“All will be well and all will be well and every kind of thing shall be well.” Julian of Norwich

When we first moved up to Byron Bay eleven years ago, with our then 13-year-old son and four-year-old daughter in tow, I never imagined that there would be an annual pilgrimage to a music festival. Somehow though, come hail or shine or mud – and there’s been plenty of all those, we’ve joined that die-hard group of fanatical believers, those thousands of us that make up the religious group the ‘Bluesfesters’, and this year will be no different.

In fact, I believe there’s actually now a second generation of Byron Bay children who actually believe that Easter IS Bluesfest.

But stomping around the Festival grounds for four or five days during what is arguably the most important religious fixture of the year, at least for Christians, does beg the question of Easter’s mixed messages.

My personal pondering on the meaning of Easter started early on. For someone who’s always had a devout belief in fairies and angels I was remarkably cynical, scarring my younger sister forever – so she says – when I discovered at five, when she was only three, that Santa Claus, or Father Christmas as we called him in England, wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. Then this Easter business was just too confusing for words. In the small village where I went to church every Sunday it was hard to put chocolate eggs, hot-cross buns, Easter bunnies, Jesus dying on a cross, and Jesus coming back to life, into a parcel that made any sort of sense. My parents, who were going through an atheist phase at the time, left me to go to church with my best friend, and were no help at all in the answering questions department.

“You’ve got a chocolate Easter egg,” my father told me one year. “Stop asking questions or I’ll take it away.” Right, well that explains that then.  My mother’s complicated relationship with whisky bottles spilled over – usually literally – into a loving but incomprehensible answer to almost any question you asked.  “When you ask who Jesus was,” she might say, “you’re asking was he the son of God, was he a healer – he was a Rabbi of course…” and then she’d be quite likely to wander off leaving me none the wiser.

Later on the confusion between the Jewish faith, the Catholic faith – and our particularly boring brand of Church of England faith, versus Buddhism, Allah and all the rest, left me determined to work out my own slightly peculiar set of beliefs. But at least my exposure to religion at school and church allowed me to embrace, if not God in the patriarchal sense of the word, then the idea of a divinity at work in our lives, rich in symbolism, myth and magic.

I wish the same could be said of my teenage daughter (aka The Princess), who recently moved from her public high-school to a Catholic high-school, and after some months of sickness, finally made a languid return to school for a few hours, which prompted me to be all overcome with motherly finger wagging, which went a bit like this:

Me: “So, in the brief three hours you were at school – did you actually learn anything? Anything that perhaps you might have actually, well, retained?”
Anna: “Let me see…well, I learned that Jesus wore sandals – at least I think he did.”
Me: “That comes under ‘fashion’ not education…”
Anna: “Well it’s Easter soon…that’s something to do with him isn’t it? Like, well, when he got hung on the cross.”
Me: (Gasping for breath). “Crucified. He was crucified. It’s about the crucifixion and the resurrection.”
Anna: “What’s the res-errection? It sounds rude to me.”
Me: “Anna…honestly.”
Anna: “Anyway who knows what the dude looked like. They always give him good hair, but they didn’t have iPhones then so how do you they know? He could have been bald. Also, Mum, I have to tell you – Mary weren’t no virgin.”

To be honest you can see her point. “I’d like to have been there for that conversation,” she said as she flounced off to her room full of wet towels on the floor and mugs growing mould. “Hey, Joseph, I’ve got something to tell you. I’m pregnant. It’s not yours – but GUESS WHAT – IT’S GOD’S! Way to go Mary…”

Even the Catholic Church needs help on the idea of the Immaculate Conception apparently…

The Princess is firmly devoted to the idea of Bluesfest as her pagan Easter ritual festival. She might not have realised it, but last year when Hozier sung his anthem ‘Take me to Church’, there was a sudden and extraordinary meeting of the sacred and profane right there in a tent full of thousands of people:

Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

If I’m a pagan of the good times
My lover’s the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice

Hozier at Bluesfest 2015

She.   God. Goddess. We tend to think of feminism as a recent development, or at least, those of who remember the days before iPhones do, but to put on a feminist hat for a moment, Easter is one more example of a pagan celebration that was originally connected to women, but was hijacked over the centuries by the patriarchy to the point where I think you would have a hard time finding even one child who would know that in fact Easter was originally a celebration of spring and fertility. Its name comes from the Saxon goddess of the dawn and spring – Oestre or Eastre, who was known also in Germany as Ostara, Easter connecting to the word ‘estrogen’, or oestrogen, to give it its older spelling. In Saxon times April was called ‘Ostermonud’ the month in which the cold winds of winter stopped, and the spring began.

