Sunburnt Country Music

Two Tone Pony are a five-piece country rock band from the Central Coast of New South Wales. They released the album Born on the Road in 2024 and their brand new single is 'You Haven't Heard of Me Yet'.When I interviewed Two Tone Pony founding member David Kirkpatrick, he said that the song had its origins in, of all places, a ski lodge in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains when someone, noticing the conversation had turned to music, looked him up and down and asked, ‘Tell me, what do you do again?’ When it come to music, it’s more like what hasn’t Kirkpatrick done. The son of country music legends Slim Dusty and Joy McKean, he grew up travelling Australia, surrounded by music, and it’s never left him. Rather than bristle at that ski-lodge question, though, he filed it away. ‘As a songwriter you're always looking for a hook,’ he says in this chat. ‘Something you can hang a song on.’'You Haven't Heard of Me Yet' is Two Tone Pony’s first single since their first album, Born on the Road, which was released in 2024. Kirkpatrick says that it was a first album still finding its sound. As it happens, there’s been a significant change in the band since, with founding member Ian Rhodes stepping down and new member Brandon Smith joining them. Smith brings fiddle, mandolin, lap steel and banjo to the line-up, providing what Kirkpatrick calls ‘the missing link’ for the country-rock sound he had always been after.The video for ‘You Haven’t Heard of Me Yet’ was filmed at the Hardy's Bay Club on the Central Coast of New South Wales – the band's home venue – and directed by Jeremy Minette of Eyes and Ears Creative, who has made all of their clips. It follows Kirkpatrick walking into the bar looking, as he puts it, like ‘a Beverly Hillbilly’ with a battered 1962 guitar case that belonged to Joy McKean and has travelled around Australia.The single was produced by Rod McCormack, who helmed Born on the Road, and two more singles are already recorded, with live shows and at least one festival appearance planned for the second half of 2026.‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ is out now.Listen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on SpotifyListen to ‘You Haven't Heard of Me Yet’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

**NB on the audio quality: I record this news on video then strip out the audio track. It's not always optimal quality but I'd rather bring you this than nothing at all**Mentioned in this instalment:William Alexander - ‘Heart of a Drover’Beccy Cole - new album Through the HazeMelanie Dyer - ‘Golden Girl’Tori Forsyth - ‘I’m Not God’Matt Joe Gow - two dates at Kew Courthouse on 21 March (evening show sold out)Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham — new album Everything Around YouAmy Sheppard & The Wolfe Brothers - ‘Fool Outta Me’Briana Dinsdale - ‘Never Love Again’For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clancy Pye is an artist from the Central West of New South Wales who has released several memorable singles, including 'Hey Mama' and 'Days Like This'. Her latest is 'My Hometown'.Pye grew up in Oberon, a town of around 3000 people, half an hour from Bathurst in New South Wales. Oberon has no traffic lights, one main street and, as she notes in the song, a part-time cop, a detail that says so much and which we discuss in this new interview. ‘Most things got sorted out in the community themselves,’ Pye explains about the part-time cop. ‘People looked after one another.’ That capacity to compress a whole social world into a single precise image is central to what makes 'My Hometown' work and to what makes Pye a songwriter capable of evoking place, people and emotions so well, as she has done consistently over the course of her releases.‘My Hometown’ emerged during the pandemic years, when Pye wrote around 150 songs. Its catalyst was personal: her parents had just sold the family farm, the only home she'd ever known, and she found herself making more trips back to Oberon, feeling a particular pull of gratitude and loss. The chorus came quickly. The verses took twelve months and somewhere between fifteen and twenty drafts. ‘I really wanted to go a little bit underneath the surface of what makes little towns like Oberon tick,’ she says. She wanted to write something specific enough to feel true, but open enough that listeners from any small town could find themselves in it, and she has succeeded beautifully at that.The production was handled by Sean Rudd in Sydney, with Pye's brother Mickey – a guitarist and the founder of a music academy in Bathurst with over 300 current students – contributing a signature guitar riff that runs throughout the track. Drummer Pete Drummond of Dragon also plays on the track. 