Sunburnt Country Music

There’s a very healthy country-music scene in Western Australia, and not just in and around Perth. I’ve interviewed artists from as far north as Broome and as far south as Margaret River and several spots in between. Darren Gillis is a country rock artist from Western Australia's Wheat Belt, and I hadn’t interviewed him before we had this chat about his new single, ‘Hell of a Time’. The interview was recorded a few weeks before the single’s release, and I had a cold at the time (hence my voice sounding quite scratchy), but the conversation was invigorating enough to help me forget all about that, because Gillis is so clearly passionate about music and the important role it’s played in his life and his wellbeing, as he talks about. Gillis has honed his skills as a performer and storyteller by doing a lot of live performance. In 2024 he Gillis took a gap year from work, loaded his guitar into a caravan and set off, first through his local area, then north to Shark Bay and east to Tamworth in New South Wales for his first ever festival, and eventually as far as Noosa Heads in Queensland. Four and a half months on the road, swapping live music for accommodation and playing pub gigs to fund the next leg of the journey. ‘I said yes to everything,’ he says. The caravan park crowds turned out to be his most important audiences – people pulling their chairs in close, actually listening, giving him real feedback on his original songs. This gave him confidence to keep writing songs, as he’d been doing since 2020, when a relationship breakdown left him isolated in a small town and he turned to music to work through it. Some of those songs have since been released. 'Cuss the Black Dog', which drew on both his personal experience and the losses of colleagues in his frontline work, became a finalist in the Western Australian Music Song of the Year award, and prompted lengthy, candid conversations with audience members, including veterans, domestic violence survivors, a sixteen-year-old who drew him a portrait after the show.His latest single, 'Hell of a Time', is a song about choosing to let go of whatever the week has thrown at you and be present with the people around you. It will be one of ten tracks on his debut album Rise and Fall, due in August. Gillis has several shows coming up include the Mandurah Country Music Festival in October alongside Kaylee Bell, the Wolfe Brothers and Max Jackson, plus the Boddington Rodeo in November.‘Hell of a Time’ is out now.Listen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Hell of a Time’ on YouTube

Many Australian music fans will know of Wagga Wagga-born Darren Coggan from his hugely popular shows featuring the music of John Denver or Cat Stevens (and he has a great story at that – you’ll have to listen to the interview to find out what it is!). These – along with his work in musical theatre, and as an actor – have kept him busy and touring the country for several years. However, Coggan had his start in country music. He’s a winner of Toyota Star Maker, and a contemporary of Beccy Cole, Adam Harvey and Felicity Urquhart, even touring with those three as the ‘Young Stars of Country’ several years ago, and again for a reunion show in 2019.In recent times Coggan has recorded music with his daughter, Olivia, and he’s now returned to original music with the moving single ‘Always Believe in Love’. As he tells me in this recent interview, the song came to him in a dream. Its message wouldn’t land, though, if Coggan didn’t walk the talk, so to speak. This is a man who loves what he does, is passionate about it, takes nothing for granted and is grateful for every opportunity. He has fully committed himself to music, and to bringing joy to audiences, and that’s what he’s doing this year too with an extensive Australian tour (dates below). It was a great pleasure – and hugely interesting – to talk to Coggan about his life and career thus far. I hope you enjoy listening to or watching this chat, and finding out more about this in-demand Australian entertainer, whom you can also catch on TV (if you’re in New South Wales) on Sydney Weekender. NB: There was the occasional wi-fi glitch in this interview, so the audio is off in some places.SEE DARREN COGGAN ON TOURFriday June 12 – West Gippsland Performing Arts Centre – Gippsland, VICSaturday June 13 - The Wedge – Sale, VIC Friday June 26 – The Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSWSaturday June 27 – The Players Theatre - Port Macquarie, NSWThursday July 2 - The Powerhouse – Liverpool, NSW Wednesday July 22 - Ingham Theatre – Ingham, QLDThursday July 23 - Proserpine Entertainment Centre – Proserpine, QLD Saturday July 25 - HOTA - Surfers Paradise, QLDSunday July 26 - Majestic Theatre – Pomona, QLD Friday August 14 - Warners Bay Theatre – Warners Bay, NSW Saturday August 15 - Jetty Theatre - Coffs Harbour, NSWSunday August 16 - Coronation Hall - Coutts Crossing, NSW Saturday October 3 - Redcliffe Entertainment Centre – Redcliffe, QLD Friday October 9 - The J Theatre – Noosa, QLD Saturday October 10 - The Events Centre – Caloundra, QLDFriday October 16 – The Estate – Camden, NSW **Tickets on sale now and available via https://www.darrencoggan.com/Listen to Darren Coggan on Apple MusicListen to Darren Coggan on SpotifyListen to Darren Coggan on YouTube

Allan Cameron is a solo artist, songwriter and guitarist who was a founding member of SaltbushSix, Keith Urban’s first backing band. He has been releasing music independently for several years, and his latest single is ‘Worn Out (Australian Made)’, an anthem that is fundamentally about resilience – and worn in rather than worn out, as Cameron says in this new interview.The song grew from a period of genuine questioning. After grappling with the demands of being an independent artist in the streaming era, Cameron found himself asking whether he wanted to keep going. ‘I asked myself, can I keep doing this?,’ he says. ‘Do I want to keep doing this? And the short answer – the long answer – was yes.’The process of getting to that yes became the song. Its central turn of phrase, ‘I’m not worn out, I’m worn in’, highlights the power of a single word to change meaning.The song went through many drafts, filling pages of Cameron’s lyric book, before arriving at its final form, which is also a celebration of Australian identity. Part of reason for that comes from Cameron’s own recent discoveries about his ancestry, learning that his grandmother was of indigenous heritage, adding that thread to a lineage that also includes Scottish and English roots. The first drafts of the song engaged more directly with this personal history before Cameron broadened its scopt to speak to Australians generally. ‘This land is the same, we’re all here to dream, we are Australian made’ is where he landed.Beyond the new single, Cameron has been releasing music that includes last year’s instrumental, ‘Waxing and Waning’; recorded in open G tuning, it found its way onto playlists around the world. ‘Grandfather’s Guitar’ paid tribute to the instrument that first sparked Cameron’s musical life – and his collection of guitars, which now runs to just over forty instruments. This section of the chat is mainly for guitar aficionados, but I do like to throw in the technical questions when I can!Cameron plays regular cover gigs around Brisbane and Queensland, and has another single planned for later in the year.‘Worn Out (Australian Made)’ is out now.Listen to Allan Cameron on Apple MusicListen to Allan Cameron on SpotifyListen to Allan Cameron on YouTube

Trent Richardson hails from Central Queensland, where he grew up on a property running camel rides, racing camels, ostriches, goats and sheep. He picked up a guitar three years ago, taught himself to play, and is now releasing his seventh single. In between, he made the semi-finals of Australian Idol in 2024 after an audition that was, extraordinarily, his first ever public performance, as he talks about in this new interview.Richardson had always suspected he could sing. A few people had told him so over the years, but an equal number had told him he couldn’t, and he’d believed the latter. It wasn’t until he reached his mid-twenties that he decided to find out for himself … and the way he found out was by auditioning for national television. He'd never written a song. He'd never played a gig.‘I threw myself in the deep end,’ he says. The judges told him he was the weakest vocalist in the competition. He made the semi-finals anyway, performing everything from Matchbox Twenty to Michael Bublé to Rihanna along the way, and came out the other side with a clearer sense of who he was as an artist than any conventional path might have given him.His latest single, 'Run to You', was actually the second song he ever wrote, begun three years ago with co-writer Dan Pam, set aside during the Idol journey, and only recently finished and recorded with producer Stuart Stuart, who has worked with luminaries such as Amber Lawrence. It’s a song about the grass not being greener, written from the perspective of someone who walked away from a relationship and later regretted it. It sits alongside a catalogue of upbeat, life-affirming country-pop songs that reflect Richardson’s genuine and hard-won appreciation for being here at all. ‘Life’s too short,’ he says. ‘It’s a blessing to be here.’His positivity is not so much infectious as influential and it seemed to me that he is someone who, once committed to something, gives his all. And it’s in giving his all that he not only develops his passion but comes to be very good at whatever he is pursuing. Since Idol, Richardson has been building independently: chasing gigs, learning stagecraft, booking shows and working out what an hour-and-a-half set looks like when you started out singing for sixty seconds on television. He is a new father to young son Archie, and is performing at Biloela Winterfest in July. A seventh single is due on 10 June.‘Run to You’ is out now.Listen to Trent Richardson on Apple MusicListen to Trent Richardson on SpotifyListen to Trent Richardson on YouTube