But deep feminine wisdom goes back, as it should, to the dawn of time (as indeed, of course, does deep male wisdom). There are many female mystics who have been forgotten, or ignored, by mainstream education.

Take for instance, the wonderful Julian of Norwich. We don’t know much about Julian’s life – even her name was simply a reference to the Church of St. Julian in Norwich to which she attached herself, cloistering herself forever inside a small stone anchorage built against the outer wall of the sanctuary. By the time Julian entered her cell she had witnessed three rounds of Plague, had almost certainly lost most of her family and loved ones, and had nearly died herself.

But she even prior to the desolate landscape that may have led her towards her solitary life, when she was young she already showed signs of devotion to Christ, saying that she had been asked to bear witness to the passion of Jesus. When she was on her deathbed the visions she had were of Jesus’ crucifixion, which she felt in every cell of her own body. Other saints and mystics have reported similar experiences, but what is unusual about Julian’s story is that Jesus’ death was not distressing to her. It wasn’t, she says, that he didn’t suffer but rather despite the suffering, he also radiated warmth, sweetness, and joy.

Take ‘sin’ for instance. Sin, says Julian, turns out to be “no thing.” She is quite clear: “Nowhere in all that was revealed to me did I see a trace of sin,” she writes. “And so I stopped looking for it and moved on, placing myself in God’s hand, allowing him to show me what he wanted me to see.”  In Julian’s view, “sin has no substance, not a particle of being, and can only be detected by the pain it causes.” When we make mistakes and create suffering or suffer ourselves, we humble ourselves and God loves us even more. If your leanings are towards a more contemporary church, try substituting the word ‘sin’ for shame, or blame.

But for me what is perhaps most startling about Julian’s theology is her view of the feminine identity of God. Julian still sees the Godhead in the Christian Trinity – traditionally ‘The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit’, but with this twist: the Second Person (Christ) is actually the Mother (not the Son). In other words: ‘The Father, Mother and the Holy Spirit’.

A modern version of the pagan ‘moon’ trinity: The Maiden, the Mother and the Crone.

“As truly as God is our Father,” she says, “just as truly is God our Mother.” Who else but a mother, she asks, would break herself open and pour herself out for her children? “Only God could ever perform such duty.” Not only that, but Julian’s God-as-Mother is always available to us. She encompasses the unconditional love of Mother Mary in the Catholic tradition, the infinite compassion of Tara in the Buddhist tradition, and the holiness of the Shekhinah in the Jewish tradition. It bemuses Julian that we don’t understand this. When we get something wrong, we want to run away. But “our courteous Mother doesn’t want us to flee,” Julian says. “Nothing would distress her more. She wants us to behave as a child would when he is upset or afraid: rush with all our might into the arms of the Mother.”

For Julian, the good news is not merely the reward we will receive one day when we slough off this mortal coil and go home to God. Every moment is an opportunity to remember that we are perfectly loved and perfectly lovable, just as we are. Living ‘in the present moment’, it would appear, has been around for a while.

“And so when the final judgment comes,” Julian writes at the end of The Showings, “… we shall clearly see in God all the secrets that are hidden from us now. Then none of us will be moved in any way to say, ‘Lord, if only things had been different, all would have been well.’ Instead, we shall all proclaim in one voice, “‘Beloved One, may you be blessed, because it is so: ALL IS WELL.'”

