Sunburnt Country Music

Épisodes

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  Sue Ray on her lifetime of music and her new single ‘Before the Rain’ 11.09.2026 43min

  [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 MusicListen to Sue Ray on SpotifyListen to Sue Ray on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Jen Mize on her sensational new album TILT with The Rough N’ Tumble 09.09.2026 42min

  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 MusicListen to Tilt by Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble on SpotifyListen to Tilt by Jen Mize & The Rough N’ Tumble on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Chris Cobb on growing up with music and releasing his rich first album 07.09.2026 28min

  Early in my interview with Chris Cobb, who has just released his debut album, More Questions than Answers, he speaks about his childhood in Bulolo in Papua New Guinea. ‘Music was very much a part of me,’ he says, then he went on to talk about how there was a local bluegrass scene, and a band in which most players had instruments with two strings only. ‘I got lost in it,’ he tells me, and being surrounded by so much music led him to want to play guitar from a young age – although not the child-sized guitar his father brought home for him! Cobb has lived in music since then, although it hasn’t always been his focus – he worked in the corporate sector for a while, before moving to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with his wife and children, then deciding to pursue music more fully. This included appearing on The Voice last year and now releasing his debut album, More Questions Than Answers.The album is a mixture of covers and originals, with Australian country music legend James Blundell appearing on ‘Love Letter to Morobe’ and rising star Felicity Kircher on opening track ‘Linger’. The covers are beautifully done, and once you know the reasons why each has been included – as Cobb reveals in this interview – you will further appreciate the richness of his music and story. More Questions Than Answers is an album for those who love the art of singing, and those who want to be taken on a journey. There’s a variety of styles on the album, and all of them radiating from Cobb’s authentic appreciation and understanding of the music that has come before him and that he is immersed in now. Listen to More Questions Than Answers on Apple MusicListen to More Questions Than Answers on SpotifyListen to More Questions Than Answers on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Wade Forster on impressive new album The Aftermath and tour plans 06.09.2026 27min

  ‘Saturday night’s the gooseneck party – this is the Sunday after.’ That’s how award-winning country music artist Wade Forster described his new album, The Aftermath, to me in this interview. The album comes fairly hot on the heels of his last, Gooseneck Party, hence his explanation, and he wrote them close together too, recording The Aftermath earlier this year, straight after his 2026 Golden Guitar wins for Male Artist of the Year and New Talent of the Year.Gooseneck Party certainly wasn’t entirely a party album, but of the two The Aftermath is the heartbreaker. There is no wallowing on it, though – it’s a clear-eyed look at mistakes made and an even clearer view of what’s ahead.‘When you’re hungover, you don’t need to tell everyone “I’ve been an idiot”,’ says Forster in this chat. ‘They already know.’ This is, he says, how the self-pity that might have been in some of these songs was taken away and they became about feeling other things. It’s a remarkable collection of songs and, as when I last spoke to Forster, I loved hearing about his songwriting process. He’s mainly a solo songwriter; only two of the tracks on The Aftermath are co-writes (‘Heaven ’57’ with Piper Butcher and ‘October’ with Ellis Undercover), and storytelling is at his core. The effectiveness of his music is not only in the lyrics, though – it’s in the way they’re delivered, and the way he uses his voice to do that. Then there is his live performance, which is quite something – Forster is very much alert to the fact that people spend their hard-earned money to come to a show, and he wants to make it worth their while. This is no doubt part of why he’s already developed a large following overseas – he was about to take off to the USA when we spoke, and he has shows there this month – and also why he picks up more fans all the time in Australia.The Aftermath is out now through Community Music and if you’d like to see Forster live, the dates are: WADE FORSTERTHE AFTERMATH TOUR 2026With The Wet Whistles and Piper ButcherFor tickets and further information head to livenation.com.au Astor Theatre, PerthThursday 22 October Metro Theatre, SydneyThursday 29 October – NEW DATEFriday 30 October – SOLD OUT Fortitude Music Hall, BrisbaneFriday 13 November Hindley St. Music Hall, AdelaideFriday 20 November Forum, MelbourneSaturday 21 NovemberListen to The Aftermath on Apple MusicListen to The Aftermath on SpotifyListen to The Aftermath on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Brooke McClymont & Adam Eckersley return with dynamite third album, Souls on Show 27.08.2026 27min