Shanleigh Rose is an award-winning singer and songwriter from the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland who has been releasing music for five years. Her latest single, ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’, is the most personal song she has put out – and, as she tells me in this new interview, the one she almost didn’t.The chorus was written when she was sixteen, in a music room at school, after discovering the songwriting of Melody Moko and Fanny Lumsden. She wrote it, filed it away, and didn't quite know what it was about. A few years later, after a break-up, she understood. ‘What I feel for this person is actually more like an addiction than love,’ she says. That realisation gave her the metaphor at the centre of the song, with the tobacco of the title standing in for the kind of relationship you know is poisoning you but can’t walk away from. ‘You’re poison, but it’s all I’ll ever want’, she sings in this powerful tune that has already won the lyrics-only section of the Tamworth Songwriters Association Awards before the melody was even finalised. It was the response from other songwriters at the awards night convinced that convinced Shanleigh to release the song. ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ was produced by Michael Muchow who, in a lovely piece of symmetry, is Melody Moko’s producer (and husband), with vocal production by Nyssa Ray, who pushed Rose through four hours of takes to find her most emotionally open performance. ‘You can be sadder,’ Ray told her. ‘You can have more emotion.’Rose has also recently released ‘Down to Your Grave’, a collaboration with Cate Jamieson and Bethany Walsh, written and recorded as a university assignment that the three decided the world needed to hear. More collaborations and more original releases are planned, alongside a growing focus on stagecraft and the live experience. Shanleigh plays regularly across Southeast Queensland. Keep an eye on her socials for details.‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ is out now.NB: At around the 22-minute mark, I had a coughing fit and had to pause the recording, so after that point my voice sounds different. Thanks to Shanleigh for patiently waiting out the coughing! I’ve had a cold and persevered with interviews as I don’t want to cancel on the artists – and thankfully they do most of the talking – but it does mean my voice sounds raspy and sometimes shaky.Listen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Like My Mama Loves Tobacco’ on YouTube

Jayne Denham’s two most recent albums, Wanted and Moonshine, both reached number one on the ARIA country chart. She is one of Australia's most dynamic live performers and most beloved country rock artists. Her new single is ‘Hillbilly Halo’, and it is the beginning of something considerably larger.As Denham tells me in this new interview, her management arranged a meeting with Nashville producer Marti Frederiksen – known for his work with Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Sheryl Crow and Def Leppard – with the understanding that they would write and record one song together, and then decide whether to continue. The song was ‘Hillbilly Halo’, co-written with Australian songwriter and Nashville resident Kylie Sackley. Denham loved the result, assumed it might be the only song they made together, and planned to release it as a single regardless. Then Frederiksen said he wanted to do more. Denham ended up spending two months in Nashville across three trips, recording a full album.Frederiksen’s brief from the start was clear: write and produce for a big live crowd, stadium-ready, anthemic. ‘Hillbilly Halo’ delivers exactly that: it’s a country-rock party song about the good girl who loves to bend the rules just enough, built around major chords that give the chorus its lift. But the more significant development for Denham may be what happened in the recording booth … Frederiksen pushed her vocals into territory she hadn’t previously reached, raising keys and urging her through takes until she hit a note she didn’t know she had. ‘The desperation in my voice actually matched the lyric,’ she says. It’s now one of her favourite vocal performances she’s ever committed to record. As for the other songs she recorded in Nashville: singles will be released every four weeks, with the album due in January. Then, Denham says, it will be time for a big show.As Denham tells me: ‘Marti said, “Your songs need to be anthemic for a big crowd – let’s write and produce so that when it’s live, it totally nails and kicks it out of the park.’‘Hillbilly Halo’ is out now. And a note about this interview: I had a heavy cold, so my voice sounds scratchy. Listen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on Apple MusicListen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on SpotifyListen to ‘Hillbilly Halo’ on YouTube

