Interview: YOLA CARTER, Nashville Meets London

Bristol born country-soul singer and songwriter Yola Carter took some time to chat with me after her set at the Nashville Meets London festival in Canary Wharf. Read on below to find out her views on finding her sound through Dolly Parton, ‘5-second writing’, and love and loss.

Ciara’s Country: First of all Yola, nice to meet you, and can I say what a fantastic set today!

Yola Carter (YC): Thank you!

CC: How did you find playing in front of the Nashville Meets London crowd?

YC: It’s a beautiful venue, crowd were great and really attentive, which is a thing when you’re a singer songwriter – you want to have a crowd that really loves to listen. I loved it.

CC: And I think we all really enjoyed it as well, particularly because you have a very unique style – we heard some ballads out there, a lot of soul, some country, and even some yodelling – how did you find your sound?

YC: Well it was like I was dousing for who I was, you know? Like as a Black woman, in the UK, you get a lot of things that you should be thrust upon you, like you should be doing this, you should be doing that, and I never was much of a ‘normo’ by any stretch of the imagination, and so the whole ‘should’ never really fit me as a person, and so I was like listening to music in my Mum’s living room, and she had like a special kind of record case with all of her most precious records – I wasn’t allowed to touch all of them – and I was just going through and I’d find things like Dolly, Staple Singers, and I had no idea what it was that I was getting into, but I just loved it! And I listened to pop music and such growing up – that was great but it didn’t sit with me in the same way. So that was me as a kid, I grow up, I do a bunch of different things in my teens, and these little instances keep coming up of like being sat in my friend’s living room and listening to her Dad’s records and playing hippy music, and alt-country, Neil Young, CSN, and I was always around that environment so then going and doing things. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do and I found myself pushing projects that I was into towards what my agenda was, and now I’m doing my own thing, it’s just ultimate freedom.

CC: That sounds great! We can definitely see a lot of those influences in your music, in your songwriting style – can you tell me a bit about the creative process when it comes to writing your songs?

YC: Well, my writing process is me on the couch with my guitar watching Bargain Hunt, cause I’m never really looking for a song. For this record, and I’ve also demo-ed up an album which we’re going to post soon, you’ll be able to find it probably on Soundcloud, I was just writing in this way, just going around chords not really looking for anything, and then I’d find something and be like ‘okay, that’s nice’, and then something springs into my head. And I’m one of those really annoying ‘5-second writers’ that a progression happens and then the song jumps into my head almost entirely complete. Not all the time! To start with I wasn’t really playing a lot of guitar so I didn’t have all the chords I wanted, so I’d play as much as I could and then Kit, who plays lead, I’d go ‘How do I play this?’ or ‘How does this go?’ so he was a real help, certainly at the beginning before I got my fingers truly oiled. But the vast majority was me on the couch playing a pretty hack guitar but with the purpose of having the feel, the chords, the idea. And I wrote fifty songs that way in a relatively short space of time because I wasn’t really paying attention and I realised that there was a lot going on in my head, and when you collaborate a lot, a lot of your own ideas get stuck in there, and so I had a big old cleanout!

CC: What would you say has been the most interesting song that you’ve ever written?

YC: Jeez Louise! I don’t know, that’s a really hard one. I don’t know how to answer that, I really don’t. Maybe Heed My Words, just because writing about death is always a little bit overreal. And maybe Free to Roam, because it’s a really happy song about losing your mum.

CC: I suppose the storywriting process is very much a part of country and soul as well.

YC: Yes, I think that’s actually what I find most fun, most interesting – the process, and writing Free to Roam, like I’d lost my mum and I was having a real conflicted time about it because she was troubled, we were troubled, everything was troubled, and like the song came to me, first the baseline, and then the lyrics started coming up so I was like ‘I need to get this down!’ So first I was like singing into my phone because I don’t play bass so there I am just singing it into the phone and I’m trying to work out the way the bass wants to go to the vocal part that’s in my head. So I’m just singing each part in and then I’m singing in the acoustic parts and bits that I know how they go, but it came as a response to an epiphany that I had as a response to just feeling better about the whole situation.

CC: So quite a cathartic process then.

YC: Yeah, in a really big way.

CC: Finally, my last question for you is what’s the one question you wish you were asked in interviews but never have been?

