Folk meets rock - 2020 vision

So a big transition occurring for me and my music. Got to get it outta my head.

Let us say I am creating a new intention in music and also addressing an identity crisis of sorts. If you read the longer story in my bio you will find that I was originally a rock singer in a band. But if I think about my journey of influence its no wonder I may question my musical identity at times. Some early music memories were AM Radio 2ST in Nowra belting out 70’s classics like Afternoon delight, Summer Breeze and the Eagles. This was my original pop influences. Melded in with this was a good lashing of ABBA that mum played while she painted and The Beach Boys which was Dad’s favourite band.

I also remember being exposed to country pop singer Glenn Campbell and crooners Johnny Mathis, Engelbert Humperdinck and Julio Iglesias.  On reflection I recall the love of rich string arrangements in this music, which later became a fascination of mine. Combining strings and rock music., Probably this peaked with some of the big Oasis classics and suddenly horns were a thing. You will hear this on my second single of 2020 New Love.

Prior to that my Dad exposed me as a young boy to Daniel Boone, Davey Crocket and old American western classics that had strings but also horn arrangements which I think fused into my earliest attempts at country music writing in Wild Lonesome Feeling (inspired by the Johnny Cash movie) and Spaces In-between.

My uncle educated me on the British invasion (amongst other things) with bands such as The Animals, The Kinks as well as well-known rock and pop artists such as The Doors, David Bowie and later The Cars. He was very passionate about pop culture and the role of music and artists in reflecting and shaping fashion trends of each era. He also turned me onto War of the Worlds as a kid which I thought was an incredible journey of imagination.

The Doors and David Bowie were big influences on me singing. Jim Morrison turned me onto poetry. It wasn’t until my 20’s at university that I started putting all the latent singing to work. Bono, Buckley, Eddie Vedder, Robert Plant /Zepplin and later Jeff Martin from the Tea Party. All huge influences. My brothers had cassettes from Midnight Oil (10 to 1) , Bob Marley and America which I listened to on walkmans as I got a little older. I went through a whole phase of Blues and reggae obsession. At highschool one of my best friends Dave introduced me to U2. I heard In the Name of Love while on the ghost train at Luna park in Sydney and thought it was the best song ever. U2’s Bad was the first song I sang in my first band Mamma Bird. It felt like liberation singing with the band that day.

In recent years I became very inspired by the singer-songwriting of Damien Rice, Neil Young, (memories at Coogee, falling asleep to this on vinyl by candle light) and Ryan Adams. I embraced my acoustic guitars and fused this folk into my rock. Even the latest album by Springsteen has been a revelation and also features those strings, folk and rock. The full circle.

I could go on and on. Music moves. Its a balm for the soul. A meditation, a surrender, release. A connection.

So the music plans for 2020 and beyond include:

Re-releasing the Firesongs For the Soul as an album - a tribute to my folk-country roots and the original intention I had of singing these songs around a campfire. It will feature a compilation of some old songs and one new country folk tune I did with Jeff Martin on dobro.

Releasing a new 9 song folk-rock album recorded in 2019 called Headlights & Goodbyes. This features the collaboration with one of my influences Jeff Martin on guitars and my local Firesongs family of musicians. I had some of these songs up briefly on Spotify but they have been reworked and more have been written to create an album and a new compilation. These will come out one at a time.

Releasing a short 4 track EP called Carthasis exploring healing and learning in relationships.

Blessings on 2020 good people …feel free to comment and share you’re on reflections on music below. Lots of love!