It may occur to readers to wonder where I’m going with all of this, but it’s simple really, what I found in the feminine mystics – particularly in the sacred music of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, who was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary and the founder of scientific natural history in Germany – was the Missing Link. The Divine Feminine that allowed me to understand the depths of mysticism from which all religions springs.

In their different ways, visionaries like Richeldis de Faverches (founder of the Holy House at Walsingham, or ‘England’s Nazareth’), the learned Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Brabant (exemplary voice of the Beguine tradition of love mysticism), charismatic traveller and pilgrim Margery Kempe and anchoress Julian of Norwich all challenged traditional male scholastic theology.

So it was with delight that when I was ‘tagged’ by the photographer Juno Gemes in her extraordinary photograph of a female Christ in ‘Bush Pieta’, I found the perfect image for this piece. The powerful transformation from the traditional pieta of Mary cradling the dead body of her son, Jesus, to Joseph cradling the body of his dead daughter, holds for me the divine duality of life.

So to take this piece back to where it started, when I’m lining up for hours for a Byron Organic Doughnut, or sloshing through the almost-inevitable mud, or there for the moment when a band, or a singer, reaches the heavenly heights, Easter for me is a time to reflect on this – life, death and rebirth.

Happy Easter.

Candida Baker’s next set of Just Write courses start this week: https://www.verandahmagazine.com.au/just-write/

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The Easter long weekend is almost here we’re counting down the sleeps until Bluesfest takes over Byron, and well, it’s just one  big musical party for five days.  According to Sam Carberry, there’s plenty of local talent sprinkled in with the national and international acts as well.

The first of our locals, Ash Grunwald, is originally from Ballina and now lives in the Byron Shire. He plays tenacious Blues, often loud and bold in lyrical communication.  A social activist, he protested against the anti-mining and emissions of coal seam gas within the Northern Rivers, and his 2013 song The Last Stand was a unifying song for the public protesting against this ongoing environmental issue.

“Mass corporations of our society have one agenda and that is to make money,” says Grunwald, talking about his need to drive social change through his music.  “Fair enough, that’s business. But when that becomes the sole agenda of these corporations, it becomes inherently sociopathic.”  On a positive note, Grunwald has been elated with the progressive work in Silicon Valley. He believes there are organisations out there who care for more than just money. ‘These [corporations] are more future thinking and care for the environment and its people,” he says. I often wonder what we are doing to this world and what we are leaving for our kids.

Environmentalist and social warrior Ash Grunwald is a Ballina boy originally. He’s at Bluesfest this year.

Grunwald reveals that he is currently working on a new album, which will see him recording in the USA. His most recent album Now (2015) is a solo album which includeds popular songs such as River and Second Guess. Grunwald is currently discussing collaborations with Bonnie Raitt and Tony Joe White, both veteran Rhythm and Blues performers. ‘These guys are people I used to listen to back in the day,” he says.  “They are big influences and heroes of mine. On the old school Blues front that would be amazing.”

NSW North Coast local, Marshall Okell is a songwriter and solo artist. Growing up amongst a musical family, Okell had an early start in the music scene. His father was a Rock ’n’ Roll guitarist and ignited an early passion for Blues and Soul. Marshall Okell’s greatest musical influences were Jimi Hendrix and ACDC. During his early twenties, Okell was lead vocalist in the band Marshall and the Fro. The dirty Blues band produced two albums together before eventually parting ways in 2011. After the split, Marshall continued to perform and has toured around Australia working with some of Australia’s most recognised artists such as Xavier Rudd, Wolfmother, The Cat Empire and The Living End.

Okell’s music plays with a mixture of musical genres including Electric Blues and soft rock. One of his most popular tracks Almost Killed You (Birdy, 2013) has an edgy, body swaying and electric beat that is accompanied by iron-strong bustling vocals.  Marshall, who is currently touring Australia, is making his way through Victoria and performing at Sydney, Newcastle, Marrickville and Towradgi Beach before he takes the stage in Byron.