YC: Oh my goodness gracious! I think, like writers always want to be asked about the motivation behind they’re writing, but you’ve already asked that, and that’s my favourite question! It is, because we’re storytellers, so we want to talk about our stories, not always about us, but also about people we know, so that’s my straight-up favourite question – what’s your writing process, what are your songs about. People don’t ask me that enough.

CC: Alright then! And I think we’ve all loved hearing the stories behind some of your songs today. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today Yola and thank you for a great concert!

YC: Thank you!

Big thanks to Yola for taking the time to talk to me, and if you’ve not heard her music, do yourself a favour and check it out! You can keep up to date with myself and Yola on Twitter at @CiarasCountry and @iamyolacarter

Top Albums of 2016 (So Far!): Part 2

Check out Part 1 of my Top Albums of 2016 here, and read on below to find out about more of my favourite albums released this year!

Dan + Shay – Obsessed

Why it made the list: Most albums have at least one track I don’t like as much as the others and tend to skip when it comes onto my playlist. Dan + Shay’s Obsessed is not one of them. In fact, picking my top tracks for Obsessed was really quite difficult, because they’re all so good, drifting easily from pump up tracks like All Nighter to wedding song From The Ground Up to the Motown inspired title track Obsessed. Dan + Shay know exactly what sort of music their target audience want to hear, and so they’ve produced another album which will easily make all of their fans fall in love with them again after the two year wait since debut album Where It All Began. If that’s not enough, the duo will finally be making their way to our shores this September, giving us all something to look forward to.

Top Tracks: Already Ready, How Not To, Lipstick

Dierks Bentley – Black

Why it made the list: I was in mixed minds about Dierks Bentley prior to hearing Black, having enjoyed some of his songs such as I Hold On and Say You Do, but not being a huge fan of tracks such as Drunk On A Plane. Alas, I’m no longer in two minds. I was really impressed by the calibre of songs on Black, some of which hit on a deeply personal level, such as All The Way to Me and Why Do I Feel, without forgetting to still have fun on tracks like Somewhere on a Beach. Dierks also wins the award for best collaborations this year, with tracks featuring Maren Morris (I’ll Be The Moon), Elle King (Different For Girls), and Trombone Shorty (Mardi Gras) – 3 very different tracks but all equally enjoyable, and introducing me to artists I wasn’t really familiar with beforehand. In my opinion, Dierks has outdone himself with Black. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s his best album yet.

Top Tracks: I’ll Be The Moon, Different For Girls, Black

Blake Shelton – If I’m Honest

Why it made the list: It’s not been an easy year for Blake, so you might have give the guy a break had he produced a sub-par album. Thankfully, that’s not the case, and If I’m Honest marks the newest album in a string of top-notch releases from one of the true Kings of Country. Significantly different to some of his older albums, Blake veers more into pop territory with this album with songs like Go Ahead and Break My Heart featuring Gwen Stefani, and Friends from the Angry Birds Movie soundtrack (what is it with animated movies and country songs – Cars, anyone?). Nevertheless, there are still some ‘country to the core’ tracks such as Bet You Still Think About Me and Every Goodbye which make you remember why you picked up the album in the first place.

Top Tracks: One Night Girl, You Can’t Make This Up, A Guy With A Girl

Keith Urban – Ripcord

Why it made the list: Country music’s favourite Australian is back with his edgiest album yet, if track Sun Don’t Let Me Down, which features Pitbull and Nile Rodgers is anything to go by. However, I reckon Ripcord is the perfect encapsulation of country music’s changing face, as some of the tracks, such as Wasted Time, clearly veer quite heavily into pop territory, but for someone who enjoys the direction the genre is heading in, I really don’t mind. Plus, Keith still lets his country side show on songs like John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16, and is one of the few artists who could get Carrie Underwood to provide backing vocals to one of their tracks (The Fighter) as opposed to the other way round. Solid effort.

Top Tracks: Habit Of You, John Cougar John Deere John 3:16, Gettin’ In The Way

As you can see, this year has already been incredibly good to us country music fans, but there’s lots more to come, with album releases from the likes of Kenny Chesney and Florida Georgia Line scheduled for later this year – keep your eyes peeled for Part 3 coming soon! 

