Jean Elliot on her epic EP Butcher, Lover, Runner

Jean Elliot on her epic EP Butcher, Lover, Runner

There’s never a guarantee of what will emerge during an interview – that’s partly why it’s so interesting to be able to talk to all sorts of artists. And even if I’ve interviewed an artist before, there’s always something new to discover.  In the case of Jean Elliot [https://www.instagram.com/_jeanelliot/], a multi-genre artist from the Hawkesbury region of New South Wales, north of Sydney – which inspired ‘Devil’s Wilderness Theme’ on her EP, Butcher, Lover, Runner – we discovered that we had a strong interest in common: ancient history. Elliot is studying it at university, and I studied it for years. So you’ll hear us digress a little on that subject in this interview … Except I don’t believe it actually is a digression, given the epic, high-stakes nature of storytelling in ancient texts and the way that has influenced Elliot as a songwriter and artist generally. Butcher, Lover, Runner opens with a country-influenced track, ‘Hole in Her Head’, and Elliot then takes us into a song cycle that includes moments of rapture, such as third track ‘Beneath Your Sun’, and bittersweet reflection, as on the closing track, ‘Highwayman’, crossing genres as she goes. ‘I never really think about genre when I'm writing,’ she says. ‘The idea pops into my head fully formed and we just try our best to translate it into something tangible.’ The landscape Elliot grew up in and around, and still lives in, has shaped the stories she wants to tell and how she tells them. It’s a place I’m familiar with – many Sydneysiders are, as we travel through it to the Central Coast or Newcastle – and a breathtaking part of the world. It’s little wonder that it inspires Elliot, and also that she respects it. ‘I’m contributing to a canon of thousands and thousands of years of storytelling about this place,’ she says. ‘I have to do so in an honest and loving way.’   Elliot has been studying philosophy and archaeology, along with ancient history, which all points to a fundamental interest in the intersection of storytelling and the questions about life and how to live it than many of us consider. She has honoured that lineage with her EP, and it was so interesting to learn about what contributed to its making and where she’s going next with her music. There’s also a great story about the building that appears on the cover of the EP – you’ll have to listen/watch to find out what it is!   https://jeanelliotmusic.bandcamp.com/ [https://jeanelliotmusic.bandcamp.com/]   Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/butcher-lover-runner-ep/1894865917?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1894865917&at=1001lryz]   Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/7xQfGFZD7snFj1j1ERZXvu?si=5CKe_BuVT12vaG8Y9_vUyQ]   Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on YouTube [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kPEPljvNFEPTdqilkG02Wp96HOPtolUxQ&si=2R8g3WbrNiO55W16] 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.

Vixens of Fall on ‘Midnight Cowgirls’ and the power of three

Sibling harmonies are a form of magic – there’s a synergy that happens within families who sing together that makes for unforgettable sounds that are impossible to replicate. Brisbane sister trio Vixens of Fall have been creating that sort of magic for a decade, embracing it in the title of their 2023 debut album, Magick in the Chaos, and in their lives.  The latest single for sisters Nina, Wren and Lulu is ‘Midnight Cowgirls’, and might be said to have come about through a form of magic known as manifestation. All three Vixens love to wear the clothing label Tree of Life and have done for years. Then they were contacted by the owner of the company, asking if they’d like to be the faces of a new line called Midnight Cowgirls.  The Vixens already had a songwriting session booked with regular collaborator Sally Barris and decided to write a song to go with the clothing line, and their latest single, ‘Midnight Cowgirls’, was born. The song was produced by Rod McCormack, who also produced their first album – and their second, Fox Hollow, which will be released in November and which will feature ‘Midnight Cowgirls’. He’s like family, the sisters tell me in this new interview, which was conducted not long before Nina was due to give birth to her second child. The Vixens are a tight unit, as is evident in this interview and when they perform. One of the wonderful things about them is how clearly they love not only making music together but simply being around each other. There is so much strength in that sort of bond – and unlimited potential. Or magic. Whatever you’d like to call it, no doubt you will enjoy meeting Vixens of Fall. Listen to Vixens of Fall on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/artist/vixens-of-fall/1182788294?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1182788294&at=1001lryz] Listen to Vixens of Fall on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5E8CKxCEIm6vLESXqUExBt?si=WCW7d1QhSty2u2pn1lHQEQ] Listen to Vixens of Fall on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@VixensOfFall] 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.

