x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Sunburnt Country Music

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.

music music interviews

All Episodes

35:50

Tom Mac on his ‘Nomadic’, adventurous life in music

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/12/06

Tom Macis a country music artist from south-east Queensland who has extensive experience as both a performing and recording artist, whose story – as I found out during this interview – has many strands to it, all of them weaving together to form the artist who is now releasing the songs he’s always wanted to bring to people, including his latest single, ‘Nomadic’.Mac was in his car when we spoke, with his guitar, Maton ECW80 cutaway, in the back seat, so I decided to start the conversation there,

en

29:29

Sandy Louise on storytelling, community and ‘Tears in...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/12/04

Newcastle, NSW artistSandy Louisestarted her musical life on flute and picked up guitar at the age of eighteen, which is also when she started writing songs – and songwriting has become a passion of hers.Influenced by Kasey Chambers, The Cranberries and Alanis Morissette, Sandy has been writing songs ever since and is now an integral member of the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA), acting as the regional coordinator in her area. In that capacity she organises open-mic nights – and it was at a

en

30:53

Olive Mae on the amazing family story behind new...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/30

Australians of a certain age who grew up in certain locations will remember El Caballo Blanco. It was a show featuring dancing white horses – hence the name – and as I grew up in Sydney, one of two Australian sites for El Caballo Blanco, I remember the TV ad, despite the fact I was only allowed to watch half an hour of television a day. That’s how effective the marketing machine of Western Australian artist Olive Mae’s grandfather was. Her grandfather was a remarkable entrepreneur who founded

en

25:32

Sara Berki on songs, storytelling and her new EP Outrun

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/27

If Sydney-area country music artistSara Berkihad only released her EPIn the Neonearlier in the year, played her first headline tour – which was a two-set affair – as well as major festivals,andthe NRLW Grand Final, as well as two Golden Guitar nominations (for New Talent and Female Artist of the Year) that would be a year in which she could put her feet up by now and have earnt a rest. Instead, she has just released another EP,Outrun, which is moving and memorable, offering a different musical

en

27:42

Tate Cole takes us down Whiskey River for his debut...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/26

Tate Colegrew up on a small family farm in south-east Queensland, heavily involved in the rodeo scene from a young age, following the lead of his father. At the same time as he was taking his chances on horses and cattle, he was developing his musical talents. His mother encouraged him and his brother to learn piano even before they’d started school, and while he was still in primary school Cole asked if he could learn guitar.Growing up, he heard country tunes in the family car on the long drives

en

44:40

Mak & Shar on the New Problems of their new album

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/24

Mak & Sharare a duo and they are also brothers. They have been making music together since childhood, as two-thirds of Brothers3, and also pursued music and musical studies individually. So they have already achieved a lot, and they’ve also been through a lot, which we have discussed in previous interviews and they elaborate on it in this one.Their debut album together is calledNew Problemsbut both the song and the album are uplifting – the new problems are not big problems. As Shar says during

en

29:36

Andrew Swift on his Lucky Stars and big, meaningful year

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/18

As the saying goes, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Three-time Golden Guitar winnerAndrew Swifthas named his latest albumLucky Stars, and it’s his document of the last few years in his life, which have been full of personal and professional opportunity – and the album itself is testament to the ‘preparation’ part of the equation.Swift is an accomplished and astute songwriter who also loves live performance, honing his sound and his instinct on the road to ensure he presents

en

46:05

Fanny Lumsden on her new national tour and so much more

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/16

There will never not be a lot for me to talk to Fanny Lumsden about. The two-time ARIA and multiple Golden Guitar-winning singer, songwriter, videographer, tour specialist and joy bringer from the Upper Murray region of New South Wales has a full life that has this year seen her tour the United Kingdom and Ireland, supported Paul Kelly on his European and Australian tours, record new songs and release the single ‘Look At Me Now’ and itsaccompanying video, which features moments from Lumsden’s whole

en

28:55

Wade Forster on storytelling, giving 110% and...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/15

‘Lyrics first. Lyrics always first. I’m a lyrics guy beyond anything.’Wade Forstersays this early on in our interview about his latest album,Gooseneck Party, and what then followed was a discussion about his songwriting process – he writes almost exclusively on his own. He mentions that in the last two or three years he’s written upwards of 70 or 80 songs on his own, and the tracks on the album are ‘just twenty-two of the better ones.’Forster has rich material to draw from. As he says in this chat,

en

18:20

James Johnston on his landmark second album, WHERE...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/11/12

Since multiple award-winning and -nominated country music artistJames Johnstonstarted releasing singles, I’ve interviewed him several times. Although we’d met in person none of those interviews have been in person before now, and it was wonderful to have the chance to chat to Johnston about his second album,WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME, the follow-up to his smash-hit debutRAISED LIKE THAT. Because we filmed this in person and I don’t have a whiz-bang multi-camera studio, you’ll see only him on camera –

en

54:48

Loretta Miller on her lifetime of creativity and...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/27

