Sunburnt Country Music

Sophie Hamley

0.0 (0)
MUSIC INTERVIEWS

For over a decade Sophie Hamley has been interviewing Australian country music artists for her website, Sunburnt Country Music. Now new interviews will be made available in this podcast. Listen to Golden Guitar winners such as Amber Lawrence and Luke O'Shea, and many others, talk about their songs and songwriting, about performance and creativity and so much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3H AGO

Clancy Pye on the best things about ‘My Hometown’

Clancy Pye is an artist from the Central West of New South Wales who has released several memorable singles, including 'Hey Mama' and 'Days Like This'. Her latest is 'My Hometown'. Pye grew up in Oberon, a town of around 3000 people, half an hour from Bathurst in New South Wales. Oberon has no traffic lights, one main street and, as she notes in the song, a part-time cop, a detail that says so much and which we discuss in this new interview. ‘Most things got sorted out in the community themselves,’ Pye explains about the part-time cop. ‘People looked after one another.’ That capacity to compress a whole social world into a single precise image is central to what makes 'My Hometown' work and to what makes Pye a songwriter capable of evoking place, people and emotions so well, as she has done consistently over the course of her releases. ‘My Hometown’ emerged during the pandemic years, when Pye wrote around 150 songs. Its catalyst was personal: her parents had just sold the family farm, the only home she'd ever known, and she found herself making more trips back to Oberon, feeling a particular pull of gratitude and loss. The chorus came quickly. The verses took twelve months and somewhere between fifteen and twenty drafts. ‘I really wanted to go a little bit underneath the surface of what makes little towns like Oberon tick,’ she says. She wanted to write something specific enough to feel true, but open enough that listeners from any small town could find themselves in it, and she has succeeded beautifully at that. The production was handled by Sean Rudd in Sydney, with Pye's brother Mickey – a guitarist and the founder of a music academy in Bathurst with over 300 current students – contributing a signature guitar riff that runs throughout the track. Drummer Pete Drummond of Dragon also plays on the track. 'My Hometown' is the fifth single from Pye's forthcoming debut album, which is due for release later this year, including a CD edition. Alongside her own music, Pye has spent the past two years performing with Tania Kernaghan and Jason Owen as part of their Let Your Love Flow tour, travelling through New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. She also works as a physiotherapist – a background that, she admits, gives her a particular perspective on the physical demands of life as a touring musician, and we talk about that too. It’s always a great pleasure to interview Clancy Pye, and this time was no exception. ‘My Hometown’ is out now. Listen to ‘My Hometown’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘My Hometown’ on Spotify Listen to ‘My Hometown’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

45 min
5D AGO

Jake Davey on life, fatherhood, work and ‘Workin’ On Me’

Jake Davey is a multi-talented artist – a singer, songwriter, producer, videographer and photographer. He has released several infectious country-pop singles and the latest is 'Workin' On Me'. Since releasing his last single, Davey's life has changed considerably. He and his wife, Grace, are now parents to a son, Dalton, a development which is particularly significant given that a spinal cord injury in 2023 left doctors telling Davey he was unlikely to walk again, let alone have children. ‘Grace literally walked into the studio and was like, “Baby”,' Davey recalls in this new interview. ‘And I was like, what do you mean?’ That moment was the spark for 'Workin' On Me', a song about wanting to show up as the best possible version of himself – for Grace, and for Dalton. ‘I wanted to write a song about growing up in the right ways,’ Davey says, ‘admitting that I've had moments where I was selfish, and that's fine. This was my surrender to being the best version of me.’ The song was written in Nashville with Dakota Striplin and Charles Walker at Ronnie Dunn's publishing house, part of a trip that yielded eight to twelve songs in total (so we know there are more songs in the works). Davey produced it himself, though he's candid about the particular challenge that presents. ‘Having ultimate control over your music is a dangerous thing because you're never done,’ he says. But, as he tells me, a quote he encountered during the process helped: perfectionism is procrastination disguising itself as progress. The strong reception for the song has come in the wake of a great start to the year, with Davey’s fourth consecutive sold-out show at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. ‘Workin’ On Me’ is accompanied by a video that Davey made with longtime collaborator Jackson James. It features Davey's family, including a notably relaxed Dalton, who slept through most of the shoot! With more singles already in the works and a headline hometown show on the cards for later in 2026, Davey is already looking ahead, and that includes his packed schedule as a producer and videographer. Listen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on Apple Music Listen to ‘Workin’ On Me’ on Spotify See the video for ‘Workin’ On Me’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23 min
MAR 1

Sunburnt Country Music news - 27 February 2026

Mentioned in this episode: Kelly Brouhaha - 'This Is All For You' Amber Lawrence - 'That’s Cowgirl To Me' Charlotte Le Lievre - ‘I Yearn To Love Someone’ Tom Busby - Rockhampton Hangover- interview coming up Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley - ‘Now I've Said It’ Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham - New Frontier EP Sara Berki - ‘Where I'll Be (For Adeline)’ Interviews coming up: Jake Davey Clancy Pye David Kirkpatrick of Two Tone Pony Lindsay Waddington Dylan Wright For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 min
FEB 25

Melinda Schneider on her heartfelt new album Tender

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 Music Listen to Tender on Spotify Listen to Tender on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23 min
FEB 22

Faith Williams on her ‘Holy Grail’ and forthcoming album

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 Music Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Spotify Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on YouTube For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22 min
FEB 15

Sunburnt Country Music news - 15 February 2026

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. For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 min
FEB 9

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hardest Thing by Catherine Britt

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hardest Thing by Catherine Britt This 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 For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 min
FEB 8

Sunburnt Country Music news - 8 February 2026

🎵 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. For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook YouTube website Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 min

For over a decade Sophie Hamley has been interviewing Australian country music artists for her website, Sunburnt Country Music. Now new interviews will be made available in this podcast. Listen to Golden Guitar winners such as Amber Lawrence and Luke O'Shea, and many others, talk about their songs and songwriting, about performance and creativity and so much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creator

Sophie Hamley
Years Active

2022 - 2026
Episodes

392
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Sophie Hamley
Show Website

Sunburnt Country Music

Music Commentary

Music Commentary

Updated Weekly