Sunburnt Country Music

Jake Whittaker on new EP In My Blood

Jake Whittaker [https://www.jakewhittaker.com.au/] is a Queensland country rock artist who has been releasing music since 2023, appeared on Australian Idol last year, and has now released his debut EP, In My Blood – five tracks of upbeat, good-time country that in this new interview he describes as a deliberate antidote to sad music. ‘People work really hard Monday to Friday and they don't want to go out Friday night and listen to sad, dreary music,’ he says. ‘That’s why I write and release stuff that suits that.’ The EP was produced by Jared Adlam, one of the most in-demand producers in Australian country music and, in Whittaker’s case, also a close friend since they were seventeen. The songs were road-tested in live shows before being locked in, with any track that didn't land in front of a crowd not making the cut.  'If it’s a good chorus and verse, you'll remember it straight away,’ he says. ‘If you remember it, it’s worth remembering – and it’ll make a good song.’ The lead single, ‘Hooked on Her’, was actually the first song written for the project, back in 2023, and sat waiting for the right moment for two years. ‘In My Blood’ was co-written with country star James Johnston on the back verandah at Adam Eckersley's place and completed in about an hour and a half. 'Boots On' emerged from a Sydney writing trip with Sarah Buckley of The Buckleys. ‘Guy with a Boat’ – a song about a man trying to convince himself and his partner that purchasing a boat was entirely necessary – was written with Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley at their property in a shed, over a couple of beers. Last year Whittaker appeared on Australian Idol, which brought its own particular challenges. While Whittaker is an experienced live performer, comfortable on stage, the Idol format required a different set of instincts. And there’s quite a story about how his audition song ended up being ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ … Since Idol Whittaker has been focused on building momentum with live shows and new recordings. In this interview we talk about his support slot with The Wolfe Brothers (those shows are now past – unfortunately I wasn’t able to work fast enough to post this interview before they took place), plus Horsham Regfest, Townsville Country Fest and the Gympie Muster.    Listen to In My Blood on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/in-my-blood-single/1824925824?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1824925824&at=1001lryz] Listen to In My Blood on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/73GnxHRXKHPSQgu2Y7lmEE?si=Kc0mS06vShaMVslnpkSZ5w] Listen to In My Blood on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l370Q0kn8-f_zz2XxX0Y_nFTOiniRtVPk] For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sunburntcountrymusic/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sunburntcountrymusic]  YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@sunburntcountrymusic] website [https://sunburntcountrymusic.com/]  Substack [https://sunburntcountrymusic.substack.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Kaylee Bell on new songs and big plans

Kaylee Bell [https://kayleebellmusic.com/] is from Aotearoa New Zealand and spent several years living in Australia, which means we can probably claim her … or at least share her! And she is certainly one of Australia’s favourite country music artists as her recent second win as CountryTown's Female Artist of the Year award proved. Her latest album, Cowboy Up, was released last year. Her new single is 'Me For Me', and even though Cowboy Up was released not that long ago, in this new interview Bell says she had more to say, because she’s lived a lot since she wrote that album. ‘You've got to live to write,’ she says. ‘Songs might come in the couple of hours you’re in the room, but they’re born and living with you for a long time before they finally come out.’ 'Me For Me' was written with Tom Jordan and Phoebe Jasper,  who records under the name Navvy, and in the interview Bell talks about how the song came about, as a relaxed writing session with friends who were home over the summer, in which songs started flowing without pressure or agenda.  ‘I feel like we've started almost a whole new record by accident,’ she says.  The song itself is about knowing your worth, waiting for the right person, and loving that person for who they are in return. There were other songs that emerged from those summer sessions and they are likely to follow ‘Me For Me’. This is a wide-ranging conversation that takes in Bell’s recent Christmas single, the demands of being in the music industry, and how she’s used visualisation in her career (and what it has to do with sport).  ‘The music industry humbles you in a way no other industry possibly could,’ she tells me. ‘One day you're on the mountaintop, next day you’re still working out what's going on.’ We recorded this interview before Bell headed to Nashville to perform at CMA Fest, which has now happened, but I’ve left in that part of the interview as interviews are watched and listened to often years after the fact, so there will always be something that is out of date! ‘Me For Me’ is out now. Listen to ‘Me For Me’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/me-for-me-single/1895999772?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1895999772&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘Me For Me’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/5qQJL7oEiwqzykhsj3bqEA?si=Ngq2mXEARYOmAl1UaoEXXg] Listen to ‘Me For Me’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/G3Qq4FTtf14?si=nPmZ18TALLhLJFqn] For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sunburntcountrymusic/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sunburntcountrymusic]  YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@sunburntcountrymusic] website [https://sunburntcountrymusic.com/]  Substack [https://sunburntcountrymusic.substack.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Darren Gillis is having a ‘Hell of a Time’

