Country rock singer-songwriter, Jayne Denham is gearing up for the release of her seventh studio album. Working with legendary producer Marti Frederiksen and acclaimed songwriter Kylie Sackley across three sessions in Nashville, Denham says the forthcoming release is built on faith, redemption, resilience, and the belief that even life’s darkest seasons can lead to healing.
Three songs have been released so far: Hillbilly Halo – a loud, high-octane party anthem; Preacher’s Song – a cheeky song inspired by her first boyfriend; and Angel Of Mercy – born from hitting rock bottom during her marriage breakdown. The fourth track is about holding onto hope during tough times and trusting that better days are ahead. Written by Buck Johnson, James Dean Hicks and Charlie Midnight, Gotta Believe It is due for release September 4.
You’ve had an incredible almost twenty-year career having stacked up five number one hits on country radio and two number 1 ARIA albums, receiving seven Golden Guitar nominations (including ‘Female Artist of The Year’) and performing on some of the country music’s biggest stages.
Your forthcoming album is inspired by the idea of a redemption era after presenting the Wanted (2021) Spaghetti Western meets Country Rock era, then the Moonshine (2024) prohibition music meets Country Rock era. What do you mean by redemption era?
I’ve never really talked about my story before, and growing up with my grandfather in musical theatre and my mum [being] a gospel singer. I grew up like a lot of artists singing in church. [In church] you learn to develop a great singing ability, because you’ve got to get up early for rehearsals, and a lot of artists sing at night, so you learn all these skills very early on in life.
When I was in my late teens, I joined a band, because I wanted to do secular music. I still was at church, but I joined a band and learnt my craft, because you’re not going to learn how to entertain a crowd in church, because it’s not about that.
I was the lead singer of the Sydney Youth Alive band, and because of that opportunity, I got to record albums tour throughout Europe, America, and I was already a well-known, established artist in the Christian world by the time I was 24-25.
When I started in country music, I decided I’d like to prove myself as an artist. I could come in and go, “Don’t you know who I am? Look at all these achievements I’ve had”, but I was like, “No, I actually want to prove myself before I talk about that.” Not that I was embarrassed or ashamed of it, I was proud of it, but it was such a different genre. I’m really proud that I did it that way, because I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
Everyone in today’s society is talking about who they are, and I’ve never really talked about my story, or who I am.
My song writing generally is about other people, so I thought, maybe I should do an album based on my story and put a country rock spin on gospel themes. That’s where it all came from, and because it’s basically my story, it’s fun to now actually talk about it.
How did your parents and pastor feel about you going from church music into rock?
I think it took them a while to get used to the idea [laughs].
It was funny, I said to my pastor, “How did you know I wasn’t going to lose the plot when I went from singing in church to singing in bars to drunk people?” She said, “Because you couldn’t learn your craft (singing in church), you had to learn it outside. We knew that’s what you’re good at. Your gift is getting in front of and rocking out crowds. That’s what you do best.”
I was lucky I had great mentors around me to make sure I didn’t lose the plot. Mum and Dad, it was a change for them, but I think they knew I wasn’t that person anyway. I wasn’t going to go crazy. I just wanted to sing music. I didn’t even drink back then.
I was very fortunate that I was raised very well. I also had a job – I was a hairdresser and I had to turn up for work every day, be good at my job as well as sing. I look back now and I’m very grateful.
What do you think is the biggest mistake you almost made in your career is?
Following trends. It’s an easy thing to do, and sometimes you get frustrated. If you are different, you’re kind of carving new ground, and you’re not always the most popular, because you are doing something new and they don’t know where to put you. But if I’m just following, I’m not creating.
I wanted to be the first person to do a country-rock-meets-spaghetti-western album, and then everyone decided they were going to do western as well. So, I’m super proud I was the first person to do it. I was literally about to do a very commercial album, and then I did Wanted. Wanted for me was where my career pivoted in the right direction, and it set me up for the next two albums.
If you want to have a legacy of music, you don’t want songs that are flash in the pan, or on trend today, gone tomorrow. I’d rather have an album like Wanted. I’m so proud that it was so unique and so different, and Moonshine was too.
You worked with American producer Marti Frederiksen on your upcoming album which is due for release in January 2027. Marti’s credits span Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill. What was it like working with someone of his calibre?
Originally, he offered to do one song, which was Hillbilly Halo. I had never anticipated doing more than one song, [but] we just got on so well, enjoyed the process and the song was so great. He said, “This is just so much fun. Your voice is so unique. No-one sounds like you in country music. You’ve got this Melissa Etheridge tone that meets country rock.” He [added], “I’m really loving working with you. Let’s do some more songs.” So, then we did another three and after that he said, “let’s do the whole record.”
It was really cool how it all came about because a lot of people do want to work with him but I guess with the accolades he’s got and the success he’s had in his career, he only wants to work on projects that he feels he can sink his teeth into as well.
It was a huge honour. It’s a big privilege to work with someone of that calibre who really believes in me. To get a salute from him to say that I’m really good at what I do is something I have never dreamed of, and that my talent is something that he recognised as something different.
Which is what you want as an artist. To know he thinks my sound is unique was pretty cool that he felt he could push me to my limits. He really did push me hard as a vocalist, and I think Angel of Mercy proved that because I think that’s the best vocal performance I’ve ever done in my career.
It sounds like Marti not only pushed you vocally but emotionally too.
