Watch the full interview on YouTube
If you’d prefer to listen to this interview on the podcast, subscribe on your favourite platform.
Jake Whittaker is a Queensland country rock artist who has been releasing music since 2023, appeared on Australian Idol last year, and has now released his debut EP, In My Blood – five tracks of upbeat, good-time country that in this new interview he describes as a deliberate antidote to sad music.
‘People work really hard Monday to Friday and they don’t want to go out Friday night and listen to sad, dreary music,’ he says. ‘That’s why I write and release stuff that suits that.’
The EP was produced by Jared Adlam, one of the most in-demand producers in Australian country music and, in Whittaker’s case, also a close friend since they were seventeen. The songs were road-tested in live shows before being locked in, with any track that didn’t land in front of a crowd not making the cut.
‘If it’s a good chorus and verse, you’ll remember it straight away,’ he says. ‘If you remember it, it’s worth remembering – and it’ll make a good song.’
The lead single, ‘Hooked on Her’, was actually the first song written for the project, back in 2023, and sat waiting for the right moment for two years. ‘In My Blood’ was co-written with country star James Johnston on the back verandah at Adam Eckersley’s place and completed in about an hour and a half. ‘Boots On’ emerged from a Sydney writing trip with Sarah Buckley of The Buckleys. ‘Guy with a Boat’ – a song about a man trying to convince himself and his partner that purchasing a boat was entirely necessary – was written with Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley at their property in a shed, over a couple of beers.
Last year Whittaker appeared on Australian Idol, which brought its own particular challenges. While Whittaker is an experienced live performer, comfortable on stage, the Idol format required a different set of instincts. And there’s quite a story about how his audition song ended up being ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ …
Since Idol Whittaker has been focused on building momentum with live shows and new recordings. In this interview we talk about his support slot with The Wolfe Brothers (those shows are now past – unfortunately I wasn’t able to work fast enough to post this interview before they took place), plus Horsham Regfest, Townsville Country Fest and the Gympie Muster.
Listen to In My Blood on Apple Music
Listen to In My Blood on YouTube
