Kasey Chambers

For those who are new to the wiles of Kasey Chambers (where have you been?), this Central Coast-dwelling singer-songwriter was making music virtually before she could walk. She spent the first nine years of her life on the Nullarbor, where her father, Bill, worked as a fox trapper by day, and country music teacher, around the campfire, at night. “It was a great musical education,” Kasey firmly believes.

Then, when not even in her teens, she fronted the Dead Ringer Band, alongside her father, mother Diane and brother Nash, Australia’s premier exponents of quality country music, they’ve collected ARIA’s and Golden Guitar awards, and have been praised for their stylish spin on roots music, best heard on such albums as 1995’s Home Fires and Living In The Circle, released in 1997. Her brother, Nash played on and produced The Captain, which was recorded on Norfolk Island; her father also played on the album and can usually be spotted playing guitar at Kasey’s side, as part of her touring band.

“Country music is often so over-produced that it can lack heart or soul,” Kasey states, when asked what drives her passion for making music. “I feel that I get down to the roots of the music like Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris. It’s not surprising, since I grew up listening to Gram Parsons and Hank Williams.”