Miss Chatelaine

Katie counts down her top 20 best/favourite songs of 2020. In a challenging year for everyone, musicians really came through and released some fabulous tracks. Eight of the songs in numbers 10 to 1 are by Australian artists and two are by US artists. Numbers 1 and 4 are by queer Australian artists. Here is the playlist:

10. Raw Stuff – Didirri

9. Aralia – Leah Flanagan

8. Wolves – Jensen McRae

7. Catherine Wheel – Washington

6. I Contain Multitudes – Bob Dylan

5. I’ll Take Lonely Tonight – Tim Minchin

4. Extraordinary Life – Gordi

3. The Soft Apocalypse – Emma Swift

2. Cherub – Ball Park Music

1. From Little Things Big Things Grow – Electric Fields

Hear numbers 20 to 11 of Katie’s top songs in Part 1 of the show here, and check out her 2020 interviews with Didirri in show no.170 and Leah Flanagan in show no.173.

Katie counts down her top 20 best/favourite songs of 2020. In a challenging year for everyone, musicians really came through and released some fabulous tracks. Seven of the songs in numbers 20 to 11 are by Australian artists, one is by a US artist, one is by a New Zealand artist and one is by an Irish artist. Six are by solo women artists. Here is the playlist:

20. Suburbia – darby

19. Another Day – #1 Dads

18. Prelude – The Weeping Willows

17. Almost – SON (Susan O’Neill)

16. You Were Mine – Tami Neilson

15. Gone for Good – Steve Smyth

14. Paralyzed – Delta Goodrem

13. First Nation – Midnight Oil ft. Jessica Mauboy & Tasman Keith

12. Euphoria – Woodes

11. Don’t Call Me Names – Rhiannon Giddens

Hear Katie’s top 10 songs in Part 2 of the show here, and check out her 2020 interview with Tami Neilson in show no.152.

In the second hour of her final show for the year, Katie plays more of her favourite songs of 2020, plus a couple of fabulous brand-new tracks that were sent to her in the past week, and some Christmas-adjacent songs. She farewells the year with a highly appropriate classic from Monty Python that was recently voted into the no.3 spot of a list of the best ‘Good Riddance 2020’ songs by readers of The Guardian. Here is the playlist:

* Aimee – Lena Anderssen

* Planting Is Hope – Kristina Olsen

* Christmas in July – Alex the Astronaut

* Spectre – Mark Geary

* Comfortable – Ironess

* Atlantis – Kerryn Fields

* Fairytale of New York – Grace Petrie & The Resistance Band

* Weed and Conversation – darby

* All Your Favourite Colours – Rach Brennan and The Pines

* Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – Monty Python

Above: Mark Geary’s ‘Spectre’ cover artwork by Luan James Geary

In her final show for 2020, Katie plays a laid-back selection of tunes for the post-Christmas period, including some of her favourite tracks released this year. The artists come from Paris via the UK, Colorado, Nashville, Sydney, New Zealand via Canada, Byron Bay, Stockholm and Melbourne. Here is the playlist:

* This Is What You Did – This Is the Kit

* And It’s Still Alright – Nathaniel Rateliff

* The Soft Apocalypse – Emma Swift

* White Wine in the Sun – Tim Minchin

* You Were Mine – Tami Neilson

* Changes (2020) – Bobby Alu

* Mad Woman – Taylor Swift

* Rise You River – Ell & Hart

* Prelude – The Weeping Willows

Above: Bobby Alu’s ‘Changes (2020)’ single artwork by Donna Gee

In a slightly longer than usual second hour, Katie plays some non-traditional Christmas songs and speaks to a man with talent oozing out of every orifice, Casey Bennetto. Casey and Katie talk about the annual Swingin’ Bella Xmas concert: its origins, how the band came together (including Geraldine Quinn and Mal Webb), the incredible guests who show up every year, and filming the 2020 show instead of doing it live. Here is the playlist:

* Baby Jesus Is Nobody’s Baby Now – Julia Jacklin

* Holy Night – Paul Ray and Students ft. Maya O’Loughlin

* Dreaming of a Christmas with You – The Teskey Brothers

* Get Me Something Good – Casey Bennetto & The Swingin’ Bella Xmas Band

* The Christmas Ninja – Casey Bennetto & The Swingin’ Bella Xmas Band

* Merry Christmas, Mary Jane – Katie Pruitt

* Fairytale of New York – Grace Petrie & The Resistance Band

* 12 Days of Christmas – Colbie Caillat & Aloe Blacc

* Please Come Home for Christmas – Adam Lambert

* ’Tis the Damn Season – Taylor Swift

Above: Photo of Casey Bennetto at JOY in 2017 by Betty Sujecki

Follow Casey Bennetto on Twitter and buy or rent the Swingin’ Bella Xmas video here.

