music – Page 12 – TINSEL and TAP SHOES

The Cruisin’ Country Files – Cruisin’ Country No.6 in Photos

Today marked one month since we set sail on board the Legend of the Seas for Cruisin’ Country No.6 – an 8-day cruise celebrating all things country music. So over the next couple of days, I have some photos and interviews that I wish to share.

What: Cruisin’ Country No.6
When: November 13th-21st, 2016

Features: Lyn Bowtell, Adam Brand, Liam Brew, Travis Collins, Beccy Cole, Matt Cornell, Amber Lawrence, Drew McAlister, Shane Nicholson, Libby O’Donovan, Luke O’Shea, Amber Joy Poulton, Jasmine Rae, Melinda Schneider, Aleyce Simmonds, The Toombs Brothers and Felicity Urquhart

For more on the cruise, please visit: http://cruisincountry.com.au/2016

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An Interview with Gord Bamford

Australian-born, Canadian-raised Gord Bamford is a father, country singer-songwriter, and multi-award winner – he’s won 23 CCMA Awards to boast, so he’s kind of a big deal! Making up one seventh of acts appearing alongside the Wolfe Brothers on their This Crazy Life multi-festival Australian tour; I caught up with Gord, on the last weekend of the tour in Queensland, to talk about starting over, Australia and living up to the tour name.

Have you picked up any slang while you’ve been down here?

I’m picking it up. I love the accent – I wish I could get it back. A lot of people say they like the accent I’ve got, I go, “I’ll trade ya!” I left here when I was five so I spent most of my years in Alberta, Canada, but I live in Nashville with my family now. I don’t think it’d be hard to pick it up as I spend more time here.

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An Interview with Casey Barnes

Image by Ashley Roach/fullframe.com.au Casey Barnes is one of Australia’s most prominent country music artists. The father of two had had an impressive career already, having played alongside Mariah Carey, Bryan Adams and just recently, Lady Antebellum. He recently released his third album, Live as One, along with the single of the same name – an important song about global acceptance, unity and understanding.

It’s been four years since your last release. Why did Live As One take so long to make?

It’s been a fairly long time coming, but I’m excited that I’ve finally got it out. It was a combination of getting the right tracks together and I made a lot of trips across to Nashville. That’s why it was a drawn out process, just to make sure we had the strongest tracks. I’m now signed with Social Family Records, so that’s made a massive difference to the success of this album and it’s the first time we charted at #9 on the ARIA album charts on the first week of it’s release, which I’ve never done that before – so that was really exciting!

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Interview: Lisa Mitchell

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Lisa Mitchell wowed us on Australian Idol at the tender age of 16. Now ten years later, she’s about to release her third album Warriors – a inspired and a reflection on her younger years.

Why did you decide to make The Boys the first single?

The Boys, it’s a light beginning and one of my favourite songs. I think it’s also got a similar theme in being a bunch of friends. One of my boyfriend’s mates Dad passed away, so they all wanted to hang out with him. I unexpectedly got stuck out on the beaches, where they were hanging out, and a bit of a public transport dead zone and I was like, “oh shit. I’m totally going to have to crash this gathering.”

They were just driving around listening to good music. I loved getting reminded of how gentle and passionate guys can be towards each other in their own way. Of course, they didn’t talk about anything, they were just playing footy and drinking beers but it was really nice. Their energy were so great.

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Interview: Country Rock Singer Troy Kemp

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Originally one half of the award-winning duo, McAlister Kemp – Troy Kemp is making a name for himself with his recently released first solo album, Against The Grain. About to hit the road on the This Crazy Life tour – we spoke about the tour, what defines modern country music and the comradery between Australian country music artists.

You’re soon to hit the road on the This Crazy Life tour, headlined by the Wolfe Brothers with artists Gord Bamford, Caitlyn Shadbolt, Christie Lamb, Craig Heath, Jody Direen and yourself. What can you tell me about this unique tour?

It’s seven acts from 3 different countries all touring together as a mini festival, on the road, kind of thing. I think in Australia there’s a real stigma around what country music is. A lot of people will think it’s all dinky and traditional – but there’s a modern wave of country music that’s coming through that’s really rocky and poppy and [country music is] becoming really diverse. If a lot of younger people heard what country music sounds like now, they’d go, “that’s actually pretty cool!” So, that’s what the whole emphasis of the show is. It’s trying to bring that awareness and sound out, and hopefully win some new country music fans [as well].

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An Interview with Leanne Tennant

Cairns singer-songwriter, Leanne Tennant has been singing professionally on and off for around fifteen years. The 2015 Queensland Music Award Winner for best ‘Blues & Roots’ artist, and 2016 Billy Thorpe Scholarship finalist, is currently on tour with her new album, Red Wine, Late Nights.

Where does the name Red Wine, Late Nights stem from?

I think the type of work I created on this last album is suitable for late nights and red wine. A few of the songs were brainstormed over a bottle of Shiraz. Red, over White, yes [is my drink of choice].

I work with a great photographer called Matt Loncar. We did a shoot in the Princess Theatre in Brisbane and felt the vibe suits the sound of the album [so used it for the cover].

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An Interview with Michael from Until Home

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Matt Reisinger, Michael Trapp and Clayton Mullins, as pictured above, make up the Brisbane-based trio, Until Home. Currently on tour with their debut EP, Optimistic and working as disability support workers; I spoke with the lead singer, Michael about band origins, emotive songwriting, and life spent on the road.

So, how did you guys meet?

We met at school. Matt and I had been friends since we were quite young – we took up music together, playing guitar, learned to sing, wrote our first song together, learned our first cords together – so we’ve been doing it for a while. We [as a complete band] started playing together around late 2013, around Brisbane and the Gold Coast for maybe a good year and then we decided to start recording.

It wasn’t until after school, I started as a disability support worker and then one after the other, Matt started and Clayton started a few months later. So, we met at school but we still work together, which is cool. We’ve got such a supportive work group. Our manager is absolutely awesome! [He allows] us to get time off and he comes to our gigs. We [also] have a wide network of supportive friends which is really great, really good to have.

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An interview with Pete Murray

PeteMurray Australian singer-songwriter, Pete Murray is about to hit the road, or hop a plane more specifically, for Surf Music in Paradise – a unique concert experience combining music, sun and surf in the beautiful Maldives. Currently hard at work on his fifth album; I spoke to Pete about exotic locations, surfing, new music and touring with Rob Thomas.

Hi Pete. In June, you’re heading to the Maldives for Surf Music in Paradise. How did that gig come about?

The guys from The Perfect Wave contacted me after they saw [the Latitude Zero] documentary I did with Mark Occhilupo, Mark Gasnier and Ash Grunwald. We did this trip to the Mentawai Islands and Foxtel recorded it, so that doco has been played all over Foxtel and so many people have seen it. It has such a good vibe, that they’ve asked me to come and be involved with the trip, which I’m really hanging out for. I’ve always wanted to go, so I’m really looking forward to it!

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An Interview with Anthony Callea

APL PHOTOGRAPHY - www.aplphotography.com.au — APL PHOTOGRAPHY – http://www.aplphotography.com.au

It’s been a big year for Anthony Callea! The ARIA Award winning singer-songwriter proving his tenacity in this year’s I’m a celebrity … get me out of here!, placing fourth, after six grueling weeks in the African jungle. Splitting his time between LA and Melbourne, alongside his husband, actor Tim Campbell, he’s billed as one of the top performers at Surfers Paradise LIVE music festival this May.

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