2012 Bluesfest Busking Competition Winner, Hussy Hicks are a two-woman band from the Gold Coast, Queensland. Julz Parker and Leesa Gentz create a beat with fiery finesse and soul that has you tapping your feet and swaying to the melody.  After almost ten years working together, Hussy Hicks continue to take their music to new levels. Most recently, the duo are wrapping up a seven show tour, performing in Western Australia.

Hussy Hicks (Leesa Gentz – left – and Julz Parker)  the Gold Coast duo were 2012 Bluesfest Busking Competition winners…

Hussy Hicks cannot be categorised under one particular genre of music. Their style incorporates blues, country and folk, all with one guitar. Hussy Hicks have a six edition discography, with notable mention going to tracks such as People of Passion (The London Sessions, 2013) and Happy (Live at the Soundstage, 2009). Every song has a message or a story to tell and there is a vibrant recurring message that resonates within Hussy Hicks’ lyrics – namely that loving life and each other is worth more than materialistic possessions and past regrets.

In the lead up to the Easter long weekend, Byron Bay has another tradition that accompanies the musical Festival: the Bluesfest Busking Competition. This is an unmissable opportunity for local talent and the competition has become a platform for artists to be recognised and received amongst national and international artists. The Bluesfest Busking Competition has released its 40 Semi-finalists who will battle it out to win the ultimate chance to take the Delta Stage Easter Monday. The competition concludes on Good Friday, March 25; after which six chosen finalists will perform at The Beach Hotel in Byron Bay. The event kicks off at midday.

Ash Grunwald will be performing twice at the festival. You can catch his first appearance on Sunday March 27, at 2:30pm at the Jambalaya tent. His second show is at the Crossroads tent at 1:15pm on Easter Monday.

Marshall Okell will be performing on Thursday at 4.00pm at the Juke Joint tent. If you miss Okell on his first performance or want to hear that deep, dirt Blues a second time, make sure to be at the Jambalaya tent, midday on Easter Monday.

You can catch Hussy Hicks performing at Bluesfest on Easter Sunday, at the Delta tent from 12.00pm.

For more information go to: bluesfest

Ticket prices begin at $159 per adult and $45 for a child for a one day pass.

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This year when Bluesfest Byron Bay opens on March 24 it will officially include ‘Boomerang’, a new world festival for all Australians, and the brainchild of one of Australia’s most important cultural custodians – Rhoda Roberts.

Back in 1997, when Rhoda Roberts delivered the third Rex Cramphorn memorial lecture at Sydney’s Belvoir Street theatre, after her highly successful stint as Artistic Director of the Festival of the Dreaming, an audience member asked her a pertinent question – was there, she was asked, a need for future Aboriginal festivals.

“Yes,” Roberts replied, “I think there is a need, because you only have to look at all the festivals that come out and the level of indigenous works in them. There’s very, very rarely collaborative work…so I think that there is a need for a biennial festival, a community or indigenous festival, particularly if it has the collaborative nature of the works.”

Sixteen years and many gigs later, Roberts saw the realisation of those long-ago words as Artistic Director of the Boomerang Festival which took place on the Bluesfest site at Tyagarah in 2013. This year, in 2016, with Boomerang fully incorporated into the Bluesfest program, Roberts has finally managed to achieve what she wanted – a funded festival which will allow her to showcase Indigenous arts from around the country to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Bluesfest.

Harvest Café owner Tristan Grier, Bluesfest Director Peter Noble, Boomerang Festival director Rhoda Roberts. Front: Belle Budden, Delta Kay and Dinewan at the Crowdfunding launch in December 2015.

It hasn’t been easy – crowdfunding efforts fell short, but where many of us would simply have given up, Roberts did what she has so often done – she dug deep into her creative and personal resilience.

Roberts is used to a road paved with difficulties – both personal and professional. A Bundjalung woman from Widjabul country, who grew up in Lismore, she started her working life as a nurse. “I originally wanted to be a journalist,” she says, “but my mother was adamant that I should know my place – who did I think would even employ an Aboriginal girl? I was used to being called a ‘little darkie’ – even by my teachers – and I was told right from the beginning not to get too big for my boots.”

