Tag: country music

BLOG: CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music talent astounds

Leave a comment

DAY 3 dawned in below zero temperatures as is the case at this time of the year in Tamworth, but the talent and music coming out of this CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music is hot, hot, hot.

The biggest news on the block was former student Judah Kelly’s win on The Voice. There were massive celebrations here last night in the boarding house, with cups of tea as it’s a dry academy.

Today we had the company of Allison Forbes again, along with fellow Tamworth artist Aleyce Simmonds and Allan Caswell was back in the writer’s hot seat. Joining us to chat about media and country music magazines was Country Music Capital News manager Cheryl Byrnes. Continue reading →

BLOG: CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music Welcome

Leave a comment

THE students, parents, group leaders and support staff members have moved in and the CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music is up and running. Coming from as far away as Western Australia and Tasmania, the students are in for a treat during their eight-day intensive course.

Excitement was high as they all arrived in Tamworth on Friday night and Saturday moved into their rooms at Calrossy Anglican School on Saturday morning. The students and parents all got to know each other on Saturday afternoon as the students ran through songs for the show on Saturday night at The Pub.

Continue reading →

Darren Coggan focused on The Wide Horizon

1 Comment

By Rebecca Belt
THE Wide Horizon could well be one of the most highly anticipated albums on the Australian country music calendar for 2017.

Singer-songwriter Darren Coggan is back with a range of songs that blend to form a work that makes you want to slide it into your car stereo and hit the road. As well as celebrating the country we live in and a couple of songs that have defined Australian music, The Wide Horizon also celebrates Darren’s love for his wife and children.
“The album overall is a really very accurate representation and picture of who I am in my life,” Darren said.
“With Peace Train (the Cat Stevens show), I have travelled a lot and it’s opened my eyes to a new audience and new way of performance and reaching out to people. This album really represents those last few years.” Continue reading →

Paul Costa goes Off The Grid

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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.”

20161001-ah2_1041

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 →

Sing around James Blundell’s Campfire

Leave a comment

THREE decades in the music industry is a milestone that anyone would be proud to chalk up and James Blundell is celebrating in style.
The Queensland singer-songwriter has a show this evening, January 26, at Wests to launch his new album, Campfire, released on Friday, February 2. This is not your typical Blundell album, though.
“It was quite a decision to make that this was going to be an album purely for the sake of recording an album of songs I love,” he said. “We started talking about making a record for fun, not so much a career album; it was about people collaborating in the spirit of music.”
james-blundell-campfire-front-hires_2Blundell said the result was far beyond what they had envisaged.
“It’s the sort of album I would buy to listen to,” he said.
The album is full of tracks that Blundell loves to listen to including the first single, Money Changes Everything, as well as Take It Easy, Only 40 Miles To Saturday Night, Blowing In The Wind and Madonna’s True Blue.
Celebrating 30 years has also meant plenty of reminiscing on Blundell’s part.
“I remember getting the recording deal with EMI for three albums and I thought, ‘what the hell? How am I going to have enough songs for three albums?’ and this is my 14th release,” he said. “I’ve now been making my career from music for 30 years and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I now have the perfect balance.”
When he’s not making music, Blundell can be found working on his family property near Stanthorpe.james-blundell
Career highlights have included supporting Kris Kristofferson and becoming close personal friends with Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.
“I loved the two periods of time I had the permanent bands together,” he said. “The Victor Chang concert in Central Park, the East Timor deployment for Interfet and all the defence tours were highlights.”
Catch him in Tamworth at 5pm today, January 26, and guest appearances and take a piece of him home next week with the release of Campfire.

And the rain tumbles down

Leave a comment

TAMWORTH is not known for it’s wet climate, but the weather gods made camping, outdoor concerts and street busking as uncomfortable as they could today as storms and rain streamed into town quicker than caravanners.

After working this morning, we braved the downpours and headed to Peel St to check out what the buskers had to offer this afternoon. However, there were only a few who decided to play in all weather conditions. Although there wasn’t a lot of music to be had at times, the city is full of people coming to soak up the country music atmosphere and we have it in droves.

img_30901

Continue reading →

The festival begins – bring on Tamworth

Leave a comment

IT’S my favourite time of the year of the year again, so I’m bringing back the daily blog. I hope that’s okay with everyone.

If we haven’t met before, in person, through my writing or digitally, I am a country music journalist who lives in Tamworth, Australia’s Country Music Capital. For 13 years I worked for the local daily paper and for the past decade I was the country music writer there. This is my first Tamworth Country Music Festival for more than 10 years that I haven’t been reporting on it for the paper, so here we are doing it electronically. The paper is still around, never fear, and a new team is bringing you all the news there.

I’ll be bringing you as much news as I can via The Country Journo website, Country News Snippets weekly newsletter and this daily blog.

For those visiting Tamworth, welcome, and for those who aren’t here in the best city in the world, then I hope I can bring a bit of Tamworth onto your computer screens during the 10 days of the country music festival.

group

Continue reading →

McClymonts show their Endless talents

Leave a comment

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.”

mcclymonts-large

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.