'My Hometown' is the fifth single from Pye's forthcoming debut album, which is due for release later this year, including a CD edition.Alongside her own music, Pye has spent the past two years performing with Tania Kernaghan and Jason Owen as part of their Let Your Love Flow tour, travelling through New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. She also works as a physiotherapist – a background that, she admits, gives her a particular perspective on the physical demands of life as a touring musician, and we talk about that too. It’s always a great pleasure to interview Clancy Pye, and this time was no exception.‘My Hometown’ is out now.Listen to ‘My Hometown’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘My Hometown’ on SpotifyListen to ‘My Hometown’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake Davey is a multi-talented artist – a singer, songwriter, producer, videographer and photographer. He has released several infectious country-pop singles and the latest is 'Workin' On Me'.Since releasing his last single, Davey's life has changed considerably. He and his wife, Grace, are now parents to a son, Dalton, a development which is particularly significant given that a spinal cord injury in 2023 left doctors telling Davey he was unlikely to walk again, let alone have children. ‘Grace literally walked into the studio and was like, “Baby”,' Davey recalls in this new interview. ‘And I was like, what do you mean?’ That moment was the spark for 'Workin' On Me', a song about wanting to show up as the best possible version of himself – for Grace, and for Dalton.‘I wanted to write a song about growing up in the right ways,’ Davey says, ‘admitting that I've had moments where I was selfish, and that's fine. This was my surrender to being the best version of me.’The song was written in Nashville with Dakota Striplin and Charles Walker at Ronnie Dunn's publishing house, part of a trip that yielded eight to twelve songs in total (so we know there are more songs in the works). Davey produced it himself, though he's candid about the particular challenge that presents. ‘Having ultimate control over your music is a dangerous thing because you're never done,’ he says. But, as he tells me, a quote he encountered during the process helped: perfectionism is procrastination disguising itself as progress. The strong reception for the song has come in the wake of a great start to the year, with Davey’s fourth consecutive sold-out show at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.‘Workin’ On Me’ is accompanied by a video that Davey made with longtime collaborator Jackson James. It features Davey's family, including a notably relaxed Dalton, who slept through most of the shoot! With more singles already in the works and a headline hometown show on the cards for later in 2026, Davey is already looking ahead, and that includes his packed schedule as a producer and videographer.Listen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on SpotifySee the video for ‘Workin’ On Me’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mentioned in this episode:Kelly Brouhaha - 'This Is All For You' Amber Lawrence - 'That’s Cowgirl To Me'Charlotte Le Lievre - ‘I Yearn To Love Someone’Tom Busby - Rockhampton Hangover- interview coming upBrooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley - ‘Now I've Said It’ Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham - New Frontier EPSara Berki - ‘Where I'll Be (For Adeline)’Interviews coming up:Jake DaveyClancy PyeDavid Kirkpatrick of Two Tone PonyLindsay WaddingtonDylan WrightFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melinda Schneider first appeared on stage at the age of three and on a recording at the age of eight. Since then she has released fifteen albums and won six Golden Guitars. She runs her own label, Mpower Records, she's a keynote speaker and much more besides. Her latest album, Tender, is a moving collection of songs.There is a particular kind of courage required to make an album like Tender. Schneider has spent decades as one of Australian country music's most celebrated performers – six Golden Guitars, fifteen albums, a career that began before most people's memories form. But she is candid about the fact that much of that work was made while she was privately struggling. ‘I was putting on a happy face in public and then being in a lot of pain privately,’ she says. The depression she experienced in 2018 became, in her telling, a turning point: the moment she stopped what she calls ‘the impersonation of perfect’.Tender is the album that reflects what came after. Most of the songs were written in the last decade, during what Schneider describes as the happiest and most peaceful period of her life – since meeting her husband, Mark Gable, and since becoming a mother. The result is a collection that moves between vulnerability and warmth, grief and gratitude, with Schneider's voice carrying each shift with complete conviction.The title track is a duet with Diesel, a pairing Schneider chose deliberately, looking for someone ‘respectful of women’ and emotionally present enough to meet the song where it lives. A duet with Gable also appears on the album, a song she wrote only months after