Headline Artists for 2023

adamharvey.com.au

 

Adam Harvey has released his latest single ‘Highway Number One’ through Sony Music Entertainment Australia.

 

Inspired by his years touring around the beautiful country he calls home, the multiple ARIA Award nominee and 8 time Golden Guitar winner wrote ‘Highway Number One’ about the joys traveling can bring. Speaking on the track Adam says, “I’ve toured right around the country, across it, up and down it, every which way you could possibly go and I’ve been lucky enough to do that for over 20 years. There is a feeling of freedom when you’re constantly on the move, it’s really amazing and very addictive. I thought if I write a song about it, it might connect with people on the roads, it might also encourage people to take the leap, buy the caravan and explore this amazing country as you travel along Highway Number One”.

 

Stepping into the shoes of the producer for the first time, recording ‘Highway Number One’ was a completely new experience for Adam, “Going into the studio was pretty daunting at first I must admit, but I really enjoyed the process”. When producing and mixing the record, the country veteran went in with a clear vision for the direction of the sound, “I knew what I wanted to say and exactly how I wanted it to sound. I had this whole concept in my mind and that made it very easy not to get side tracked or lost”. 

 

Getting off track outside of the studio, however, was definitely on the cards for the nomadic Aussie who embarked on an adventure of his own to shoot the official music video. In the video clip Adam ventures north, meeting locals and fellow travelers who share his love of the open road before arriving in Bundaberg where, of course, a trip to the iconic Bundaberg Rum Distillery had to be done. Commenting on the filming of the video, which is directed by award winning producer/director and longtime friend Duncan Toombs, Adam remarks, “The whole experience felt more like a boys getaway! To be honest I have never had so much fun recording a video clip”.

 

 ‘Highway Number One’ follows the success of his most recent albums The Nashville Tapes, Harvey’s Backyard Bar, The Great Country Songbook Volume II and Family Life and is the first sip from his forthcoming album set for release later this year.  

For an authentic traditional Australian country sound, look no further than Bush Ballad Singer / Songwriter, Dean Perrett.
  
There is an old saying “write and sing about what you know”, and having been raised and still working on the family cattle property "Bowenfels", a soul of pure country is a natural thing.  

Dean’s credibility as a writer of Australian Bush Songs goes unquestioned.  When not making music, he is in the saddle on his family’s Queensland cattle property.  Just like Dean, the songs he writes and sings, are very authentic and genuine.  This is why the great Australian music genre, the Bush Ballad, is so important to him.  
Over the last 32 years, Dean has gained his place as one of Australia’s favourite Bush Balladeers and leading traditional Country Artists.
 
Dean and his sister Kerri recorded their first album “Australia She’s Mine” in 1989.  That first album gave Dean a love for recording and production.  Since then Dean has released a stable of great traditional Country and Bush Ballad albums. 

With the release of Dean’s 2021 album “Kind Seasons”, his tally of albums now stands at seventeen.

Dean's recording resume is compiled with some of the greats like Stuie French, Michael Vidale and Larry Maars (USA), and also having many great names playing on his albums from both Australia and Nashville, Tennessee.

Gospel music is also very true to Dean’s heart and with the release of his Bluegrass Gospel Album, “The Shelter of the Cross” in October 2013, Dean got to showcase another of his great musical loves, Gospel and Bluegrass.
 

Artists such as Lee Kernaghan, Anne Kirkpatrick and Troy Cassar-Daley have such a respect for Dean’s music that each of these artists has recorded duets with Dean on his albums. 
 

January 2012 saw Dean added to a very exclusive list of Golden Guitar winners, when he was awarded Bush Ballad of the Year for his emotive duet with Lee Kernaghan, “Channel Country Ground”, followed by a further 2 in January 2015. One for Bush Ballad of the Year for “Bloodwood and Clover,” and the second for Vocal Collaboration of the Year for the duet, “My Country My Land” recorded and co-written with Troy Cassar-Daley. 2018 saw Dean add another Golden Guitar to his collection with "Henbury Blues" written by Neville Anderson.

His latest Golden Guitar win being 2021 for Bush Ballad of the year with "Six Decks to Darwin" written by Dean, Kelly Dixon & Cattle transport driver, Ryan Garland.

 

In 2015 Dean was given the honour of being inducted into the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame.

Dean has performed at major festivals around Australia as well as touring with his own shows to many locations nationwide.
 
His music is traditional yet fresh and modern.  With a sound that is uniquely his own brand, Dean is set to make great Australian Country Music well into the future.