  From the start of the enterprise that became Sunburnt Country Music, I was a fan of The McClymonts, the band Brooke McClymont formed with her sisters, Sam and Molly. Their country-pop songs were always clever and fun and musically unforgettable, due to their way with a melody and their harmonies. I saw them play live as often as I could. Thus, when Brooke released an album with her husband, Adam Eckersley, I rushed to listen to it and discovered a work that had the excellence that they had both produced separately – Eckersley with his eponymous band – yet had a unique sound and sensibility. The songs on that first self-titled album would not have belonged with The McClymonts or The Adam Eckersley Band – they were definitively Brooke and Adam’s alone. It was an exciting development for a music fan, and it continued with their second album, Up, Down & Sideways, which produced chart-topping, award-winning hits such as ‘Star of the Show’ (written with their daughter, Tiggy) and ‘Memory Lane’.One of the hardest things for any artist to do – let alone two together – is not only be consistent but create something different that is as good or better than what has come before. This involves risk, especially when there is a well-established fan base. And while Brooke and Adam have big, bold personalities, they are serious about their music so the risk is real. In the case of their third album, the newly release Souls on Show, the risk has manifested as a rich album about life and marriage and committing to make the best of both. As with previous albums, they take relatable subjects and apply their talents to them and the resulting songs are so good because they take the risk. They push themselves to make the music better each time. It’s a compliment to their audience, because what also seems true of them both is that they love that connection with their audience. If we show up, they will too, in spades.In this new interview they talk about their creative process and how The Wang, where they host groups of people and perform songs old and new for them, has contributed to it, and their regard for each other as artists and people is so clear. All of this contributes to the quality of the music they produce. Live, Brooke and Adam are never not great, whether it’s with their band or as a duo (including at The Wang, where you can see them up close and free flowing in the best way). I’ve seen their band show enough times to know that it can leave a person high for days, on the quality of the music and the fact that Brooke and Adam always seem to be having the most fun every single time. They are touring in support of Souls on Show and you can find the details here: https://www.brookeandadam.com/ontour.I used to think I was perhaps too biased about The McClymonts, but then decided that I was biased because they were so good. So perhaps I’m biased about Brooke and Adam too – but it’s because they’re so good. In this world, with so much information coming at us, with so many options for our time and attention, they make it easy for us to choose their music by accepting nothing less than excellence in themselves. For those of us who live and breathe music, there’s nothing better.Souls on Show is out now through Universal Music Australia.Listen to Souls on Show on Apple MusicListen to Souls on Show on SpotifyListen to Souls on Show on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Andrew Swift on his new bluegrass direction and upcoming album 25.08.2026 33min

