I recalled today that I use to have a recurring dream where I would casually bump into Kasey Chambers at Apex Park in my home town Narooma. She’d be cooking up snags on the barbecue on a nice sunny day and she’d be like “Hey, how ya going?”

In 2000 I was watching CMT and a black and white film clip of a girl singing The Captain stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t know who she was or what to call the type of music she was singing, but I loved it. Her authenticity was like nothing I’d ever seen or heard before. It was raw, it was real. I knew then at that moment the type of female singer songwriter I wanted to be.

Fast track 22 years and my producer Syd Green got the gig as Kasey’s drummer. I was trying to decide the best angle to take for my next album when Kasey opened The Rabbit Hole Recording Studio with Brandon Dodd. Knowing that Syd had been touring with Kasey I asked if he would help me record at the Rabbit Hole. I’d emailed Kasey and asked if she’d co-produce the album with Syd, but she said she had enough hats to wear already, that I was in safe hands with Syd and Brandon, and that her gig was really in the catering department. She suggested I come up to do a songwriting day camp with her and check out the studio.

When I arrived at The Rabbit Hole I was greeted by Australia’s most successful ever female country artists; “Hey, how ya going?” 4 other songwriters and I had mentoring with Kasey where she kindly shared her years of industry knowledge and songwriting tips. The catering was next level, she really goes all out and even catered for my plant based requirements.

At the end of the day it was just a light supper. We all had a jam around the camp fire and she threw the sausages into the “wok-a-billy” (custom made by her father Bill) to cook. We dream things that can seem completely whacked out and strange at the time, like they have no place or purpose in our life.

I know now that my journey was always going to lead me here, dirt on our feet, campfire burning and sausages sizzling away; with Australia’s most successful female country salt-of-the-earth star.

On Sunday I will return to The Rabbit Hole Recording Studio in the Central Coast to record my third studio album. It will be co-produced by Syd Green and Brandon Dodd, and Kasey Chambers’ band will be my band for four days; Syd on Drums, Brandon on guitar, Jeff McCormack on bass and the legendary Bill Chambers on lead guitar.

Australia’s Queen of Country will be on catering duties.

Thank you Universe.

I have arrived, and I am ready.

http://www.jocaseley.com/store
Jo Caseley's latest album, Albany, features a co-write with hillbilly father of Australian country music Bill Chambers, guest picking by Chambers,  John Kane (Flying Emus) and Kane Dennelly and John Gwilliam (19-Twenty);  all influential players in Australian country/bluegrass/blues. 

Producer and multi-instrumentalist Syd Green plays just about everything else on the record.  

His tasteful approach has allowed Caseley to do the story-telling with the freedom to move between genres with songs inspired by Ryan Adams, Mary Gauthier, Neil Young and Janis Joplin, delivered in a style that’s completely her own. 

Songs from the album released have already gained National airplay including ABC radio, achieved semi-finalist status in the 2015 International Songwriting Competition and the Unsigned Only Music Competition.

The album reached #4 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts when released digitally and has attracted positive reviews from The Sydney Morning Herald's Bernard Zuel and Post To Wire's Chris Familton, the latter remarked "She can deliver a soulful jazz-inflected croon as convincingly as a raunchy country-rock holler and a sweet country-pop serenade. That range, combined with her affecting stories makes Jo a manifold and endlessly fascinating songwriter."

The title track was written in Albany, Western Australia, whilst Caseley took a grass roots approach and toured nationally for 7-months with her husband, two young children and caravan in tow to many outback remote areas to promote her previous release Dusty Dirt Track.  

After visiting the Desert Corp Memorial and later that day swimming in the same water that sailed the first two convoys of Anzacs to Gallipoli, Caseley found herself grief stricken for the soldiers who never returned and the war widows left behind, and felt a woman trying to tell her story. She listened whilst letting the waves of the ocean break over her and by the time she returned to her touring van and picked up her guitar in open DADDAD tuning, Albany was born. 

Co-written with Chambers, The Baby’s Cry tells the heartbreaking story of Caseley’s American/Welch heritage. Her great-grandmother sailed from Wales to the USA in 1911 to hide her illegitimate pregnancy. After giving birth to Caseley’s grandfather, she abandoned him, leaving him to a stranger before sailing home to Wales with tales of a wonderful Wild West adventure.  

It’s songs such as these that show the depth of her writing. Moving, evocative songs that can’t be faked. But before emotions get too bogged down with songs such as Come Home; a woman’s plea for her man to get home safely after drinking, she breaks the ice with great tongue and cheek with songs like Can’t Keep My Panties On, Baby Don’t You Love Me and I Think I’m Losing It. 

The catchy single Ain’t Love The Sweetest Thing features John Kane on mandolin and was written for a friend who asked Caseley to sing at her wedding. In Dreamin’ Bout the River, Caseley uses the river as a metaphor for her youth and delves back in time to her carefree younger days. 

Theres a song each for the three men in her life. The Cattle Truck is an intimate tribute song for her father written about their bond forged over years of travelling together to country shows in a cattle truck, Sonny Boy was written after her then 4 year old told her he would look after her when she was old and grey, and Keep The Wolves from the Door is about her mechanic husband and one for the hardworking tradies who give up so much to keep food on the table for their families. 

Caseley hosts The Old Mil & Railway Sessions, intimate hall concerts held in her Southern Highlands village home of Penrose which she created in order to perform locally in an sympathetic environment whilst networking with other artists. Her sell-out concerts have featured artists such as Bill Chambers, Kevin Bennett, Lachlan Bryan, Allan Caswell, Harry Hookey & Lou Bradley. 

With 6 years since her last release spent honing her craft from some of the greatest songwriters in the country, Caseley offers us her most personal and honest songs yet with Albany; an inspirational album of home truths and the joy found between life’s up and downs.

An independent release, the album is available personally signed from the artist via the Store from the web page, or as a digital download.

I'm really excited to be getting organised for my first video shoot and I'd love you to be in it!!
We'll be shooting the clip for Ain't Love The Sweetest Thing at Corbett Plaza in Bowral at 6pm, Tuesday 17th Nov.
Please come along and bring your friends!!

With two weeks to go, the last Old Mill & Railway Session for they year has SOLD OUT. 
Thanks to all my loyal supporters who got in early to secure their tickets.
I know there will be many serious Kevin Bennett fans in the audience (I am certainly one of them), and I'm just so grateful that he will be joining the list of amazing artists who have played at the Penrose Hall.
Can't wait for this!!

Here we are! My producer Syd Green and I celebrating the final day in the Mono Nest studio in Nowra recording the new album. 

I found the recording process of this this album my most challenging yet. As a producer, Syd went above and beyond, pushing me harder then I've ever been pushed to find the real Jo Caseley. That kinda frightened the shit out of me. It's easy to fall into old comfortable habits. It's easy to try to sound how we want to sound without realising we are doing it. 

I definitely had to raise the bar for this album, finding myself and being true to myself as an artist and I know I've done that.

There are 11 original tracks and they are my most honest yet. I'm really proud of these songs.

Now mixed and being sent away for mastering to Jeff McCormack to work his genius, I can't wait to hear this album and set these new songs free!!





 

So humbled to have two songs reach semi-finalist status in Nashville's 2015 Unsigned Only Music Competition. Both Albany and Dreamin' Bout The River have caught the ears of the judges. It's the greatest compliment an independant singer/songwriter could wish for!