Sunburnt Country Music

Short version Country-pop duo Zac & George have released the upbeat and uplifting debut album Call it a Day and are about to embark on the first dates of their tour. Zac tells us all about their music and how it all started. Long version When Zac & George started releasing music, their upbeat, uplifting country-pop sound was infectious. Almost straightaway they started winning fans, and one of them was Australian country music star James Johnston, who recorded the song ‘Some Things Never Change’ with them in 2023. Since then the duo – who met in high school in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and started jamming together then – have released more singles and become festival favourites. They now have a debut album, Call it a Day , which is, as they said in a post on social media, ‘here to bring you up, to lift you out of a tough day and bring positivity into your life … Right now, we live in such a doom and gloom world and we strive to be a positive part of your life.’ I asked Zac about this when I spoke to him recently – George was on the road home to Wagga Wagga – and also about their harmonies, which are such a feature of their music. Of their songs he makes it clear that the pair are intentional in what they record and how they perform. They want their audience to have a great night, to relax and enjoy the show, and certainly when I’ve seen them play live, they absolutely achieve that. Zac & George are about to kick off the Queensland leg of their tour in support of Call it a Day and you can see them at: Fri 6 November: Sunshine Coast, Venue 114 Sun 8 November: Brisbane, Lefty's Music Hall Fri 13 November: Rockhampton, Great Western Hotel Sat 14 November: Townsville, The Warehouse Sun 15 November: Cairns, The Jack Tickets available here: https://www.zacandgeorge.com/tour There are New South Wales dates to be announced, so keep an eye on their website and socials for that. No doubt their 2027 will get busy, so catch them while you can! Listen to Call it a Day on Apple Music Listen to Call it a Day on Spotify Listen to Call it a Day on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version Australian country music icon Lee Kernaghan releases his first new single in several years with ‘4X4 is King’, a high-energy ode to the joys of offroad driving, and prepares for his big 2027 Tamworth show. Long version It’s been several years since Australian country music icon Lee Kernaghan released new recorded music, although he has in no way been idle, touring the land and putting on the big shows that his fans love. Given how much he has toured over the years, it seems appropriate that his first single in a while is dedicated to travel, in the form of four-wheel driving, of which Kernaghan is a longtime proponent. ‘4X4 is King’ is a high-energy ode to going offroad, and written with Nick Wolfe of the Wolfe Brothers and Colin Buchanan, both longtime collaborators of Kernaghan’s. When I asked Kernaghan about his love of four-wheel driving in this new interview, he revealed that it goes further than driving alone. ‘Every song I release,’ he says, ‘gets the LandCruiser test and I’ve been doing that for years.’ He also relates a tale about how he tested songs from his first album, The Outback Club , not in a LandCruiser but in a Ford Contina as he was driving near Deniliquin in New South Wales – and it was at the Deni Ute Muster a few years ago that he debuted ‘4X4 is King’, and had a video shot (still to be released). I ask Kernaghan if, when deciding which songs pass the LandCruiser test, he is also thinking about how they’ll translate live, and he says it’s at the forefront of his decision making, asking himself, ‘What can we do? What can we said that hasn’t been said?’ No doubt fans will be mightily pleased with the inclusion of ‘4X4 is King’ in his set lists, and I was also pleased to talk to Kernaghan, for the first time in a long while (the last time was when all my interviews were phoners). It was a brief chat as he is in demand, but he was, as ever, great to chat to. Lee Kernaghan is playing at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre (known as TRECC) during the 2027 Tamworth Country Music Festival. Tickets available here . Listen to ‘4X4 is King’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘4X4 is King’ on Spotify Listen to ‘4X4 is King’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version Victorian folk artist Possum talks about her concept album Paynesville Seafoods , a cycle of songs inspired by her hometown and tracing life, death, rebirth and generational change. Long version ‘If you’re the sort of person who’s not into listening to lyrics, I imagine you’re going to find my music quite boring,’ says Victorian folk artist Possum as we chat about her new album, Paynesville Seafoods , which is a world within a collection of songs set in one location, which we shall talk about. Except it’s hard to imagine how anyone would find this rich, varied collection of songs boring, regardless of their interest in lyrics, because the music tells the stories just as much as the words do. Possum grew up in Paynesville, which is in East Gippsland and, she says, set on a big lake with an esplanade of shops that runs by the lake. ‘It was a great place to grow up,’ she says. ‘We had a great community. When you’re in a small town you know the shop owners and you can walk to your neighbour’s house … ‘I always found it really fascinating, this thing in Paynesville of it being so beautiful there and then having this intense small-town vibe where everyone’s in each other’s business.’ She worked in Paynesville Seafoods while growing up but the shop is no longer there, although there are other fish and chip places in town. Paynesville Seafoods is, however, the locus from which this concept album grows, with Possum drawing on her experiences of Paynesville although it’s not an album about her life so much as the cycle of life in one town, with generational change, death and rebirth part of the cycle of songs. It was wonderful to have the chance to ask Possum questions about this project, to delve into her artistry and make the experience of listening to the album deeper because of it. And Possum is putting on a series of shows for the album – details below. Paynesville Seafoods is available on Bandcamp: https://possumbleary.bandcamp.com/album/paynesville-seafoods-2 SEE POSSUM LIVE Friday Oct 30th- The Produce Store, Mansfield (with Mel Taylor) Sunday Nov 1st- Tolmie Community Social Club, Tolmie (with Mel Taylor) Saturday Nov 7th- Quadrophonic Club, Brunswick (supports TBA) Sunday Nov 8th- Shedshaker Brewing Company, Castlemaine (with Rufous Whistler) Friday Nov 13th- Stratford Courthouse, Stratford (with Stratford Singers) Saturday Nov 14th- Paynesville Wine Bar Thursday Nov 26th- Medusa, Geelong (with The Misty Mornings and Seal Prince and The Roof Rats) For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version Tori Forsyth talks about her outstanding fourth album, Self Preservation, a collection of country and rock songs full of power and whimsy that will take the top off your head in the best possible way. Long version While this interview for Tori Forsyth ’s fourth album, Self Preservation , was formally arranged and we spoke at the appointed hour, Tori and I have had several off-the-record conversations since the first time I interviewed her, for her third album, All We Have Is Who We Are , in 2024. When I wrote my questions for that interview I had an instinct – based on research – to take them in a certain direction and that led to us discussing creativity more broadly. Later, she interviewed me on her own podcast. So that’s the context for why this new interview may sound less formal in places, and why I ask questions of Tori that I may not of other artists. It’s partly because I know, from her music and from speaking to her, that she is always willing to dig out the marrow of things and have a good look at what it’s made of – and that she will do this to her own beliefs and experiences and dreams. If she’s taking a blowtorch to cultural tenets that serve to suppress, she’s also taking it the ways she might have limited herself. This is what she’s done on Self Preservation , which is an extraordinarily good album with a combination of power and whimsy that can only come from an artist who has put in the work to find out who she is and what’s important to her while also being completely prepared to not take herself too seriously. The songs are country and they’re rock, but they are not ‘country-rock’ as you might understand it. They are created the way Tori envisaged them when writing them, and she writes alone. And they’re exciting . In a world when we have too much noise, too much news, it may seem that the antidote is to be quiet and bland. This album proves that what actually works to shake off malaise and reinvigorate senses is a collection of songs that really feel like they could take the top of your head off and open it to the cosmos. As she says in the interview, ‘If comfort is what everyone is seeking in art, I want to be the opposite of that. I want to be uncomfortable even within myself when creating it, when I’m delivering it … it’s going to be really important for us as human beings to consume discomfort ... to challenge us. ’ She’s a force, and this album is a manifesto, and I’m here for the New Tori Order. Listen to Self Preservation on Apple Music Listen to Self Preservation on Spotify Listen to Self Preservation on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first I heard of Ellis Undercover , who lives in the Central West of New South Wales, was the song ‘October’ from Wade Forster’s latest album, The Aftermath . The song is a standout on an already brilliant album, and it was written by the pair at the CMAA Academy of Country Music earlier this year, then – as Ellis tells me in this interview – recorded within a month. Ellis grew up on the music of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash, started writing songs at twelve and gigging at fourteen, with a lot of Taylor Swift in her set. Several years ago she supported Fanny Lumsden in Dubbo when Lumsden’s tour came through the area – and she has quite a story to tell about that! After leaving school Ellis studied Music Industry in Sydney then worked in event management, wanting a career she could take back to the country and still be close to music if she wanted to quit. She moved home after the pandemic and got straight back into gigging. ‘I loved events but I loved to be on the stage way more,’ she says. Then she embarked on a new career when she was approached about teaching music in a correctional centre. There was a fair degree of trepidation about it, but, she says: ‘It’s the best job I’ve ever had – I love it so much. I can’t even think about doing something that doesn’t help other people any more.’ Forster was one of the first people she’d written with outside of a prison environment, as her job involves writing songs with inmates in correctional centres and juvenile justice. Ellis’s stage name is a consequence of her work in corrections, as her students can’t legally know her name; it’s a variant of Miss Elle, the name her students know her by: ‘Elle is Undercover’. Initially Ellis didn’t think she’d write country music songs – she was resisting the genre until the genre itself changed. ‘I write stories that are country, I write about things that happen in the country, I’m very country in my personality and my nature, and I write everything on acoustic guitar. If the song has four chords it’s done, in my opinion,’ she says with a laugh, ‘so I think I should have been there the whole time.’ But she also thought, I don’t drive a tractor – I can’t be a country artist. I don’t own a pair of boots. ‘It didn’t feel like I was in the box enough until the box expanded.’ Now she has a country single, ‘Wildfire’, as well as ‘Love to Hate You Baby’ with Red Williams. ‘Wildfire’ is, she says, ‘about women in our industry and any male-dominated industry being told what to do, what to wear, how to act and just saying no, I don’t really care, and going their own way.’ Ellis is an impressive, intelligent artist with the musicality to match her lyric ability, and it will be wonderful to have new songs on the EP she’s working towards. Ellis Undercover will be appearing at Tamworth Country Music Festival in January and Howlin’ Country Rock n Rodeo in Newcastle on 13 February. Listen to Ellis Undercover on Apple Music Listen to Ellis Undercover on Spotify Listen to Ellis Undercover on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version Multiple award-winning country music artist/icon Fanny Lumsden talks about her fifth album, Traditions , which is being released on 30 October 2026 on her own label, Red Dirt Road Records. She is also embarking on a tour. Long version ‘We were told to have it all, so now we want to have it all, and really that just means doing it all.’ Fanny Lumsden says this early on in our interview about her new album, Traditions , which will be released on 30 October 2026. For those who aren’t aware, Lumsden has already released four studio albums, for which she has won two ARIA Awards and ten Golden Guitars, some of which are for music videos made by Lumsden and her husband and longtime collaborator Dan Stanley Freeman. She has a devoted fanbase partly grown through the Country Halls Tours she embarked on, with Freeman, several years ago and which she has kept up even as her profile has grown, including in the United Kingdom, where she has toured several times. Lumsden and Freeman have their own record label, Red Dirt Road Records, and it’s on this label that Traditions will be released. It was on this label that they originally released albums, so in that respect that are returning to a tradition, of sorts. It’s the running of the record label that probably tips Lumsden over into the extreme end of ‘doing it all’, but that too is part of the enterprise that exists because she has always dreamt big then been prepared to work to make those dreams manifest. She has not ever expected anything to be handed to her, nor has she ever compromised the high standards she set from her first album, Small Town Big Shot , and maintained through all of her releases and in her shows. Traditions continues, well, that tradition of high standards. Lumsden has always been a wonderful songwriter – clear-eyed about humanity and eagle-eyed on the details that make songs (and live shows) vivid. She knows how to break a listener’s heart and offer them succour, sometimes in the same song, because she understands that art is there to help us process life by offering us doses of emotions and experiences and memories. There is so much life in this album. So much heart and soul and love too. Lumsden gives us her all – it’s partly why she is so beloved. Doing it all may be exhausting at times – no doubt especially as an album is being released – but what she has also done on Traditions is create something indelible. For the fifth time. That is not just a tradition; that’s a legend. Preorder Traditions : https://store.fannylumsden.net Fanny Lumsden is going on tour in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Dates and tickets here: https://www.fannylumsden.net/traditionstour Listen to Fanny Lumsden on Apple Music Listen to Fanny Lumsden on Spotify Watch Fanny Lumsden’s videos on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version: Home Truths is the outstanding new album from Central Coast NSW country music artist Faith Williams, who talks about the songs and the recording process in this new interview. Long version: Central Coast NSW artist Faith Williams announced herself last year with her debut EP, Queen of Hearts . It arrived with no preamble and a whole lot of impact, given Williams’s expressive, powerful voice and her storytelling abilities in her lyrics. Thus the stakes were high for her first album, Home Truths . Produced by Brandon Dodd at Rabbit Hole Recording Studio – as was the EP – this album is collectively a virtuoso performance from an unassuming artist who, in conversation, seems like she could not possibly harbour the sort of darkness that she depicts in some of the songs. Although from the start