will raise vital funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.
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Travis Collins helps launch Tamworth festival
By Rebecca Belt
SIX-TIME time Golden Guitar finalist Travis Collins was in Tamworth on Wednesday, December 7, to help launch the festival locally and speak about what it meant to him.
Collins said, to describe the festival as a family reunion was cliché, but there was no better way to explain it.
“It is like Christmas time when we call come home,” he said.
“We break bread and have beers and talk about what we’ve been doing and plan our year. If you took that out every January, then who knows what would happen to the whole country music industry. In business terms, it’s like our AGM.”
Rural fiction with Christmas spirit
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.
After 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
Changes and new talent for Toyota Star Maker 2017
FANS of new talent will notice a few changes to the 2017 Toyota Star Maker event with the announcement of the ten grand finalists today.
2016 Toyota Star Maker Karin Page
Ten of Australia’s top emerging talent will vie for the honour of becoming the 38th Toyota Star Maker in a winner-takes-all, event in Toyota Park, in the leafy heart of Tamworth in January. The event has traditionally been the main feature of the first festival weekend, but this concert on Sunday, January 22, aims to make it an even more significant occasion.
2017 Golden Guitar finalists announced
THE COUNTRY Music Association of Australia (CMAA) and the Tamworth Regional Council have announced the finalists for the 2017 Country Music Awards of Australia – The Toyota Golden Guitar Awards.
This year, nominations for the awards increased by 20 percent on 2016 with the finalists demonstrating the great depth and variety of country music we have here in Australia.
“The finalists for the 2017 Toyota Golden Guitar Awards are a great mix of new faces and favourite country music artists,” CMAA chairman Dobe Newton said.
“And whilst it’s always good to see some familiar faces, the finalist’s announcement for 2017 has really opened up opportunities for our emerging artists and sets the stage for a very special evening in Tamworth on January 28 when the winners are announced.”
Nominated for six Golden Guitars, Travis Collins leads the finalist’s field with his album Hard Light. Travis is nominated for Album Of The Year, Male Artist Of The Year, Toyota Heritage Song Of The Year (Hometown Calling), CMC Video Clip Of The Year (Call Me Crazy), Single Of The Year (Just Another Girl) And APRA AMCOS Song Of The Year (Call Me Crazy).
Sara Storer leads the female finalists with five nominations including Album Of The Year, Female Artist Of The Year, Regional Australia Bank Vocal Collaboration Of The Year, Bush Ballad Of The Year And Toyota Heritage Song Of The Year.
The 2017 Toyota Golden Guitar Awards sees debut nominations for artists including The Weeping Willows with four nominations from their sophomore album Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’. The self- proclaimed ‘Americana Sweethearts’ are up for Alternative Country Album Of The Year, Country Music Capital News Group Or Duo Of The Year, Bluegrass Recording Of The Year (River Of Gold) and Qantaslink New Talent Of The Year.
Joining them in the Alternative Country Album Of The Year category are two more newcomers, Katie Brianna with her album Victim Or The Heroine and The Wilson Pickers with their album You Can’t Catch Fish From a Train. Fanny Lumsden (Qantaslink New Talent Of The Year, APRA AMCOS Song Of The Year and Single Of The Year), Justin Standley (Qantaslink New Talent Of The Year), Michael Waugh (Qantaslink New Talent Of The Year) and Lindsay Waddington (Instrumental Of The Year) are also nominated for their very first time.
With stellar individual careers and multiple Golden Guitar Awards between them, Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart are a powerhouse combination and their self-titled album Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart has also been nominated for five awards. The trio are hot contenders for Alternative Country Album Of The Year, Country Music Capital News Group Or Duo Of The Year, Toyota Hertiage Song Of The Year (Goulburn Valley Woman), Bluegrass Recording Of The Year (I Hear Them All), and APRA AMCOS Song Of The Year (Goulburn Valley Woman).
Kasey Chambers, Graeme Connors, Luke O’Shea and Kristy Cox have three finalist placings each. Chambers, with her song Ain’t No Little Girl and Connors with his song 60 Summers, will compete for APRA AMCOS Song Of The Year, CMC Video Clip Of The Year and Single Of The Year. Luke O’Shea is up For Album Of The Year (Caught Up In The Dreaming), Male Artist Of The Year Aad Toyota Heritage Song Of The Year (The Old Man’s Shed) and Cox will vie for Female Artist Of The Year, Alternative Country Album Of The Year and Bluegrass Recording Of The Year with her album Part Of Me that was produced by Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Jerry Salley.
Allan Caswell, Troy Cassar-Daley, Amber Lawrence, O’Shea and The Wolfe Brothers, have each landed two nominations and rounding out the awards with a single entry each is Doug Bruce, Kirsty Lee Akers, Seleen McAlister, Sunny Cowgirls, Warren H Williams & Dani Young, Adam Harvey, Anne Kirkpatrick, Catherine Britt, Dean Perrett, Graham Roger, Jeff Brown, Roo Arcus, Michael Fix, Mickey Pye, Stuie French, The Hillbilly Goats, Caitlyn Shadbolt, Runaway Dixie and Simply Bushed.
NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said the Tamworth Country Music Festival is recognised world-wide and attracts significant visitation to the state.
Toyota Australia executive director Tony Cramb said they were excited to be part of the awards again.
“The depth and calibre of the nominees, which includes a number of Toyota Star Makers is a great thing and we’re already looking forward to the big night,” he said.