There’s a very healthy country-music scene in Western Australia, and not just in and around Perth. I’ve interviewed artists from as far north as Broome and as far south as Margaret River and several spots in between.  Darren Gillis [https://www.instagram.com/darrengillismusic/] is a country rock artist from Western Australia's Wheat Belt, and I hadn’t interviewed him before we had this chat about his new single, ‘Hell of a Time’. The interview was recorded a few weeks before the single’s release, and I had a cold at the time (hence my voice sounding quite scratchy), but the conversation was invigorating enough to help me forget all about that, because Gillis is so clearly passionate about music and the important role it’s played in his life and his wellbeing, as he talks about.  Gillis has honed his skills as a performer and storyteller by doing a lot of live performance. In 2024 he Gillis took a gap year from work, loaded his guitar into a caravan and set off, first through his local area, then north to Shark Bay and east to Tamworth in New South Wales for his first ever festival, and eventually as far as Noosa Heads in Queensland. Four and a half months on the road, swapping live music for accommodation and playing pub gigs to fund the next leg of the journey.  ‘I said yes to everything,’ he says.  The caravan park crowds turned out to be his most important audiences – people pulling their chairs in close, actually listening, giving him real feedback on his original songs. This gave him confidence to keep writing songs, as he’d been doing since 2020, when a relationship breakdown left him isolated in a small town and he turned to music to work through it.  Some of those songs have since been released. 'Cuss the Black Dog', which drew on both his personal experience and the losses of colleagues in his frontline work, became a finalist in the Western Australian Music Song of the Year award, and prompted lengthy, candid conversations with audience members, including veterans, domestic violence survivors, a sixteen-year-old who drew him a portrait after the show. His latest single, 'Hell of a Time', is a song about choosing to let go of whatever the week has thrown at you and be present with the people around you. It will be one of ten tracks on his debut album Rise and Fall, due in August. Gillis has several shows coming up include the Mandurah Country Music Festival in October alongside Kaylee Bell, the Wolfe Brothers and Max Jackson, plus the Boddington Rodeo in November. ‘Hell of a Time’ is out now. Listen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/hell-of-a-time/1893967340?i=1893967341&itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1893967341&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/7yR4zWRPwr0jCHERJyn8wJ?si=LnNGDK-gRNSKxm07Vg605w] Listen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/Z498V83B0_g?si=u7texhq39L-zNYb9] For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sunburntcountrymusic/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sunburntcountrymusic]  YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@sunburntcountrymusic] website [https://sunburntcountrymusic.com/]  Substack [https://sunburntcountrymusic.substack.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Darren Coggan on always believing in love – and music