Think I’ve missed any fantastic albums from 2016 so far? Tweet me your thoughts @CiarasCountry

Interview: LIV AUSTEN, The Islington

I sat down with the multi-talented singer, songwriter and actor Liv Austen ahead of her show at Back to Back Country at The Islington in August 2016. Check out my interview below to find out Liv’s thoughts on honesty in songwriting, crowdfunding and Humans of New York!

Ciara’s Country (CC): I’m here with London-based singer songwriter Liv Austen ahead of her show at the Islington in London. Liv’s just spent the summer performing at festivals and shows around the country spreading the word about her latest EP Who I Am Today so I’m really pleased to finally catch up with her. So first of all Liv, are you excited for tonight’s show?

Liv Austen (LA): I’m very excited for tonight! I love The Islington – I’ve been to many a gig but I’ve never played here before so it’s my first time actually being on stage. I’m super excited.

CC: It’s also my first time at The Islington so I’m looking forward to what I assume will be a great gig tonight, and I take it that you’ll be sharing some songs from your latest EP tonight. How do you think that this EP differs from the first EP that you released back in 2014?

LA: I think what’s changed is that I’ve really gone very far in the whole experimenting with writing really honest lyrics, that’s really important to me, and I think that I just really braved it with this new EP. I kind of did touch on it with the first EP, but I’ve really gone all the way with this with really honest lyrics on the second one. I think Who I Am Today more kind of describes a little bit of the journey that I’ve had, you know, I’ve changed my sound a little bit, I’ve changed as a performer, all of that kind of stuff. I’ve heard a few people say to me that they think the second EP is a lot more country than the first one. I’m not sure if I agree with that! It’s so weird to think people see country as so many different things but I guess it’s because of the lyrics being more honest, so that might be it!

CC: It’s interesting that you say that because of how much country is changing, so I guess that means that your sound is evolving.

LA: I guess so, exactly!

CC: Can you tell me a bit about your creative process what it comes to writing songs?

LA: You know, it’s really funny because as I write more and more I have so many different approaches to how I write, but I guess the standard way, the Liv Austen style of writing, is usually that I get an idea for something that’s related to my life – I write very autobiographically most of the time – so it will be sort of a phrase about something in my life that will pop up in my head, and I’ll usually go ‘oh, that’s a song!’ and then I can’t stop thinking about it until I’ve got usually the chorus, and then I kind of build around that. I do write lyrically driven most of the time, and the lyrics come first, but I do feel that as I’m writing the lyrics, the melody sort of comes naturally. I don’t usually think ‘what melody would go with this?’ – it just kind of comes organically with words. But then I have had more lately I’ve had a few times where I’ve just written an entire song with just the melody and then found the lyrics which is completely new to me. I’ve started co-writing, which is brand new to me in this last year, so all sorts of different approaches now. But it’s all to do with my life really, and what happens in my life.

CC: I suppose that’s a very country way of writing a song.

LA: Yeah, definitely!

CC: Do you have a favourite song that you’ve written, or an experience that you’ve drawn on that’s really helped you to write songs so far?

LA: I think actually, I usually say that one of my favourite songs as a songwriter is Two Choices which is on my new EP because I always strive to say as much as I can in as few words as I can – a bit like a Tweet, you’re trying to condense it, because we use a lot of words, like I ramble on as you can tell, and I’m trying to sort of keep it focused in my songwriting and try and see how few words I can use to say something that’s really important. So, in that one, I feel that I really say something really important in just a few sentences, but then I do have a new song which is not recorded yet, but I have started gigging it. It’s called Detour and that is a song that I’ve had really good reactions to, I think that it’s one that I’m quite happy with because I think I took the honesty even a step further than I had before and it was like, it sounds maybe a bit cheesy, but it was really meaningful to write just because of what it meant to me, which makes it all the more rewarding to perform it because other people go ‘I get exactly what you’re talking about’ which is really cool, so Detour is my new favourite.

CC: Well, I look forward to hearing it soon! So I imagine it’s quite an experience to share your own life stories with so many people. Do you ever feel nervous about sharing that side of your life?