The Golden Guitar Awards is the pinnacle event of the Toyota Country Music Festival in Tamworth and for the second year running fans can catch all the action live from Tamworth via http://www.tcmf.com.au/live.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival will be held from Friday, January 20 to Sunday, January 29 with the 45th Toyota Golden Guitar Awards on Saturday, January 28 at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Caught Up In The Dreaming – Luke O’Shea Producer: Luke O’Shea and Benjy Pocock
Silos – Sara Storer Producer: Matt Fell
This Crazy Life – The Wolfe Brothers Producer: Luke Wooten
Hard Light – Travis Collins Producer: Travis Collins
Things I Carry Around – Troy Cassar-Daley Producer: Troy Cassar-Daley
ALTERNATIVE COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart – Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart Producer: Glen Hannah
Victim Or The Heroine – Katie Brianna Producer: Shane Nicholson
Part Of Me – Kristy Cox Producer: Jerry Salley
Before Darkness Comes A-Callin – The Weeping Willows Producer: Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth
You Can’t Catch Fish From A Train – The Wilson Pickers Producer: The Wilson Pickers
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
50 Years In Oz – Allan Caswell
Unsung A tribute to the songs of Buddy Bruce – Doug Bruce
Caught Up In The Dreaming – Luke O’Shea
Hard Light – Travis Collins
Things I Carry Around – Troy Cassar-Daley
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Happy Ever After – Amber Lawrence
Burn Baby Burn – Kirsty Lee Akers
Part Of Me – Kristy Cox
Silos – Sara Storer
Follow The Journey – Seleen McAlister
COUNTRY MUSIC CAPITAL NEWS GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart – Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart
Here We Go – Sunny Cowgirls
Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’ – The Weeping Willows
This Crazy Life – The Wolfe Brothers
Desert Water – Warren H Williams and Dani Young
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK VOCAL COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR
Bartender Blues – Adam Harvey Performers: Adam Harvey and Lyn Bowtell
Cheers to the Girls – Amber Lawrence Performers: Amber Lawrence with Catherine Britt and Fanny Lumsden
Orchid Street – Anne Kirkpatrick Performers: Anne Kirkpatrick and Jeff Brown
F U Cancer – Catherine Britt Performers: Catherine Britt with Kasey Chambers, Beccy Cole, Lyn Bowtell, Josh Pyke, Wes Carr, and Wendy Matthews
My Diamond – Sara Storer Performers: Sara Storer and Greg Storer
BUSH BALLAD OF THE YEAR
A Truckie Up In Queensland – Allan Caswell Songwriters: Allan Caswell and Manfred Vijars
The Veteran – Dean Perrett Songwriters: Allan Caswell, Drew McAlister, Dean Perrett
Ghosts Of The Murranji – Graham Rodger Songwriter: Graham Rodger
God Given Rain – Jeff Brown Songwriter: Jeff Brown
Amazing Night – Sara Storer Songwriter: Sara Storer
TOYOTA HERITAGE SONG OF THE YEAR
Goulburn Valley Woman – Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart Songwriter: Kevin Bennett
The Old Man’s Shed – Luke O’Shea Songwriters: Luke O’Shea and John Krsulja
Red, White and Blue – Roo Arcus Songwriter: Roo Arcus
Purple Cockies – Sara Storer Songwriter: Sara Storer
Hometown Calling – Travis Collins Songwriters: Travis Collins and Troy Kemp
INSTRUMENTAL OF THE YEAR
Twenty Five – Lindsay Waddington
Cosmopolitan Blues – Michael Fix
Buckle Up – Mickey Pye
Roundabout – Runaway Dixie
Song for Manaia – Stuie French
BLUEGRASS RECORDING OF THE YEAR
I Hear Them All – Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart
Losing My Blues Tonight – Dean Perrett
Another Weary Mile – Kristy Cox
Cumberland Gap – The Hillbilly Goats
River Of Gold – The Weeping Willows
QANTASLINK NEW TALENT OF THE YEAR
Running In Circles – Caitlyn Shadbolt
Land Of Gold – Fanny Lumsden
Till The Buzzer Goes Off – Justin Standley
Heyfield Girl – Michael Waugh
River Of Gold – The Weeping Willows
APRA AMCOS SONG OF THE YEAR
Goulburn Valley Woman – Bennett, Bowtell and Urquhart Songwriter: Kevin Bennett
Land of Gold – Fanny Lumsden Songwriter: Fanny Lumsden
60 Summers – Graeme Connors Songwriter: Graeme Connors
Ain’t No Little Girl – Kasey Chambers Songwriter: Kasey Chambers
Call Me Crazy – Travis Collins Songwriters: Travis Collins and Damien Leith
CMC VIDEO CLIP OF THE YEAR
60 Summers – Graeme Connors Director: Ben Bishop, Tropical Exposure
Ain’t No Little Girl – Kasey Chambers Director: Duncan Toombs, Filmery
The Truth Walks Slowly (in the Countryside) – O’Shea Director: Mark O'Shea
Raise Your Glass – Simply Bushed Director: Duncan Toombs, Filmery
Call Me Crazy – Travis Collins Director: Duncan Toombs, Filmery
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Land of Gold – Fanny Lumsden
60 Summers – Graeme Connors
Ain’t No Little Girl – Kasey Chambers
The Truth Walks Slowly (in the Countryside) – O’Shea
Just Another Girl – Travis Collins
