Sunburnt Country Music

Clancy Pye is a singer and songwriter from the central west of New South Wales who has twice been a Toyota Star Maker Grand Finalist. She released an EP in 2020 and the single ‘Feels Like Home’ last year. Her latest single is ‘Drink About’. 'When I was writing this song, it was the idea of catching up with someone you haven't seen in a while and having a lot to talk about andinevitably,a...

Finnian Johnson was a Grand Finalist in the 2023 Toyota Star Maker competition and in the 2023 NAB Talent Search at the Gympie Music Muster. He reached the top 12 in season 11 of TV show The Voice , and he’s also been touring the country. Last year he released the singles ‘July’ and ‘Dishonest’. His latest single is ‘I’m Doing Well’. '“I’m Doing Well" is the most special song I’ve ever written, co...

Baeden Faint was born in South Australia and currently calls the NSW town of Cobar home. He has just released his debut single, ‘Hometown Fantasy’. 'This song is essentially me reminiscing on past relationships where it seemed everything was laid out. Ready for the white picket fence and kids,' says Faint. 'But also, that it was like having blinders on, as to whether it was a good thing or not. I...

Ashleigh Dallas is a five-time Golden Guitar winner who has released five studio albums, winning the Golden Guitar for Traditional Country Album of the Year for her latest album,  In the Moment . She is also an ambassador for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.  Dallas's latest single is 'Secondhand Stories', which was written during a DAG Songwriting Retreat with Natasha Soonchil...

Kayla Mahon is an artist from Gore on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand who was the winner of the coveted 2000 and 2008 New Zealand Overall Gold Guitar Award. She was also one half of country music duo The Heartleys, releasing two albums. Last year she released the single ‘Love’s Got a Witness’ and now she has a new song, ‘Little Man’, both of them taken from her forthcoming album. 'I hope...

Mackenzie Lee is an artist from the Hunter Valley of New South Wales who last year attended the Junior Academy of Country Music. She has released two EPs, one self-titled and the other entitled Sometimes I Wonder , and now has a new single, 'Let My Love Drown'. Lee was also the winner of the inaugural Macca's Golden Gig Talent Quest at the 2022 Tamworth Country Music Festival and the 2023 ICMA Pat...

Courtney Keil is an artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales who released her debut album, The Good Kind , last year and who has just had an action-packed Tamworth Country Music Festival. She has a brand new single, ‘All About You’, which is It is another toe-tapper to add to the collection of Courtney Keil ear worms along with ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘I Just Wanna Hold You’.  'We set out t...

Felicity Urquhart has recorded several albums and EPs as a solo artist and as a member of Bennett Bowtell and Urquhart, winning 13 Golden Guitars along the way. She was also the host of Saturday Night Country for several years. Josh Cunningham is a founding member of The Waifs, who have released 10 albums over three decades and won multiple ARIA awards.  Together Felicity and J...

Matt Joe Gow is a New Zealand-born Melbourne resident who has released four albums, the most recent of which was last year’s  Between Tonight & Tomorrow , which won the Music Victoria award for Best Country Album, as did its predecessor,  Break Rattle and Roll . Recently Joe Gow released a reprise version of the title song, and he’s also been collaborating with Kerryn Fields on a for...

Hailing from Melbourne, Al Carr is an alt-country singer and songwriter with rock leanings who played in bands in Sydney in the 1990s before he relocated south in 2006 and started his solo career thereafter. He released a self-titled EP in 2013 then albums in 2017 and 2021. His latest album is  The Right Dereliction . Says Carr of the album, 'Each song on this release is tinged with a sense o...

The Buckleys are a band of siblings Sarah, Molly and Lachlan from northern New South Wales who released their debut album Daydream in 2020 and the EP Take it as it Comes in 2022. Last year they released the single ‘Wondering’ and this year ‘Too Fast’.  Says Sarah of the song, 'we really wanted to put a fresh, new, country twist on those 1960s romantic bops. I’m so obsessed with that era in mu...

Delilah Rose is an artist originally from Western Australia, now resident in Queensland, who released the album Moxie in 2022; the latest - and last - single from the album is 'Jack's House'. As Delilah Rose and the Gunslingers she released the EP Good Grief! in 2018. She is also the host of The Song Café and of Australian Songwriting Retreats . The next instalment of The Song Café takes place at...

