Thank Folk It’s Friday – 14th December

TFIF

This Week in Folk

All the News From The Week That Was

- Sydney musos Packwood, Jack Carty, Achoo! Bless You, Fanny Lumsden and Rosie Catalano have come to write, record and release their original Christmas song “Heading Home (It’s Christmas Time)” to help raise money for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia. Details here

- The Illawarra Folk Festival is holding its annual Sydney showcase this Sunday at The Cat and Fiddle in Balmain. For $15 you get nine hours of music from nine different artists. Details here

- Melbourne duo The Weeping Willows will be launching their debut album in Melbourne this Sunday with a little help from Lachlan Bryan. Details here

- Speaking of Lachlan Bryan the alt-country favourite has announced a residency at Melbourne’s Retreat Hotel throughout January. Details here

- One of our favourite Australian Americana/bluegrass bands, The Wilson Pickers, are reforming for Bluesfest next year and have announced plans for album number three. Details here

- After a year away in Europe Phia is finally returning home and is celebrating with a show at the Grace Darling in Melbourne before Christmas. Details here

- Already announced as part of the 2013 Bluesfest lineup Ben Howard has announced three headline shows next April in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Details here

- London-based indie-folk five piece Eliza and the Bear are streaming “Upon The North”, the first track from their upcoming double A-side. Details here

- “Jangle” the new single and video from Adelaide seven-piece Gemini Downs may well be the catchest song of the summer. Details here

- Bluesfest have added a handful more artists to the 2013 lineup including Jason Mraz, Manu Chao and La Ventura, Mark Seymour and the Undertow, Chris Smither, Current Swell, Matt Anderson, Go Jane Go (Kieran Kane, David Fracey and Lucas Kane) and The McMenamins. Details here

- José González’s Junip project have announced plans for a new album next year. Details here

- Melbourne based singer-songwriter James Kenyon has just released his brand new video “35 Degrees”. Details here

- Alice Springs native Sally Balfour has released the video for her debut track “Through The Night”. Details here

- Graveyard Train also released a brand new video this week for their track “The Sermon”. Details here

Interviews

“I have wondered many times what would have happened if my past wasn’t corrupted by rock and roll [laughs]. I really do wonder because I listened to just as much Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez as I do Smashing Pumpkins but I guess because of the age I was I chose to – although some of it wasn’t choice, some of it was encouraged forcefully – go in the direction of more modern rock sounds. At the end of the day I don’t think they were as me, they weren’t what I keep coming back to. I’ve gone through those phases and I don’t put on modern rock records anymore but I still put on Joan Baez, I still put on Joni Mitchell or Emmylou or Karen Dalton more than anybody. Those are the things I keep coming back to”Ella Hooper chats to Gareth Hugh Evans about her upcoming solo album. Interview here

“Cathy [Guthrie] and I both work for our dads full time as well so whenever we do a tour together we try and scramble whatever time we can and this time we could only get a week. It’s going to have to be a short one, about 10 days, for the tour but hopefully we’ll be able to do a longer one soon. And we’re really excited about Woodford!” – Amy Nelson from Folk Uke talks to Gareth Hugh Evans about their upcoming Australian tour. Interview here

“The thing we’re most fond of is touring; just playing as much as we can around the country. Especially being from Tassie, you’ve got to make the most of it. When you go on a tour, you’ve just gotta do as many shows as you can” – Ben Wells of Ben Wells and the Middle Names chats to Bill Quinn at their headline gig in Canberra. Interview here

Reviews

Gigs

“Admittedly, this gig was the first time that I had heard The Mornings and I was completely taken aback. This inconceivably talented six piece folk band had a strong presence in the room as soon as they took the stage”Janine Estoesta Reviews 4 Singles, 4 Styles in Melbourne. Review here

Releases This Week

Burgh Island
Burgh IslandBen Howard
iTunes

Bag of Hammers
A Bag of Hammers (Film Score)Johnny Flynn
iTunes

Timber and Steel Presents

Mustered Courage
Mustered Courage with John Flanagan and The Begin Agains and The Drooling Mouths Of Memphis
Sunday 16th December – The Workers Club, Melbourne, VIC

