Kasey Chambers "Little Bird"

 

If you really need to revisit my affection for Ms. Chambers, then here is a post from last year about her 2008 release with her husband, Shane Nicholson.  The last sentence says something along the lines of her being one of the most under-appreciated artists in music today.  That statement is intended for American consumption, as the "Little Bird" album has hit the BIG TIME in her native Australia.  In the Down Under's version of the CMA, this album was recently nominated in seven categories.  That's the definition of BIG TIME!  More evidence?  In a recent edition of Australia's Country Music magazine, she shares the cover with some hack named Keith Urban.  Come on, even Americans know who he is... In an unprecedented move, most of Australia's rock/pop FM stations have found tracks to play for their formats, from a decidedly country-flavored record, no less.  Anybody remotely familiar with commercial radio programming can tell you that just does not happen (am I right, Beau)? 

So allow me to offer a comparison to one young country performer here named Taylor Swift.  I know you've heard of her.  Famously been known to suck in a live setting, yet she's still a megastar based on her songwriting and, some would say, her looks.  It's certainly not her voice.  Chambers' vocals are certainly heritage country, not pop/country where the vocals are so interchangeable and generic.  You had better be a fan of, say, Emmylou Harris or Lucinda Williams to appreciate Kasey's vocals.  I've read other descriptions as "child-like," but I don't understand how that applies.  She may turn off the casual American country music fan with her sound, but just listen to the words people.  If Swift can speak for a generation of twenty-somethings, then Chambers writes for you older souls out there.  I played the title track for my sister, who's been in Nashville for a couple of decades now, and she immediately said the voice wasn't for her, but, "damn, that's a great song!"  Album, Artist, Song of the Year, all the big noms, and one that is called Heritage Song of the Year.  This is a category specifically about Australia, and here is a performance of her nominated track, "Nullabor Song."  Nullabor is several hundred miles of basically nothing in the southern part of the country, and Kasey essentially grew up there as a child, traveling with her family, camping under the skies at night singing country songs .  The lyrics speak volumes to Aussies, and many have said it's the best Australian song written in years. 

Well, it's an absolute tragedy that "Little Bird" is unavailable in America as of today.  I just don't get it.  I hope Sugar Hill picks it up for domestic release this year and then you can say you heard it here from Ye Olde Mad Rocker.