Aleyce Simmonds is the 2018 Golden Guitar Winner for Female Artist of the Year and 2017 APRA Award recipient for Country Work Of The Year.

Like any Country Singer, Tamworth’s own 7 x Golden Guitar and 5 x CMC Award Nominated singer/songwriter, Aleyce Simmonds knows the weight of every step.

Having spent the past 11 years in the Industry, traveling the world creating and recording music, she has grown to realise what she loves about the world, music and in particular, the keeper of her heart - Country Music.

‘It evokes more emotion than anything else.. in my opinion. They say that a picture paints a thousand words.. well, for me, a great country song sings a million words and emotions. And, all in a heartbeat”.

 

The 3rd studio album, released at the Tamworth Country Music Festival debuted at #1 on the Australian Independent Record Labels Association chart beating out Sia and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds; #5 on the ARIA Top 40 Country Albums Chart behind Keith Urban, Kasey Chambers, The McClymonts and Cream of Country; #4 on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Country Artist Country Albums Chart, #25 on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart (all genre) and #10 on the ARIA Top 20 Australia Artist Albums Chart (all genres).

www.amberjoypoulton.com.au 

 

Amber Joy has kept true to her promise & love of country music's old school feel & forever channels her idols Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Patsy & Dolly when writing & performing.

 

AJ’s latest album,  “Pretty Pennies” showcases a thoughtful song-writing journey where Amber joined forces once more with her producer & co-writer Sam Hawksley as well as SA singer/songwriter Kelly Brouhaha.

 

There are many surprises on this album including an autobiography of AJ's life so far with “Goodbye From Me” & “Ruby’s Reply” a very special song that has been 10 years in the making & inspired by her favourite American male artist, Kenny Rogers hit Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town.  

 

Amber Joy has travelled all over Australia with her theatre tribute Coal Miner's Daughter - A Tribute To Loretta Lynn to sold out audiences in some of the biggest theatres in the country as well as right here in Tasmania.

 

Make sure you grab a copy of her Pretty Pennies & her tribute album to Loretta Lynn.

When Pete Denahy talks about his own show, he says, “It’s not rocket science; I’m not the best singer, fiddle player or guitar picker in the world, but as far as I know, no one else is doing my show.”

Which is true; there isn’t another show like it. He takes you a journey that travels from the gold rush days of the mid 19h century to buying toilet paper at your local supermarket. It’s perhaps not a show formula many managers would suggest their acts follow, but it seems to work for Pete.

He blends fiddle tunes, bluegrass style original songs and madcap comedy to provide the audience with an escape from reality most of them feel is worth their while.

Pete cut his teeth with the Ploughboys in Melbourne in the mid 90’s and went on to tour as fiddle player and comic with Slim Dusty from 1998 to 2002 as the last musician Slim hired for the Travelling Country Band.

 

Pete is a five-time Golden Guitar winner at the Australian Country Music Awards and hosts music tours to Japan where he plays bluegrass and country music from Kumamoto to Tokyo.

“I believe that in the country scene… Justin has the whole package,” Guy Sebastian.

 

Justin Standley, is a multi-award winning Australian country singer-songwriter.

 

Justin Standley shot to prominence after appearing as a finalist on the X Factor on a quest to find his missing children. The heart-wrenching reunion with his daughters made national headlines and he has since gone on to become a much loved figure on the Australian country music landscape.

 

Since 2015, Justin has released many songs to radio, many of which have charted in the Top 10 of the Australian Country Tracks Top 40, often reaching the number one spot. He is the only artist to have ever had three original songs in the top 5 at one time.

 

Recognised for his distinctive voice and impressive vocal range, Justin’s friendly nature and talent for song-writing, yodelling, story-telling and comedy, and Indigenous songs… continues to endear him to audiences across the country and overseas.

mikecarrmusic.com

 

Mike Carr is widely respected as one of Australian Country`s most consequential songwriters & performers.

His songs New England Highway & The Anzac were recorded by Adam Brand in 2002 on Brand’s platinum selling album “Built for Speed” and were both released as singles - The Anzac, winning “Heritage Song of the Year” at the 2003 Golden Guitar Awards.

Mike was signed to Compass Bros Music that same year and released his debut album in 2003 gaining 2 golden guitar nominations for the song Up on his Shoulders, one being for “Apra Song of the Year”.

 

In 2004, Mike co-wrote a number of songs for Melinda Schneider’s gold selling album “Family Tree”.  The song Real People won the Golden Guitar for “Apra Song of the Year”.