Paper Daisies on their debut single and their friendship forged in music

Paper Daisies [https://linktr.ee/paperdaisiesmusic] are a duo from the Gold Coast who have released one single, ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’, and as soon as I heard it I thought, These two are not just starting out. The vocals are glorious and there was this energy running through the song that made it sound like the artists, Britt Grey and Rhea Robertson, were completely immersed in the music. So I was interested to talk to them both, and … WELL. Even though I’d done my research and discovered that Robertson has her own pop releases that have garnered millions of streams, there was plenty that did not turn up, including a wonderful story about how they met – and you can watch/listen to the interview to find out what that is – along with the fact that Grey has a well-established acting career that includes the yet-to-be-released Zombie Plane, featuring Vanilla Ice and Sophie Monk (and the late Chuck Norris).  Then there is their friendship, which is gloriously supportive and evident in this interview.  ‘The experience of singing together and being immersed in our harmonies,’ says Robertson in this interview, ‘I wish everybody got to experience what it feels like to create music with your best friend.’ They not only love doing things together – they both have fully creative lives, and it was inspiring to talk to them about their various ventures and also wonderful to meet such talented people who embrace opportunities and, for lack of a better phrase, look for the light in life.  Their single, ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’, was inspired by the experiences of a mutual friend: it was written with multi-instrumentalist Bradley Green and produced by Scott French at Love Street Studios. It’s the first single off their planned EP, and the next single will be released on 9 July.  Listen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/heartbreakin-cowboy-single/1895336536?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1895336536&at=1001lryz] Listen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/2bTIWzsdR4WPTINuM72lKh?si=2MDmku7JQ-OkcAQw-ydUmQ] Listen to ‘Heartbreakin’ Cowboy’ on YouTube [https://youtu.be/JReEo7VBD80?si=zcKP5W_wlKyy-UhB] 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.

William Alexander on his new album, Along the Boundary Line

From the Central West of New South Wales, William Alexander [https://www.williamalexandermusic.com/] won his first Golden Guitar earlier this year in the category of Bush Ballad of the Year, for the song ‘Wild Roan Brumby’, which he wrote with his good friend Pete Denahy. For those of us who have observed Alexander’s career, and listened to his releases starting in 2023, there was no surprise in the award itself – only in the fact that it had taken so long. For three years may not seem like much, but when the talent is as evident as it is in this artist, it feels like more than enough for recognition to mature. In the songs on his latest album, Along the Boundary Line, Alexander has a way of writing about life and work on the land that suggests someone who not only observes and feels and thinks but can articulate the result of all of that. He’s alert to the world, in other words, and curious about it too. Not that he’s always recorded his own songs: he began by releasing cover versions. ‘I just always felt like I hadn’t earned the right to be the songwriter yet,’ he tells me in this new interview. ‘I was too busy discovering old songs and absorbing that.’ In Along the Boundary Line Alexander creates songs in a traditional style that cover aspects of modern life, marrying a way of life that is much older with contemporary concerns. It’s almost a juxtaposition, until you realise he’s likely documenting his own experiences. As an example: ‘All I Stand to Lose’, which was a single, is about the push and pull of having the urge to go roaming yet cherishing what’s at home, and is the acme of bittersweetness. Yet Alexander doesn’t linger there, instead moving onto the jaunty ‘Horse and Hobble Days’, and both songs are alive with detail.  Alexander is also a wonderful singer, both recorded and live, a balladeer who is also a crooner. When I ask him about his voice in our recent chat, he says, ‘I think what you're mentioning is probably just the way I was told to speak as a kid.’ He had, he says, a grandfather who insisted on no mumbling, and it’s ‘coming through in the way I sing’. Along the Boundary Line was recorded largely with just Alexander and producer Lindsay Waddington in the room first, building each song before adding esteemed players including Brendan Radford, Jen Mize and Michel Rose. The result is a collection of songs that immediately allow the listener in and invite them back. Although there’s a distinct lack of yodelling – something that featured on his first album, The Singing Stockman – which I ask him about. They haunt you, these new songs, in the way that they put you in the landscape with its space and silence and also its sounds and the life that’s humming all around you yet not always evident to the eye. That’s achieved through the production, sure, but it all starts with the artist’s intention – with the stories he has to tell and the way he wants to tell them.  The album is an outstanding work. It was a pleasure to talk to Alexander about those songs, and much more.  Buy Along the Boundary Line on Bandcamp [https://williamalexander1.bandcamp.com/] Listen to Along the Boundary Line on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/along-the-boundary-line/1882285095?itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1882285095&at=1001lryz] Listen to Along the Boundary Line on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/2OzOwzHy6m7oXUiJNvL6vL?si=1HmugVSxRhGRFEOV0w9cHg] Listen to Along the Boundary Line on YouTube [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mW7IKgQVF-Dv95web81duYuTYxeKdw0Ks&si=6uq7yr0bmFtAVtgL] 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.