she has written stories about people other than herself, so perhaps the darkness is not hers, and these songs are the result of her knowing how to work with her imagination, and no doubt also come from a wellspring of empathy that enables her to channel her humanity into not only lyrics but her vocal performances. Williams draws on traditional and outlaw country styles, and her voice is a force all on its own. That voice will break your heart and also put it back together again, for the album is a collection of different stories and moods as befits an artist with a broad palette. It also needs to be mentioned that Williams has released the album in and around becoming a mother for the second time, although it’s also clear nothing would have stopped her from making this album. She is a huge talent, and pragmatic with it. Music seems to come as naturally to her as breathing, also behind every artist who makes it look effortless, there’s a whole lot of work, and that work has come to glorious fruition on Home Truths . Listen to Home Truths on Apple Music Listen to Home Truths on Spotify Listen to Home Truths on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version: A candid conversation with multiple Golden Guitar winner and fan favourite Duncan Toombs about his extensive Canada tour earlier this year and three new singles released from forthcoming album Roller Coaster . Long version: While Duncan Toombs has a full professional life in Australia, as an artist, videographer and musician, he has spent part of this year touring Canada with Canadian-Australian country music artist Gord Bamford as a member of Bamford’s band as well as his opening act. Toombs then returned and played the Gympie Music Muster in August and has since released three singles on the trot: ‘I Go Home’, ‘Gypsy Sunrise’ and ‘Out of Here’. At the time we spoke he was releasing the first and the second two were about to come out, all building momentum for his second album, Roller Coaster , which has been a long time coming for reasons Toombs talks about in this interview. Toombs’s debut album, Steel on Steel , won him many fans who may well have seen him playing guitar with other artists – as I had – and not realised that his talents were even greater. That’s partly because Toombs himself was unsure about whether he wanted to step to the front of the stage. ‘It wasn’t part of my plan to become a solo country music artist,’ he says, and that is part of the story of the single ‘Out of Here’, which is about ‘the whole journey of self-belief’. The song was written in Nashville, and he has quite a story to tell about how it was written, which you’ll have to watch/listen to find out. ‘I Go Home’ was written on the same trip and in the same interesting circumstances, although each song was finished with different co-writers. Roller Coaster will be released on 11 June 2027. If you preorder, you may, Duncan says, receive the album before its official release … Preorder here . Listen to Duncan Toombs on Apple Music Listen to Duncan Toombs on Spotify Listen to Duncan Toombs on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version: After a chat about Star Wars inspired by the T-shirt Brisbane multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Chloe Marks wears for our interview, we talk about the tight bond of her band, The Mayhem, and their debut album, Bright Lights Late Nights . Long version: This interview with Brisbane multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Chloe Marks begins with a chat about Star Wars . That’s because Marks is wearing a particular Star Wars T-shirt (you’ll obviously need to be watching the video version of the interview to see it) and I wanted to ask her about it. She is, it turns out, a Star Wars aficionado and collector. Storytelling and epic themes are at the heart of the Star Wars universe, so it’s not a surprise that Marks – who has written many songs – has immersed herself in its stories for many years. Part of what’s in that universe is a core group of people, sticking together and doing good together. Not unlike the band that Marks fronts, The Mayhem, with most of its members – including her – having met while at university. That cohesiveness and longevity as a group says a lot about how well they must work together, and also no doubt influences the music they make in a positive way. Those currents that band members can flow in require understanding and communication – even intuition – and having seen Marks and The Mayhem perform live, it’s clear that they work like that. Their debut album, Bright Lights Late Nights , is also a result of that relationship they have, as Marks talks about in this interview, whether it’s how songs are worked on and opinions given, or how fluid the recording process was with producer Michael Muchow. The album showcases the band’s versatility when it comes to styles of play and genre. There are songs about what it means to pursue art as a vocation, to recover from heartbreak or try and fail to fend it off, plus a track featuring Jake Hill from The Wet Whistles. The last track on the album is the demo version of ‘Carolina’, the studio version of which was the first single from Marks and The Mayhem. It’s a great way to finish the record, as we can actually hear how they work – an insight into that core group and how they make their stories. Listen to Bright Lights Late Nights on Apple Music Listen to Bright Lights