LA: Definitely, it’s quite nerve-wracking especially the first few times when I don’t know how people are going to react to it, but I have learnt that the more personal the songs, the more people love them and relate to them, which is incredible, so that’s got me a lot braver, and also when I’ve written them, and I’ve rehearsed them with my band, they’re a song rather than my story, so I kind of think about it as well, I’m kind of just performing that song. You know, I can’t live through the emotions every single time I perform them, so I do kind of manage to separate myself from it a little bit, but it is hard sometimes. There are a few songs where I’ve gone ‘I need to not think too much about what I’m singing right now’ because it’s very emotional and hits close to home, so it can be terrifying as well.

CC: And I suppose in terms of being brave in front of your fans and the public as well, am I right in thinking you used PledgeMusic to release your first album? 

LA: That’s right.

CC: What was it like putting your career so much in the hands of the people out there?

LA: That was definitely terrifying! At the time, nobody really knew who I was, which makes a crowdfunding project quite challenging. It’s kind of easier I guess if you’ve already got a big fan base and they’re really to support you no matter what you do, but it needed a lot of work because I needed to push really hard for people to trust me. Saying that, people were incredibly supportive because you know, studio hire is incredibly expensive and time consuming, so I had to get the funds to do that, so I had to get people to trust something that hadn’t even been recorded yet. Really really terrifying, and hard work, but also really humbling when it actually worked, and it did gain me a lot of fans because I was working so hard to get my music out there and hyped it up a lot so it did gain me a big fan base to begin with and then I was lucky enough not to have to do it for the second EP, so you know, it worked! But it’s very hard work, definitely.

CC: I’d say it’s a really good way for aspiring artists to get their name out there for the first time.

LA: Yeah definitely, I would absolutely recommend it. Just be prepared that it’s a full time job to do crowdfunding!

CC: So in terms of country as a whole, I wanted to know who you think is the most underrated artist out there that people should really be listening to?

LA: Ah, that’s a great question! Logan Brill – she’s Nashville based, and I mean she’s doing very well but she should be a hundred times bigger than she is. It’s been really funny – I’ve been speaking to my friends in Nashville about Logan Brill and they don’t know who she is, I just came across her randomly. Her album Shuteye is just incredible, and I’m a huge fan. And also I would just like to mention, playing tonight, Robbie Cavanagh. I don’t know why he hasn’t completely blown up in the UK because he is so incredibly talented both acoustically as a solo artist and as a band – he’s amazing, so everyone in the UK should go and see him, he’s incredible.

CC: It seems like you’re a big advocate of UK and European country artists in this American dominated industry, but I think a real issue over here is convincing people that country is more than just trucks and banjos. Do you have any ideas as to how we could do that?

LA: You know what, it’s a slow and painful process. It is kind of happening slowly and steadily, I think that we have a lot of responsibility as country artists and promoters of these festivals, it’s how we market it, we need to be smart enough to understand that it is an industry so if we market things with Stetsons and cowboy boots then people are going to think that’s what it’s about. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just a tiny, tiny part of what country music is, so I think we need to be very aware of what our image is, not just as individual country artists, but as the genre is seen to the public. It’s all about just trying to get country music into mainstream festivals, mainstream events throughout the year, which is really great – I mean places like The Islington, The Troubadour, they’re taking on quite a few country artists, so London has been quite welcoming to the new country wave but it’s a long and painful process. I mean, even my friends, I’m trying to convert them into country and it’s taking a long time but they’re kind of thinking ‘oh, is this country?’ and then they love it, so you just need to push as much as you can! 

CC: So I take it music is very much your life now, but do you have any ideas what you’d be doing if you weren’t a musician?

LA: Well I am also an actor, so I have a bit of a split personality! Like this morning, I got up at 6 to shoot a commercial and I’m going to crash so hard after this gig, it’s going to be a long day! So I am kind of juggling the two, but the music has taken over completely, it really has. I’m always saying that I want to do both but it’s really hard because there’s only so many hours in a day and all that. I actually went to drama school so when I left drama school three years ago I thought that I was going to be acting and then singing more on the side and then it’s kind of flipped and turned to be the other way round, which I love, but I think if the music wasn’t happening, I would be an actor full time. There are tons of other things that I’m interested in but I think the acting is what I would be doing.

CC: Well I think all of us are very pleased that this is the path you chose! My final question for you tonight is what is the one question you wish you were asked in interviews but never are?