Many Australian music fans will know of Wagga Wagga-born Darren Coggan [https://www.darrencoggan.com/] from his hugely popular shows featuring the music of John Denver or Cat Stevens (and he has a great story at that – you’ll have to listen to the interview to find out what it is!). These – along with his work in musical theatre, and as an actor – have kept him busy and touring the country for several years.  However, Coggan had his start in country music. He’s a winner of Toyota Star Maker, and a contemporary of Beccy Cole, Adam Harvey and Felicity Urquhart, even touring with those three as the ‘Young Stars of Country’ several years ago, and again for a reunion show in 2019. In recent times Coggan has recorded music with his daughter, Olivia, and he’s now returned to original music with the moving single ‘Always Believe in Love’. As he tells me in this recent interview, the song came to him in a dream. Its message wouldn’t land, though, if Coggan didn’t walk the talk, so to speak. This is a man who loves what he does, is passionate about it, takes nothing for granted and is grateful for every opportunity. He has fully committed himself to music, and to bringing joy to audiences, and that’s what he’s doing this year too with an extensive Australian tour (dates below).  It was a great pleasure – and hugely interesting – to talk to Coggan about his life and career thus far. I hope you enjoy listening to or watching this chat, and finding out more about this in-demand Australian entertainer, whom you can also catch on TV (if you’re in New South Wales) on Sydney Weekender.  NB: There was the occasional wi-fi glitch in this interview, so the audio is off in some places. SEE DARREN COGGAN ON TOUR Friday June 12 – West Gippsland Performing Arts Centre – Gippsland, VIC Saturday June 13 - The Wedge – Sale, VIC  Friday June 26 – The Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSW Saturday June 27 – The Players Theatre - Port Macquarie, NSW Thursday July 2 - The Powerhouse – Liverpool, NSW  Wednesday July 22 - Ingham Theatre – Ingham, QLD Thursday July 23 - Proserpine Entertainment Centre – Proserpine, QLD  Saturday July 25 - HOTA - Surfers Paradise, QLD Sunday July 26 - Majestic Theatre – Pomona, QLD  Friday August 14 - Warners Bay Theatre – Warners Bay, NSW  Saturday August 15 - Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSW Sunday August 16 - Coronation Hall - Coutts Crossing, NSW  Saturday October 3 - Redcliffe Entertainment Centre – Redcliffe, QLD  Friday October 9 - The J Theatre – Noosa, QLD  Saturday October 10 - The Events Centre – Caloundra, QLD Friday October 16 – The Estate – Camden, NSW  **Tickets on sale now and available via https://www.darrencoggan.com/ [https://www.darrencoggan.com/] Listen to Darren Coggan on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/artist/darren-coggan/212796277?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=212796277&at=1001lryz] Listen to Darren Coggan on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1237vU7nGrLMZxUYHYSjqE?si=AFUrrBFYQPSeenpPzHNeuQ] Listen to Darren Coggan on YouTube [https://youtu.be/SgYMqCDvNV4?si=LSEbHLINo53d3EP4] For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sunburntcountrymusic/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sunburntcountrymusic]  YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@sunburntcountrymusic] website [https://sunburntcountrymusic.com/]  Substack [https://sunburntcountrymusic.substack.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Cassie Leopold on Darlinghurst’s new chapter and single ‘Pour Me Another One’

Sometimes we choose to change our circumstances and sometimes they get changed on us, and how we respond to those changes reveals who we are and also shows us the way forward. For Cassie Leopold founding member of Darlinghurst [https://www.facebook.com/darlinghurstband/], there’s been a lot of change in recent times: the band went from being a four-piece to a two-piece, with Leopold and Pagan Newman, and now it’s Leopold on her own.  While all that was going on, Leopold face a major health challenge which meant she had to focus on other things. She’s emerged from that, and from the fluctuations in the band, with a new direction for Darlinghurst and being, as she says in this new interview, the leader for the first time. She still has a band, but she’s the one who determines which songs they play and record.  Leopold has been a musical performer from a very young age and performance is in her very marrow, as she says: ‘The only place I ever felt okay was on stage – for this 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or the three minutes of one song, it's my time.’ She was a member of the Young Talent Team – a contemporary of Dannii Minogue’s – and learning what she describes as the triple threat of singing, dancing and acting. She sang backing vocals on an Olivia Newton John album after stepping in at the last moment for a sick colleague. She was signed in a girl group at seventeen.  For most of her career, Leopold’s skill was stepping in, filling a brief, and delivering what was needed. ‘I was very good at doing that,’ she says. Taking the reins is a different skill entirely, and one she has arrived at in her own time. Now the responsibility is hers, and so is the freedom to decide what happens next, and it was so interesting to talk to her about all of it. The latest single from Darlinghurst is ‘Pour Me Another One’, and we talk about that as well as what’s ahead in this exciting new musical adventure she is on. Listen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/pour-me-another-one/1890030300?i=1890030301&itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1890030301&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/4Za24GeTVg4xSUML5QpIMo?si=QYW8BRUwRl2AYH5aKG7m1Q] Listen to ‘Pour Me Another One’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/YTYfkRbwlJs?si=kILo-IpNSAHd_cUZ] For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sunburntcountrymusic/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/sunburntcountrymusic]  YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@sunburntcountrymusic] website [https://sunburntcountrymusic.com/]  Substack [https://sunburntcountrymusic.substack.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.