they got together.The album was shaped by Schneider's instincts alone. As the founder of her own label, the creative decisions – which songs made the cut, how the album opens and closes – were entirely hers. It begins with the upbeat, Americana-inflected 'Open Up' and ends with 'Story of My Life', a song she first wrote 22 years ago that now sounds, she says, like a different person singing it – freer, more at ease.Alongside the album, Schneider exhibited a series of eleven paintings, one for each song, a practice she took up during the pandemic that has since become a weekly meditation. The Tender tour is currently under way, with New South Wales and Victoria dates already announced and more to follow later in the year.Tender is out now.Listen to Tender on Apple MusicListen to Tender on SpotifyListen to Tender on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Faith Williams is an artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales who last year released an outstanding debut EP, Queen of Hearts. She is now set to release her first album later this year, and the first single from it is 'Holy Grail'.When Queen of Hearts arrived in early 2025, Williams released it independently and, as she says in this new interview, ‘I didn't have a lot of knowledge into the industry at all. I was fairly green.’ In the year since, she has quietly accumulated the kind of experience that can't be taught: festival appearances she didn't expect, a New Songwriter of the Year win at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, radio play on ABC Country, and – just recently – being added to the playlist at Triple J, nearly a year to the day after the EP's release. That growth is also evident in her approach to the new album, which was recorded in September at Rabbit Hole Studio with producer Brandon Dodd, who also helmed Queen of Hearts. Eleven tracks were laid down in three days — an efficiency Williams credits to arriving with her songs fully formed and a clear sense of what she wanted. The album features one co-write, 'Black Fire', written with Millie Mills at a songwriting retreat run by Lyn Bowtell — otherwise the writing is entirely her own.The lead single, 'Holy Grail', is a love song that deliberately resists the conventions of the genre. Williams describes it as being about ‘choosing real over ritual’ – the kind of love that doesn't need to be dressed up or explained. It's also an example of what makes her writing distinctive: she's drawn to stories and characters, to the specific detail that opens into something universal. Her song 'Dear August', about the loss of a pregnancy, has that quality; so does 'Joe', which she traces back to a mental image of a stranger at a bus stop, telling their life to someone they'll never see again.At the time of recording, Williams was in the last trimester of pregnancy, due at the end of March. She plans to take a few months off before returning to gigging, with an album launch and a return to Tamworth pencilled in for later in the year. I was hugely impressed by Queen of Hearts when it released, so needless to say I’m excited to hear the album, and to see Williams release a wider audience, as she deserves.Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mentioned in this episode:Max Jackson – new album Dangerous in Denim Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley – new single ‘Now I’ve Said It’ Morgan Evans - ‘Steel Town’ Saralyn – ‘Cowgirl Blues’ - THIS TRACK PLAYS AT THE END OF THE EPISODE Jo Page – ‘When We Knew Nothing’ Jasmine Sparkes – ‘You’ve Got Time to Kiss Me’ Jake Whittaker - ‘Boots On’  Tour news:Sara Storer, Shane Nicholson and Shane Howard - For the Sake of the Song. Limited shows in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT in May.For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hardest Thing by Catherine BrittThis is the audio version of the review (and an addition to the types of content available on the podcast). If you'd like to read it instead, you can find it on Substack or the website. The Hardest Thing is out now through Red Rebel Music/MGM Distribution. Listen on Apple Music Listen on Spotify For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎵 COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS ROUNDUP 🎵Six BIG new releases you need to know about:KINGSWOOD - the new track ‘Highway Signs’ is out from this hard-working country-rock band. They’ll have a new album later this year and no doubt you can catch them from the road this year.WICKER SUITE released ‘Younger Me’ ft. Ashleigh Dallas—a heartfelt anthem about mental health & self-compassion. Catch them on tour through QLD, NSW, VIC & NZ!BECCY COLE announces first solo album in 7 years! Through The Haze arrives 13 March (vinyl 27 March). Raw, honest storytelling exploring heartbreak, healing & resilience. New single ‘The Gardener & The Flower’ out now.BUD ROKESKY announces his second album Dusk (out on 8 April) + Australian tour in May. New single ’45’ is out now. TYLA RODRIGUES