Yeah, 100%. I totally agree with you.
I wouldn’t say I’m a very deep person. I’m naturally a happy person, and if I go through a hard time, I don’t stay there too long. I figure my way out of it pretty quickly. I think that’s why I don’t tend to sing really deep and meaningful songs, because I get on with life and try and find the best in everything. So to actually push me emotionally, it was something I don’t usually do.
And he put the key up really high, so I had to literally struggle to hit the note. I had to dig deep on so many levels, emotionally and physically, because to sing like that, you can’t just stand there.
You have to really dig deep in your actual body to hit those notes. And if it had been in a lower key, I know I wouldn’t have got that same emotional result.
Have you sung Angel of Mercy live yet? And if so, were you able to hit those high notes live?
Yeah, at the Press in Tamworth, I sang it acoustic.
I was nervous, because it’s a big song. I was like, “Oh, gosh, I wonder how this is going to go across.” And I can honestly say the place went silent. I’d never seen a crowd be so engaged in me singing a song like that before.
Up until then, people were chatting and stuff, even through my other songs, but when I sang [Angel Of Mercy], it stopped the room, which was weird and good all at the same time to see.
And that was acoustic, so I can’t wait to do it live with the band.
What’s been the reaction like to Angel of Mercy?
To be honest, I was worried. It is very rock, but that’s why I like it. I wanted to push the boundaries because there’s not any country in that song. I was a bit nervous to send it to country radio. I thought, “They’re just going to go, what the heck is this?” But what’s happened is something I didn’t expect. Everyone’s loved it. It’s very epic and big and massive sound, big production.
A lot of people have said, “This sounds like it should be on a James Bond movie.”
So yes, it’s got a rock tone to it, but it’s got a big commercial sound. Everyone’s just been playing it, because they’re like, “This is like an epic soundtrack”, and I’m like, “Well, that’s unreal.”
It’s connected a lot more than I had anticipated, and it’s having the highest streams so far.
You are known for putting on an incredibly theatrical live show. Wanted, for example, you have the coat, fake gun and gun holster. Do you already have any plans for staging this album?
Yeah, absolutely. I’m going to bring a show like no other as I always like to do. Unfortunately you can’t always take a show like that on the road but I’m excited that my album launch is going to be at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on the 22nd of January and I’m headlining the Friday night on the Toyota Park stage, the big stage, so it’s giving me the opportunity to put on a big show.
There’s going to be lots of surprises and yes, there’s a theme. I’m super excited to be able to do that. My dream is to take it on the road but unfortunately in Australia that’s not really possible. I can do it on a mini scale, but it does suit festivals better. But it’s going to be fun to create the next album’s show.
You also pushed the creative boundaries in your music video for Hillbilly Halo, creating an entirely virtual 3D world painstakingly by hand. The final production consisted of approximately 6,000 frames, each taking an average of 45 seconds to render, totalling nearly three full days of rendering time.
It’s a technology called Blender. I don’t know what else is out there in Australia, but in country music we’re the first people to do a 3D video clip. We spent nearly a year working to bring something unique and different to video land in country music. It was a lot of work, stupid amounts of hours, but creatively the most fun we’ve had working on a video.
My friend Phil came up with the concept and we created the style together. Basically what he does, he builds a 3D set. With green screen, normally it’s you and then you’ve got something behind you. With this, you’re actually inside a fake room. It’s very clever how it works.
At one point I said, “It looks too real. We should have just gone and filmed in a cathedral. You’re going to have to do something.” I [added], “If the album’s going to have gospel themes, why don’t we make it look a bit ghostly and supernaturally?” And so he did. He blew up the drum kit and all this sort of stuff. I said, “Yeah, now it doesn’t look real. That’s fantastic.”
You mentioned before that you’re a happy person who gets over dark times quickly, and I read in a previous interview that you don’t think you’re the best writer but consider yourself more of an ideas person who works well in a group environment. Do you think that’s why you prefer writing character songs rather than delving into those personal, deeper emotions?
Yeah, I find that fun. Maybe that’s my musical theatre background from my grandfather. I like to be a character.
Even if you’re in a cover band, if you’re going to sing a Baby Animals song or Chrissy Amphlett song or Carrie Underwood, you sing it your way, but you’re taking on their characters. And for me that’s why Wanted was such a game changer from my career because I was able perform a different way. I didn’t have to try and be Jayne Denham because I wasn’t. I was “Calamity Jayne.”
What an experience to walk out on a stage and just feel like you could be something you’re not. For me that changed my career because I could perform very differently and I loved it. I still love it.
I love writing about cool people, like the truck drivers, for instance. The whole thing started by me hearing about this chick who was very cool and drove a truck, and I went, “Oh, man, I wish I was that cool.” I wrote a song about it and my career blew up because of it.
I write from an observation point of view a lot. I think some people just naturally write songs from the depth of their despair and their emotion, whereas I’m just like, I’m not that deep.
The record gave me the opportunity to talk about who I am [but] there’s probably only two songs that are personal. The rest are definitely party anthems, super fun and cheeky. They’re thematically different. The production’s different.
It’s fun as a songwriter to give people a goal. As soon as you go, “we’re going to kick a goal through these posts”, it makes it a lot easier for them to come up with ideas and help you craft your vision. I get a lot of reaction because I work like that.
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Jayne Denham’s new album is set for release in January 2027.
www.jaynedenham.com
TINSEL and TAP SHOES 