  Victorian Andrew Swift has released four ARIA chart-topping albums and won three Golden Guitars, in amongst touring regularly – although later it’s been a lighter tour schedule than usual, as he’s now the proud dad of Valentine.Swift has built his fan base with both releases and touring, and the temptation for any artist in that position must be to continue in the same vein with the songs he writes and records. Yet for his latest single, ‘Brick by Brick’, Swift has changed musical direction – although still within country music – to bluegrass. Not just this song, either: his forthcoming album has been produced entirely without electric instruments by his longtime band member (and highly regarded producer) Damian Cafarella.In this new interview Swift tells me that ‘Brick by Brick’ was written nearly two years ago in a co-write at his dining table with his fiancée, Simone Sordello, alongside Gretta Ziller, Melanie Dyer and Jackson James. The lyrics grew out of a shared frustration among the co-writers with someone who'd repeatedly tested their goodwill. ‘This song is by no means a diss track,’ Swift says. ‘It’s just how we were feeling in that moment.’The song was put on the back burner as Swift finished his most recent album, Lucky Stars. Yet ‘I’ve been wanting to do a bluegrass project,’ as he says, tracing the idea back to revisiting his 2015 debut, Call for the Cavalry, on a flight and hearing its Americana roots calling him back.Currently seven songs into the new record, Swift is balancing studio time around fatherhood, working sessions in around Valentine's daycare days. His live shows will lean towards a solo or duo storyteller format in the near term, with plans to rework older favourites like ‘Runaway Train’ and ‘Head Full of Honey’ into the new sound for select performances, including a bluegrass hoedown in Tamworth.You’ll find Swift performing at Groundwater Country Music Festival on Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, held on 17 and 18 October. See below for the full list of tour dates.Listen to ‘Brick by Brick’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Brick by Brick’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Brick by Brick’ on YouTubeSEE ANDREW SWIFT LIVESaturday 5th September - Noojee Hotel, Noojee VICFriday 11th September - Odessa’s, Creswick VICSaturday 12th September - Bells Beach Brewing Company, Torquay VICFriday 18th September - Golden Vine Hotel, Bendigo VICSaturday 19th September - Young Street Tavern, Frankston VICFriday 2nd October - Sooki Lounge, Belgrave VICSaturday October 3rd - The Bend Classic, Tailem Bend SASaturday October 10th - The Oaks, Albion Park Rail NSWSunday October 11th - Camden Hotel, Camden NSWSaturday 17th October - Groundwater Country Music Festival, Broadbeach QLDSunday 18th October - Groundwater Country Music Festival, Broadbeach QLDTuesday 19th January - Bluegrass Hoedown, Tamworth Country Music Festival NSWWednesday 20th January - The Longyard Hotel, Tamworth NSWThursday 25th March - Friday 9th April - Singapore to Sydney Country Music Cruise**Tickets on sale now and available via www.andrewswift.com.au**For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  From busking on Peel Street to New Zealand Gold Guitars – Zac Weeks’s big year 23.08.2026 36min

  When I was researching this interview with Devonport, Tasmania-based country-rock artist Zac Weeks, the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards – and his success at them – kept coming up, the point where I then went looking for information about where he was from in New Zealand. There was none, and therefore I decided that I’d start the interview by asking about this.It turns out that Weeks is very much from Tasmania but on a suggestion from some New Zealand country music artists he met at the CMAA Academy of Country Music, he entered into the Gold Guitar Awards and emerged as a runner-up in the open singer-songwriter category, which is very good going for a first-time entrant. It was at Academy that Weeks’s latest single, ‘Long Neck Long Gone’, came together. The title had sat in his Notes app for four years; it was a line borrowed from a friend as they were finishing a ginger beer on a night out in Devonport. At Academy Weeks was paired with in-demand songwriter Matt Scullion, and the song took shape within minutes. ‘What about this: “long neck, long gone, she left me alone”,’ Weeks recalls Scullion offering, before the two wrote the rest of the track together.While Weeks has previously recorded with producer Matt Fell, who is also based in Tasmania, he recorded the latest single with Jacky McCormack, who is on the Central Coast of New South Wales. At the time we spoke Weeks was currently touring Tasmania – and he does play quite a lot around the Apple Isle – before heading to the Gympie Music Muster, which starts on Thursday 27 August. He’s already had an action-packed year, and no doubt Gympie will provide even more motivation for him to continue performing and writing – so stand by for future releases!Listen to Zac Weeks on Apple MusicListen to Zac Weeks on SpotifyListen to Zac Weeks on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Madeline Leman on the long journey to her latest album Ripen on the Vine 19.08.2026 43min

