Take a full shot of country and chase it down with something real sweet!
Barroom Honky Tonk and Cool Cowboy Country!
Doug Bruce and Roo Arcus have country pedigrees a mile long, Doug born in Texas USA knows firsthand what country music fans want to hear and Roo from the NSW Southern Tablelands lives and breathes his music the ‘Cowboy Way’. Teaming up for this tour, they will bring fans a great mix of hardcore country music mixed with their original songs, penned and recorded on their latest albums.
Doug’s first radio single, and title track, from the release of his latest album “Made That Way” is already in the top ten on the country music charts, and going on past airplay results it’s sure to impress the listeners.
Roo is still riding high after his 1st radio single “This Here Cowboy” from his new album of the same name, topped the charts at number 1 for 3 weeks in a row.
Doug and Roo are passionate about their music and their fans.
And this tour really is for country fans! It’s the music that they have been asking to hear; songs that will make them remember just why they fell in love with country music. From the laid back vocal delivery by Roo Arcus to the floor stomping honky tonkin' sounds of Doug Bruce, the fans will be delivered a night of music to remember. If you like to dance or just want to sit back and enjoy, you won’t be disappointed... it’s quantity and quality all the way!
TOUR DATES - MORE TO BE ADDED SOON....
FEBRUARY
Thu 21st Hallam Hotel - Ph: 03 8786 0200
Fri 22nd Gateway Hotel Geelong - Ph: 03 5275 1091
Tickets available now from http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/
MARCH
Sat 9th Sale Greyhound Club – Ph: 03 5144 2148
Sun 10th Cobden Golf Club – Ph: 03 55 951 393
JULY
Fri 19th Commercial Club Wagga - Ph: 02 6921 3012
Sat 20th Molesworth Hotel Molesworth - Ph: 03 5797 6266
Sat 27th Highland Society Club Maryborough - Ph: 03 5461 1480
The Sunny Cowgirls are building up the heat and setting the pace for their very long and thoroughly enjoyable tour to promote their latest album, What We Do. This album was released on January 11, has already produced its first hit with the single Green and Gold, an anthem to Australia. Kicking off with the official album launch at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, the What We Do tour will find The Sunny Cowgirls – sisters Celeste and Sophie Clabburn – doing what they do best: rocking out venues in country towns across this wide brown land!
“We’re all so excited to have these new songs to play!” says Celeste. “I think it’s really important that we get out to as many towns as possible. Lots of our fans don’t live in major cities – and I think we owe them a trip! I love getting out of the cities when we tour. An occasional trip to a city is good fun, but there’s something a bit special when you’ve got a big day of driving ahead of you, followed by a gig that night. We are a real team out on the road – us, the band, the crew. We’re all good mates, so it’s always fun!”
Being on the road is a condition which resides deep in the souls of The Sunny Cowgirls. Sophie and Celeste were born in the small Victorian wheatbelt town of Dunkeld. Celeste now lives not far away, on a sheep farm near Hamilton, while Sophie lives on acres in New England. Their childhoods were spent in Perth, and both girls have strong memories of annual car trips across the Nullarbor to attend the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
“When we sit around at home for too long we get itchy feet,” says Sophie. “Travelling around Australia, especially in the rural areas, is the best part of our job. There are always new things to see, new characters to meet – and new pubs to discover! Touring provides a lot of inspiration for our new songs, as well.”
Although it’s been three years since The Sunny Cowgirls last embarked on a major tour, rarely a month goes by without the sisters teaming up and heading out to perform somewhere off the beaten track. And those journeys have, of course, strongly influenced the writing of the 14 new songs on What We Do. Green and Gold, for instance, reflects on the glorious colour palette of Australia, and was inspired by the view out of an aeroplane over Broome. Gonna Drive is a traveller’s yearning, a song for people who “just wanna fill the tank and turn the key on my old bus”. And then there’s All Nighter, a rollicking number about the delicate art of marathon drinking. “I’d be very upset if there’s not a few grog monsters down the front, practicing their straight arm drinking[1],” says Celeste.
As anyone who has already seen The Sunny Cowgirls on stage will attest, the Clabburn sisters are not simply talented singer-songwriters – they are dyed-in-the-wool entertainers who can rock any room, from a big B&S tent to a tiny town hall.
“Our aim is to entertain every single person in the venue!” says Sophie. “We always have a lot of fun on stage, and we like to see the energy rub off on the audience. On this tour we’ll obviously be showcasing a fair few of the new songs – but there will be a swag of the old favourites thrown in as well. Hopefully, we’ll take everyone on a little journey, with lots of laughs, stories and a few surprises. We reckon this is going to be the best tour yet!”
And so it will be. After all, singing up a storm is what they do.
