Sunburnt Country Music

Melinda Schneider first appeared on stage at the age of three and on a recording at the age of eight. Since then she has released fifteen albums and won six Golden Guitars. She runs her own label, Mpower Records, she's a keynote speaker and much more besides. Her latest album, Tender, is a moving collection of songs.There is a particular kind of courage required to make an album like Tender. Schneider has spent decades as one of Australian country music's most celebrated performers – six Golden Guitars, fifteen albums, a career that began before most people's memories form. But she is candid about the fact that much of that work was made while she was privately struggling. ‘I was putting on a happy face in public and then being in a lot of pain privately,’ she says. The depression she experienced in 2018 became, in her telling, a turning point: the moment she stopped what she calls ‘the impersonation of perfect’.Tender is the album that reflects what came after. Most of the songs were written in the last decade, during what Schneider describes as the happiest and most peaceful period of her life – since meeting her husband, Mark Gable, and since becoming a mother. The result is a collection that moves between vulnerability and warmth, grief and gratitude, with Schneider's voice carrying each shift with complete conviction.The title track is a duet with Diesel, a pairing Schneider chose deliberately, looking for someone ‘respectful of women’ and emotionally present enough to meet the song where it lives. A duet with Gable also appears on the album, a song she wrote only months after they got together.The album was shaped by Schneider's instincts alone. As the founder of her own label, the creative decisions – which songs made the cut, how the album opens and closes – were entirely hers. It begins with the upbeat, Americana-inflected 'Open Up' and ends with 'Story of My Life', a song she first wrote 22 years ago that now sounds, she says, like a different person singing it – freer, more at ease.Alongside the album, Schneider exhibited a series of eleven paintings, one for each song, a practice she took up during the pandemic that has since become a weekly meditation. The Tender tour is currently under way, with New South Wales and Victoria dates already announced and more to follow later in the year.Tender is out now.Listen to Tender on Apple MusicListen to Tender on SpotifyListen to Tender on YouTube

Faith Williams is an artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales who last year released an outstanding debut EP, Queen of Hearts. She is now set to release her first album later this year, and the first single from it is 'Holy Grail'.When Queen of Hearts arrived in early 2025, Williams released it independently and, as she says in this new interview, ‘I didn't have a lot of knowledge into the industry at all. I was fairly green.’ In the year since, she has quietly accumulated the kind of experience that can't be taught: festival appearances she didn't expect, a New Songwriter of the Year win at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, radio play on ABC Country, and – just recently – being added to the playlist at Triple J, nearly a year to the day after the EP's release. That growth is also evident in her approach to the new album, which was recorded in September at Rabbit Hole Studio with producer Brandon Dodd, who also helmed Queen of Hearts. Eleven tracks were laid down in three days — an efficiency Williams credits to arriving with her songs fully formed and a clear sense of what she wanted. The album features one co-write, 'Black Fire', written with Millie Mills at a songwriting retreat run by Lyn Bowtell — otherwise the writing is entirely her own.The lead single, 'Holy Grail', is a love song that deliberately resists the conventions of the genre. Williams describes it as being about ‘choosing real over ritual’ – the kind of love that doesn't need to be dressed up or explained. It's also an example of what makes her writing distinctive: she's drawn to stories and characters, to the specific detail that opens into something universal. Her song 'Dear August', about the loss of a pregnancy, has that quality; so does 'Joe', which she traces back to a mental image of a stranger at a bus stop, telling their life to someone they'll never see again.At the time of recording, Williams was in the last trimester of pregnancy, due at the end of March. She plans to take a few months off before returning to gigging, with an album launch and a return to Tamworth pencilled in for later in the year. I was hugely impressed by Queen of Hearts when it released, so needless to say I’m excited to hear the album, and to see Williams release a wider audience, as she deserves.Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Holy Grail’ on YouTube

Mentioned in this episode:Max Jackson – new album Dangerous in Denim Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley – new single ‘Now I’ve Said It’ Morgan Evans - ‘Steel Town’ Saralyn – ‘Cowgirl Blues’ - THIS TRACK PLAYS AT THE END OF THE EPISODE Jo Page – ‘When We Knew Nothing’ Jasmine Sparkes – ‘You’ve Got Time to Kiss Me’ Jake Whittaker - ‘Boots On’  Tour news:Sara Storer, Shane Nicholson and Shane Howard - For the Sake of the Song. Limited shows in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT in May.

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hardest Thing by Catherine BrittThis is the audio version of the review (and an addition to the types of content available on the podcast). If you'd like to read it instead, you can find it on Substack or the website. The Hardest Thing is out now through Red Rebel Music/MGM Distribution. Listen on Apple Music Listen on Spotify 

🎵 COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS ROUNDUP 🎵Six BIG new releases you need to know about:KINGSWOOD - the new track ‘Highway Signs’ is out from this hard-working country-rock band. They’ll have a new album later this year and no doubt you can catch them from the road this year.WICKER SUITE released ‘Younger Me’ ft. Ashleigh Dallas—a heartfelt anthem about mental health & self-compassion. Catch them on tour through QLD, NSW, VIC & NZ!BECCY COLE announces first solo album in 7 years! Through The Haze arrives 13 March (vinyl 27 March). Raw, honest storytelling exploring heartbreak, healing & resilience. New single ‘The Gardener & The Flower’ out now.BUD ROKESKY announces his second album Dusk (out on 8 April) + Australian tour in May. New single ’45’ is out now. TYLA RODRIGUES has a new EP, Hold On Tight, out now + major festival slots at CMC Rocks and more later this year. She’s also just had her first Golden Guitar nomination. Full album coming later in 2026!FAITH WILLIAMS - impressive new single ‘Holy Grail’ from her forthcoming debut album. She released the excellent EP Queen of Hearts last year. 

Melbourne five-piece The Paper Kites formed in 2009, and released their first album, States, in 2013. They have spent several years touring the world and their music has been streamed over two billion times. They have a new album, their seventh, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, and recently I spoke to keyboard player/ guitarist/ vocalist Christina Lacy about it.  Ahead of the album, three singles were released: ‘Change Of The Wind’, ‘Shake Off The Rain’, ‘Every Town’ and ‘When The Lavender Blooms’. The first of these has a video which refers to the story of how the album was named, and I asked Lacy about this during the interview.  Lacy, who is a founding member of the band, also talks about how The Paper Kites came to write and record – and name – the album, and we discuss how she balances her creative life with motherhood, and the importance of carving out ‘time to be creative and time to be inspired’, as she puts it – and I love that she made that distinction!Lacy was generous with her insights and it was clear, talking to her, that the band has lost none of its passion for making music together.  The Paper Kites play Twilight at Taronga in Sydney on Friday 6 February and will tour the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia in February and March before joining Bernard Fanning in Brisbane on 15 March. They will then tour the USA and Canada. All details are on their website.  If You Go There, I Hope You Find It is out now through Sony Music Australia.  Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Apple Music Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on Spotify Listen to If You Go There, I Hope You Find It on YouTube