  Victorian artist Madeline Leman’s latest country-folk album, Ripen on the Vine, was recorded in 2023, and while Leman has released some singles since then, the album needed a little more time to emerge – for a very important reason. As she tells me early in this interview, her young son was unwell for several months, so the album’s release was necessarily delayed.Upon release it went to number 4 in the ARIA Country chart and number 5 on the Australia Indie chart, and Leman has also played shows in support of it, no doubt swelling the numbers of fans for her intelligent, often whimsical music that combines beautifully crafted lyrics with rich musicality.Leman grew up in a musical family – her parents met while playing in a band together, and were folk artists. They dubbed her the ‘human radio’ because she would sing so often from such a young age. Piano was her first instrument, and Missy Higgins a big early influence, so Leman began writing songs on piano.She then taught herself guitar and, while at university, listened to a lot of country music. At that time in Melbourne the alt-country/Americana scene was at its height, but it was a folk artist with whom she made the most lasting connection. Sharing a house with folk artist Leah Senior, Leman played her a song she’d written; this led Senior to Leman to play in a folk duo with her. Leman also talks about recording certain songs on the album and the choices that were made musically and lyrically, and we talk about clothes – if you watch the interview rather than listening to it, you’ll see that her clothing choices are as astute as her musical ones!It was a great pleasure to meet Leman, who is a passionate, articulate artist and one whose music is enriching on so many levels. And listen to the end to hear her talk about the line-dancing class she teaches …Listen to/buy Ripen on the Vine on BandcampListen to Ripen on the Vine on Apple MusicListen to Ripen on the Vine on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Georgia Scarlett and Joel Spence – two solo artists with one very good idea 17.08.2026 30min

  Georgia Scarlett and Joel Spence are two Queensland country artists who have been releasing solo music independently for several years, and who have now found a creative partnership that has produced two singles which have taken them in a musical direction that is distinct from their own music while preserving their musical identities. The first single is ‘The Wise Folks Say’, which was the reason for our recent interview. The second, released after this interview was recorded, is ‘Honey Let’s Go’.Their story begins at the Song Muster in Gympie, which has now generated several outstanding songs and songwriting partnerships that bring established and emerging songwriters together. Scarlett and Spence were placed in the same writing group and produced ‘The Wise Folks Say’ in a single session. ‘This spark just connected instantly once we started talking our experiences, our journeys through life, some of the wisdom that’s been passed down to us,’ says Scarlett. ‘Every verse is a different life lesson. It has that old-fashioned country wisdom that I really love.’The duo brought the song to producer Kelsey Berrington. The result is a song in which the duo’s voices are given the space to meld and separate as needed, revealing the way they balance and complement each other. Spence grew up in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, on a cattle and grain property. He has been writing and recording since his teens, and also has an academic interest in the power of music, conducting research into how community-led songwriting and performance can foster healing, cultural justice, and empowerment for First Nations Peoples in remote communities. Scarlett is originally from Bundaberg and grew up learning piano but found that she was better suited to clarinet, and has since added guitar and harmonica to her repertoire. She released her debut solo album, Rhythm of Life, last year. Scarlett and Spence’s collaboration on ‘The Wise Folks Say’ worked so well that they have now released a second single together, ‘Honey Let’s Go’. Listen to ‘The Wise Folks Say’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘The Wise Folks Say’ on SpotifyListen to ‘The Wise Folks Say’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Jessie Robins on her debut single, ‘I Should’ve Known Better’ 13.08.2026 25min

  Jessie Robins grew up in Katherine in the Northern Territory as one of a set of triplets and the daughter of a helicopter mustering pilot, and – as she tells me in this new interview – she has been singing since she was a small child. Creativity also runs in the family as her sisters are also working in creative fields. Robins now lives in Brisbane, where she performs regularly across the city and occasionally on Stradbroke Island, and she has released her debut country pop single, 'I Should Have Known Better'. The song was written with Shannon McArthur, a producer and songwriter living in Austin, Texas who is Robins’s longtime collaborator. They made a connection made through YouTube long before Zoom made remote creative partnerships commonplace.Robins has been writing songs since childhood, and tells me that she still has notebooks from those years and occasionally finds a melody or a lyric she could use now. ‘I Should’ve Known Better’ came about through Robins watching a friend navigate a relationship from beginning to end, and the song sat with her for a couple of years before the timing felt right to release it. ‘Now that those circumstances have passed,’ she says, ‘I felt like it was the right time to move forward.’The song's title implies regret, but the sound does not. Robins was deliberate about this – she wanted something people could put on in the car and feel okay about, not sad. ‘It’s okay to test things and trial things and then come out the other side with learnings,’ she says.The genre of country music isn’t Robins’s natural habitat – she didn’t grow up listening to it. But over her years of performing and studying at JMC Academy in Brisbane, people kept telling her she sounded country. Eventually, she stopped resisting, and the result is this nuanced debut track.Listen to ‘I Should’ve Known Better’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘I Should’ve Known Better’ on SpotifyListen to ‘I Should’ve Known Better’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Nashdale on their new music that was ten years in the making 05.08.2026 44min

