Sunburnt Country Music

Matt Joe Gow is a New Zealand-born Melbourne resident who has released four albums, the most recent of which was last year’s Between Tonight & Tomorrow, which won the Music Victoria award for Best Country Album, as did its predecessor, Break Rattle and Roll. Recently Joe Gow released a reprise version of the title song, and he’s also been collaborating with Kerryn Fields on a forthcoming album. However, in this new interview we talked about his new acoustic album, The Woodshed Sessions, recorded late last year, which he also produced, so we delve into the production aspects of the album as well as the songs and recording.

It’s the first acoustic album made by Joe Gow with his Dead Leaves bandmates Andrew Pollock and Katya Harris, and it was initially released as a video recording late last year. Joe Gow’s albums tend to not put his voice at the forefront but there is nowhere else for it to be on this album, and that is to the listener’s benefit – as much as we tend to laud the ‘songwriter’ part of singer-songwriter, the singing part is equally important and Joe Gow is a wonderful singer, with a warm tone that turns commanding when required and handles a range of emotions so that it’s a proper partner for his lyrics.

You can watch our chat on YouTube (below), watch a snippet (also below) or listen on the podcast.

The Woodshed Sessions will be released on CD on 9 February and can be preordered on Bandcamp and available on streaming platforms on 16 December.

Matt Joe Gow and the Dead Leaves play George Lane, St Kilda, Vic. on 10 February – tickets

https://mattjoegowmusic.com | Listen to Matt Joe Gow on Apple Music

Single review: ‘Your Heart of Gold’ by Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields