These are the notes for the podcast episode – links to the videos for the songs mentioned are embedded in the text.
To listen to the episode with tracks included, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Chloe Marks & The Mayhem – ‘Carolina’
Originally from Far North Queensland, Chloe Marks began her musical life at the age of 14 as a drummer and solo artist. Since then she has been in a variety of bands and genres, and she is now at the helm of Chloe Marks & The Mayhem, a five-piece ensemble based in Brisbane that blends Americana Country with blues and rock influences.
The first single for Chloe Marks & The Mayhem is ‘Carolina’, and Marks has said of this rollicking, rolling, bittersweet tune that she wanted to ‘explore the bittersweet pain of loving someone who keeps leaving and coming back, always dangling a string just out of reach. It’s a song that’s deeply personal but universally relatable.’
‘Carolina’ was produced by Michael Moko, who is in demand as both producer and musician.
Ben Mastwyk – ‘All the Songs I Wrote’
Ben Mastwyk is a Melburnian maestro who pushes the boundaries of traditional country both on record and live. He is highly entertaining in both forms, and I also really enjoyed interviewed him for his last album, so much so that I’ll be talking to him again very soon.
He has an album on the horizon, called Let Me At The Night, and the first single is ‘All the Songs I Wrote’, which opens with the line, ‘All the songs I wrote a year ago, they’re all about me now’. And that’s because it’s a tale of heartbreak in which those songs that were about strangers turn out to be personal tales of woe.
‘We wanted to create something uptempo and fun—a party record,’ Mastwyk says of the album. ‘With “All The Songs I Wrote”, we leaned into the emotional depth, blending classic country heartbreak.’
Abbie Ferris – ‘Don’t Cha Dare!’
Sydney country-pop artist Abbie Ferris had a huge 2024 that took her around the world, to performances at some of the biggest country music festivals, saw the release of her EP You Don’t Live Here Anymore, and concluded with a Golden Guitar nomination. She now has a new single ‘Don’t Cha Dare!’
Says Ferris, ‘I wrote this in Nashville with Shelly Riff. I was just on the other side of a big breakup and starting to wake up to the attention I was getting from men, but knowing I wasn’t healed enough to jump into anything yet. So this song is about that push and pull, feeling the temptation and resisting it. It also goes so hard live!’
‘Don’t Cha Dare’ was recorded with Ferris’s longtime producer Michael Carpenter, who released a single that I covered on a previous episode of this podcast. Its release comes after Ferris spent a month in Nashville working on new music. If you’re in Sydney you can see her play at Jolene’s on13 March, and if you’re going to CMC Rocks in Queensland later this month you can see her there too.
Max Jackson – ‘Grass’
When I reviewed Max Jackson’s debut album Life of the Party in 2020 I raved about it, and it’s still a favourite album. So I felt very smug when Jackson won Toyota Star Maker in 2022. She has since gone on to win three Golden Guitars, including this year’s Female Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for ‘A Little More Country’, after winning Best New Talent last year. Jackson is a wonderful songwriter with a finely tuned country-pop sensibility, and I love the edge she has in her latest single, ‘GRASS’, which is about being grateful for what you’ve got in your own backyard, delivered in Max’s singular style. It written by Jackson with Phil Barton, and Dave Thomson, and produced by Rod McCormack.
As Jackson says, ‘I love this song because I wrote it as a reminder to myself to stop comparing what I’ve got to other people. I think with social media and lives playing out in front of us every day, we’re always seeing the best part of everyone else’s lives—the highlight reels. It’s so easy to look at other people’s lives and think they’ve got it all, and in turn, think that what you’ve got isn’t enough. But this song is really about reminding myself to flip the perspective. Rather than focusing on the things we don’t have, if we look at the things that we do, life is a whole lot better.’
Jackson will play CMC Rocks in Queensland, which takes place from 21 to 23 March, and she has just announced her first headline tour taking place in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales in April and May. I’ve seen Max Jackson live so I have already bought a ticket for one of these shows – she is captivating.
Dear Tommie – ‘A Man, Written by a Woman’
I first heard of Tamworth local Dear Tommie when she released the single ‘Right Turn’ with Nathan Lamont. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to love that song, and now I can barely stop listening to it. I did not need that much time to decide I loved her new single, ‘A Man, Written by a Woman’.
Dear Tommie’s style is country with blues, roots and pop influences, and she says of the single that it ‘challenges conventional notions of masculinity by celebrating traits often associated with female perspectives such as empathy and vulnerability. It reflects a love for men who are allies for equality and in a world where you can be strong but gentle and bold, yet still kind.’
Last year Dear Tommie supported the ARIA nominated Tori Forsyth on her tour and she was also the writer and producer behind Bella Mackenzie’s number one song, ‘Cowboy’. I am really looking forward to finding out what she comes up with next.
Minor Gold – ‘Way to the Sun’
Minor Gold are Tracy McNeil and Dan Parsons, who separately had well-established music careers before forming their duo. They released their self-titled debut album in 2023 and have since toured North America, the UK and Europe.
They have released a new track, ‘Way to the Sun’, which is the title track of their forthcoming album. To celebrate, they’ll hit the road in their ’99 Chevy Astro for the ‘Way to the Sun’ North American Spring Tour, covering the US north and south-east and select Canadian cities. The album is set for release in July 2025, and an extensive Australian tour will follow in October.
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – ‘Joy Roller’
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham won three Golden Guitars for their second album, Birdsong, and they have been touring extensively for the past year at least. However, they have had time to record some new music, in the form of their single, ‘Joy Roller’. I’ve long thought Felicity is musical joy embodied – I’ve been a fan since her first album, and through her work in Bennett Bowtell Urquhart. Josh is known to many as a member of beloved trio The Waifs.
Since Felicity and Josh teamed up in life and music and released their first album, The Song Club, they’ve been creating something that has its own musical identity while preserving who they are as individual artists. They are fantastic live – true joy rollers in that setting – so if you have the chance to see them, take it.
KEZRA – ‘Another Life’
KEZRA is an indie-pop artist from Melbourne who has just released her first country-pop single, ‘Another Life’, and it has been my earworm for at least a fortnight.
She says of the track, ‘I wrote it about meeting someone for the first time who you feel so deeply connected to - you don't know why or how as you don't really know them at all - but there's this instant lust/love kind of feeling, that makes you feel like you've known them for a lifetime. Becoming hyper-fixated over the idea of what they would be like in a relationship if they took a chance on you, but they're with someone else.’
I interviewed KEZRA about this song and other things, and that’s coming up on the podcast.
Cassidy-Rae – ‘You Make Me’
Cassidy-Rae is a prolific and prodigiously talented country-pop artist who started releasing original music during the pandemic and she had a talent then for creating the sorts of uplifting songs that were really needed at the time, and still are, for that matter.
She also makes really poignant ballads, and her latest single ‘You Make Me’, is more in that realm. It was produced by her regular collaborator Michael Carpenter, and Cassidy-Rae says it’s about ‘that moment when you realise you’re head over heels, and there’s no turning back—when love turns you into a “crazy fool” and you don’t even care.’
Cassidy-Rae’s main instrument is piano, and she has an extensive repertoire of covers and originals – especially now that she’s releasing a song every two weeks!
Share this post