Over the next decade Mike would go on to write songs for Adam Harvey, McAlister Kemp, Graeme Connors, The Wolfe Bros, Kaylee Bell and many more including Adam Brand’s “Get Loud”,“Milestones” & “Party Downunder” - Brands most streamed song.  He would also write music for various movie & television projects one of which being “The Catch Up” theme song on Channel 9 performed by a very young Jessica Mauboy.

In 2008, just for something different, Mike created the comedy character Buddy Goode,  signed to ABC/Universal Music and released Buddy’s debut album. 2011 saw the release of the second album “The One & Only Buddy Goode” and gained Mike his very first ARIA nomination for “Best Comedy Album”.

 

Over the next 6 years, four more Buddy Goode albums were produced, two of which would go on to win ARIA’s....”Unappropriate” in 2012 & “It’s a Buddy Goode Christmas” in 2013.

 

In 2015,  Mike became a regular on Network 10’s morning show “Studio 10” while also writing the theme song for the show.

 

In 2016,  Mike joined “The Outlaws” with Adam Brand, Travis Collins, Drew McAllister & Matt Cornell. Hailed as Australian Country’s new “supergroup”, the band toured extensively and released the highest selling country album of the year.

 

2017 saw Mike join forces with good mate & fellow “outlaw” Matt Cornell to form the duo Cornell Carr.  They released their debut album “We Go Way Back” the following year. The album produced 3 chart topping singles, Be in the Band, A Town Like This & Things I Leave Behind and gained the duo two Golden Guitar nominations in 2019 for “Best Group” & “Contemporary Album of the Year”.

In 2021, Mike & Matt went on to release 3 more singles What Kind of World, Beertalk and most recently Whatchawanna. The song “Whatchawanna” gained the boys their first Australian Music Network top 10 song As a result of this success, Cornell & Carr were nominated for “Best Group” at the 2022 Golden Guitar awards in April.

 

2022 now see’s the return of Mike Carr with the release of his single, HAIRCUT  - Mike’s first solo release in 15 years...something he has wanted to do for a very long time.

 

Gina Timms

 

www.ginatimms.com.au

 

Some artists stand on stage and sing songs. Others deliver.

You can guess which category Gina Timms fits into. When Gina sings a great country song, she’s lived every minute of it – the heartaches, the joys, the love … you can’t fake that.

The Tasmanian-born singer-songwriter just oozes integrity and has shared her considerable musical gifts with others since she was a tiny tacker busking on the street and entering every talent quest around.

She has independently released three CDs – It’s Time, This Is It and Borderline – and is in the process of recording her fourth studio album.

Gina successfully juggled motherhood and live performances and was named Tasmania’s Barnardos Mother of the Year in 2007. She believes the secret is the ability to multi-task and be organised.

To give her two greatest productions (sons Jakeb and Samuel) the best start in life, music took a back seat to motherhood for a time, but now they’re both independent young men, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

With a heart bigger than Tasmania, you’ll rarely hear no come from Gina’s mouth. She’s earnt the respect of many fundraising organisations, including Barnardos Australia, and is patron of Make-A-Wish for the North West and West Coast of Tasmania and King Island, as well as Australian Ambassador for CORES Australia (Community Response to Eliminating Suicide). She’s always the first to put up her hand to help someone in need.

Powerful, dynamic and entertaining – they’re all great descriptors – but the best way to appreciate a Gina Timms performance is to sit in the audience and you’ll be blown away like everyone around you.

She’s a five-foot human dynamo on stage, whose theme song, Texas (When I Die) has brought the house down at many a show during her regular Tamworth Country Music Festival appearances.

Gina made Tamworth her home in 1991, arriving to record an album, and she stayed on for four years, building up an impressive fan base around the North West and New England region of NSW.

She has co-ordinated and been chief judge of the Aristocrat Country Entertainer of the Year Quest at Wests in Tamworth each January for the past 27 years. Gina Timms’ Ladies of Country show packs out Wests’ Legends Lounge on the first night of the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival, with her follow-up shows all drawing huge crowds to the popular venue. They can’t get enough of Gina Timms.

With her expansive industry knowledge, she’s also been invited to judge the Gore Gold Guitar Awards in New Zealand, as well as numerous other quests at festivals around Australia. In 2014 she was recognised in her home state with the Country Music Legend Award. 

With a deep love and respect for traditional country music, Gina Timms honours the trailblazers at every show, choosing from her extensive repertoire. Every audience is different but they all have one thing in common – no one can resist Gina’s charm.