  Nashdale are a Central Coast country duo – Kerryn Daniel on lead vocals and Brent Murphy on guitars and vocals – who have been playing together for over a decade and releasing original music since 2024. Their third single, ‘Boots Back On’, is out now, and an EP is in the works for the Tamworth Country Music Festival next year.While it seems like the pair came up with the perfect moniker for a country duo, Nashdale is a real place: a small locality outside Orange in the Central West of New South Wales, where Daniel grew up and her grandparents had an orchard. Daniel and Murphy have been performing together for a decade, a collaboration which started when Murphy heard Daniel sing with a friend’s band and, as he tells me in this new interview, launched a plot to steal her! Obviously he had the right instincts, considering how long they’ve been working together, and in the interview it was clear how much respect they have for each other and also how their dynamic would work on stage and in creating music.After several years playing shows on the NSW Central Coast, the enforced inactivity of the pandemic gave them the opportunity to start recording originals together. Murphy has a home studio, and it was there that they started demoing songs with no particular plan. As they told me, they now have around thirty in various stages of development.Their third single, ‘Boots Back On’ came about when Daniel played Murphy that she loved the groove of, and Murphy reached into his stack of old lyric drafts for something that might fit the energy. The song is about acknowledging that something isn’t working and putting your boots back on and getting on with things. There are other releases in the works, including an EP timed to come out around the 2027 Tamworth Country Music Festival. And if you’re a ‘Coastie’, make sure to check out Nashdale live!Listen to ‘Boots Back On’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Boots Back On’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Boots Back On’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Hayden Phillis on new single ‘Stick Poke Tattoos’ and his rich creative life 27.07.2026 31min

  Art can emerge at any age, and that’s just as true of younger artists as those who find their creative voices later on. Sydney singer-songwriter Hayden Phillis is not yet twenty years old and has spent his teen years developing his skills as a musician, singer and songwriter, attending the CMAA Academy of Country Music three times – twice as a singer-songwriter, once in the instrumentalist strand, which he describes as one of his favourite experiences, forcing him to rapidly develop piano skills and adaptability in a band setting. His debut album, Too Young, may have been released only last year but Phillis already has a new single, ‘Stick Poke Tattoos’, which was inspired by a friend’s relationship and written using Phillis’s somewhat wry powers of observation. He’s a songwriter who is interested in human experiences, and exploring them through his songs. He writes on buses, at gigs, in the notes app on his phone – collecting fragments, testing them against what he already has, and discarding what doesn’t fit.‘I had the attitude of writing what I see and what I think,’ he says. ‘I wasn’t trying to put myself in a box that everyone will like.’Both the first album and his forthcoming second, which is to be called What Time Doesn’t Know, were recorded at Rabbit Hole Recording Studio on the Central Coast with producer Dingo (Brandon Dodd), a collaboration Phillis talks about in this new interview.He also mentions his upcoming long trip to Nashville, his plans for the 2027 Tamworth Country Music Festival – and his hobby making video games, which is another creative outlet and form of storytelling.Listen to ‘Stick Poke Tattoos’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Stick Poke Tattoos’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Stick Poke Tattoos’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Olive Mae on singing country songs and choosing freedom 25.07.2026 32min

