Last year Adelaide artist Matt Ward released a wonderful album, Heartland, and he’s already on to new music, releasing the single ‘Tattoos, Trucks & Country Music’ and, now, ‘Old Ground’, performed with American artist Bonnie Montgomery, 2018-2020 Arkansas Americana Artist & Female Singer of the Year. The single is a slice of honky tonk and western swing loveliness; its lyrics describe being stuck – turning old ground again – and there is a sense of being stuck, and confused about it, in the voices of both artists. Those voices have very different and complementary qualities.
Says Ward of the song, which was recorded in Texas (where Montgomery lives) with very fine local musicians, ‘To collaborate and release a song with a great American artist such as Bonnie is a career highlight. Bonnie comes from and understands country music. I knew she’d not only bring her incredible voice and talent, but also the innate feel the song requires when singing about the road, the heart and the land.’