Roberts late father, Frank Roberts Jnr, was a minister with the Church of Christ, her mother Muriel, who was not Aboriginal met Frank at church. They married and had two sons, Mark and Philip, and twin daughters, Rhoda and Lois, moving to Lismore when the children were small.

“The local community would think my mother was this Christian woman who had adopted these little Aboriginal children,” says Roberts, “then she’d tell people that we were actually her children and their reactions would change completely.”

So their ‘safe’ futures were settled – nursing for Rhoda, and hairdressing for Lois. Working at Canterbury hospital, Rhoda looked forward to visits from her twin, who was as extroverted as Rhoda was introverted. Then tragedy struck just before their 21^st birthday when Lois had a car accident, and was given only a few days to live. Their father insisted that the life-support machine be kept on, and the next day the doctors discovered brain activity. “Unfortunately the brain damage and strokes she suffered meant she became a bit of a lost soul,” says Roberts. “I was incredibly protective of her, but it wasn’t an easy life for her.”

Lois Roberts – Rhoda’s twin sister went missing in 1998.

For Roberts, one thing nursing gave her was the ability to travel. She lived and worked in London for five years, and once she even gave Princess Margaret a lung wash. Eventually the NHS under Margaret Thatcher’s iron rule became too depressing, and Roberts returned to Sydney, determined this time to become involved in the arts scene she’d always felt so drawn towards. “I enrolled in a an acting course alongside Ernie Dingo,” she says, “and I volunteered for Aboriginal community radio.”

From small seeds mighty gum trees grow. Roberts was the first Aboriginal presenter on prime-time television, fronting SBS’s First in Line. The first time I ever saw Roberts was in the original production of Louis Nowra’s Radiance, and she literally shone, in a role written specifically for her. She went on to become a host of Deadly Sounds, an indigenous music and lifestyle show; she worked with the current affairs program, Vox Populi, and when SOCOG was formed, she was appointed director of the Festival Dreaming. From that appointment came the prize gig as Artistic Director of the indigenous opening section of the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony.

On the face of it, the nineties were an amazing decade professionally, even though, as Roberts says, “racism was never far away. I received death threats when I was appointed to the Festival of the Dreaming; human faeces were left on my doorstep when I was appointed to the opening segment at the Olympics. Remember this was the time of Pauline Hanson, and for every supporter of Aborigines there was an equal amount – or more – of racists.”

But despite the obstacles Roberts career flourished, although her personal life was more difficult. In 1992 Roberts had married actor Bill Hunter, and together they raised Lois’s daughter, Emily, due to Lois’s inability to look after a child. Hunter, it was well-known, was a big drinker, and gradually the differences between them – Robert’s desire to have a settled home-life versus Hunter’s peripatetic and often chaotic actor’s existence, saw the marriage begin to unravel.

Then in 1998, tragedy struck – Lois went missing, having last been seen hitching in Nimbin, and despite extensive searching there was no news, until January 8, 1999 when Lois’s body was discovered in the Whian Whian State Forest. The family was devastated, and for Rhoda the idea that her twin had suffered a painful death was unbearable. “I knew somehow I had to keep going,” she says, “and that my way was to continue to be as creative as I could be, and to create collaborations that connect us – the contemporary and the traditional, black and white.”  (The story so moved director Ivan Sen that in 2007 he made a documentary, A Sister’s Love, in which Rhoda explored the terrain of grief and loss – even visiting the site where her sister’s body was found.)

The overwhelming success and accolades of the Awakening segment led to a more and more creatively complex career, and these days Roberts juggles her part-time job as Head of Indigenous Programming at the Sydney Opera House, as well as hosting a new radio program, Deadly Voices from the House, with her job as Artistic Director of Boomerang.

Archie Roach will be playing at Bluesfest, and will be In Conversation with Rhoda Roberts.

“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve done,” she says. “We did the first festival in 2013 entirely self-funded, and this is the first year we’ve received funding. Bluesfest director Peter Noble has always believed in Aboriginal culture, and in reconciliation on the ground. His invitation for Boomerang to be included in Bluesfest has created a win-win situation for our artists – they can develop new audiences, plus show how culutural individualism and integration is possible.”