Artists are still releasing music – getting in a sneaky song or two before the end of the year! Katie plays some of the new tracks, as well as a couple of seasonally appropriate songs by the goddesses Joni Mitchell and Annie Lennox. Here is the playlist:

* Big God – Charm of Finches

* Cruisin’ – Emily Wurramara

* Hold On – Kate Ceberano

* Dancing on the Moon – BATTS

* Don’t Let Go – Ironess

* All in Your Stride – Neon Pattern Sundial

* Why’d Ya Do It – Sierra Ferrell

* The River – Joni Mitchell

* Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Carol) – Annie Lennox

* Time Traveller – Përolas

Above: Emily Wurramara’s ‘Cruisin’’ single cover by Charlotte Allingham

Katie chats to much-loved Melbourne-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jordie Lane about his two new albums with his music and life partner, Lollies (aka Clare Reynolds): Back in Time: The Songs (Reimagined) and Back in Time (The Stories). With Jordie and Clare’s rescue dog, Tassie, providing accompaniment throughout, Katie talks to Jordie about the COVID situation in Nashville, how the new albums were recorded, why he is watering a bunch of bananas on the album covers, and this year’s plans for his and Lollies’ annual Christmas show with Liz Stringer. Katie and her co-host, Miller, read out lots of messages from listeners who are pleased to have Katie back in the studio after six months of pre-recording the show, and there are also fabulous new and recent songs by some of Katie’s favourite artists. Here is the playlist:

* Out of the Blue – Rob Snarski

* Monumental – Clio Renner

* Chapter 6, Better Not Go Outside (Spoken) – Jordie Lane with Lollies

* Better Not Go Outside (Reimagined) – Jordie Lane with Lollies

* The Day I Leave This Town (Reimagined) – Jordie Lane with Lollies

* Almost – SON (Susan O’Neill)

* When the Machine Starts – Missy Higgins

* Sparks Fly – Casey Barnes

Visit Jordie Lane’s official website and follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Xmas Live at the Northcote Social Club with Liz Stringer, Jordie Lane and Lollies is available as audio/video download on Bandcamp until 25 December 2020.

Above: Jordie Lane’s Back in Time (The Stories) album cover photo by littlehelperlittlehelp

Katie is back in the JOY studio, presenting the show live for the first time in six months! She is joined by co-host Miller and they enjoy the experience of being together and talking to listeners in real time. The music in the first hour is all by Australian artists, and includes one of the best songs to come out of the COVID-19 lockdown. Here is the playlist:

* Eulalia – Lisa Richards

* Ordinary – Emily Barker

* Hungry Heart – Josh Teskey & Ash Grunwald

* Rivers Wide (Revisited) – Mia Dyson

* Sell Your Soul – Andy Nelson

* Misty – The New Graces

* Money and Fools – Benny Walker

* We All Cope in Different Ways – Darren Hanlon

* Wine Lips – Anna Scionti

Above: Darren Hanlon’s ‘We All Cope in Different Ways’ single cover

More, more, MORE gorgeous new music in the second hour – including songs about summer, our climate emergency, and being just a little bit queer – plus some of Katie’s favourite tracks of the year. Here is the playlist:

* Summer – Emma Bosworth

* Another Day – #1 Dads

* Like You Now – Kim Churchill

* Machine – Emily Barker

* Choose (Revisited) – Mia Dyson

* See You When I’m Looking at You – Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission

* Cherub – Ball Park Music

* Euphoria – Woodes

* Down for You – Cosmo’s Midnight ft. Ruel

* Life Is Good – Lisa Richards

* Little Bit Strange – Anna Scionti

Above: Lisa Richards’ I Got a Story album cover; photographs by Geoffrey Dunn, design by Kate Stroud

Katie plays yet more beautiful new music in the first hour of today’s show – 2020 has given us some good things … This batch comes from Melbourne, Sydney, northern New South Wales and Nashville. There’s also an award-winning song from early 2020 by Irish artists Mick Flannery and SON, and a song for Hanukkah by queer American Jewish singer-songwriter SONiA Disappear Fear. Here is the playlist:

* Light in You – SONiA Disappear Fear

* Devilling Kind – Dan Challis

* Suburbia – darby

* Dying Star – Jordie Lane with Lollies

* Michelle Cannane – Rob Snarski with ‘Evil’ Graham Lee & Shane O’Mara

* The Gift – Coco’s Lunch

* Hope You Try – Neon Pattern Sundial

* Nana Joy – Ashleigh Bo

* All You Fascists – Bruce Hearn & The Machinists

* Baby Talk – Mick Flannery & SON (Susan O’Neill)

* Jeremiah – Sierra Ferrell

Above: darby’s Suburbia album cover