Gigs Next Week

Andrew Drummond
Friday 14th December – House Gig, Wyong, NSW
Sunday 16th December – Chords for Lekol, Canberra, ACT
Tuesday 18th December – Vineyard, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 19th December – Horse Bazaar, Melbourne, VIC

Darren Hanlon
Friday 14th December –The Grand Poobah, Hobart, TAS
Saturday 15th December – The Street Theatre, Canberra, ACT
Wednesday 19th December – Mojo’s, Freemantle, WA
Thursday 20th December – Church of the Trinity, Adelaide, SA
Friday 21st December – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC

Husky
Sunday 16th December – Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Illawarra Folk Festival Sydney Showcase
Sunday 16th December – The Cat and Fiddle, Sydney, NSW

Jack Carty
Friday 14th December – Camelot, Sydney, NSW (w/ Katie Noonan)
Sunday 16th December – The Retreat Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

Joe Robinson
Saturday 15th December – Festival of The Sun, Port Macquarie, NSW

Jordie Lane
Friday 14th December – Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
Saturday 15th December – Notes Live, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 16th December – Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba, NSW

Laneway
Friday 14th December – The Lomond Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 15th December – The Little Larder, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 20th December – The Union Hotel, Sydney, NSW

Mike McCarthy
Thursday 20th December – Lizottes, Kincumber, NSW

Perch Creek Family Jug Band
Friday 14th December – Mullumbimby Drill Hall, Mullumbimby, NSW
Saturday 15th December – The Basement, Gold Coast Arts Centre, Surfers Paradise, QLD
Sunday 16th December – The Joynt, Brisbane, QLD (4.30pm)
Friday 21st December – Woombye Pub, Woombye, QLD

Regina Spektor
Friday 14th December – The Plenary, Melbourne
Sunday 16th December – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Wednesday 19th December – Belvoir Ampitheatre, Perth

The April Maze
Friday 14th December – The Front Canberra, ACT
Saturday 15th December – Oddfellows Hall, Yass, NSW

The Key of Sea feat. Jinja Safari, The Tiger and Me, etc
Friday 14th December – Hamer Hall, Melbourne, VIC

The Pigs
Friday 14th December – Pretoria Hotel, Mannum, SA

The Stillsons (duo)
Thursday 20th December – The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA

The Trouble With Templeton
Friday 14th December – Barcode, Wollongong, NSW
Friday 21st December – Lizotte’s, Newcastle, NSW

The Weeping Willows with Lachlan Bryan
Sunday 16th December – Kingston Arts Centre, Melbourne, VIC

Friday Folk Flashback

“The Rose Hip” – Fairport Convention

In the late 80s/early 90s my parents pulled my sister and I out of school for three months and took us on an extended trip around the UK and Ireland. Fairport Convention’s Red and Gold album was pretty much the soundtrack of that trip, cementing Ric Sanders as a fiddle icon of mine. Upon returning back to Australia we loaned a copy of the instrumental “The Rose Hip” to my then violin teacher asking him if he could possibly transcribe it to sheet music for me to learn – his reply was “no” because the piece had been performed on an electric violin so wasn’t possible, something which is completely untrue but I believed at the time. Years later “The Rose Hip” was included in a book of Fairport sheet music, by which time I was able to transcribe it myself anyway. Still love this tune to this day.

New Graveyard Train Video, “The Sermon”

Graveyard Train
Image Courtesy of Graveyard Train

Fresh from their recent collaboration with Ella Hooper on her latest single “Low High” Melbourne based “horror-country” six-piece Graveyard Train are rounding out the year with the release of their latest video. Put together by Oh Yeah Wow the video is for the track “The Sermon” and is taken from Graveyard Train’s latest album Hollow. Check out the video below:

New Video From Sally Balfour, “Through the Night”

Sally Balfour
Image Courtesy of Sally Balfour

Alice Springs based singer-songwriter Sally Balfour may only have one demo officially recorded and out in the world, “Through the Night”, but that doesn’t stop us appreciating her gorgeous voice, especially on the wealth of live videos available of her on Youtube.

