A few weeks ago I interviewed Nathan Lamont, a three-time Star Maker Grand Finalist from Wagga Wagga, NSW whose popularity is growing both on streaming and as a performer, about his latest country-pop release, ‘Bigger Things’. I’ve interviewed Nathan a few times and it’s always been a great pleasure to talk to him – plus each time it seemed to be longer than the time before! Fluid conversation is never a given, but he’s always made it easy to interview him, hence why the chats get longer.

However, there tend to be limits to what can be discussed in an interview tied to a release – we focus on the music, with good reason, even when the artist has an extraordinary story to tell. I knew Nathan did have such a story and after that ‘Bigger Things’ interview we discussed doing a much longer interview in which he could go into detail. It wasn’t necessarily an easy decision – at the start of this new interview he says he feels vulnerable even though he wants to talk – but in sharing his story he hopes to help others who may have had similar experiences.

While this chat isn’t about a specific release, it relates to music in that every artist is partly forged by their experiences, and from my perspective great artists let that happen. They don’t stand in the way of being themselves. They may hesitate at times, and wonder if they should really show everyone else who they are, but ultimately they do show us. The singing voice in particular tells us a lot. We can hear when the singer wants to truly connect, and that connection has to come from a deep place, and I heard that from the start in Nathan’s songs.

March the 22nd is Nathan’s birthday, as he told me during the interview, and I wanted to post the interview in time for it to honour the work he has done to even be in the world, let alone becoming someone who strives to create joyful experiences for others. We spoke for over two hours and every minute of that is worth your time to find out more about him. And the name of this mini series of interviews – if there turn out to be more – was one that he suggested: ‘Deep Dive’. So, I hope you find the first Deep Dive interview to be as compelling as I did, and I thank Nathan for showing up with his history and his whole heart, and for having the courage to do so.

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I’ve spoken to Broome, WA artist Adele Oliver about her singles ‘Wiley Blue’ and ‘Angel’ and each time found her thoughtful and interesting and offering a unique perspective on making music. This was no different with our latest chat, for her EP To Home & Heartbreak, which collects previous releases and contains the new single ‘Home Tonight’. 

Oliver is currently away from home, touring Western Australia, and when I spoke to her she was about to play the Nannup Music Festival, and she was in the local library – which seemed appropriate, given the richness of stories in her songs. We spoke about her trip to the Tamworth Country Music Festival – always a big commitment for a WA artist – and about the town of Fitzroy Crossing, where she was living when she wrote ‘Home Tonight’, as well as her decision to go on the road for several months. 

If you’d like to see Adele Oliver live, she’s in the Perth area next week, with other dates to follow:

Mar 27 Kidogo House, Fremantle WA

Mar 30 The Moon, Perth WA

Apr 4 Settler’s House, York WA

Apr 5 Wessy on the Green, Westonia WA

April 12 Carnarvon Hotel, Carnarvon WA

Apr 13 Whalebone brewing, Exmouth WA

Apr 28 Northwest Brewing, Karratha WA

May 2 Divers Tavern, Broome WA

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Melbourne artist KEZRA has established a career in indie pop that has seen her releasing the EP Fortress in 2023 and singles leading up to that, which all had airplay on triple j and community radio. She’s appeared in Atwood Magazine (USA), Backseat Mafia (UK/AUS), Pilerats, Music Feeds, The Music, The AU Review, Forte Mag, Eat This Music and AAA Backstage, and her music videos have also seen support from MTV Upload.

KEZRA’s pop releases revealed her facility for writing great hooks as well as her fantastic voice – and now she’s taken those talents into country music, with the release of the single ‘Another Life’ (which comes with a big earworm warning). The song is about meeting someone you connect with but aren’t destined to be with, and while that set-up has hints of sadness baked in, the song is ultimately uplifting. 

It was a pleasure to chat to KEZRA about the song, and much more, including her musical background, and to find out what drew her towards country music for this release. 

I’m sure you’ll enjoy meeting KEZRA via this interview, if you weren’t aware of her before, and let’s hope it’s not her last foray into this genre. Mind you, I haven’t been able to stop listening to ‘Another Life’ so it’s entirely possibly I’ll still be listening to it when she releases her next song …

Listen to ‘Another Life’ on Apple Music

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**LIsten to 'Lies' after the interview**

My first encounter with emerging Sydney artist Hayden Phillis was at the Junior Academy of Country Music in Tamworth, NSW, in July 2023. I was invited to talk to the students about interview skills and asked if I would interview a student, or students, on the spot. Hayden was the only student who volunteered! And he was great at it. It turned out that was his first interview, ever – because he told me so when I interviewed him again this year after the release of his second single, ‘Lies’. 

‘Lies’was the result of Hayden workshopping ideas with mentor Kevin Welch, and it was co-written with Michelle Cashman. As he told me, ‘I really love being able to find new people who I don't know or I haven't co-written with before and learn a bit more about them and their music.’