  The first time I interviewed country-folk artist Olive Mae she was in a caravan she shared with her husband and children, and they were travelling around Australia, embracing freedom – a concept that is at the core of Olive’s latest single, ‘Country Songs’.Now settled in the south-west of Western Australia, about ten minutes’ drive from the popular Margaret River area, Olive is playing fewer shows on the road but certainly not playing less overall, as we talk about in this new interview.‘Country Songs’ is, Olive says, her first attempt at writing a country song; she previously believed she was writing folk songs – although, as she says in the interview, when one of them ended up being nominated in a country music awards category, she reassessed! The song is partly about how music might have been the path she wanted to take from a young age but instead she followed the advice of others to pursue more conventional paths. ‘Sometimes you’ve got to do the wrong thing just to realise what’s wrong,’ she says. ‘That’s just as important as finding what’s right.’Ultimately, though, art won out, which is partly how she found herself in that caravan, touring the land. ‘I wanted to be free,’ she says, ‘to choose the path that you want to take and not take on anyone else’s thoughts on how you should be living.’ Of course, being free is not as simple as the phrase makes it sound – it requires courage to focus on what you know is right for you and ignore others who are trying to steer you away for their own reasons. As ever, it was a great deal of fun chatting to Olive, who will be at this year’s Gympie Music Muster in August, attending the CMAA Academy’s Campfire songwriting programme. She’s also booked her first Tamworth headline show for the 2027 festival, at the Listening Room at the Community Centre on Thursday 21 January. Listen to ‘Country Songs’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Country Songs’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Country Songs’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Ella Powell hates her clothes and loves the songs she’s making 22.07.2026 19min

  Central Coast NSW country-pop artist Ella Powell has been evolving her sound and storytelling over her last few singles, and her latest, ‘Hate My Clothes’, has the most intriguing title yet. As Powell tells me in this new interview, the song began as a feeling rather than a concept. She had a verse and a chorus and took those to co-writer and producer Ben Horsley, who has worked on her last two singles. The title of the song was Horsley’s suggestion, and it is not a song about Powell needing a new wardrobe but, rather, about finding an identity – something that most humans go through in their teens and early twenties, and which can be more pressing for artists in an era when brand is so important and artists are trying to, well, make art. Powell started performing at eight and released her first proper single, ‘Paper Town’, in her mid-teens – it’s a song she tends to keep in her set, despite releasing several singles since, because it brought many fans to her for the first time. She is now in her early twenties and, for the first time, says she knows exactly who she is as an artist and exactly what she wants to make. A year or two of releases are already mapped out, writing sessions are ongoing with Horsley, and production on new material has begun. At the core of Powell’s songwriting is a drive to tell stories. As she tells me, she writes several songs simultaneously to reduce attachment to any one, and is comfortable abandoning material that isn’t working, which is a discipline she has developed over years of writing. Her ideas come from overhearing conversations, scrolling book titles online, and using random word generators as prompts – I hadn’t heard of anyone using that last one, and am now intrigued!It’s always exciting to see what Powell comes up with next, and also lovely to talk to her, so I hope you enjoy this conversation.Listen to Ella Powell on Apple MusicListen to Ella Powell on SpotifyListen to Ella Powell on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Cookie from Rusty Pickups on their new album and unique band dynamic 19.07.2026 42min

  The last time I interviewed Michael Cook – known as Cookie – from the Darling Downs (Queensland) alt-country and bluegrass band Rusty Pickups, there was a donkey outside the studio at Possum Creek, where the band recorded. Naturally, when we spoke again recently about the band’s new album, I Don’t Think About You at All (… some days), I checked in on this unofficial extra band member and also on the band’s recent successes, which included a New Zealand tour. Rusty Pickups were originally a four-piece, then became a five-piece – and are now back to being a four-piece, as founding member Waylon Katz is heading off around Australia on a months-long odyssey which will count him out of any band activity for a very long while. ‘Rusty Pickups is a table we’re all lucky enough to have a seat at,’ says Cookie. ‘Right now his chair’s pushed in, but it’s there for him to pull out again when he wants to come back.’In this interview Cookie talks further about the ‘table’ that is Rusty Pickups and how it has kept providing for them all, which was the main aim. He has set goals and they’ve kept reaching them, not through crossing their fingers and hoping but by putting in the work and taking chances and opportunities. It was Katz who wrote the album’s title track, drawing on conversations he’s had in his work as a therapist. Some other songs are written by Cookie, and they are what he calls clear-eyed rather than self-pitying: honest assessments of hard things, including addiction, the passage of time and the unexpected depth of feeling for a very small dog he rescued, named Princess Bubblegum. The story about that dog is an example of why it’s always great to let interviews flow where they want to go – great stories often result. And it’s also why this interview is on the long side, but Cookie is always interesting to chat to, so a longer conversation is usually on the cards. Listen to I Don’t Think About You at All on Apple MusicListen to I Don’t Think About You at All on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Melanie Dyer on ‘If Only She Knew’ and dreams coming true 15.07.2026 32min