has a new EP, Hold On Tight, out now + major festival slots at CMC Rocks and more later this year. She’s also just had her first Golden Guitar nomination. Full album coming later in 2026!FAITH WILLIAMS - impressive new single ‘Holy Grail’ from her forthcoming debut album. She released the excellent EP Queen of Hearts last year. For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne five-piece The Paper Kites formed in 2009, and released their first album, States, in 2013. They have spent several years touring the world and their music has been streamed over two billion times. They have a new album, their seventh, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, and recently I spoke to keyboard player/ guitarist/ vocalist Christina Lacy about it.  Ahead of the album, three singles were released: ‘Change Of The Wind’, ‘Shake Off The Rain’, ‘Every Town’ and ‘When The Lavender Blooms’. The first of these has a video which refers to the story of how the album was named, and I asked Lacy about this during the interview.  Lacy, who is a founding member of the band, also talks about how The Paper Kites came to write and record – and name – the album, and we discuss how she balances her creative life with motherhood, and the importance of carving out ‘time to be creative and time to be inspired’, as she puts it – and I love that she made that distinction!Lacy was generous with her insights and it was clear, talking to her, that the band has lost none of its passion for making music together.  The Paper Kites play Twilight at Taronga in Sydney on Friday 6 February and will tour the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia in February and March before joining Bernard Fanning in Brisbane on 15 March. They will then tour the USA and Canada. All details are on their website.  If You Go There, I Hope You Find It is out now through Sony Music Australia.  Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Apple Music Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Spotify Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Titles of books, albums (or EPs), movies – any creative work – can be hard to come up with, as they need to do so much work, especially in an age when we make very quick decisions about what is going to win our attention. A title needs to not just capture our interest but convey the experience of reading that book, listening to that album, watching that movie as concisely and effectively as possible.The debut EP from KYARNA, a folk-country artist from the Yuin Nation on the far south coast of New South Wales, is called Lost Soul Love Letters. It’s such an evocative title, prompting us to wonder: Who is the lost soul? Who are the love letters for? Happily I was able to ask KYARNA these questions, and also talk to her about each of the six tracks on this EP, which more than lives up to the promise of its title. (This interview was recorded in late 2025, so when KYARNA mentions ‘this year’, it’s 2026 she’s referring to.)From the first track, ‘Meet in Love’, we know we’re in for stories that are going to take hold of us and which are probably going to be bittersweet, in that they may make us smile in recognition – or cry for the same reason. There is quite a story behind this song, and each of the songs that follow it. KYARNA recorded the EP with producer Matt Fell in Tasmania, and there’s a story there too. I’ll let you find that out from her in this interview.KYARNA has many more songs – we talk about the prolific nature of her songwriting – so it will be fascinating to see what she decides to record next. These six songs will keep you going for a while, because they are rich in story and meaning, but, of course, a fan always wants more! A note on the sound: we had some wi-fi glitches in the first half. I edited out some but you’ll hear a little bit of it.Listen to Lost Soul Love Letters on Apple MusicListen to Lost Soul Love Letters on SpotifyListen to Lost Soul Love Letters on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year Sydney artist Bianca Joulianou released           the single ‘Gambling Man’, which was based on a story that’s very close to her. We had a chat about that at the time and also talked about Joulianou’s gig schedule. She’s been busier since then, opening for Australian Idol winner Dylan Wright as well as Shannon Noll, Diesel and The Wet Whistles. That’s in addition to playing regular spots at venues such as Jolene’s in Sydney’s CBD and with Out West Country, which is a Sydney-based events company. Joulianou’s latest single is the very catchy ‘Bad Routine’, which is about wanting to break free of something – such as a relationship – but being pulled back into bad habits. It was produced by Jake Davey, who is himself recording and releasing music, and he plays on ‘Bad Routine’ as well. As they recorded two songs, another single is in the pipeline for release in 2026. In this new interview about ‘Bad Routine’, I asked Joulianou if she has any bad routines of her own – you’ll have