Hayden has returned to Academy twice since 2023, including this year for his first stint at Senior Academy, so we talked about the impact Academy has had on his life, as well as about ‘Lies’ and other things he’s been up to. He’s a talented and committed musician and singer-songwriter who has not wasted any time releasing original music – his first single, ‘Broken Angel’, was released last year – despite being not long out of school. As he says in the interview, ‘I do like to try and throw myself into things like that and put my best foot forward and try and learn what I can.’

Hayden is certainly an artist to watch – someone with a completely open mind about creative projects, curious as to what’s possible and very much enjoying every moment of it. As he says, ‘I find you get special moments within each of the little things... when different projects you're working on or different performances you're doing really come together.’

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Tori Darke and Jay Santilli have their own, distinct careers in country music - Santilli with her moving, emotional songs that saw her become a 2024 Star Maker Grand Finalist, and Darke with her high-energy country pop that has seen her make an impression on The Voice and elsewhere. They now have a song together, ‘Trouble’, and it’s one that makes the most of their respective vocal talents and offers a party song with substance. 

Recently I spoke with them about how their friendship developed and how they turned it into a songwriting then recording collaboration. It’s clear that they have great respect for each other, which is no doubt one of the reasons why their first release together is so strong. We also talked about them working with producers MSquared and how that experience pushed them both as artists, in a good way. We also chatted about the music video for ‘Trouble’, which not only looks like fun but, as it turns out, was fun to make too. 

Darke is on tour with her The Voice co-star Brad Butcher (dates below) and Santilli also has some shows coming up – including one in Rome!

Tori Darke tour dates 

Friday 28th March - Old Bundy Tavern – Bundaberg, QLD (w/ Brad Butcher)

Saturday 29th March - Junction Cafe – Toondoon, QLD (w/ Brad Butcher)

Sunday 30th March - Great Western hotel – Rockhampton, QLD (w/ Brad Butcher)

Friday 4th April - Metropolitan Hotel – Mackay, QLD (w/ Brad Butcher)

Saturday 5th April - Mansfield Hotel – Townsville, QLD (w/ Brad Butcher)

Thursday 10th April - The Brass Monkey – Cronulla, NSW (w/ Brad Butcher)

Friday 11th April - Django Bar – Marrickville, NSW (w/ Brad Butcher)

Saturday 12th April - The Beer Shed – Leumeah, NSW (w/ Brad Butcher)

Sunday 13th April - The Royal Hotel Queanbeyan – Queanbeyan, NSW (w/ Brad Butcher)

Saturday 28th June - Country Fest – Bloomsbury, QLD

Saturday 23rd August - Gympie Music Muster - Amamoor State Forest, QLD

Jay Santilli tour dates 

Friday 4th April – Melbourne Muster (Pre-Muster) – Scoresby, VIC

Saturday 10th May – Country Gals Festival – Shepparton, VIC

Sunday 15th June – Sweat & Dust Country Festival – Rome, Italy

Listen to ‘Trouble’ on Apple Music

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These are all the songs mentioned in the podcast with a link to YouTube to listen to the song/watch the video.

For the full show notes, go to the Sunburnt Country Music website.

Chloe Marks & The Mayhem – ‘Carolina’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p98dAX3c67I

Ben Mastwyk – ‘All the Songs I Wrote’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69cdGS7mo7c

Abbie Ferris – ‘Don’t Cha Dare!’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX9-wzSW4i4

Max Jackson – ‘Grass’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPXk7Swy_I0

Dear Tommie – ‘A Man, Written by a Woman’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLwG9kr-CPw

Minor Gold – ‘Way to the Sun’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuVoTQXI4d4

Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – ‘Joy Roller’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6AXfCaor4

KEZRA – ‘Another Life’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1LbpPUWaEY

Cassidy-Rae – ‘You Make Me’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtw_YS1BLEc

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**Listen to the end to hear the song 'Days Like This'**

The first time I interviewed Central West NSW artist Clancy Pye we covered her extensive musical background, which began in childhood and involved playing in a family band – The Party Pyes (still one of the best band names ever!) – and gigging throughout her teenage years. It’s safe to say that Pye has been living and breathing music most of her life, and it shows in the songs she has released so far, including the hit ‘Heaven Can’t Wait’. 

That song has great emotional resonance, and it’s clear Pye is not afraid of tough topics, as evidenced by her latest single, ‘Days Like This’, which was sparked by realising that there are children going to their first day of school who may be missing a parent. 

Delving further into Pye’s life and experiences, we talked about her work as a physiotherapist, and it’s clear that it’s had a big influence on how she sees the world and how much sensitivity she has towards other people and what they’re going through. This enables her to be able to take a big topic such as the one she addresses in this song and have the skills necessary to find an elegant way to write about it when there are only so many verses and a chorus in which to contain her story and message. 

‘Days Like This’ will get you from the first verse, so be ready. It also comes with a powerful music video, which you can see here.