  At the start of this interview I say I’m a Melanie Dyer fan, and that’s because she writes songs that can encompass a whole life, as in her recent single, ‘Golden Girl’, or cut right to the heart of something in a devastating way, as in ‘What You Didn’t Say’, from her 2022 album Between You & Me, or just be out-and-out entertaining because of her ear for melody.As she talks about in this new interview, she discovered the magic of what could be created by combining music with chords at a young age. She would lock herself in her room to write a song then emerge at the ad break to perform it for her parents. She was the youngest person accepted into the Talent Development Project at twelve, training in songcraft, stagecraft, performance and networking alongside musicians from across multiple genres. ‘I’ve spent my whole life doing this,’ she says. ‘I’ve never known a life without it.’Dyer’s latest single, ‘If She Only Knew’, is a love letter to that girl growing up on a farm in regional New South Wales, learning chords on her mother’s guitar and dreaming of a life in music. The song was written in Nashville. with Karen Kosowski and Emma-Lee, which whom Dyer wrote her hit ‘Memphis T-Shirt’. There were some tears during the writing session for this song which is, says Dyer, ‘equally heartbreaking and cathartic and inspiring and hopeful’.‘If you really feel like you're destined to do something, don’t give up on yourself. That’s what this song is saying.’Dyer’s early dreams have taken her all the way to Music City, where she’s lived for over a year, playing live regularly and writing a lot. Given how often Dyer is asked to co-write with other artists, it’s perfect that she’s now in a place where songwriting is woven into the fabric of daily life. And it’s still a source of wonder to her.‘I hear melodies in my head,’ she says. ‘They just come out. And that’s still this crazy, magic thing to me – inventing and crafting something from scratch and weaving your emotion into it.’Young Melanie’s dreams have indeed come true, and listening to Now Melanie talk about that, and much more about her craft and her songs, is hugely inspiring.Listen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on SpotifyListen to ‘If She Only Knew’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Brooke Seabrook on being a wordsmith and new single ‘Took My Town Away’ 10.07.2026 34min

  Brooke Seabrook is a balladeer from Queensland who recently won the Barry Thornton Young Award, which supports Australian bush and heritage artists. Her latest single is ‘Took My Town Away’, produced by Lindsay Waddington. Seabrook describes herself not as a songwriter but as a wordsmith – and the distinction matters, as she talks about in this interview. For Seabrook came to music through bush poetry, and it runs in her blood. Her grandmother Albertina, born in 1902, was a storyteller and poet, and Seabrook had early influences in the form of AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson and Henry Lawson. As she recounts, Slim Dusty was a constant in the family home, as were Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Charlie Pride and Tom T. Hall. John Williamson has also had a big impact, and it was a song she wrote for Williamson called ‘Who’ll Sing Australia Now?’ that led to the Thornton Young Award, which will take Seabrook to the CMAA Academy of Country Music next January.Seabrook has increased her creative output in recent times, partly because one of her two sons died a few years ago, and writing became a way of managing her grief. ‘As long as we’re still singing and talking about it,’ she says, ‘we’re not forgetting these people.’The new single, ‘Took My Town Away’, was written about changes to Seabrook’s home suburb of Goodna, which, like so many places, has changed greatly in recent times. The track features backing vocals by Golden Guitar winner William Alexander, who also records with Waddington.Seabrook has also recorded at Rabbit Hole Recording Studio on the Central Coast of New South Wales with producers Dingo and Kasey Chambers, and mentions that she actually has a whole album ready to go, but that she has no current plans to release it. It is, she says, waiting for its moment.Meanwhile, Seabrook performs live regularly and will be supporting Luke O’Shea in Ipswich on 1 August, then performing at the Gympie Music Muster. Listen to Brooke Seabrook on Apple Music                  Listen to Brooke Seabrook on SpotifyListen to Brooke Seabrook on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Kesha Nevé is … Better This Way 07.07.2026 35min