LA: That is a brilliant question – so, that! You kind of get used to certain questions and are ready to answer them but you have very good questions though! But I think – you know Humans of New York? He doesn’t really do this anymore but he used to ask people ‘what would you say to a large group of people?’ – I think that’s just a wonderful question, so maybe turn that into ‘what would you say to a group of people who want to do what you’re doing’ because you know, I’m learning – that’s what Who I Am Today is all about – I’m learning all the time about how to run a band, how to promote myself and how to write all different kinds of songs, so I feel like I’m learning a lot that I’d want to share with people who are starting out now but I don’t really have the platform to do that, so I have a lot of advice that I’d want to share with people.

CC: So what’s the one biggest piece of advice that you’d give?

LA: Do not compare yourself to anyone else. That is the best thing I can say, cause it’s so hard not to do that, but do not compare yourself to anyone else because it does not do you any good.

CC: Excellent end to a fantastic interview. Thank you so much Liv for taking the time to talk to me.

LA: Thank you for talking to me!  

Big thanks to Liv for chatting with me, and for a fantastic set at The Islington (you can read my review here), and don’t forget to follow myself and Liv on Twitter at @CiarasCountry and @LivAusten to keep up to date on all things country!

Concert Review: LIV AUSTEN, The Islington

From the outside, The Islington looks like an ordinary pub. Step inside, and you’ll find a small music venue reminscient London’s The Borderline – small and cosy, providing a great space for an intimate gig. I was there for the first night of Back to Back Country, an event with an aim of spotlighting artists from the UK and US country scene with the night’s line-up consisting of two acts I wasn’t familiar with, Robbie Cavanagh and Suzette Lawrence & The Neon Angels; and one I was, Liv Austen.

The first act, Robbie Cavanagh, provided an excellent set, and it was pleasant to see that the small crowd that often comes with being first on the schedule didn’t stop him from giving his all. The sound quality in the venue was flawless, and although I hadn’t heard Robbie’s music before, I particularly enjoyed songs like Let You Down with its heartfelt lyrics coupled with Robbie’s soft vocals. He’ll be returning to The Islington on August 30^th, so I’d encourage anyone who likes good live music to consider heading along!

Robbie certainly wasn’t an easy act to follow, but Liv Austen was all smiles as she took to the stage, and by the time her set began more people had arrived, the room filling up with country music fans looking to unwind after work. Liv kicked off the show with a track called Part Time Sweetheart, a poppy number which gave the crowd an idea of the energy we could expect from her for the rest of the show. With her second song Breathe Out, she moved more into country territory as made clear by the instrumentals of her backing band (fiddle included, of course) and Liv’s songwriting skills, telling the story about going through life on your own and being content being single. It seemed like some members of the audience weren’t new to Liv’s music, and I was especially impressed to see the man standing next to me, dressed in full business attire, mouthing all of the words and showing once again that country music is not restricted to a particular demographic or audience.

The positive reaction from the crowd undoubtedly improved the atmosphere, and Liv seemed to become more confident as she sang the opening words of Don’t Do It, a song she stated is ‘for all those time you really want to say something to someone, but chicken out and decide to write a song about it instead.’ By writing about personal experiences, many of her songs seemed to take shape in the form of words she couldn’t say but could sing instead, showing much the vulnerability and honesty that are all so important for country music. Added to this, Liv clearly knew the audience she was playing for as she began her next song, a fast-paced cover of The Pistol Annie’s Hell on Heels, a familiar song for many audience members which led to a bit more engagement and probably helped to endear her to those who had come primarily to see one of the other two acts.

Nevertheless, I felt that it was with her next two songs, I Just Want to See Him and Two Choices from latest EP Who I Am Today that Liv really came into her own, highlighting that she is just as happy playing cheery pop-influenced songs as she is with slowed-down and emotional ballads. Things went slightly awry as we neared the end of Liv’s set, with the lights in the venue malfunctioning and beginning to flash like a disco. Nevertheless, although unplanned, I think this happy accident made the event even more enjoyable, particularly due to the choice of Liv’s next song Don’t Regret a Single One, the upbeat vibe of which was well suited to the disco-like atmosphere. The track itself was also a pleasant break from many country songs which focus on ‘finding the one’ whilst Liv thinks back on the boys from her past leading her to where she is now, reminding me of a more fast-paced version of Rascal Flatt’s Bless the Broken Road!