Beth Lucas is an award-winning country music artist from Queensland who has been releasing music for several years. She has a new single, 'What I Deserved', and it is one of the most personally courageous songs she has written.Lucas grew up on the Sunshine Coast and has been based in the Brisbane area for around two decades, and part of its appeal has long been the possibilities it offers her as a musical artist. Her path to country music was not direct. She came from the emo and alternative scenes, playing in bands, and it was only after having a daughter and stepping back from music that she returned with a new perspective and a clearer sense of what she wanted to write, as she tells me in this new interview. ‘Old bandmates were basically like, your songs are pretty much country, so just make them more country,’ she says. That was six years ago, and she describes the time since as the most successful period of her musical life.‘What I Deserved’ is a song about first love and its aftermath – specifically, about a mistake Lucas made at sixteen, the weight she has carried since, and the long process of forgiving herself for it. She is careful to take responsibility for her own part in the story; ‘I know that I got what I deserved’ is not a line of self-pity but of reckoning – and then, ultimately, of release. The song won the 2026 Geoff Mack Commemorative Award before it was even released, and has become one of the songs in her live set that audiences connect with most.Lucas has twice attended the CMAA Academy of Country Music – the second time on a Keith Urban Scholarship – and has a string of competition placings to her name, including winning the country music section of the Brisbane-based Ekka Talent Search. She is also one third of Three Birds & the Truth, which she formed with Amber Kenny and Jo Caseley following the 2023 Academy. An EP is in the works for the end of the year, with a new single in production in the meantime.‘What I Deserved’ is out now.Listen to Beth Lucas on Apple MusicListen to Beth Lucas on SpotifyListen to Beth Lucas on YouTube

At the start of this interview with country-pop artist Rachael Fahim, I say that she released her first album, Iconic, in 2019. Later in the chat she mentioned that Iconic was technically an EP, which makes Who You Are – released today, 1 May – her debut. The reason why I called Iconic an album is because it has seven songs, and they’re substantial songs. So to me it’s always felt like an album.Substance is also apparent on Who You Are. Fahim has the ability to create songs that are eminently danceable but which also make you stop and think. There’s a lyric that evokes a feeling, or it’s the nuances in her vocal, and always the sense that she’s not hiding herself in any of these songs, not trying to be the upbeat artist who’s always about a good time if a good time has not been had. That means we know we’re getting a sense of who she is and what she wants to tell us in these songs, which makes us connect to them more.The album is the result of several years of writing, as we talk about. It’s also being released about a year after Fahim decided to leave full-time employment and commit herself fully to music. In that time she has played dozens of dates supporting Pete Murray on a national tour, and there have been plenty of other shows in that time. In other words: creating the time and space for more music in her life has worked.Having seen Fahim live, it’s no surprise that these opportunities are coming her way. Now hearing the new album, she’s offering even more reasons for audiences to seek her out. The songs on Who You Are are entertaining and memorable, and while I still maintain that Iconic should be called an album, as a debut album this is a powerful statement.Who You Are is out now through Universal Music Australia.Rachael Fahim is touring the album, with dates in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Gosford and Wollongong. Details at: https://www.rachaelfahim.com/#tourListen to Who You Are on Apple MusicListen to Who You Are on SpotifyListen to Who You Are on YouTube