Nathan Seeckts Introduces Us To Five Australian Artists
You Should Get To Know
Nathan Seeckts is a powerful singer songwriter who effortlessly fuses the sounds of Americana, folk, country & blues delivered with a commanding voice that is equal parts gravel & passion. His songs feature intricate, heartfelt storytelling that echo loudly and honestly from personal experience. Taking inspiration from the songbooks of artists including Bruce Springsteen, Jason Isbell, Lucero & Steve Earle, his songs could find him comfortably at home in any bar from Melbourne to Memphis.
Seeckts (pronounced Seeks) has been writing, recording and performing as a solo artist since 2010, self-producing and releasing three EPs during this time. Each pressing of these EPs has long since sold out, but are still available online. Since the start of 2017 he has been hosting a weekly Americana-based radio program on community radio station 94.7 The Pulse called Last Night In Town. Through the program he has been able to promote, support and share the amazing work of his peers within the Australian alt-country community, broadcasting over 85 shows so far. The shows are also broadcast on Blues and Roots Radio weekly.
Honing his sound through bars and stages across Australia and North America, and with appearances at Queenscliff Music Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival and Melbourne’s Poison City Weekender under his belt, Seeckts has also supported many fine Australian artists including The Teskey Brothers, Archie Roach, You Am I, Tex Perkins, Cash Savage and Raised By Eagles, and international luminaries including Joe Pug, Big Country, Courtney Marie Andrews and Deer Tick.
Website: www.nathanseeckts.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nathanseeckts
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nathanseeckts
Nathan's shows are available as a listen on demand, on The Sound Cafe Podcast Page HERE
We asked Nathan to give us five Blues artists, based in Canada, who we should listen to.
BEN LEECE
Ben Leece was in his local record store, an establishment he visits with the borderline-addict frequency of any great music tragic. The proprietor, Chris Dunn, was in his usual locale, behind the counter, losing patience with his iPhone. “No wonder the fuckin’ world’s exhausted!” roared Dunn. Leece suddenly had a title for his solo record: “From that moment this album was never going to be called anything else.”
No Wonder the World Is Exhausted is a songbook of deceptive depth and emotional scope. The former Delta Lions member spreads his wings as a deft and poetic lyricist of eagle eye and forked tongue, wry and perceptive in equal measure. It’s the work of a writer who wrote songs on his father’s Maton before he properly learned to play, an early teen in Kamilaroi country on a small farm in Quirindi, on the Liverpool Plains south of Tamworth.
Now based in the Hunter Valley, and in possession of an assured debut album, the songwriter asserts “there’s no overall theme to the record”. But there are threads one can tease should you look. Nothing is quite as it seems in these ten impressive tracks, such is their layers and nuances, and it’s the hidden details that reveal a collection of dualities and dichotomies.
Website: https://benleece.net/
MATT WARD
Ward’s debut album ‘Heartland’, a true story of love, loss and redemption,defied expectations to secure the ARIA #1 Australian Country album spot, debuted at #1 on iTunes Country Album charts and has racked up over 140,00 streams worldwide. Rhythms Magazine described Heartland as "world class” and “testament to his ability to blend popular and alt. country elements in convincingly heartfelt songs”. Ward recently showcased for Sounds Australia at Nashville’s Americanafest and was announced in the first line-up of artists for one of the biggest country festivals in Australia, the Groundwater Country Music Festival.
Ward is now releasing new music recorded at the famous Yellow Dog Studios in Wimberley, Texas (where Colter Wall recently recorded and produced his Billboard charting album), with well-known American producer, David Percefull.
Off the back of his debut success with ‘Heartland’, Ward’s growth and diversity stamps him as a serious creative force in Australian Country and Americana music. Combined with his authenticity as a story teller and genuineness as a person, Ward is ready for country music’s biggest stages with spirited live performances, strong storytelling and damn good songs you can’t get rid of.
Website: https://www.mattwardmusic.com
FANNY LUMSDEN
Award-winning Australian country artist Fanny Lumsden has just released her third studio album, Fallow, an indelible collection of stories that features some of her most intimate song-writing to date, on Red Dirt Road Records/Cooking Vinyl Australia.
Recorded in the Snowy mountains in a stone hut, Fallow ‘is a breakthrough record for Lumsden’ (Chris Mathieson, SMH) with it debuting at number 10 on the all genres ARIA chart and receiving rave reviews across the board. Fallow is certainly an album providing
Hailing from Tooma in the Snowy Mountains of Australia, Lumsden has racked up two ARIA nominated Albums, two ARIA Chart-topping album, three Golden Guitars Awards, an AIR award, a CMC Award, her own Record Label - Red Dirt Road Records - and her and her husband and business partner Dan Stanley Freemans, own hugely successful touring brand - The Country Halls Tour, which is no small feat for a self-managed, artist.
Along with her incredible band – the Prawn Stars, Fanny has established herself as an exuberant performer with high energy show that somehow successfully manages to combines totem tennis, synchronized swimming with intimate story telling delivered with luscious harmonies,
Website: https://www.fannylumsden.net
FENN WILSON
Fenn Wilson is an award-winning young singer-songwriter based in Melbourne, originally from the Bellarine Peninsula, Fenn released his debut full length album, Ghost Heroin, in November 2019. The album was made with the assistance of Queenscliff Music Festival's Emerging Artist Grant and is dedicated to Fenn's father Chris. It is a beautiful recording, featuring lush strings, textured guitars and layered harmonies, with Fenn's incredible voice front and centre.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/fennwilsonmusic
GRETTA ZILLER
First impressions aren’t always right. If you’ve been foolish enough to nail down the sound of acclaimed songwriter Gretta Ziller, then prepare to have the rug pulled out from under you. Queen of Boomtown, her stunning debut record, defies categorisation and demands repeated listens.
Ziller’s sound may bear the hallmarks of classic Americana music but its essence is far more diverse. The Melbourne songstress’ roots span jazz, blues, rock, pop and classical, and that eclectic musical upbringing is reflected in the varied tracks on this new collection.
For Ziller, the songs are often inspired by emotions rather than common trials and autobiographical tribulations. “I approach my songwriting a little bit like a bower bird,” the songwriter explains. “I am a collector of ideas and thoughts. The Notes app in my phone is full of one liners and song ideas. I don’t write specifically about every day stuff in my life, I tend to take an idea or emotion about something that is relevant or emotionally attractive to me and roll with it.”
Website: https://grettaziller.com
We asked Nathan to suggest five artists, but, he couldn't resist giving us a bonus one we should be listening to as there are so many great artists coming out of Australia right now...
LINCOLN LEFEVRE
In the depths of a South Hobart winter some ten years ago, LINCOLN LE FEVRE & THE INSIDERS starting writing songs that would soon become 2008’s debut album 30-Watt Heart. The band quickly cultivated a local and national following with le Fevre’s unique kind of bullshit-free punk-country storytelling, equally capable of airpunching singalongs and crowd-silencing emotion.
If 2012’s album Resonation was a masterful exercise in emo-country, dwelling on life in a small-time town, then this year’s upcoming release COME UNDONE is a supercharged record on what’s left on leaving. The Insiders are set to introduce a bunch of these new tracks, including the first cut from the record ‘USELESS SHIT,’ recorded in late 2016 with producer Mike Deslandes (The Nation Blue, Hoodlum Shouts) at the controls.
Lincoln le Fevre has toured extensively both with the band, and as a solo artist, most recently playing punk-rock mega festival The Fest in Florida, USA, and coming home to his signature ‘couch residency’ to capacity audiences.
Website: http://www.lincolnlefevre.com
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