And while “Through the Night” may just be a demo at the moment Balfour has put together a video for the track with Geoff Murphy. Check it out below:

José González’s Junip Announce New Album

Junip
Image Courtesy of Junip

Swedish folk-rock trio Junip (José González, Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn) have announced that they’ll be releasing a brand new album in 2013 to follow up 2010′s Fields. The album, which will be self titled, currently has a release date of 23rd April 2013.

A previe for the album is below – we’ll bring you more details as we get them!

More Artists Added to Bluesfest

Jason Mraz
Image Courtesy of Jason Mraz

Another week, another Bluesfest lineup announcement. This time around the press release says “Final Bluesfest Announcement” but I’m hesitant to believe that – they always seem to squeeze out a few more at the last minute.

Added to the 2013 lineup this week are Jason Mraz (above), Manu Chao and La Ventura, Mark Seymour and the Undertow, Chris Smither, Current Swell, Matt Anderson, Go Jane Go (Kieran Kane, David Fracey and Lucas Kane) and The McMenamins.

Tickets for Bluesfest are still available but selling fast. For more information, including the full lineup, check out the official Bluesfest web site here.

Interview: Amy Nelson, Folk Uke

Folk Uke
Image Courtesy of Folk Uke

With only three shows announced in their upcoming tour Folk Uke will only be visiting our shores for a very short time over the New Year period so Australian fans only have a handful of chances to catch Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson while they’re here. One of those chances is the Woodford Folk Festival. The other two chances are in Sydney. And then that’s it – the girls have to return home to the states to go back to work for their famous fathers, Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson respectively.

Phoning in from Asheville, North Carolina Amy Nelson managed to snatch a couple of moments to chat to Gareth Hugh Evans about the upcoming tour, the duo’s work with Sydney based multi-instrumentalist Leroy Lee and living up to the expectations of their famous fathers’ audience.

Gareth Hugh Evans: I’m pretty excited that you guys are coming to Australia again although it’s only for a couple of shows.

Amy Nelson: Yes. It’s a little too short this time.

GHE: You’re doing the Woodford Folk Festival and then just a couple of other shows in Sydney.

AN: Yeah we just have a couple of other shows in Sydney and then we had to both get back. Cathy [Guthrie] and I both work for our dads full time as well so whenever we do a tour together we try and scramble whatever time we can and this time we could only get a week. It’s going to have to be a short one, about 10 days, for the tour but hopefully we’ll be able to do a longer one soon. And we’re really excited about Woodford!

GHE: You haven’t played Woodford before have you?

AN: No we have not. I’ve just heard legend of it.

GHE: It’s a fantastic festival – probably the biggest folk festival in Australia. I think you’re going to have a lot of fun.

AN: I think so too. We’re honoured to be on the list somehow.

GHE: I’m mates with Leroy Lee who I know plays with you sometimes and earlier this year I was chatting to him and talking about his current trip to the US and he let slip that he’d be back at New Year to play Woodford with Folk Uke. As soon as he said it he realised he probably shouldn’t have – it hadn’t been announced yet – so I’ve been holding that one under my hat for a while.

AN: We really love working with Leroy too. He’s a great musician and a great songwriter too. He’s actually helping put together the Woody Guthrie tribute at Woodford as well. We’re going to do a separate little show there, some of us artists, and do some Woody songs for a tribute so that should be fun.

GHE: How did you hook up with Leroy Lee to begin with – it’s kind of weird a banjo player from Sydney playing country music in the states.

AN: Right? When we came out about two and half years ago we were on the same tour circuit as Leroy and Dan Mangan and it was so fun, all of a sudden it was like we’d known each other for ever, it was like we’d gone to high school with those guys or something. It was really cool to hang out with them – we started to feel too dependent on them at the end of the tour. So when we went back last time we looked up Leroy and he wasn’t busy so we asked him to sit with us. Unfortunately Dan Mangan was back in Canada and he’s being a rock star. So that’s how we first met a few years ago and it was a really wonderful, magical tour.