to watch or listen to it to find out what she said – but it’s probably fair to say that she’s mostly in good routines, given she fits her music career in and around full-time work as a mental health support worker.Joulianou is heading to the Tamworth Country Musical Festival in January and has a few shows lined up, including at the popular Riverside Stage, and she’s making plans for more writing – especially co-writing – next year. And she’s open to writing with anyone, so if you’re keen to write with her, you can find her on her socials!Listen to ‘Bad Routine’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Bad Routine’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Bad Routine’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before this year started, Brisbane outfit Chloe Marks & The Mayhem had not released any songs, although Marks herself has released music with duo Scotch & Cider, and as a solo artist. She also plays in other people’s bands as well as performing regularly with The Mayhem, as she’s been doing since 2023. The band’s first single was ‘Carolina’, released at the end of February this year, and since then they’ve released ‘Skip September’ – for which Marks and I had a chat – and ‘Porch Light’. Now with the release of fourth single ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’, it emerges that these four songs form a story arc, with ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’ putting the full stop on that tale. Each song is different to the others, but the thread is there when you listen to them back to back.In my previous interview with Marks I talked to her about her fascinating creative life, which includes photography and extreme sports, so you can head to that if you’d like to find out more. In this chat I concentrated on the brace of singles, with a focus on ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’, which has the refrain ‘When I get stoned I talk to God’. Marks and I talked about belief systems and what does and doesn’t get mentioned in public, or even to friends and family. As she says, the song has ‘opened up a strange but wonderful conversation within the band’. All four songs were produced by Michael Muchow, and Marks has new material that will see her heading back into the studio in 2026. That studio time will be slotted in around her performance schedule, and that of The Mayhem, which includes dates at the 2026 Tamworth Country Music Festival (see below). They’re also playing on New Year’s Eve at Chattahoochee Joe’s, one of the homes of country music in Brisbane. See Chloe Marks & The Mayhem live:Wednesday Dec 31 – Chattahoochee Joes – Brisbane QLDFriday Jan 16, 2026 – Tamworth CMF – TudorHotel – Tamworth NSWSaturday Jan 17, 2026 – Tamworth CMF –Tudor Hotel – Tamworth NSWSunday Jan 18, 2026 – Tamworth CMF – JoeMaguires – Tamworth NSWTuesday Jan 20, 2026 - Tamworth CMF – JoeMaguires – Tamworth NSWListen to Chloe Marks & The Mayhem on Apple MusicListen to Chloe Marks & The Mayhem on SpotifyWatch the official music video for ‘Cheaper Than Therapy’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you’re talking with Australian country music artists, Robbie Mortimer’s name comes up a lot, whether it’s as a festival performer or a co-writer – several artists work with him either to write songs from scratch or to enhance songs that already exist, even in part.He’s the youngest of five brothers who grew up in the Central West of New South Wales, and perhaps negotiating with four siblings led to him being able to work well in a collaborative environment. Or maybe it was growing up in an NRL family, and having team sports as the default. That same environment also introduced him to poetry – his father writes it – as well as country living, which has influenced the stories he tells, and hard work.Mortimer has several irons in the fire, for himself and with others – but, as he says in this new interview, he’s used to ‘squeezing absolutely everything out of a 24-hour day’. He says his father and brothers are wired the same way: ‘all gas, no brakes’. That ability to make the most of time and opportunities is married with Mortimer’s creative drive, which he has in spades. And it is a creative drive more than a drive for success because, he's discovered, ‘Everything I’ve done for the artistry of it has gone really, really well’, whereas anything he’s created while trying to replicate the success of something else has not fired the way he’s hoped.Mortimer has released several singles this year, the latest of which is ‘The World Keeps Turning’, to go with the ones he released last year – pretty much an album’s worth across that time, but he’s looking ahead to what’s new and what’s next. This is a long conversation because there was a lot to chat about – as there would be, given his work rate! There is much more to come from Robbie Mortimer, so this chat is by way of closing out a big year and looking ahead to an even bigger one in 2026.Listen to Robbie Mortimer on Apple MusicListen