Sunburnt Country Music

The first time Tom Mac was a guest on the Sunburnt Country Music podcast, we had a long chat – so long that it grew gradually darker in his car (he’d pulled over in order to do the interview) to the point where he was barely visible! This time around he was indoors, with a light, and we had another long chat, because he has stories to tell.The reason for the interview was his latest single, ‘Brave’, which he wrote about falling in love with his partner, Erin, who has two children. It’s a song about loving someone when you know you can’t be their number one, because the children necessarily come first. Mac had been fairly nomadic to that point – the first interview was, in fact, about his song ‘Nomadic’ – so committing to this new life required some decisions, including being brave. He wrote two songs about it, and released the first, ‘Never Gonna Be’, in 2024, and he waited to release ‘Brave’, as he talks about in the interview, saying it ‘went that little bit further’ into the story.Mac also talks about the single before this one, ‘Larrakia Sunset’, which was written during the time he spent in Darwin during the pandemic, and which he recently performed in the NT capital. And he goes into his songwriting process – usually a solo writer, he is opening up to collaborations and contemplating what that means when the subject matter is more personal. Towards the end Mac talks about his background in acting, and even though that hasn’t been his main professional pursuit, he’s had some interesting experiences … and reveals a near-miss role on a reality TV show!Listen to ‘Brave’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Brave’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Brave’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve been to see an Australian country music artist play at any time in the past few years, the chances are good that you’ve seen Tameka playing in the band. A highly accomplished and in-demand guitarist, she has performed alongside Ashleigh Dallas, Adam Harvey, Andrew Swift, Catherine Britt, Loren Ryan and Tori Darke, amongst others.Tameka has now released her own music, the country-pop single ‘Like This Before’, which she worked on with Mickey Pye, who she met when she was a teenager, and who taught her guitar for a while as he runs a music school in the Central West of New South Wales, where Tameka also lives. The song was written in 2019, as Tameka tells me. It was mixed by Nashville engineer Jonathan Roye and mastered by Adam Ayan, who’s also based in Nashville. When Tameka and I chatted recently I found out that she has been writing songs for years – although given how often she’s on the road, it’s understandable that she’s only releasing the song now! As she also says in the interview, she needed to feel ready to have the focus on her. She has long wanted to be an artist and release her own music, and says she somewhat fell into being a guitarist, but the time is clearly right for her to step to the front of the stage.I also asked Tameka about her development as a guitarist, and given that when we chatted she had an array of instruments behind her, I asked her about them – and it turns out one of them was the first guitar she ever owned. So for those who are interested in guitars, there’s a little bit of guitar chat!Listen to ‘Like This Before’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Like This Before’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Like This Before’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Central Queensland contemporary country artist Trent Richardson appeared in Australian Idol two and a half years ago, not only had he never performed for an audience before – he thought he was a long way from being a father, which is something he very much wanted. His life changed fairly quickly: he reached the final six of Idol, which gained him fans and propelled his burgeoning career in country music, and he has since become a father to Archie. It is for Archie that he has written his latest single, ‘Promise You Now’, as from birth his son had the odds against him, spending months in Neonatal Intensive Care. As Richardson says in this interview, ‘There was a period there when we thought he just wasn’t going to make it.’Archie was diagnosed with septo-optic dysplagia which affects his sight and movement, amongst other things. He will need lifelong medical care yet, as Richardson says, ‘he zips around’, and he has made great progress. ‘We just love him,’ says Richardson. ‘I think that’s the biggest thing. I just adore the little fella.’It’s clear from talking to Richardson that there’s no one more important to him than Archie, and it’s also clear in the song, which is a father’s promise to a son to always take care of him. ‘Archie chose me to be his dad,’ says Richardson.The first time I interviewed Richardson he struck me as someone who is focused and determined yet also philosophical about both downs and ups. That is no doubt contributing to why his son is doing so well and also why he’s able to manage fatherhood and work and also creating music. As he says in the interview, writing the song helped him navigate all of it. There’s more ahead for him, on all fronts, and no doubt he will approach it with gusto.Listen to ‘Promise You Now’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Promise You Now’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Promise You Now’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since they first emerged on the Australian country music scene seven albums and fifteen Golden Guitars ago, Tasmanian country-rock outfit The Wolfe Brothers have won fans and admiration with their hard-work ethic backed up by impressive live performances, professionalism and songs that take in good times and bad, sentimentality and straightforwardness.The Wolfe Brothers are Nick and Tom Wolfe, and in this new interview I talk to Tom about the band’s varied activities this year, which have included being inducted into the Country Music Hands of Fame during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and performances with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and writing their latest single, ‘Wannabe’ in Nashville with Australian Phil Barton and American Dana Heaton-Perdue. The Wolfes are inherently entertaining – you only have to see them live to know that – and this song therefore fits very nicely in their canon. The duo are looking ahead to the release of their eighth album and after several years of travelling back and forth across the land, performing, they’ve learned how to balance their hectic work lives with some peace and quiet back home. Which doesn’t mean they still don’t give 110 per cent to their music – as Tom talks about, they absolutely love what they do and appreciate every minute of it. You can see The Wolfe Brothers live at Groundwater Country Music Festival on 17 October, and they continue their own Australian Made Tour in November. All dates on their website. Listen to ‘Wannabe’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Wannabe’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Wannabe’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are pathways for Australian country music artists of all ages to develop their talents and skills, and that includes those who are young enough to still be in school. The CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music is for artists under 18 years of age – and NSW Central Coast singer-songwriter Lucy Beveridge has been a student there four times, in both songwriting and instrumental strands. She’s also taken part in the Talent Development Project, an NSW initiative for school students in the arts. So when I interviewed Lucy about her debut single, ‘A Million Different Things’, I was conscious of the fact that I was talking to a young artist who also has more experience and education than most, and who has therefore worked diligently and professionally at her craft at an age when there’s also school to think about, plus the usual hullabaloo of being a teenager. Beveridge’s maturity as an artist is evident in the song, which is not the work of someone who is still trying to figure out which music she wants to make and which sort of artist she wants to be, even as it’s a song that acknowledges that she’s ‘a million different things’.The clip for the song was filmed in national park in Watagan, in the NSW Hunter Valley, by Lucy’s mother and brother, who run the successful photography and videography business Roaming Creatives. You can see it here.It was a pleasure to talk to Lucy and find out more about how she’s developed as a songwriter, singer and musician – she’s a truly impressive individual and it’s exciting to anticipate what she may release next.Listen to ‘A Million Different Things’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘A Million Different Things’ on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.