GHE: I remember he said “I’ve always got a place to crash in the US” which blew my mind that that meant he was crashing with The Nelsons.

AN: Yeah, he fits right in with us Nelsons

GHE: So your latest album is Reincarnation

AN: We put out Reincarnation almost a year ago now, so it’s somewhat new. And we’re also working on our third album but it’s not anywhere close to being put out yet. Except that we have the artwork done. We’ve done it totally backwards this time.

GHE: Get the important stuff done first!

AN: Cindy Bradley our publicist also does the artwork for our CDs and our posters and web site. She’s amazing. When we came up with one of our songs for the next album she’d already come up with the artwork for the cover. And then that inspired us to write towards her work. She’s the third member of the band that doesn’t get mentioned as much.

GHE: If you and Cathy are both spending time working with your respective dads when do you ever find time to sit down and write?

AN: It will usually be in the middle of a conversation or something and then we’ll end up writing a song. The last time we finished a song we were supposed to be practicing for a show that we were about to play in an hour and then all of a sudden the rest of the song came to us. There’s no method to our madness as of yet, there’s no pattern that I can pick out yet. It just happens when it happens. Sometimes we’ll sit down and try to write and we can’t think of anything that way. Usually it has to come out of conversation or has to be some sort of miracle before we can finish something.

GHE: It must be even more of a miracle for both of you to both be in the same place at the same time for long enough in order to record.

AN: Definitely. We’ve been living in different states for so long. Just recently I moved back to Texas so we’re living two miles away from each other now so maybe we can start to do things like practice [laughs]. We could actually get good if we don’t look out.

GHE: One question I did want to ask: Everything I’ve ever read about you guys mentions your famous fathers, Willie Nelson and Arlo Guthrie. And you’ve already mentioned them in this interview without any prompting as well. Do you ever get sick of having to talk about your family? Or is it that you can’t get sick of talking about them because they’re your family?

AN: Maybe if they were bad people [laughs]. I think they’re great guys and we’re really proud of our dads so we’re happy to talk about them. We would only shy away from it if we start to feel we’re giving people expectations that we’re supposed to be as good as them or if people just like us because of them. We don’t every want to come off like that – we’re not anything like our dads except the humour is similar. We don’t claim to be icons of any sort. I don’t think Cathy minds talking about her dad either. And we work for our dads so we have to talk about them in our daily lives – we represent the families whether we like it or not

GHE: Do you ever get people coming to your shows expecting a Willie Nelson show?

AN: We’ve had it before where the crowd will show up and they haven’t heard of us so they’ll be mostly fans of our parents. It depends – it’s a mixed crowd. My dad’s crowds for instance just love him so much that we could do almost anything and they would love us just because they love him. There’s some people that will just be like “oh, that’s sweet”. And then there’s the people who, if they’re expecting something like our dads’ show, they might not come back the next time. We’re a little bit raunchy, we’re not necessarily for kids and we can’t really control what comes out of our mouths or how we play our instruments.

GHE: I was going to mention the rauchiness as well. I’m sure there’s few fans of your dad’s that turn up, not really know what to expect and then are taken aback.

AN: Yeah. And sometimes people don’t expect tones of sarcasm or things in our music – I’m sure people walk away with the wrong idea sometimes.

GHE: So are there any other big plans for 2013?

AN: We do have a couple of videos that we’ve been working on so hopefully we’ll be able to get some of those finished. Our next album is going to be called Starfucker so we’re going to be working on that to and hopefully finishing that up. I think we’re going to be recording that in LA and get help from as many friends who will deal with us. And whatever else comes up – we’ll continue working for our dads and that sort of thing too.