Darlinghurst is a Golden Guitar Award-winning act from Melbourne. Originally a four piece, it was announced in December 2023 that they were moving forward into 2024 as a duo comprising original members Cassie Leopold and Pagan Newman, and they have a great new single, ‘Unapologetic’. '"Unapologetic"’s message is this – by all means, listen to other people’s opinions, but don’t disregard your own....

Good Will Remedy are a four-piece alt-country band from Brisbane with members Will Lebihan, Mitch Reid, Dave Newman and Rob Penman. They have released six albums and played over 1000 shows since 2018. The latest is Sunshine State .  The title of the new album is 'more a state of mind than location,' says songwriter, singer and bassist Will Lebihan. 'The title track is an anthem to a...

Michael Carpenter is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has several musical projects on the go at any one time. Michael Carpenter and the Banks Brothers have released 3 albums and an EP and have two nominations in the 2024 Golden Guitar awards. Michael Carpenter and the CRC (Country Rock Collective) have released three singles. And that is, really, just the tip of the pro...

Graeme Connors has been a musical artist for over 40 years and released 20 albums, as well as winning a few awards along the way. He has not only written songs for his own recordings but for other artists as well, including the late Slim Dusty. Those songs are now collected in a new book, My Lyrical Life . Connors has had - and continues to have - such an interesting musical life that there was mu...

*mild language warning* Henry Wagons is known to many as the host of Tower of Song on Double J and to many others as the head honcho of the band Wagons as well as a solo artist. His latest album is  South of Everywhere  and it was recently nominated for an ARIA award.  Wagons is also one of the most dynamic live performers anywhere, of any time - never not completely enter...

Melbourne four-piece band Kingswood - whose members are Alexander Laska, Fergus Linacre, Josh Koop and Jack Davies - released the country-rock album Home early in 2023 then followed it with bluegrass album The Tale of G.C. Townes . In and around these releases they played over 100 shows across Australia, and they are heading to the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January 2024 (details below alo...

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and fiddle player Bonnie Kellett is one of the busiest live performers in Australia, between solo performances and touring with Amber Lawrence. But in 2023 she also found time to release her debut album, Hidden Spirit , and a completely new single, ‘Bare Feet’. Having seen Kellett play several times in 2023, with Amber Lawrence and under her own steam, and when we spo...

When 'Sinner', the debut single from Central Coast (NSW) artist Ruby Shay - featuring her band The Red Horse - was released in October 2023 it was immediately clear that Shay is an artist with power and presence. Her voice is rich and captivating, layered with so much emotion and compassion that it was obvious in that song she had much to say and one song was never going to contain it all. Having...

Jock Barnes and Trent McArdle both grew up in South-east Queensland and met through sport. One afternoon a decade ago they jammed together, and as Route 33 they have played together ever since. They’ve released two albums: The Switch in 2017 and Coro Drive in 2019.  They now have a new single, ‘Summer You’, a pop-country anthem that was produced by Matthew Copley. It marks a new songwriting e...

Shyanne Irwin is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who grew up in the Hunter region of New South Wales and currently lives in Newcastle. She released the album Out of This Town last year and has a brand new single, ‘Where I Want to Be’. 'Last year was my first year of living away from home and studying at uni, so this song has all the feelings of loneliness and sadness of moving away,...

Jo Caseley is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the Southern Highlands of New South Wales who recently released her moving third album, High on Heartstrings . It’s been a big year because she also attended the Academy of Country Music in Tamworth at the start of the year. In this interview Caseley talks honestly about the challenges of finding time for a creative life amidst marr...

Zac Cross Band are a four-piece from Rockhampton in Queensland with members Zac Cross (lead vocals, guitar), Lachlan Plant (lead guitar, backing vocals), Joe O'Shaughnessy (bass) and Bailey Connor (percussion). They released the EP Times Like These last year and have an album in the works.  Their new single is ‘Too Far Gone’, which was initiated by Connor. 'Bailey was constantly sending me ly...

Les Thomas is a Naarm/Melbourne born and based singer and songwriter whose his first album, Survivor’s Tale , was released in 2013. His latest album, All My Friends are Superstars , was released this year. His songs are thoughtful, compassionate and vivid evocations of daily life, and they are just as impactful performed live as on the record.  Thomas also runs the website Unpaved , which doc...