Listen to ‘Days Like This’ by Clancy Pye on Apple Music

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When I first interviewed Sydney folk/alt-country artist Gracie Jean, it was in 2022 and she had released her debut album, Romance is Bad. Since then she’s had momentous changes in her life, including the death of her mother. 

Grief and how one survives it – and survives the what-ifs that come with it – is the bedrock of Gracie’s new EP, Having & Longing. As she is upfront about that – and I take my cues from the artists in terms of what they’re prepared to discuss – it seemed like the most appropriate place to start our conversation about the EP. So we do. There is no preamble to it, just to let you know.

The substance of this EP is there in its title. Sometimes it seems that longing is out of fashion – that we should be striving and attaining instead. Longing suggests limbo – yearning for something that may never materialise. Grief is a form of longing, and so is wanting a life that takes a certain shape, and Gracie addresses that too. 

This is an EP for those who are not afraid to open up the veins of life and see what’s coursing there, aware that it might be dark and murky but they want to know anyway. There is so much sweetness on it too. It’s impossible not to be moved by an artist who wants so much that is going to be always out of reach, and also wants things which may yet transpire and she’s putting them on the record, literally.

I appreciate Gracie Jean’s honesty in this interview and hope you find as much substance in it as I did, as a way of providing context for Having & Longing.

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Nathan Lamont is from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales and since 2023 he has been releasing unforgettable country-pop songs, starting with ‘Drink You Up’. His latest single is ‘Bigger Things’, on which he worked with producers Msquared for the first tie. Its release comes after his first headline show at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January. That show was the culmination of years of having a dream about doing that very thing, and we talk about the significance of it to him. 

Lamont has been performing live since childhood, and was twice a Toyota Star Maker Grand Finalist before taking a break from music. Over the past couple of years he became a Grand Finalist once more, and established new songwriting and producing collaborations that have led to the creation of consistently great songs. 

That sort of artistry does not come from a void, which is why it’s always so interesting to talk to artists about their backgrounds, and each time Lamont and I speak there is more to talk about, as it becomes increasingly clear that the music he’s making now is the result of the years of work he put in before it, starting with his involvement in his local country music club in the Riverina, facilitated by his stepmother Milly. This conversation is a long one, but aren’t long podcast episodes the thing these days?

Lamont has some shows coming up, including A Night in Nashville in Orange, which is now sold out, and a return to the Karijini Experience in Western Australia, which will be a very different affair (details below). He’s also looking ahead to what’s possible this year, and if the trajectory continues the year will, at the very least, bring more fantastic songs.

See Nathan Lamont live

March 1st – Country Music Night - Glenorie RSL – Glenorie, NSW

March 15th – A Night In Nashville – Orange Showgrounds - Orange, NSW

April 11th – 12th – Karijini Experience – Karijini National Park - Karijini, WA

April 29th – The Beer Shed – Campbelltown, NSW (w/ Alex Mather)

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**Listen to the end to hear the single 'Things I've Learned'

Aleyce Simmonds was the first Australian artist I interviewed when I started what became Sunburnt Country Music in late 2011. Back then it was called Jolene The Country Music Blog because I didn’t know what else to call it and I also thought no one would read it anyway, so the name didn’t matter. 

The blog became a regular thing for me after I was very ill in July 2011 – and if you want to hear that story you can listen to the latest episode of Tori Forsyth’s podcast In the Thick of It, as I talk about it there. I’d done a fair bit of interviewing by that time, of musicians in Canada when I lived there, and of a variety of people at the Seven Network when I worked there. That didn’t mean I was great at it, so Aleyce got a very early version of Interviewer Me. And it was also Interviewer Me in a vulnerable state, as I was still recovering. Writing about Australian country music, doing those interviews, would become a way to not only come back to myself but leap ahead.

I’m sharing this story as a way of introducing this interview with Aleyce about her latest single, ‘Things I’ve Learned’, because in our interview Aleyce shares her story of being gravely unwell while pregnant with her daughter, Georgia. So unwell that she wrote the song for Georgia in case she wasn’t around any more to tell it. 

Aleyce was so brave telling this story. What she has to say is not only the story behind the song but the story of what it takes to survive something you aren’t sure you’ll survive, then to emerge and create art that offers great meaning to others. It goes without saying that the artist who made this song is not the same one I interviewed fourteen years ago – of course she’s not. But she’s also not the artist she was two years ago. She has not only been forged in the greatest fire of her life but forged herself and emerged a warrior with armour that is made not of steel but of dreams and hopes and determination. All that is there to hear in the song, and in this interview too. 

Aleyce also has some very interesting things to say about the changes in the music industry since she released her single ‘Mighty, Mighty Love’ twenty years ago, as well as pursuing her career while managing serious health conditions. A lot of ground is covered, and Aleyce was so generous with her insights. This is the story of what it means to persist – to insist, actually, on having an artistic life, a creative life, amidst enormous challenges. As she says, ‘This music life is so much more than getting out there and singing songs. It's about making people feel … We put whatever is going on in our lives behind us, and get out there and be brave.’ I thank her so much for sharing her story with me, and with you.

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