GHE: Nice

AN: And we’re also working on some things for the wild horses. We released a Nelson family version of “Wild Horses” to raise awareness about what’s going on with American wild horses because they’re being rounded up and forced off land that was promised to be reserved for them. And horses in the US are being taken to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered for consumption overseas. The Nelson family have been fighting that one for a long time and working to pass a law, a federal ban against horse slaughter for the wild horses. My brother’s [Lukas Nelson] got a song out called “All The Pretty Horses” and we’re working on another version of that song to raise awareness for that too. That should be out 2013 as well.

GHE: So I think you’ll have to come out to Australia again soon as well. For a longer run of shows

AN: I hope that we’ll be invited out again. We’ll see how this goes!

GHE: Thank you so much for taking the time out to chat with us!

AN: Thank you for taking the time with us as well!

The full list of upcoming Australian dates for Folk Uke are below:

28th December 2012 to 1st January 2013 – Woodford Folk Festival, QLD
Thursday 3rd January – The Brass Monkey, Cronulla, NSW
Friday 4th January – The Basement, Sydney, NSW

Timber and Steel Presents: Sunday 16th December at The Workers Club

Mustered Courage
Image Courtesy of Mustered Courage

When I saw Mustered Courage at this year’s JamGrass Festival I was blown away. I mean I knew they were good – their self titled album has been on high rotation since I got my hands on it – but live they were just so incredibly tight and professional, cementing themselves as one of the top blurgrass bands in the country in my opinion.

This Sunday Melbourne folk will be able to catch Mustered Courage as they take on the Matinée show at The Workers Club in what’s bound to be an amazing show. Joining them will be the equally as talented John Flanagan & The Begin Agains who I also saw at JamGrass and have the most exquisite harmonies and the alt-country/blues stylings of The Drooling Mouths Of Memphis.

The doors open at 1:30pm with the music kicking off at 2pm with tickets just $10 on the door. For more information check out The Workers Club site here. The set times are below:

The Drooling Mouths of Memphis – 2pm
John Flanagan & The Begin Agains – 3pm
Mustered Courage – 4pm

New Video From Gemini Downs, “Jangle”

Gemini Downs
Image Courtesy of Gemini Downs

Way back in 2010 when I first started Timber and Steel and was on the lookout for new bands to write about someone suggested Adelaide pop-folk-rock seven piece Gemini Downs. I had a listen to their music at the time, liked it and filed it away in my have-to-write-about-these-guys-at-some-point file. That was almost two and a half years ago and I still haven’t managed to get off my arse and write about Gemini Downs despite all the fantastic music they’ve been producing in that time*.

That all changes today with the release of Gemini Downs’ new single and video “Jangle”. This song is pure pop fun and the clip is just a delight. Like us you should be getting on the Gemini Downs train now – these guys are playing the Adelaide Big Day Out next year and they’re profile is only set to rise.

Check out “Jangle” below:

* I should note that Adelaide based Timber and Steel contributor Thom Owen Miles did post one of Gemini Downs’ videos last year. He’s far more on the ball than me.

New Single From Eliza And The Bear, “Upon the North”

Eliza and the Bear
Image Courtesy of Eliza and the Bear

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about London five-piece Eliza and the Bear recently. Having been featured by Communion and popping up on a bunch of indie and folk blogs these guys are definitely making a name for themselves.

On the 25th February next year Eliza and the Bear will be releasing a double A-side, Upon The North // The Southern Wild. The first of those two tracks, “Upon The North”, is already up and streaming online (with a video not far away). Take a listen below:

Ben Howard Announces Bluesfest Sideshows

Ben Howard
Image Courtesy of Ben Howard

UK singer-songwriter Ben Howard has announced a handful of Australian sideshows following his inclusion in the 2013 Bluesfest lineup. Howard, who toured Australia earlier this year when he was here for Splendour in the Grass, will be playing songs from his brand new release The Burgh Island EP along with tracks from his platinum-selling debut album Every Kingdom.

The full list of dates for the Ben Howard sideshows are below:

Wednesday 3rd April – The Metro, Sydney, NSW
Friday 5th April – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 6th April – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

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