BTW-Paul Kelly, Brainstory, Don't Think Twice, Imelda May, Figure Walking, Blair Packham, The Revolution, Catl, Boss Hog, Root Magic

Fri May 12 2017
Charlie Owen and Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly, arguably Australia’s preeminent songwriter, will spend the month of May performing intimate shows across North America — his first concerts on this continent since 2013 The tour is in support of Kelly’s 2016 release, the uniquely conceived Death’s Dateless Night , although he will also be playing songs from an award-winning career that has earned him induction into Australian Recording Industry Association’s Hall of Fame and, just earlier this year, being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the performing arts.

Death’s Dateless Night, a collaboration with highly regarded Australian multi-instrumentalist Charlie Owen, contains songs that they have played at various funerals. Featuring a mix of covers, traditional tunes and a few Kelly originals, the album’s vibe is actually far from funereal. The spare, stirring set has been hailed as a “powerful meditation on life, death and the mess we make in-between.”

Catl-Prodding the Blues

Fri Jan 28, 2011
Catl-Prodding the Blues

The term’ original' gets hurled around a lot and in most cases, it's totally undeserved. Then there's Catl, who went so far back into the roots of the blues they've come out the other side with something quite different.

How many bands can you name who mine the roots traditions of the Twenties, that point in American history when Afro-centric Delta blues was meeting up with Euro-centric Appalachian folk music to create this mutant wild child named country blues that would one day go all rock'n'roll on us? And who else is so elastic in their approach that one member showed up for some random guest shots and was asked to stay the night, every night.

Jamie 'catl' Fleming is the band's guiding light and beneath the laid-back stage persona is a man with a righteous plan. That it was sparked in a used records store sounds perfect for a band steeped in tradition.

"I was always in Rotate This, and I asked Pierre (Hallett) for a good springboard to country-blues-type stuff. He suggested Mississippi Fred McDowell, who just blew my mind. I just got right into that sound, Fred and guys like Furry Lewis, the kind of sound their recordings had, the way they played.