FEBRUARY 2013
Friday 8th February 2013
Orange Ex-Services Club, ORANGE NSW
Saturday 9th February 2013
Rooty Hill RSL Club, ROOTY HILL NSW
Sunday 10th February 2013
Lizottes, KINCUMBER NSW
Thursday 14th February 2013
Mittagong RSL Club, MITTAGONG NSW
Friday 15th February 2013
Yass Soldiers Club, YASS NSW
Saturday 16th February 2013
St Georges Basin Country Club, SANCTUARY POINT NSW
Friday 22nd February 2013
Muswellbrook RSL Club, MUSWELLBROOK NSW
Sunday 24th February 2013
Tumbafest, TUMBARUMBA NSW
MARCH 2013
Friday 8th March 2013
Exies Club, GRIFFITH NSW
Saturday 9th March 2013
Homebush Hotel, BALRANALD VIC
(03) 5020 6803
Wednesday 13th March 2013
Hallam Hotel, HALLAM VIC
Thursday 14th March 2013
Commercial Hotel, SOUTH MORANG VIC
www.thecommercialhotellounge.com.au
Friday 15th March 2013
Gateway Hotel, CORIO VIC
Saturday 16th March 2013
Terang Country Music Festival, TERANG VIC
Thursday 21st March 2013
Italian-Australian Club, MORWELL VIC
www.italianaustralianclub.com.au
Sunday 24th March 2013
Thredbo Country Music Festival, THREDBO NSW
www.thredbo.com.au/countryinthesnowys/
*** More tour dates to be announced in coming weeks
For more information, please visit www.sunnycowgirls.com
Welcome, Harmony...What inspired you to become a country music artist?
My love of western novels, music and writing had me on that path from a young age, but I really went country when I first heard some cassette tapes from the US with the Judds and Randy Travis.
Can you tell us a bit about your most recently released album, or song?
Emmylou’s Guitar - the current single, was inspired after I moved to the city and there were all these buskers being ignored by the busy people in a hurry to get somewhere. It’s really about seeing people out there having a go, and finding yourself identifying with them, wondering what their stories are, and really feeling like you want them to succeed.
read the rest of Mandy's interview here MM speaks with Harmony James
[video]http://youtu.be/xcjsZVPSmmY[/video]
The new album by sister act The Sunny Cowgirls is the perfect representation of what country music is all about. “We’ve never done anything we didn’t want to do and this album is no exception,” declares Celeste Clabburn, one half of The Sunny Cowgirls. The duo’s latest album, What We Do, is a powerful and engaging testament to the grit, talent and determination of Celeste and sibling Sophie.
The 14 songs on the album – all originals – find The Sunny Cowgirls reaffirming and extending their reputation for delivering hook-laden country songs shot through with emotion, instantly memorable imagery and wry humour. Recorded in Nashville, Perth and Sydney, What We Do finds the Clabburn sisters in mature and confident mode – with an approach to songwriting and performance that will invite rave reviews.
“Soph and I had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted this album to be,” says Celeste. “I think we’ve both grown up in the past few years, and it shows in our song-writing and the content of our songs. We wanted this album to be real, organic, natural and true to us. We wanted great players and amazing musicianship, but at the same time we didn’t want a sparkly, shiny Nashville-sounding record.”
It is a mark of the Clabburn sisters’ determination that in What We Do they have achieved exactly that. Despite being joined in the Fool On The Hill studio by some of Nashville’s finest talents – such as dobro-player Dan Dugmore (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) and drummer Shawn Fichter (Peter Frampton) – the new album is as dinkum Aussie as its first single, Green & Gold, suggests. The idea of recording in the USA came from The Sunny Cowgirls’ producer, Australian studio legend Sam Hawksley (The Whitlams, John Farnham, Adam Brand). At first, Sophie and Celeste were not at all keen on the idea.
“Sam’s a great friend of ours and just brilliant at what he does,” says Sophie. “We’ve always been big fans, but never thought in a million years we’d be recording an album with him in Nashville! We actually laughed at the idea when he first suggested it, because Nashville isn’t really what we’re about. We’ve always recorded here in Australia. We were worried that our Aussie sound might get lost in a big American studio.”
Those fears proved unfounded, however, in part because the stellar American talents who joined Sam and the sisters in the studio were balanced by an equally stellar Australian contingent, including bluegrass guitarist Jedd Hughes (Patty Loveless, Sarah Buxton) and, later, keyboardist Matt Fell (Tim Freedman, Sara Storer). The sisters’ down-to-earth no-nonsense attitude was more than matched by the businesslike approach of their American collaborators.
“We recorded 14 tracks in two days!” says Sophie. “Actually, not even – they were only six-hour days, so 12 hours all up. They don’t muck around over there.” Once the music recording was completed The Sunny Cowgirls left Nashville and flew to Perth – where they spent their childhoods – and laid down vocals under the guidance of band manager Mark Donohoe. Backing vocals were provided by former Australian Idol heavyweight, Courtney Murphy. The final elements – including a toy piano – were added at Sydney’s Love HZ studio, under the watchful eye of Matt Fell.
And thus, more than two years after the first songs for it were written in 2010, What We Do is finally ready for release. The immediate success of the first single Green & Gold suggests the collection will be an early, strong contender for many awards. In the minds of the Clabburn sisters, however, it is already a triumph – of the will. “This is the first album we have released independently,” said Sophie. “There is no record company calling the shots. We really took control of this record and made the album we wanted to make.” And rightly so… after all, it’s what they do.
The Sunny Cowgirls album What We Do is released on Friday January 11, 2013 through WJO.
For more information please visit www.sunnycowgirls.com
Subscribe to RSS Feed