to Robbie Mortimer on SpotifyWatch/listen to Robbie Mortimer on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each time I organise an interview with a country music artist there is an impetus for it – usually, as you’d expect, a new release, either single or album. I do my research and write questions accordingly, but I do not go into any interview with an expectation of where the conversation will go because expectations tend to become pre-set limitations, and there’s a danger of missing out on something interesting if those limitations are in place.So it was that when I started chatting to Brook Chivell, an artist based in south-east Queensland, the reason for the chat was his latest single, ‘Like a Country Girl’ but the first part of the conversation was about guitars. For one thing, all his guitars are tuned to E flat. For another, he’s been building his own guitars. If you’re not interested in talking about guitars, well, maybe skip the first ten minutes. But I tend to like asking questions about the technical parts of being a musician because it’s really interesting to hear about other people’s work. We also chat about the burgeoning country music scene in south-east Queensland, the blues songs Chivell has been recording and releasing … and, of course, about ‘Like a Country Girl’, which is a song for the girls who start the dance floor at a gig – the ones, says, Chivell, who can shift the mood of a show in a very positive direction. I also ask Chivell about co-writing, which he’s done a bit – so it seems as if he likes doing it. His answer was surprising, and led to him talking about his writing process in general.Listen to Brook Chivell on Apple MusicListen to Brook Chivell on SpotifyListen to ‘Like a Country Girl’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roo Arcus became a singer unintentionally – he didn’t know he could sing until he was somewhat strong-armed into it in a group setting. The cattle farmer from the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales has been on the land all of his life and spent his formative years listening to what he calls ‘the golden era’ of country music.Arcus spends a lot of time in the United States of America where he’s asked, ‘How can you talk like an Aussie and sing like a Texan?’ His singing voice developed, he says, due to what he was listening to and singing along to when he was younger. His first album was called Station Boy and it’s not available on streaming services, although the albums since are – including his fifth, The Man I Am, which was created in the wake of a devastating fire on his property, which destroyed not only farm vehicles and equipment but instruments and his children’s belongings. (This is captured in the song ‘Just an Old Shed’ on the album.)The recording of the album in Texas was booked, however, and Arcus pressed ahead with it despite not having all the songs ready. What emerged was, perhaps, the truest expression of where he was in his life because he didn’t have time to think about it much or try to edit himself. The resulting album is not raw so much as honest, and Arcus too is honest about the impact of that time in this interview.We also talk about his longtime affection for the US, where he travels several times a year, and especially for Texas, which is his second home. Even after three decades in music, Arcus says he still feels like ‘a cattleman that sings … I don’t know how I ended up in this business.’ While that may be true, he’s stayed in it because he writes songs that reflect his experiences and they connect with people, as does his voice, and you’ll find out all about the development of both in this chat. Listen to The Man I Am on Apple MusicListen to The Man I Am on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Songs can become our best friend. And sometimes songs can save a life.’Laura T Davis, a singer-songwriter from northern New South Wales, says this a fair way into our interview. The reason for the interview was her latest single, ‘Not Your Fault’, and the story behind that song is that Davis is a victim-survivor of extreme sexual violence perpetrated upon her in her teens. So when she talks about songs saving a life, she’s talking about what songs have meant to her and also what writing this song has done for her. We talk at length about this part of her story, in particular, and also the other parts of her life, such as her beloved animals – horses and dogs – who are, she says, ‘part of my healing’. We talk about her musical background, being classically trained in piano and voice, and the time she spent performing for hours each day on ships on Sydney Harbour. About how, she says, there is a calling for music in her heart.Davis released a single in 2020 called ‘Make It Till Christmas’, which was partly about how people on the land will hold on – to make it to Christmas, for example. It was inspired by what she saw around her, in the region she lives in, which is also an area that has been so badly affected by floods. By these acts of God that have been visited upon the residents. Acts that are not their fault any more than what happened to Davis was hers.