Late Nights on Spotify Listen to Bright Lights Late Nights on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version: Bradley Christmas, frontman and songwriter of alt-country four-piece Copperline , talks about the band’s third album, Sleepwalking , which is partly a commentary on the role and importance of art for the artist and for the audience. Long version: This is not the first time Bradley Christmas, frontman and songwriter of alt-country four-piece Copperline , has appeared on Sunburnt Country Music, which is why the first few minutes of this interview sound more like us having a conversation than me interviewing him. There’s a familiarity there, and when that’s the case it makes more sense to embrace it than pretend it doesn’t exist. Which means that we went quite quickly into a discussion about the role of art and AI and related subject matter – prompted, it must be pointed out, by the songs on Sleepwalking , Copperline’s third album which is out now. While each song on the album can be enjoyed for itself, there’s a bigger arc there, framed by the first and last songs. The title song is about the perils of sleepwalking through life; the last track is about walking outside late at night as a form of problem solving, something that Brad does himself. In between the songs address the nature of creativity and of armchair critics, the need to be present and the importance of appreciating love in various forms. The album works as proof of its own argument: that art is vital, that is cannot be replaced by anything mechanical, that life is better when we have other people’s creativity to enjoy as well as our own to express. Brad understands this not only as a musician but as an author, as he is the award-nominated writer of Saltwater Boy and has another book under way. The broader discussion about AI and the pace at which it seems to be overtaking creative practice can sometimes seem to propose the inevitability of it all. Indeed, for a little while I was putting this sort of text I’m writing now through various tools, in the name of making it more SEO friendly, so that it could reach more people and so on and so forth. (Of course, it’s in the interest of the people making those tools to tell us that we can’t reach anyone without them. But it was also hard to escape.) I also thought it might speed up the process, because I wanted to publish these interviews sooner, and writing the text could slow things down. Instead, it made me slower. Eventually I decided to just write what I wanted to write, and you’ll either read it or you won’t. You will choose to watch or listen to this interview or you won’t. I am not going to try automated tricks to make that happen. Choose to be here, engaging with Brad and Copperline and their work, or not, but be assured that the world is richer for having that work in it, and nothing can replace it. Listen to Sleepwalking by Copperline on Apple Music Listen to Sleepwalking by Copperline on Spotify Listen to Sleepwalking by Copperline on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short version: This is an interview with Sarah Sands from Perth six-piece The Stumblers. Watch/listen especially if you want to feel inspired to live a full creative life and find opportunities for joy. The band’s latest single is ‘Rhyolite’. Long version: The Stumblers are a six-piece band from Perth, WA, with members Sarah Sands (vocals, banjo, guitar, dobro), Dan Durack (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Becky Lodge (fiddle, accordion, vocals), Kirsty Ploeg (keyboard, vocals), Fiona Kanters (bass, fiddle) and Steven Rea (drums, vocals). It was Sands who joined me for a chat about the band, which formed not in primary school but because of a primary school – the one their children went to. The school wanted some parents to form a band, and Sands discovered that amongst the other parents there were some classically trained musicians. So they grouped together and had so much fun that The Stumblers was born. Sands grew up in a musical household: her father was in a band that played regularly around Perth, and he was a country music fan. Sands says she came to listen to country more in her twenties, drawn by the storytelling, and it’s been a natural progression for her as a songwriter to write in the country genre. Sands says that after becoming a mother she thought that she might have retired from being a musician, having been in bands and played with Durack in a duo for several years. But now it’s come back into her life and, as she says, ‘You find the time’, even if it’s writing a song in the middle of the night – or as she says, she once wrote a whole song while riding her motorbike to work, singing to herself then recording it on her phone once she could. ‘If the creativity is there and the energy is there, you’ll squeeze it in somewhere,’ she says. ‘It’s like a muscle … you get back into the rhythm of doing it and open your mind up to doing it and looking for stories everywhere.’ This was an inspiring chat to have – Sands also creates opportunities for The Stumblers and other acts to play in and around Perth, so she’s something of an impresario (or, rather, a dynamo). We did also talk about The Stumblers’ latest single, ‘Rhyolite’! And the band is working towards releasing an album. Listen to The Stumblers on Apple Music Listen to The Stumblers on Spotify Listen to The Stumblers on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kylie Jane has been working as a professional musician for several years – indeed, she had a short stint doing something else (as she reveals in this new interview) but it was clear she was meant to be a singer, and ever since then she’s had a busy roster of gigs and functions. She started singing as a child – her father’s cousin had a karaoke business, so there were several opportunities for her to practise! By the age of thirteen she was performing in open mic nights and not long afterwards started playing guitar. In 2017 Kylie released a pop album called Black Swan after she had appeared on The Voice – although, as she tells me, she wrote the album before the show, and had to hold onto it for a certain period of time around the show. Kylie is now firmly in the country music camp, releasing singles over the past few years, the latest of which is ‘Seasons Changing’. It was created with Jake Davey, who is an artist in his own right as well as a producer and in-demand co-writer, and someone Kylie has known for a while. She was at Jake’s studio to work on another song and, as Kylie talks about, the song arose spontaneously from a conversation they were having about all the things that had changed in their lives in recent times. In addition to her work as a performing artist, Kylie runs tiny home accommodation in the Hunter Valley, and she competes in showjumping, with plans to add campdrafting or something similar to her list of skills. It’s clear she has a life full of things she loves, and one that she has created with hard work and determination while maintaining the joy she has always felt for music. Listen to ‘Seasons Changing’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Seasons Changing’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Seasons Changing’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first time Tom Mac was a guest on the Sunburnt Country Music podcast, we had a long chat – so long that it grew gradually darker in his car (he’d pulled over in order to do the interview) to the point where he was barely visible! This time around he was indoors, with a light, and we had another long chat, because he has stories to tell. The reason for the interview was his latest single, ‘Brave’, which he wrote about falling in love with his partner, Erin, who has two children. It’s a song about loving someone when you know you can’t be their number one, because the children necessarily come first. Mac had been fairly nomadic to that point – the first interview was, in fact, about his song ‘Nomadic’ – so committing to this new life required some decisions, including being brave. He wrote two songs about it, and released the first, ‘Never Gonna Be’, in 2024, and he waited to release ‘Brave’, as he talks about in the interview, saying it ‘went that little bit further’ into the story. Mac also talks about the single before this one, ‘Larrakia Sunset’, which was written during the time he spent in Darwin during the pandemic, and which he recently performed in the NT capital. And he goes into his songwriting process – usually a solo writer, he is opening up to collaborations and contemplating what that means when the subject matter is more personal. Towards the end Mac talks about his background in acting, and even though that hasn’t been his main professional pursuit, he’s had some interesting experiences … and reveals a near-miss role on a reality TV show! Listen to ‘Brave’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Brave’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Brave’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve been to see an Australian country music artist play at any time in the past few years, the chances are good that you’ve seen Tameka playing in the band. A highly accomplished and in-demand guitarist, she has performed alongside Ashleigh Dallas, Adam Harvey, Andrew Swift, Catherine Britt, Loren Ryan and Tori Darke, amongst others. Tameka has now released her own music, the country-pop single ‘Like This Before’, which she worked on with Mickey Pye, who she met when she was a teenager, and who taught her guitar for a while as he runs a music school in the Central West of New South Wales, where Tameka also lives. The song was written in 2019, as Tameka tells me. It was mixed by Nashville engineer Jonathan Roye and mastered by Adam Ayan, who’s also based in Nashville. When Tameka and I chatted recently I found out that she has been writing songs for years – although given how often she’s on the road, it’s understandable that she’s only releasing the song now! As she also says in the interview, she needed to feel ready to have the focus on her. She has long wanted to be an artist and release her own music, and says she somewhat fell into being a guitarist, but the time is clearly right for her to step to the front of the stage. I also asked Tameka about her development as a guitarist, and given that when we chatted she had an array of instruments behind her, I asked her about them – and it turns out one of them was the first guitar she ever owned. So for those who are interested in guitars, there’s a little bit of guitar chat! Listen to ‘Like This Before’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Like This Before’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Like This Before’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Central Queensland contemporary country artist Trent Richardson appeared in Australian Idol two and a half years ago, not only had he never performed for an audience before – he thought he was a long way from being a father, which is something he very much wanted. His life changed fairly quickly: he reached the final six of Idol , which gained him fans and propelled his burgeoning career in country music, and he has since become a father to Archie. It is for Archie that he has written his latest single, ‘Promise You Now’, as from birth his son had the odds against him, spending months in Neonatal Intensive Care. As Richardson says in this interview, ‘There was a period there when we thought he just wasn’t going to make it.’ Archie was diagnosed with septo-optic dysplagia which affects his sight and movement, amongst other things. He will need lifelong medical care yet, as Richardson says, ‘he zips around’, and he has made great progress. ‘We just love him,’ says Richardson. ‘I think that’s the biggest thing. I just adore the little fella.’ It’s clear from talking to Richardson that there’s no one more important to him than Archie, and it’s also clear in the song, which is a father’s promise to a son to always take care of him. ‘Archie chose me to be his dad,’ says Richardson. The first time I interviewed Richardson he struck me as someone who is focused and determined yet also philosophical about both downs and ups. That is no doubt contributing to why his son is doing so well and also why he’s able to manage fatherhood and work and also creating music. As he says in the interview, writing the song helped him navigate all of it. There’s more ahead for him, on all fronts, and no doubt he will approach it with gusto. Listen to ‘Promise You Now’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Promise You Now’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Promise You Now’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since they first emerged on the Australian country music scene seven albums and fifteen Golden Guitars ago, Tasmanian country-rock outfit The Wolfe Brothers have won fans and admiration with their hard-work ethic backed up by impressive live performances, professionalism and songs that take in good times and bad, sentimentality and straightforwardness. The Wolfe Brothers are Nick and Tom Wolfe, and in this new interview I talk to Tom about the band’s varied activities this year, which have included being inducted into the Country Music Hands of Fame during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and performances with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and writing their latest single, ‘Wannabe’ in Nashville with Australian Phil Barton and American Dana Heaton-Perdue. The Wolfes are inherently entertaining – you only have to see them live to know that – and this song therefore fits very nicely in their canon. The duo are looking ahead to the release of their eighth album and after several years of travelling back and forth across the land, performing, they’ve learned how to balance their hectic work lives with some peace and quiet back home. Which doesn’t mean they still don’t give 110 per cent to their music – as Tom talks about, they absolutely love what they do and appreciate every minute of it. You can see The Wolfe Brothers live at Groundwater Country Music Festival on 17 October, and they continue their own Australian Made Tour in November. All dates on their website . Listen to ‘Wannabe’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Wannabe’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Wannabe’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are pathways for Australian country music artists of all ages to develop their talents and skills, and that includes those who are young enough to still be in school. The CMAA Junior Academy of Country Music is for artists under 18 years of age – and NSW Central Coast singer-songwriter Lucy Beveridge has been a student there four times, in both songwriting and instrumental strands. She’s also taken part in the Talent Development Project, an NSW initiative for school students in the arts. So when I interviewed Lucy about her debut single, ‘A Million Different Things’, I was conscious of the fact that I was talking to a young artist who also has more experience and education than most, and who has therefore worked diligently and professionally at her craft at an age when there’s also school to think about, plus the usual hullabaloo of being a teenager. Beveridge’s maturity as an artist is evident in the song, which is not the work of someone who is still trying to figure out which music she wants to make and which sort of artist she wants to be, even as it’s a song that acknowledges that she’s ‘a million different things’. The clip for the song was filmed in national park in Watagan, in the NSW Hunter Valley, by Lucy’s mother and brother, who run the successful photography and videography business Roaming Creatives. You can see it here . It was a pleasure to talk to Lucy and find out more about how she’s developed as a songwriter, singer and musician – she’s a truly impressive individual and it’s exciting to anticipate what she may release next. Listen to ‘A Million Different Things’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘A Million Different Things’ on Spotify For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NB: Saralyn’s sound was softer on the recording than it sounded when we spoke, so