It’s not just musicians that will be presenting material. Roberts has curated an exciting program of events – In Conversations, workshops, weaving, dancing, art and healing, just for starters. “We have established people such as George Negus chairing talks; we have the 2015 Young Environmentalist of the Year, Amelia Telford, who is a Lismore girl; I’m doing an In Conversation with Archie Roach, who is also appearing on the main Bluesfest stage, and we have 52 dancers coming from the Torres Strait Islands,” she says. “I just love the idea of people kicking back at Bluesfest and being able to watch and absorb so much amazing material.”

Amelia Telford – Young Environmentalist of the Year for 2015 will be appearing at Boomerang.

As if running a major festival program and a job were not enough, Roberts is also involved in an artistic project very close to her heart. She’s co-directing a new play, Three Brothers with NORPA Artistic Director Julian Louis.

“The play is inspired by the Bunjalung creation story,” Roberts explains. “But it’s a very modern-day story of three brothers from the Northern Rivers – the family’s surname is Rivers, and we have three rivers that surround the area. Do you know that Aborigines on average attend 15 funerals a year? That is an extraordinary statistic. It’s normal for us to go to funerals of people in their early forties, and for many of us we are cloaked in a kind of trauma around the magnitude of loss in our community.”

What Roberts, and other cultural leaders, including curator Djon Mundine who is also involved in the project, are seeing is the sadness of the elders that the songlines are being lost. “We have no succession planning,” she says, “no leadership discussions – and we have to do this. As we move towards 2017 and constitutional reform it’s a perfect time to have a play that deals with these complex nuances.”

Not that it will all be dark material. “Far from it,” says Roberts. “The Bunjalung are rich in dances and physical movement, and the text will be full of humour and wonderful language. It’s allowing us to have real community engagement, and to work with such great people as Djon and the writer Melissa Lucashenko.”

Rhoda Roberts and her husband Stephen Field.

As Roberts picked up the pieces after the loss of her sister and her marriage, she discovered within herself not just an ability to dig deep, but also a burning desire to continue to create cultural connection, but at the same time to ‘belong’. “I’m a North Coast girl,” she says. “It’s where my family is, and so many years ago I bought a hundred acres at Jackie Bulbin Flat near New Italy, and in 2004 we moved up here.”

The ‘we’ is her husband, farmer, stonemason and landscape designer Stephen Field, Lois’s daughter Emily, now 22, as well as the two children the couple have together Jack, 17, and Sarah, 16.

As Roberts continues to expand her creative wings, including the next phase of planning some big discussions at the Opera House for May 27, Referendum Day, and a soon-to-be-announced new project, it strikes me that the overwhelming humility, work ethic and wisdom of this constantly high achiever makes her one of the most important custodians of Aboriginal culture in Australia today. Thank goodness the little Lismore girl got  ‘too big for her boots’, and may many follow her.

Boomerang – a new world festival for all Australians will be on as part of Byron Bay Bluesfest from March 24-28. For more information go to: https://www.boomerangfestival.com.au/

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Local Lennox Heads Photographer Heidi Flumm took this photo of Gary Clark Junior at this year’s Bluesfest.  “It’s one of my favourite shots,” she says.  “Not just because I’m a big fan of his music, but because I think it captures something of his onstage presence.  He’s a formidable musician and it’s been interesting to watch his transition into musical superstardom. He’s the personification of the young, eye-catching, slightly arrogant rock star and he plays with an air of disconnection from his audience which I feel comes through in this picture. He’s  a man of few words when he plays, but as with all great musicians, his music does more than enough talking for him and you’re left feeling like you’ve lucked into witnessing a new generation’s great musical sensation.”

Heidi shot Gary Clark on her Canon 5D Mark III

You can see more of Heidi’s work here: heidiflumm.com

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Hmmm…Hozier, Playing for Change, Trombone Shorty…so much to choose from, so little time.

Two-year-old Jaya Phillips in his element at Bluesfest.