Liv’s penultimate song The Guts You Always Had was my favourite of the set in terms of style, as most of the band left the stage leaving only Liv and her guitarist and allowing us to truly focus on the vocals in this very personal song. With this song, Liv showed that you can never be too personal with country music as she spoke about the influence her sister had had on her, and it’s the songs with this kind of vulnerability that tend to resonate more with listeners. The set picked up again for final song The Next Time where the crowd was encouraged to sing along, providing a solid and bubbly end to the short but sweet set.

The night ended with a set from Suzette Lawrence & The Neon Angels, a vastly different act from the two who’d come before as we were launched into retro country, rockabilly and honky tonk. I must admit I was a fan of the format of Back to Back Country in allowing us to see artists we already know, learn about new ones, and hear different styles that we might otherwise avoid. As the centrepiece of the show, Liv worked well as one of the three acts, and stood out just as well on her own too - one to watch.  

Keep yours eyes peeled for my interview with Liv coming soon by following @CiarasCountry on Twitter and be sure to check out Liv @LivAusten for updates on future shows

Interview: RAINTOWN, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (2/2)

We’re back with Part 2 of my interview with the Scottish country duo Raintown, who I caught up with after their show with Runrig at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. You can read my review of the show here, and Part 1 of the interview here. Keep reading to find out Raintown’s thoughts on the direction country music is going, underrated artists, and how a new arrival to the family is likely to shake things up!

Ciara’s Country (CC): I know that country music is changing a lot, and I’m sure you’re very aware of this as it moves more into crossover with pop and rock – do you like the direction the genre is going?

Paul Bain (PB): I think we have to be careful when we talk about where something is going when things grow. We’ve got a friend from Glasgow who do very traditional country, and he’s very successful at the moment. Sturgill Simpson you would suggest is a very traditional artist. You’ve got the likes of Chris Stapleton who’s more Sturgill Simpson than he is Florida Georgia Line for example, but country is an umbrella term and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a plethora of artists under that umbrella, keeping the country genre strong. Now, us personally might not bend to the whole rap thing and ‘everything’s a truck’ and ‘bros’ and stuff, but we’d be lying if we said there weren’t songs we loved, and it’s always about the song for us, always, and if it’s Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Lady A – I’m so looking forward to hearing their new material, I’m always looking forward to seeing what direction they go in.

Claire McArthur-Bain (CMB): We’re always really excited about when people in the country genre who are pushing the boundaries and they’re doing different things can bring all these people to one genre – I love that because it’s opening the doors to country music fans and just music fans in general

PB: I mean Ciara, you’re obviously of that generation where genres are becoming very broad across the board. We just heard this week that Gerri Halliwell was talking about bringing out a country album. So it’s like obviously people are looking at it – Justin Timberlake did that thing with Chris Stapleton, he’s obviously brought up in country music from the South, so there’s going to be influence, as long as the principle at the heart of it is the song – that’s why Chris Stapleton’s been such a sensation. That incredible vocal, that incredible emotion, absolutely flowing through a lyric – and that’s what it always is for us, even when it’s really rocky upbeat numbers, the actual lyrical content is about something real, and so as long as we keep that at the crux, then I think it’s okay to veer off a little bit. I get it when people say of certain artists ‘That’s not country anymore’, I get it, but those people feel they are country, you know they’re flying the flag for it. You know, Taylor Swift went ‘I’m no longer country’, so people who say ‘Oh, Taylor Swift, she’s no longer country’ – they’re right, she’s said she’s pop, so it’s just like there’s people doing amazing things, trying something new, I wouldn’t be massively surprised if at some point Taylor Swift comes back with a totally out of the blue country record. I realise I went off on one there and probably didn’t answer the question, which was, do we like it? We love songs, and we love people who perform, and equally, Ashley Monroe we saw at C2C this year, we were really lucky, we were backstage in Glasgow on the same night as Ashley and Miranda, and it’s just like, you’re this close to these incredible artists, and hear them talking about songs, and how much they love performing songs, that means much more to us than you know, something that gets you up boogieing.

CC: So it seems like you have a wide appreciation for the genre as a whole. Are there any country music artists that you think are very underrated that you think people should be listening to?

