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

Mem Davis on why ‘It’s All Just Love’

Mem Davis [https://memdavis.com/] is a singer, songwriter and – as I found out during this interview – a book editor from the south coast of New South Wales, although she’s currently not there, because she and partner Neil have been travelling Australia in a caravan since September last year, performing as the Mem Davis Duo along the way, with their elderly Boston terrier in tow. The musical life was not one Davis thought she would be leading. As she tells me, she spent years believing she couldn’t sing, having been told so by people close to her. It wasn’t until she was in her twenties that she booked a singing lesson and discovered that, as she says, ‘[e]verything I believed about myself was essentially thrown out the window’.  She has been writing and performing ever since, though the happier songs, she notes, only arrived in her late thirties.  ‘I realised music didn’t have to be therapy,’ she says. Davis’s latest single, ‘It’s All Just Love’, was produced by Liam Kennedy-Clark, a multi-instrumentalist and, as half of Wicker Suite, a Golden Guitar winner. The song uses bees as a central metaphor for community and the balance between individual responsibility and collective support.  Davis attended the CMAA Academy of Country Music and writes regularly at the DAG songwriting retreat, where she has made connections she credits as among the most valuable of her career, a co-write with Luke O'Shea being a particular highlight. A second single, recorded with Kennedy-Clark, is due later in the year, with an album the eventual goal. At the time of recording the interview, Davis and Neil were based in Tamworth, preparing to head to the Northern Rivers. There are shows coming up, including one for the winter solstice in Uralla. Details at memdavis.com [https://memdavis.com/]. Listen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/its-all-just-love/1893000151?i=1893000153&itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1893000153&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/track/0tD32RdYpDEonESKGHxrXI?si=85139c7e3fa4451d] Listen to ‘It’s All Just Love’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/QJh2Ud7GQH0?si=ElMkIcqmzefTvtrg] 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.

Amy Solylo on being your own biggest red flag

Some artists arrive with a statement – or a splash, as you prefer – and it’s immediately clear that it’s worth paying attention to them because whatever comes next is likely to be interesting. As is the case with Sydney country-pop artist Amy Solylo [https://www.amysolylo.com/]. Solylo has released one single, ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ – and also an acoustic version of the song – and its combination of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness and whimsy offers something different and intriguing. The same combination is there when Solylo performs live, as she’s been doing a fair bit lately at Sydney country music institution Jolene’s, and it’s also clear that she is a born entertainer. As Solylo tells me in this new interview, the single is about being ‘your own biggest red flag’ and came about after she was blocked across all platforms by an ex. Solylo found one remaining avenue of communication – WhatsApp – and used it. The response she received was firm and clear … so she went home and wrote the song.  Solylo came to songwriting through a childhood love of reading, and to music through early singing lessons and a hot pink guitar. It turned out that while she’s right-handed at everything else, she can only play guitar left-handed and, as leftie guitarists know, it’s not as easy to find instruments! (Although I can attest that she now has a lovely red guitar, as I’ve seen her playing it live.) It was a great pleasure to chat to Solylo and I look forward to hearing what she releases next – after she’s embarked on her next trip to Nashville, and all the adventure that promises. Listen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/artist/amy-solylo/1799180644?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1799180644&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/3h5natRMZ8YBVaUiwgoLTx?si=V57ZmK-iRxKhwPm0Lo8Sww] Listen to ‘He Wants Me (Dead)’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/XXs5yBSvDkw?si=Sk8y6cqcQK0kiNO3] 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.

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.