Colourful, cheerful and cheeky – the next generation of Bluesfesters…

Three-year-old Tahlia and two-year-old Yemaya try their first Potato Head.

Noah, 20 months, and Elias 10 months, outside the Crossroads tent.

Babies, champagne – it’s a balanced life…

They just brought me so I could carry the chairs…just kidding…

Photography:  Candida Baker

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AUM PR’s Word of the Week – ‘duende’ – perfect as a Byron Bay Bluesfest teaser.  There’ll be plenty of dudes and dudesses reeking of duende any day now invading the Shire as we head towards the Northern Rivers biggest festival of the year.  Our vote for duende goes to the unbelievable Rodrigo y Gabriela playing this year’s Bluesfest at 8.30 on Easter Sunday in the Mojo tent. We’ve seen them live a few times, and if anybody embodies the essence of duende, it’s these two.  Don’t miss them.

You too, can have a WoW moment – just leave an example of great, and underused word, on Verandah Magazine’s FB page, or in the FB box below and we will pass it on to AUM.  They’re up ‘H’.  Best WoW of the month submitted wins a beautiful Samson & Bronc candle, made from recycled bottles, soy wax, and local perfumes.

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Kasey Chambers: “I’ve always wanted to record in Studio 301…it was just a bonus that we got to work in Byron.”

Australia’s favourite country music singer is no stranger to Byron Bay – and she’s a regular at our beloved Bluesfest.  Most recently she visited the north coast to record her latest album with the illustrious Nick DiDia at Studio 301.  Verandah Magazine caught up with her to chat about Bittersweet, her first album in four years.

Kasey Chambers is no stranger to Byron Bay. “I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years,” she says, “and apart from the odd holiday it’s always been related to music.” Certainly for regular Bluesfest goers, Chambers is always a welcome addition to the program.

“We started playing the area a long time ago with The Dead Ringer Band,” she says, “and I’ve been lucky enough to play Bluesfest more times than I probably deserve, but I’m certainly grateful for it. Even in years when I don’t play I always go to the festival, I just love it. I feel like it’s been a big part of my life and career – I first started playing Bluesfest back when nobody knew who I was and Peter Noble took a chance on me. This was before The Captain album – I was singing with Buddy Miller and I got to sing a couple of songs with Steve Earle, and it just happened that Peter Noble was in the audience and he said ‘we’ll give you a gig next year’.”

Chambers most recent visit, however, was a bit of a departure from her usual gigs. This time she was here to record her sixth album, Bittersweet. It’s four years since Chambers released her last album, Songbird, and on first listen Bittersweet retains her classic signature Emmylou Harris-influenced feel – with spots of wilder abandon, and some overt musings on religion and spirituality on a couple of tracks.

In the time since Songbird, Chambers and the father of her two youngest children, singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson have divorced, and Chambers has continued to mother her three young children. Perhaps it was her change of circumstances that created a desire for a different approach to recording and different personnel, but whatever the reason, Chambers decided to make use of Studio 301 in Byron Bay where producer Nick DiDia works. The rationale was that she wanted a “leap of faith” in embracing the unknown: it was the first time she had not worked with brother Nash as producer, and she had heard great things of the illustrious DiDia (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against The Machine, Powderfinger).

“I’ve always wanted to record in Studio 301,” she says. “My brother recorded there a few years ago and raved about it and said one day I should make an album there, but it was really because of Nick. I wanted to work with Nick and Nick works out of there, and it was just a bonus that we got to work in Byron.”

Chambers desire to spread her wings worked out well. She recorded a new album, in a different studio, with a different band and producer. “As soon as they said ‘Nick works out of 301 in Byron Bay’ I was like ‘Oh, awesome, this is what I’m meant to do’,” she says, “and hey, a week in Byron – it doesn’t matter if the album’s crap I was happy just to hang out there for a week!”

Fortunately for Chambers’ legions of fans the album is testament to her decision to step outside her comfort zone, and no doubt she’ll back this way again soon – gracing a Bluesfest stage.

Paul Smith

Bittersweet will be released on August 29

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