  Although Snowy Mountains-raised Kesha Nevé was the winner of this year’s Australian Idol, I did not know what to expect when I interviewed her because … I didn’t see any of this year’s season! I caught up on the musical side of things by watching clips and research revealed that she had grown up in Jindabyne, a town in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales that is known as the gateway to the nearby ski fields of Thredbo and Perisher in particular. Also that she started singing and performing at a very young age, that she’d spent time around the rodeo scene and worked on a farm in New Zealand for a year. What research did not reveal – what can never be known until an interview starts – is what an artist is like to talk to, so I discovered in the moment that she’s an absolute delight. Smart and funny and self-aware, close to her family and committed to pursuing her dreams. We sometimes talk about ‘following’ a dream but that implies a dream can become real if only a person follows long enough. Nevé has worked to make her dreams manifest in life, not just in terms of the time she’s put into developing as an artist but developing as a person, which can only benefit her artistry. So this is a chat about music and about sport – as her life has been rich in both – about family and Idol and the tour she has coming up. It’s also about her debut country-pop single, ‘Better This Way’, which was written with Ruby Rogers, Lara Frew and Phoebe Sinclair in Nevé’s first ever professional songwriting session. The session began with two hours of conversation and Nevé telling the story of a relationship she’d only recently come out of, before a song emerged that charts the moment the rose-coloured glasses were finally gone, the relationship was done, and she knew she was ‘better this way’.Nevé is going on tour with fellow Idol contestant Kalani Artis. For dates and tickets, go to https://www.keshaneve.com.au/tour-dates/Listen to ‘Better This Way’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Better This Way’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Better This Way’ on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Ally Paterson on her Gold Rush single, ‘Dig’, and life on the land 05.07.2026 29min

  The latest single from Ally Paterson, a singer-songwriter from the Ballarat area in Victoria, went on, is called ‘Dig’ and it was born at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat’s living museum of the Gold Rush era. As Paterson tells me in this interview, the rhythmic banging of an old battering ram sent her imagination straight to the men who had worked the claims: Irish migrants, Chinese labourers, people who had crossed the world on the bare promise of a lucky strike. ‘I was inspired by the hardy, wiry gold miner man who’d come from way across the world and was just digging without any guarantee of success,’ she says. Digging for gold also turned out to be an apt metaphor for this interview. Not because I had to dig necessarily but because gold kept turning up. The longer we spoke, the more I discovered very interesting things about Paterson, such as that she spent several years singing jazz in late-night venues in Melbourne before she and her husband – who have four children – decided to move to the land. Neither of them had any experience with that work, and it has become a lifestyle they love and a connection to the land that inspires Paterson’s writing.Paterson’s earlier experience as a jazz singer explained something I heard in her singing voice: real power and nuance and such a great tone. She’s a really wonderful singer, and ‘Dig’ has great impact because of that and the story she tells in the song. The song was produced by Matt Fell at Wilder in Tasmania, as was ‘Working Like Dogs’, her first single. More releases are planned, as Paterson is as committed to music as she is to the other parts of the rich life she has created. Listen to Ally Paterson on Apple MusicListen to Ally Paterson on SpotifyListen to Ally Paterson on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Jean Elliot on her epic EP Butcher, Lover, Runner 04.07.2026 30min

  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, 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/ Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Apple Music Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on Spotify Listen to Butcher, Lover, Runner on YouTubeFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.