Songversations Podcast

Our guest today is Kate Westwood, a Melbourne Australia based is an independent singer-songwriter in her own right, radio announcer and owner of music management entity, Westwood Management, founder of the Indie Musician Summit, Kate Westwood began her inspirational journey out of a wish that there was more help available for emerging artists.

Founded in 2018 and working with a wide range of artists, all around Australia and the world in a broad range of genres and music niches, Westwood Management provides accessible music management and coaching for emerging artists through free resources, paid training and 1 on 1 coaching.

Our guest today is a duo from Philadelphia, The Mack Brothers, who took the indie rock sound of the 2000s, the ego of 90s Brit Pop, and the honesty of today’s music to create their own blend of alternative rock.
Real life siblings, John and Matthew, started writing music at the ages of 16 and 13, after putting out multiple records, sound tracking independent films, and touring the east coast with their former band “The 1940s,” John and Matthew decided that forming “The Mack Brothers” was the best and next step in their evolution as artists.

They have released multiple singles under the new name including single “Cup of Coffee,” charted on the College Radio Charts in America beating out some of their idols in the process and their latest single “4th of July”

The two siblings have also started the “The Mack Brothers Podcast,” which shines a light into the life and attitude of the musicians while they’re on their way up.
Check out The Mack Brothers on all streaming platforms including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and many more.

We love to give space to new independent artists and our guest for this episode is

We love to give space to new independent artists and our guest for this episode is Gracie Jean,

an up and coming alt-country/folk independent artist, new to the music scene that has been playing around the Sydney area.

She is releasing her first album “Romance is Bad” today the 16th of September 2022.

Our guest today is Madi Colville-Walker, an exciting talent that defies musical boundaries and a proud Yorta Yorta indigenous woman who is taking the Australian music scene by storm.

Madi is catching the attention of a number of major artists including Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Fanny Lumsden and Darlinghurst.
She was a finalist for the 2021 Music Victoria Archie Roach Award for Emerging New Talent and draws much of her inspiration from her Grandfather and Yorta Yorta elder, Archie Walker, along with other musical members of her family.

Her first single “Less Than A Man” was published at the beginning of 2022 and her new single “Vain” will be released on Friday 5th August, 2022, both produced
produced by Jason Resch of the Golden Guitar Award winning group, Darlinghurst.

Our guest today is Steve Lucas a singer/songwriter, producer and the co-founder of the legendary Australian punk/rock band X.

Grown up in Sydney Steve got his first guitar at 12 and after a single guitar lesson decided to teach himself how to play.
In his career has shared stage with acts like Iggy Pop, The Cramps, The Stranglers, Dr Feel Good, Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins, Rob Lowe and many more.

Steve has been an ambassador for Child Wise since 2012 and performed in Kathmandu alongside the likes of Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats) and Glen Tilbrook (UK Squeeze) to raise money for a local children’s hospital.

His new band Steve Lucas & The Rising Tide, and have just recorded and released a brand new album of Lucas-penned songs called “Cross That Line”.

Our guest today is Cush Ryder, a singer/songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia.

Cush’s love of music started at a very early age.
After picking up a guitar, something clicked and his passion for entertaining people was born.

He headed off overseas for what was meant to be a six month trip to see the world - but after what became 17 years abroad playing bars, pubs and music festivals from New York to Rio de Janeiro - Cush is now back home in Melbourne with a hot new band and ready to take on the local country rock scene head on.
Cush recently signed with Country Rocks Records label and under his new label released his first single “Ride Me”, written after seeing the rodeo bull riders at the Deni Ute Muster back in 2018.

New singles release, and album and a tour in the US in 2023 are on the coming future for Cush Ryder.

Our guest today is Jamey Foxton.

Jamey is I’m a film maker and sponsored skateboarder from Sydney Australia that arrived on the music scene seven months ago with his beautiful debut single “You Rang My Bell”, recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis.

Jamey is the result of a fascinating story weaving the life experience of a world class skateboarder and film producer turned music maker, whose golden tone truly sounds from a different era.
His music has been described as “cinema for radio” by an LA film director.

Jamey also produced a documentary series in the USA, chronicling the unlikely story of Steve McQueen's long-lost Bullitt Mustang.

Wesley Dean, widely known as Wes Carr, is an Adelaide native singer songwriter that for more than a dozen years has been one of Australia’s best-known artists.

Wesley’s journey began when he was 8 years old as a gifted vocalist that started by singing along to The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson classics at a young age, before to became a fixture on Sydney's barroom stages as Wes Carr, before he could legally drink.

Appearing on and winning the sixth season of Australian Idol made Wesley a household name across the continent and after that he released two gold-certified singles along with a studio album that peaked at Number 2 on Australia’s charts.

After more than a decade of performing and touring he left Sydney for the Sunshine Coast in Australia to pursue a quitter and simpler life.
In this place he rediscovered his love for song writing and a new spark that re-ignited his music career and that saw him in early 2021 boarding on a plane with his wife and two sons at his side toward their new home in Nashville.
Wes just released the incredible album new, “Unknown” with sonorities and collaborations of his new musical hometown but with a deep grasp on his personal life and story.

Our guest today is Alan Fletcher.
Alan is one of Australia’s most instantly recognisable and loved actors of stage, television and film and a musician.
After 28 years of actin Alan Fletcher also lead singer of the band 'Waiting Room' in the early 2000, just released today Friday 24th June 2022 his anticipated new Americana EP studio album – ‘Dispatches’
Fletcher is also an ambassador for 'Blue September', a charity that raises awareness of all cancers that can affect men.

Our guest today is one of my personal guitar heroes, Dave Hole.

Dave Hole is Australia’s premier internationally successful bluesman and highly acclaimed slide guitar virtuoso.

He first burst onto the international scene in 1991 with, “Short Fuse Blues”, the first of his seven albums released on the prestigious Alligator records label.  He is widely regarded as one of the all time slide guitar greats whose playing is infused with the spirit of such legends as Elmore James, Duane Allman and Johnny Winter.

Nine successful albums and countless tours of the U.S. and Europe have solidified Hole’s stature as one of the very best slide guitarists playing today.

Metallica's Kirk Hammett names Dave Hole as one of his favourite guitarists and when veteran rock and blues guitarist Gary Moore heard SHORT FUSE BLUES he was so impressed that he sought out Dave to invite him to do two European tours together. They played stadiums and arenas and concluded with two memorable nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Dave played on stage with some of his heroes Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and Albert Collins to mention some.