ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
Starting at the top, Out On The Weekend’s most iconic headliners ever, the institution that is ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL has made Austin, Texas it’s home for 50 years, in which time they’ve won a huge 9 Grammys and released over 20 albums. Close friends of Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel are the remaining link between the early heroes of Western Swing like Bob Wills and today’s generation of real deal Texan country artists. The band is the brainchild of frontman Ray Benson and steel guitar great Lucky Oceans, the man who Australian audiences know and love through his long time show on ABC Radio National and his work with an array of artists, including on the recent Songs For Freedom project from Indigenous singers and songwriters from the Pilbara community of Roebourne. Lucky has called Australia home for decades now but will be returning to his seat in the Wheel for the band’s first ever Australian tour. Loved by the ’70s hippy country-rock community and country traditionalists alike, Ray, Lucky and the band will be joined by current honky-tonkers Brennen Leigh and long-time Love Police pal Joshua Hedley in a show billed The Past, The Present and The Future. And country music lovers DARE NOT MISS IT!
Fri Oct 13 – Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, VIC with Summer Dean
October 15 – The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW with Summer Dean
October 18 – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
October 19 – Freo Social, Perth, WA with Sassafras
Also appearing at Out On The Weekend and Groundwater Music Festivals
WILLIE WATSON
From his early days with Old Crow Medicine Show – the groundbreaking group he co-founded, and whose early albums he appeared – to his current work as a solo artist, WILLIE WATSON is a master folksinger, storyteller and troubadour. The only artist signed to Gillian Welch & David Rawlings esteemed Acony label that isn’t Gillian or David and featured in the Coen Brothers 2017 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – in which he sung the Oscar-nominated song ‘When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings’ – Willie is coming back for his first Australian shows in six years!
October 15 – The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD with Nat Myers
October 17 – A&I Hall, Bangalow, NSW with Nat Myers
Thu Oct 19 – Memo Music Hall, Melbourne, VIC with Melissa Carper
Fri Oct 20 – Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, VIC with Melissa Carper
Sat Oct 21 – Meeniyan Town Hall, VIC with Melissa Carper
October 22 – The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW with Nat Myers
Also appearing at Out On The Weekend
MELISSA CARPER
More from the old-timey end of things, MELISSA CARPER, like her good friend and occasional partner-in-music Sierra Ferrell, has a voice that sounds like it’s coming out of an old gramophone funnel and through a time warp from the early 20th century. Like Ferrell, Melissa has also done her fair share of ramblin’ – indeed she spent years on the road living out of her folks’ old Dodge Maxi Van, busking her way around the US. A first time Australian visitor who plays stand-up bass while she sings, Melissa evoked the spirits of Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn and Billie Holiday on her already-classic first album Daddy’s Country Gold and has continued her ascent with this year’s Ramblin’ Soul.
Mon Oct 16 – Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne, VIC with Summer Dean
Wed Oct 18 – The Great Club, Sydney, NSW with Summer Dean, plus Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields
Thu Oct 19 – Memo Music Hall, Melbourne, VIC supporting Willie Watson
Sat Oct 21 – Meeniyan Town Hall, VIC supporting Willie Watson
Also appearing at Out On The Weekend and Groundwater Festivals
JENNY DON’T & THE SPURS WITH THE PINK STONES & THE BURES BAND
In a triple bill that is set to redefine the good time Americana travellin’ sounds, get set for this beauty.
Hailing from the wilds of Oregon, JENNY DON’T & THE SPURS have been playing their raucous honky tonk sounds for over ten years and spent a few weeks here last year, winning over audiences show by show. With roots in Portland’s fertile punk and garage scenes – bass player Kelly Halliburton was in the Pierced Arrows with Dead Moon’s Fred & Toody Cole and the Spurs late and lamented original drummer Sam Henry was in the legendary Wipers – Jenny Don’t & the Spurs are more fun than you can have even with your chaps on and they’re gonna tear the house down every time.
Heralding a new brand of Cosmic Country, THE PINK STONES appeared out of Athens, Georgia a couple of years ago with a classic debut that drew comparisons to the Flying Burrito Brothers and American Beauty-era Grateful Dead, and which kept them truckin’ on out where the buses don’t run with good humour and great tunes. Heading down under for the first time with a new album called You Know Who, which features a guest appearance from Nikki Lane, The Pink Stones do fellow Georgia peach Gram Parsons proud and bring his Cosmic American Music sensibility truly to life in the 21st century.
Thu Oct 12 – Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne, VIC
Fri Oct 13 – The Barwon Club – Geelong, VIC
Sun Oct 15 – The Star Hotel, Yackandandah, VIC
Tues Oct 17 – The Great Club, Sydney, NSW
Also appearing at Out On The Weekend