Dingo on the changing seasons of his musical life

Towards the end of my first ever interview with Brandon Dodd, who records under the name Dingo [https://www.dingomusicofficial.com/] (he’s released music under both, including the 2020 album What a Way to Die and Dingo and the Rising River in 2024), I realised that I’d seen him play a solo set right before the pandemic closed the nation, and world, down. Because the pandemic changed the shape of time – or so it seemed – and somewhat made life into a washing machine, I completely forgot about that set until he mentioned playing support for Patty Griffin. For it was at a Griffin show at Angel Place in Sydney that I saw him play, and thought he was terrific, and also wondered how long we might still be able to go to live shows. The answer, of course, came quickly after, and for two years there would be very little live music. Dingo was not idle during that time, nor has he been since, whether making his own music or helping others make theirs. Recently his name has been coming up more and more frequently as a producer, of the exceptional emerging artist Faith Williams and the beloved star Beccy Cole, amongst others; he works out of Rabbit Hole Recording Studio on the Central Coast of New South Wales, which he runs with his partner, Kasey Chambers. Chambers features in a great story Dingo tells in this interview, about learning to sing harmonies, when I asked him about how he’d developed his singing voice. He has plenty of very interesting things to say as we talk about his new single, ‘Autumn’, which is taken from his upcoming album Nightwire. I actually didn’t get to ask many of the questions I’d prepared because the conversation went in other directions, and when I’m interviewing I’d much rather follow the conversation than stick to a schedule.  To the single, though, as it’s a lovely one: ‘Autumn’ is a love song built around the imagery of the season – leaves falling, and change as something to lean into rather than resist – and at its centre is the idea that you can fall in love again and again with the same person if you stay open to growth.  The song (and forthcoming album) was produced not by Dingo but by the in-demand Jordan Power. ‘The best thing you can do is put the other hats down and just be the best artist that you can be,’ says Dingo when I ask why he handed over the role to someone else.  Of the forthcoming album, Nightwire, Dingo says it’s ‘me being in love with songs – being in love with music, being just so wrapped up in it again and loving it for what it is.’ Indeed, this whole conversation demonstrated to me that he’s a man who truly loves being immersed in music, and who remains intrigued by it and by what’s possible with it. Suffice to say the release of that album can’t come soon enough. Dingo is currently on tour with the great Adam Harvey, then he’ll join the Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daley double header (dates below). In the midst of that he’ll be at the Deniliquin Ute Muster (details also below).  26th June – Bligh Park Hotel – South Windsor, NSW #  27th June – The Oaks Hotel – Albion Park Rail, NSW #  28th June – The Royal Hotel – Queanbeyan, NSW #  Friday 28th August – Gympie Music Muster – Gympie, QLD  15th October - Events Centre Kings Theatre, Caloundra QLD *  16th October - Twin Towns - Tweed Heads, NSW *  17th October - Saraton Theatre – Grafton, NSW *  30th October - Commercial Club – Albury, NSW *  31st October - Civic Theatre - Wagga Wagga, NSW *  6th November - Anita’s Theatre – Thirroul, NSW *  7th November - Blue Mountains Theatre & Community Centre – Springwood, NSW *  12th November - The Art House – Wyong, NSW *  13th November – Glasshouse - Port Macquarie, NSW *    # With Adam Harvey / * With Ian Moss & Troy Cassar-Daley  **Tickets on sale now and available via https://www.dingomusicofficial.com/#tour [https://www.dingomusicofficial.com/#tour]   Dingo will also be performing at this year’s Deni Ute Muster, held on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd October 2026. Tickets are on sale now and available via deniutemuster.com.au [http://www.deniutemuster.com.au/]. Listen to Dingo on Apple Music [https://music.apple.com/au/album/autumn/1891889667?i=1891889668&itscg=30200&itsct=music_box_link&ls=1&app=music&mttnsubad=1891889668&at=1001lryz] Listen to Dingo on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/5wAABa9sHsmvAm1aRzO9IA?si=Ft9qQaWEQVOifz7fUMQbhA] Listen to Dingo on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DAZ7Fam65E] 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.