WhileLoretta Millerhas extensive experience in both recorded and live music, as the frontwoman of Melbourne band JAZZPARTY amongst other things, she hasn’t released country music before – so this is the first time I’ve interviewed her, and it was to talk about her debut album,Loretta.This turned out to be a long conversation because Miller has had such an interesting life, growing up in a family of musical artists (including her aunt, Lisa Miller) and painters, that there was a lot to talk about

en

28:38

Ella Powell on latest single ‘Passerby’ and exciting...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/25

Central Coast country music singer-songwriterElla Powellbegan this year as a Grand Finalist in the prestigious Toyota Star Maker competition, with the final held during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. It was no surprise that Powell had this recognition: since she began releasing music in 2020 she has stood out for her songwriting as well as her vocals.Last year she collected her releases in an EP,The End of the Beginning, marking the end of that chapter and the start of a new one. This next

en

43:04

Jade Gibson on daydreaming in poetry and what makes...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/22

Victorian country-pop artistJade Gibsonhas a knack for creating infectious country-pop tunes and she has performed them in all sorts of places, from festival stages to pubs. Next year she’ll be on stage at CMC Rocks. And no doubt her latest single,‘Perfect Crime’, would be on the set list.Written with the song’s producer, Ben Horsley, and Nashville-based songwriter Ava Suppelsa, the song is about ghosting – the ‘perfect crime’. The first song Gibson recorded with Horsley was ‘Technicolour’. As she

en

34:47

Country-rock duo Benson Manor on the power of talking...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/21

The members of Queensland country-rock duoBenson Manor,Chris Knight and Phil Behrens, have been performing together for over two decades but have only recently started to release original music, first with ‘Dirty Weekend’ and now with ‘Let’s Talk’, a song about the power of talking out problems rather than leaving them festering inside.I had no idea what to expect when interviewing the pair, as they only have the two songs out so I hadn’t interviewed them before, but this chat was a hoot and a half

en

38:19

Trinity Woodhouse on her moving new single ‘Pills’

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/20

Trinity Woodhousestarted singing at a very young age. As she tells me in our recent interview, she was playing every sport imaginable and singing while doing it – including while swimming which, as she says, takes some doing! When she was eight her parents suggested she have some vocal lessons, although she didn’t agree to them until she was eleven. She started performing at twelve, and took up guitar initially so she wouldn’t fidget on stage – but she fell in love with it.She attended her first

en

29:13

Sally Jane on learning to stand on Two Feet

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/19

Sally Janeis an emerging country music artist from Serpentine in Western Australia who started singing in early childhood – often in paddocks, as she told me in this interview! – and who has already played in many venues and around the country. Indeed, she has crossed the Nullarbor Plain eleven times to play the east coast of Australia.Last year Sally released two singles, one of which was ‘Bombs & Bullets’, written and recorded with Luke O’Shea. The song is about the military, and I asked Sally

en

31:55

Jasmine Sparkes on taking the musical journey down...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/18

The latest single from Central Coast NSW artistJasmine Sparkesis ‘Sparkes Road’ – based on a real Sparks Road that she travels often, the spelling has been altered slightly to reflect the metaphorical and literal journey Sparkes has taken through her musical life, which began with learning piano in childhood and takes in classical training and musical theatre.Growing up on the land, and still passionate about living in the country today, Sparkes balances her live schedule – travelling to and from

en

25:20

Corey Colum on his long-awaited new album Patience

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/17

Corey Colum emerged into the Australian country music scene in 2009, when he won the Telstra Road to Tamworth competition. He released his debut self-titled album in 2012 – and then we didn’t hear from him for a good long while.Colum didn’t step away from music so much as releasing music. He’s still been very much playing, and writing. But he also had some other – rather important – things to do like raising a family, and just living life. Colum has a variety of skills in addition to his musical

en

47:37

Lyn Bowtell on her magical, moving new album Paper Cut

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/15

It’s fair to say thatLyn Bowtellis a doyenne of Australian music, and not only because she’s the director of the Academy of Country Music, overseeing the Junior Academy each July and Senior Academy each January and everything in between – although that would be qualification enough. So it is that but it is also this: she has this glorious voice that can prompt tears and break hearts in one phrase, and she writes these songs that speak straight to whomever is listening, and when she delivers the

en

44:36

Aleyce Simmonds on her Mighty Mighty Love of music...

Sunburnt Country Music ·

2025/10/14

During this interview with Tamworth-based country music artistAleyce Simmondsyou’ll occasionally hear her talking to her young daughter, Georgia, who was nearby during the chat, and, towards the end, her husband. I could have edited out these lines, but for what reason? To pretend that Simmonds wasn’t at home, doing the interview near her garden, with the setting sun and birds nearby and her beloved child at her feet? This is life – it is her life – and she has gone through great challenges to build

en

371 results

Similar Podcasts

Pasquale Maassen Soundcloud

Pasquale Maassen

Marian Klose

Marian Klose

sevenism

sevenism

Dean Delray"s LET THERE BE TALK

Cactus Radio Network

Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold