Sara Berki is a country music artist from the greater Sydney area who impressed audiences from her very first single, ‘Fallin’ Off the Heartline’, and has kept releasing songs that not only consolidate those early impressions but shift her as an artist into new territory while also being identifiably her sound, as evidenced on her recent second EP, In the Neon.

Berki performed at the inaugural Ridin’ Hearts festival in 2023 and this year she returns as the festival goes to Sydney Showgrounds at Homebush on Saturday 25 October and Caribbean Gardens in Melbourne on 25 October. Berki appears alongside Australians Briana Dinsdale, Lewis Love, Lane Pittman, and Ridin’ Starts winner Ruby Jane, and Americans Megan Moroney, Nate Smith, Avery Anna, Waylon Wyatt and Karley Scott Collins.

Berki is such a versatile live performer that she will no doubt win more fans at the festival. We talk about her plans for her set and about her live performance generally – having seen her play live earlier this year on a couple of occasions, each quite different, as well as in 2022 in Tamworth, I know what a great live performer she is, able to adapt to venue and audience, and to being a front woman or playing solo acoustic.

Ahead of Ridin’ Hearts I caught up with Berki about what it’s like to return to the festival as well as her other big performance this month: singing at the NRLW final on 5 October. As I discovered, she is from an NRL family and absolutely loves the sport, so there couldn’t be a more perfect pairing of artist and event.

For all the information about Ridin’ Hearts, go to https://www.ridinhearts.com

[PHOTO CREDIT: GRACIE STEINDL]

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Jake Davey is one of those multi-talented artists who must have an incredibly well-organised diary because he moves so regularly between making videos and producing music for other artists as well as writing and recording his own songs, and playing live. Two years ago, however, it seemed there was little prospect of any of that when Davey was given a diagnosis of cauda equina syndrome, which meant he was told he may not walk again or have children.

‘I think everyone gets knocked down in life,’ he says in our new interview, ‘but it’s how you get back up and how many times you get back up. That’s definitely what I felt when it happened to me and [I thought], Okay – this isn’t going to define who I am. I can let it, but I’m not going to.’

Davey also says that he would have been recording music and writing and doing other things in a wheelchair – but his determination and the work he’s done and continues to do has meant he doesn’t need to.

‘You can try and hold me down,’ he says, laughing, ‘but it’s not going to work out too well.’

This is context for the song that Davey has just released, ‘Got It All’, which is a feel-good anthem that is about embracing and celebrating what you have. And context does matter: this song is anchored in his lived experience. The video clip, filmed by his good friend Jackson James, backs up the message in the song (and I did have a question about why Davey didn’t make his own video!) and was made when James was visiting from his new home in Nashville for Davey’s wedding.

Davey may have to put his activities on pause or, at least, slow for a little while as he’s due to become a father soon. No doubt his song will take on new meaning, and he will likely take on fatherhood the way he’s taken on every other endeavour – and he’ll keep making music while he’s doing it.

Watch the video on YouTube

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Copperline are a four-piece alt-country band fronted by Brad Christmas, who is also an in-demand musician who has played with acts such as Boney M and Steve Kilbey in between writing songs and also writing books – his first book for young people, Saltwater Boy, has had award acclaim and Christmas is now at work on his second.

Copperline’s new single, ‘Sleepwalking’, was produced by Shane Nicholson, with whom they have worked on their two albums thus far. Nicholson is now working out of a studio in Melbourne where he shares space with Damian Cafarella and Clint Wilson, so it was interesting to find out about that in the interview!

‘Sleepwalking’ is Copperline’s first release since 2022’s ‘Lucinda’, from their second album Borrowed, Broken & Blue, written for Christmas’s late daughter. It achieved chart success and won Ballad of the Year at the 2023 Australian Songwriters Association Awards, one of five nominations the band has had for those particular awards.

I’ve had a few chats with Christmas now, so you’ll hear some familiarity – plus we both live in Sydney and have seen each other at gigs. I also work in book publishing by day and therefore have quite an interest in his parallel life as an author, so there’s some discussion of that in this interview.

Copperline have two shows left this year before they head to Tamworth in January:

Saturday 4th October – Tourist Hotel, Queanbeyan NSW

Sunday 30th November – Link and Pin, Woy Woy NSW

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Brooke Schubert is a country rock artist living in Brisbane, Queensland. She is in a musical lineage that includes her great-grandmother, Iris Atkinson, who was the first woman in Australia to produce a vinyl recording, her aunt Karyn, an opera singer, and her mother, Susan, who performed at the first Gympie Muster and was also a professional golfer.

Both music and sport have been prominent in Schubert’s life – she has represented Queensland in hockey and swimming, and has also been performing most of her life and releasing music since 2013. She now has a debut album, After Midnight, and at the time we spoke she was fresh from performing at the Gympie Muster. It was at the Muster, at the age of ten, that Schubert sang on stage for the first time, so it was a special place for her to return to with her album.

The album draws on a range of her musical influences and also contains a song written by family friend Graeme Connors, which was recorded in the wake of a heartbreaking event that affected Schubert deeply – something we can hear in her vocal. Schubert’s voice is a glorious instrument and the variety of songs on After Midnight gives her the opportunity to use it to full effect. Her passion for music is apparent in these songs, and also in conversation – she lives and breathes music.

Schubert has played live in all sorts of venues and continues to do so regularly in Brisbane. She’s also going to take her new album on the road in Queensland in October – you can find details of those shows and her Brisbane gigs at https://brookeschubert.com/pages/shows-1

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Each time I interview Tom Curtain I learn something new, which is probably not surprising, given the scope of his life: running the Katherine Outback Experience in the dry season, at his home in the Northern Territory, then taking it literally on the road during the wet season, with horses and dogs and humans in tow. This is all while he writes, records and releases music, and is involved with organisations Dolly’s Dream and Farm Angels.

The reason for this latest conversation was his latest single ‘Here’s to You’, the title track of his new album, which he recorded with Laura Frank, who is part of Curtain’s tour. We talked about how Frank came to join the tour a couple of years ago, and why she and Curtain recorded the song together (Frank also made the video, with partner Nick Morrissey, who is also on tour with Curtain). Then I asked Curtain about his work with Dolly’s Dream and Farm Angels, and that’s when I discovered another element of his life: how he also takes on young people who need a break, to work with him in Katherine. He believes in giving horses, dogs and people a second chance, and has folded that into the enterprise he now runs. This is not something he advertises, but it’s work that has an impact.

Curtain is certainly someone who makes the most of every single day of his life, and his songs reflect a life well lived, and lived on the land, and he has found fans all across Australia because of them. He’ll be playing those songs on tour, which kicks off in October. Tickets on sale now and available via: https://www.tomcurtain.com.au/all-tours/heres-to-you-tour/

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The only time I have seen Mitchell Steele perform live was over a decade ago, upstairs at the Tudor Hotel in Tamworth during the Country Music Festival. Clearly it made an impression because I remember it clearly: the crowd in that hot room in January, his voice, the way he held our attention, and how he did not shy away from what was a very close audience connection in that space.

He did not release music at that time. Occasionally I would wonder what had happened to him and if he would resurface in the country music space. Then I saw that he was at this year’s Senior Academy of Country Music and that was the signal that he was back. Then I heard he was working on music and that a single was on its way, and I was, at the very least, curious as to what it might be.

When I finally heard the single, ‘Worn Out West’, it was worth waiting for. A decade worth waiting for? Yes. Steele’s voice is wonderful, and so is the story in this song, which he wrote with Kasey Chambers and Brandon Dodd and which they produced, as they did Steele’s album, which does not yet have a release date but suffice to say that there’s a good chance it too will be worth the wait.

I interviewed Steele about the song and his story, and he has had – still has – quite the life. He grew up in a musical family, on the land, working hard as country people have to because it’s a seven-day-a-week job, being on the land. He left school at fifteen to become a stockman, then found work in music on the Gold Coast. He’s mostly been moving between music and the land, between inland and seaside, since.

Steele is fully engaged in all parts of his life, and it is always a privilege to speak to someone who is passionate about what they do. It was clear to me – as it will hopefully be to you when you watch or listen to the interview – that in the years since I saw him perform in Tamworth he’s been forming himself as an artist, understanding both himself and the world better, and figuring out what sort of artist he wants to be. That’s why this one song is so good. That’s why the album is likely to be great.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Mitchell Steele in this chat. I certainly did!

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Something is in the water in the Victorian town of Castlemaine, in an artistic sense. That’s the impression I had from talking to Al Carr and Pete Daly, two of the four members of Castlemaine band Bad Debts. Carr, Daly and the two other members, Mitch Dillon and Al Stanley, are locals whose proximity has led to the creation of an endeavour that none of them was really seeking or expecting.

As I found out when interviewing them about Bad Debts’ debut album, Under Kalimna Skies, Carr and Daly met because they have children going to the same school, not through music circles, although Carr has released three solo albums, amongst other things, and Daly was previously in Melbourne band Blueriver. The collaboration began as the two of them jamming together, then added Dillon and Stanley, who have also been creating music (separately) for years.

‘We were kind of having a bit of fun,’ Carr says, ‘then it got serious all of a sudden!’

It got serious in the form of 13 songs, with the writing shared amongst Carr, Daly and Dillon, making one album, recorded in Castlemaine, and it’s remained serious because, as I found out, they are already well into making their second album.

Part of what I found so interesting about the conversation is that Carr and Daly were well established in their lives at the time they met and became friends. The easier path would have been for Carr to keep making his music and not take up Carr’s suggestion that they jam in his shed. He wasn’t looking for a new musical enterprise.

All four men, however, have embraced newness and the result is a whole body of work that wouldn’t have existed without each of them taking the sort of chance that seems effortless when you’re in your twenties and somehow so much harder when you have kids at school and homes to run. They probably don’t think of it as inspiring but it is – if nothing else, it’s a reminder that if we don’t take chances we never find out what may come of them, whom we may meet and what we may create. Bad Debts turned out to be a safe bet, and they intend to keep backing it.

A note on the audio: sometimes Daly’s wifi dropped out, so things were a little patchy. But that’s podcasting in real life and not in a studio! Occasionally the internet goes wonky.

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