there are subtitles on this full-length interview. If you'd rather watch this with subtitles, you can find the full interview on YouTube . From the time she started releasing songs in 2023, it was clear Saralyn was an artist with a distinctive sound and point of view, and that she had a lineage in country music and cared about offering songs that don’t shy away from emotion, such as ‘White Butterfly’ and ‘I Hope That You’ll Remember’. She also likes a driving beat, as on songs such as ‘Cowgirl Blues, which is one of five tracks on her debut EP, Goldline . The title track is an origin story, of sorts, and a moving one at that. We talk about that in this new interview, in which Saralyn delves into her artistry and the stories that matter to her. There are songs about the love that sustains her and the dreams that drive her. As ever when we have chatted, Saralyn is clearly passionate about music, which has been in her life almost from birth. Even though being an independent artist is hard work – especially given she is the mother of two young children – she loves all the parts of it. Saralyn’s music will appeal to people who love a contemporary country sound that is created along traditional lines, with storytelling that connects to the hearts of listeners and strong vocals that reinforce that connection because we can hear her own heart in each song. She has several shows coming up, both of her original material and her Lainey Wilson cover show, Trailblazer – catch the last show of the current Trailblazer tour this Saturday at The Beer Shed in Sydney. Saralyn on tour: 3 October – Port Macquarie, NSW 17 October – Muswellbrook, NSW 23 October – Central Coast, NSW 7 November – Sydney, NSW | Day Cruise with Viper Creek Band - SOLD OUT 13 November – Hunter Valley, NSW 15 November – East Maitland, NSW 28 November – Paterson, NSW 21 January 2027 – Tamworth, NSW Listen to Goldline on Apple Music Listen to Goldline on Spotify Listen to Goldline on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Mild language warning] In this new interview, Toowoomba-raised country-blues artist Sue Ray tells me that, ‘like a bad country song’, she moved back to the Queensland city to have her children. But it’s also where she formed as an artist, as a member of the Toowoomba Country Music Club along with Duncan Toombs and Lyn Bowtell, and as the child of a rock ’n’ roll father (about whom she shares a wild story – no, I’m not going to tell you what it is!). Before we talked about Ray’s own music, we covered live music and why it’s so wonderful – that’s because these interviews are conversations, so I don’t stick strictly to the questions I’ve prepared and if an artist mentions something that is interesting to pursue, I’ll do that. Ray started playing guitar relatively late but she was writing well before that; ‘songs come to me constantly,’ she says, and she has over 11 000 voice memos on her phone to draw from for her songs, which have appeared on two studio albums and one live album. Her latest single, ‘Before the Rain’, is the title track from her forthcoming album. Ray is an artist I’ve been aware of for quite a while, impressed by her voice and her songwriting, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to interview her, and as you can tell by the length of it (almost 40 minutes), there was a lot to chat about and all of it was so interesting! She talks with insight about the ups and downs of artistry – including tall poppy syndrome – and how she has learned to make full use of her voice and talents, as well as about her time living in Nashville. Listen to Sue Ray on Apple Music Listen to Sue Ray on Spotify Listen to Sue Ray on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is many a songwriter in this fair land who will have either written a song with Jen Mize or been mentored by her in their songwriting. Mize has been a regular mentor and teacher at Song Muster and the DAG Sheep Station, amongst other places, and the number of times her name comes up is a clear indicator of how wonderful a collaborator she must be. Collaboration is also at the heart of The Rough N’ Tumble, the seven-piece band with whom she released an eponymous album in 2023. Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble are back with new album Tilt , which will indeed make you tilt and sway, and swoon, and in this new interview we talk about not only this album but Mize’s collaboration with band member Jeremy Edwards, a solo artist in his own right with whom she produced the album. At the time we were speaking Mize was due to perform at the Gympie Muster, which has now passed (due to a few other commitments I wasn’t able to publish this interview before that took place) and she had already mentored at this year’s Song Muster. She has a fully committed creative life, which is no doubt why she came up with a phrase I loved, during the conversation: ‘creative gym’. I’ll let you find out in which context it was mentioned! Mize is always wonderful to talk to, in part because she’s so passionate about music and the people she meets through it. Plus it’s always great to hear how collaborations happen and great music is made. I hope you enjoy our chat. Listen to Tilt by Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble on Apple Music Listen to Tilt by Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble on Spotify Listen to Tilt by Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.