Jolene: The Country Music Blog
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This blog's called Jolene, because it's a recognisable country music kinda name. But my name is Sophie. Not so many years ago, I loathed country music. Then I joined a country band, we played at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and my life was changed. Now I can't imagine a day without a country song - preferably an Australian country song.
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
After several years on this platform, Jolene: The Country Music Blog has moved to Wordpress. The entire site content is on the new platform, but this original Blogger site will remain as an archive. Thank you to the thousands and thousands of readers who have visited this website - I hope you will join me at the new site! https://jolenethecountrymusicblog.wordpress.com is the Wordpress address ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
In mid 2016 Imogen Clark release an impressive debut album, Love & Lovely Lies. Now she's released an impressive new single, 'Your Anything At All', from her upcoming second album, Collide, which will be available on 27 April. Clark says of the new single, 'I wrote 'Your Anything At All' in my head while on stage at one of my gigs. The song covers defiance and confidence in the face of ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
Australian singer-songwriter Dean Ray won fans on the 2014 season of The X-Factor with his incredible voice - but his musical career started far earlier than that. Indeed, it started before he was born, as I found out when we spoke recently about Ray's second album, The Messenger, and other things. Originally from Queensland, Ray now lives in Melbourne and tours around the country. Ray is a ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
The soundtrack albums for the Seven Network series The Secret Daughter have yielded several great new tracks from singer Jessica Mauboy, and the second season soundtrack contains a cracker in the form of a song made famous by a young lad named Elvis Presley and, later, by an older lad called Willie Nelson. On 'Always On My Mind' Jessica teams up with legendary country music performer Warren H ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
This is actually old album news, as Vacancy by Melbourne duo Broads was released almost a year ago. But given that the internet facilitates serendipitous discoveries of all sorts, and albums are hypothetically available forever, I feel it's another better-late-than-never situation. I first heard a Broads song on ABC Country online radio - a great place to discover new music, even when your ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
American singer-songwriter Amber Ikeman grew up in the state of Florida then moved to live and work in Yellowstone National Park in Montana. This journey echoes that of Australian artist Harmony James, whose first album, Tailwind, was created while she was working on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, and just as the Barkly lefts its mark on James's music, so has Ikeman's state of ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
Melbourne singer-songwriter musician Alison Ferrier has released the first single from her forthcoming third album, What She Knows (out 16 February). 'Waiting For The Rain’ is a laid-back yet gutsy country rock song that features some lovely pedal steel and Ferrier's warm, inviting voice. Watch the video below or www.alisonferrier.com ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
One of the observable effects of the CMAA Academy of Country Music in Tamworth is not only the level of professionalism amongst singers, musicians and songwriters in their twenties and older, but the emergence of artists in their teens. At least, that's my theory. By creating a culture of professional development within the Australian country music scene, the Academy has sent a signal ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
Singer-songwriter Jess Holland has a brand new album, Miss Demeanour, and she is launching it during the upcoming Tamworth Country Music Festival. Jess is a fantastic live performer, and the singles she's released so far from the album - including the latest, 'Australian Dreamer' - have built anticipation for a great new release. I had a chat to Jess about her launch show and other Tamworth ..read more
Jolene: The Country Music Blog
3y ago
Melbourne duo Slim Dime have been working on a new album, and their original song 'That Ole Train' is the single released ahead of it. Trains are a perennially favourite subject for a country song, with good reason: they invoke the possibilities of new places, new people and momentum into the future, all good elements for a song. On this track band members Chris Taylor and Jen Land give us a ..read more