‘You have to tell yourself it’s not your fault,’ she says of the realisation she came to after years spent in the aftermath of the violence done to her. ‘You have to forgive yourself … That was the catalyst for this [song]. It was probably the only way that I could heal ... I didn’t want to suffer in silence any more.’Davis is no longer suffering in silence but she is also incredibly self-aware and articulate about what it has taken for her to arrive at the place where she could not only write this song but record it and release it. For anyone who has been through a similar experience – and I sincerely hope you have not – I believe her story will give you heart. For anyone who has not, I hope you will listen to her with an open heart. That’s what she is offering to the world, when we have no right to expect it of her.Listen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Not Your Fault’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each interview I do is, obviously, different because each artist is different – they have unique backgrounds, sounds and stories. Some of them turn out to be packed with lots of interesting elements – subjects I could have pursued for much longer conversations, except I’m mindful of trying to keep the chats relatively short and focused on music. This interview with Jo Page, a country music artist from Port Lincoln in South Australia, was one of those. I start off asking Page about Port Lincoln – which is Australia’s seafood capital, which I didn’t previously know. Page also mentions that she won Port Lincoln’s Got Talent as part of Tunarama at the age of 20 – and, well, I had to ask her about something called Tunarama! You’ll have to watch/listen to find out what she said …Page has been performing live since that time, although, as she says, at school she was ‘always the nerdy choir chick that would give up lunchtimes to do music stuff’. But it was the competition which led to her being introduced to a local producer with whom she formed a duo and then a band. She has only recently started writing songs, however, because she only started playing guitar three years ago. Now she’s written hundreds – as she says, you need to write a lot in order to find the gems – and one of those is ‘Fire In His Eyes’, which she wrote with Kevin Bennett and recorded with Matt Fell at Wilder in Tasmania. The character in the song, says Page in the interview, is based on how she envisages her grandfather, who was a cowboy – and there’s more to it but, again, you’ll need to watch/listen to find out!Page is pursuing her music while also being a frontline domestic violence worker and mental health advocate. We talk about how she takes care of her own mental health, and a lot more besides. Maybe next time I’ll get to pursue those other subjects in more detail, but I certainly enjoyed this chat and hope you do too. Listen to ‘Fire In His Eyes’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Fire In His Eyes’ on SpotifyWatch/listen to the song on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tom Nethersole released a country single, ‘Ardmona Rd’. I hadn’t heard of Nethersole before that – his previous releases were mainly pop songs – but I loved the song and therefore was happy to chat to him about it. It was a great pleasure to interview him, so when he told me that he had a new folk-tinged song, ‘Holiday Spirit’, written and recorded with fellow Victorian Kye Arnot, of course I wanted to talk to them both.Arnot has developed quite a following on TikTok, and we talk about that aspect of being an artist these days, as well as his single ‘Common Things’. Nethersole has also released an EP, Father, Son & the space in between, since we last spoke and it’s been on high rotation for me, because he has a certain way with melody and words so that his songs don’t let you go. ‘Holiday Spirit’ is no exception. It’s an ode to loved ones lost, and how that loss affects what is supposedly a festive season. In our interview Nethersole and Arnot talk about how they came to write together, and how the recording worked – and they reveal that there is, in fact, another recorded version of the song in existence, which frankly I would very much like to hear!While there is nothing at all country-music about ‘Holiday Spirit’, one of the benefits of Sunburnt Country Music being an independent enterprise, and me being the only person here, is that I can cover what I like if I think it’s worth telling you about. I value your time and attention, and this enterprise keeps growing – across multiple platforms – because of it. These two artists are special, I think, and they’ve made something special together. I hope you enjoy meeting them, and listening to their song.Listen to ‘Holiday Spirit’ on Apple Music           Listen to ‘Holiday Spirit’ on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.