PB: Raintown I heard are pretty good (laughs)

CMB: I think Ashley Monroe is really underrated – I know now that she’s becoming much more popular, but she’s been around for over ten years and released a few albums. I really do think as a songwriter and as a singer she’s very underrated.

PB: I would 100% agree – you know what, is Brandy Clark underrated? Maybe not, but again, I think, yeah.

CMB: I suppose if you’re thinking about commercial success, if you’re thinking about Ashley Monroe versus Miranda Lambert, I think she deserves to be just as big as Miranda Lambert.

PB: You know, she’s sensational. Trying to think if there’s anyone we’re listening to just now that you would think – Ashley Monroe is the one that jumps back into my head. You know, there’s a lot of people out there, maybe just under that level of commercial success that are working really heard to write great songs – Striking Matches are maybe in that bracket. They put on a great show and they’re out there working really hard, so you know there’s a number of people. And that’s the beauty of what we do – people working hard to do something special

CC: On a slightly different note, I hear you are expecting a new addition to the family, congratulations by the way! How do you think that’s going to change life for the band?

PB: The band are going to love it, they’re going to be babysitting! You know, the truth is this is about planning, and Claire is out of the both of us, the planner and strategist when it comes to time.

CMB: I like to organise everything in advance so like we’ve already got a great support network at home with our families and they’re on standby, and I know it’s a reality of having a baby is so much different when the baby’s here, but we’ve got a great network of support and we’re going to rely on all the help we can get really! We’re doing that naïve thing at the moment where we’re going ‘Everything’s going to be fine, nothing’s going to change!’

PB: Yeah, we know the truth! It’s going to be about adapting, about flexibility, and planning. You know, it’s like today we came down in two cars down to do this gig. If you bring the baby that becomes a nine-seater van you need, so you just need to plan better, and our daughter will be brought up listening to a lot of music!

CC: Lovely, lucky her! My final question for tonight is what is the one question that you wish you were asked in an interview but never have been?

PB: You know, what people maybe don’t ask is how often are you working doing Raintown, how often do you work on Raintown, because there’s an assumption that they only see this part, or that’s on the radio like yourself, but it’s not.

CMB: Yeah, how much work it takes to get to one bit, how much rejection you probably have to take because people don’t really see that part of it cause you don’t post that, you post the positive things and that’s the way it should be, but yeah, maybe that, how you deal with rejection.

PB: And the truth of the matter is on the back of that question is that you deal with it by accepting it upfront, this business is built on rejection. But the way we view it is every rejection is closer to somebody accepting, or offereing us an opportunity. It’s a very realistic way to look at it, we’re both really positive people anyway, so for us we’re doing what we love everyday. Actually, a friend of our bought us a plaque for our office wall and it says ‘you are already living your dream’, and I thought that’s absolutely 100% right. Every day we are living our dream – there’s people going to jobs everyday that they absolutely do not enjoy and that’s really hard, so for us we get to do it – not without its frustrations, not without its ups and downs, not without people seeing the stuff and making stuff up about you that isn’t true, and we just sort of accept now that that’s just the way it is. We’ve got each other and I think that’s a massive plus, cause if something’s written about us and it’s not true, the other one tends to be like ‘let that go – you know it’s not true’.

CC: Yeah, that’s very true, because as your fans, we see you playing these big gigs with these large audiences, but it can’t have been an easy road to be playing the same stage that Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts have played.

PB: Well do you know, the thing for us is about big dreams, and we’re often criticised for them, but the truth is we want to be back here someday soon to play this venue and sell it out, as The Shires did and as I’m sure The Shires will do again on their tour, and we want to do that, we want to continue to build a great relationship with our fans, and we never take that for granted, you know, whether that’s through social media or one to one contact, we never take it, and never will take it, for granted. We’re just grateful to be on it, that’s the bottom line. Just before you go on stage, that’s when you think, you know, we’re excited, we want to be on stage, and just that second before we walk on, it’s like thank you for giving us this opportunity, and now we need to deliver.

CC: Well thank you for answering my questions!

PB & CMB: Thank you for having us, and thank you for coming along!

Huge thanks to Raintown for speaking to me, and for a great gig! Keep up to date with all the latest country music news and reviews from myself and Raintown at @CiarasCountry and @raintownmusic