DAVIDSON BROTHERS
announce
East Coast Shows & Festival Dates
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Earlier this year, the Davidson Brothers independently unleashed their eighth studio album All You Need Is Music to a string of sky high praise. Henry Wagons on Double J claimed with confidence that they’re, “Australia’s best bluegrass band”, The Music gave them kudos for their “exceptional musicianship”, Beat Magazine called them musos “of the highest order” and Rhythms said “simply world class”.
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All You Need Is Music has taken the Brothers to #6 on the AMRAP Regional Charts and #9 at Country Radio. They’ve clocked more than 17,000 video views on their lead single, ‘Take A Little Drive‘. With an endless list of Golden Guitars, Victorian Country Music Awards, and Bluegrass Championships under their belts, in January the Davidson Brothers were permanently idolised in cement in Tamworth’s Australian Country Music Hall of Fame as one of Australia’s most influential and most awarded acts. They’ve long been respected innovators in country and bluegrass and their waves are now being felt across the contemporary music world.
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So, with all those accolades and updates out of the way let’s open up the floor to announce a list of tour dates across the East Coast. After a big album launch at Melbourne’s Longhorn Saloon in April, the new tour will see Davidson Brothers taking All You Need Is Music to their local Brunswick watering hole, play their first Sydney show in five years, and play to some of our most iconic regional festivals.
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DAVIDSON BROTHERS LIVE
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Friday 16th June
Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre
96 Graham St, Wonthaggi VIC
Tickets here.
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Friday 23rd June
Harmonie German Club
49 Jerrabomberra Avenue, Canberra, ACT
Free show – Details here
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Saturday 24th June
Nethercote Hall
LOT 4 Back Creek Road, Nethercote NSW
Tickets $20 at the door.
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Saturday 8th July
Union Hotel
109 Union Street, Brunswick VIC
Free show – Details here
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Sunday 20th August
Petersham Bowling Club
77 Brighton Street, Petersham, Sydney, NSW
6pm start – Tickets here
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Thursday 24th August
The Milk Factory
48 Montague Rd, West End, Brisbane QLD
Tickets on sale soon.
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Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th August
Gympie Music Muster
Amamoor Creek State Forest Park, Gympie, QLD
Tickets here
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Friday 29th September
Deni Ute Muster
Deniliquin, NSW
Tickets here
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Track Listing
1. Back Where I Started
2. What You Mean To Me
3. Evelyn’s Kitchen
4. Can’t Change The Weather
5. All You Need Is Music
6. These Old Blues
7. Brown Snake
8. See My Girl
9. Lock Horns
10. I Won’t Give Up
11. Take A Little Drive
12. Pending Arrival
13. Scrambled Eggs
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There’s no better way to learn about the Davidson Brothers than to hear it directly them. For the writing All You Need Is Music, the brothers met half way. Hamish (vocals, banjo, fiddle) who’s based in Bendigo and Lachlan (vocals, mandolin) based in Melbourne booked a B&B in the small town of Benloch. Hamish said, “We got out there and wrote [lead single] ‘Take A Little Drive’ in that first session… It was sort of a bluesier thing when we wrote it.” When the song was recorded, however, country elements seeped in “and you sorta get the two colours.”
‘Take A Little Drive’, is the first taste of the duo’s new album, and the song’s jaunty tempo and irresistible chorus melody celebrates “gettin’ out of town” at the end of the working week with an accompanying video that sees the Davidson Brothers and pals jamming on a porch.
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Hamish explains the sound of the new album, “Lachie toured with Lee Kernaghan for two years, and I did a lot of session work with lots of other country singers, and I think we just sorta got used to being the bluegrass sound in a country band.” But Lachie admits, “We didn’t wanna do a full record just country, ’cause I feel like we’re getting better at bluegrass after touring so hard and doin’ it live. “So we decided to do an A- and a B-side concept.”
After performing at Meredith Music Festival in 2013, Lachlan says he’s noticed the Davidson Brothers attract a more diverse audience these days, which inspired them to take a ”broader approach” on their latest record. “We didn’t wanna turn off the people who were enjoying what we’ve been doing at our live shows, but then we wanted to step it up a level, we kept the upright bass instead of the electric bass to keep that acoustic feel in there. And the drummer’s not an intense Dave Grohl kinda drummer,” he laughs.
They’ve been recording together since 1998 and at the end of 2016, with Hamish about to become a dad for the second time, Lachlan points out, “We didn’t wanna stall an album even longer”. So when he clocked Qantas were having a “big sale” (“I think it was 500 bucks each, return, to Nashville”), he immediately got on the blower to his brother.
They booked Nashville’s Sidekick Sound Studios and rounded up some hot players to work with alongside producers/previous collaborators Mark Thornton and Larry Marrs. “Mark Thornton’s a different cat,” Hamish offers. “He comes from the Jerry Reed school of musicians – he played in Jerrry’s band for 12 years – and his studio, it’s like going back in a time machine… RCA mics and they’ve even got an RCA stove in the studio, so we were cookin’ lunch on that in between doin’ dubs and things. And he’s got gear that used to belong to, like, legends and it’s got their names with little dymo labels on the mics and things – all of these guys have gone now, but it’s kinda cool.”
All You Need Is Music is the fifth record the brothers have recorded in Nashville. Lachlan recounts, “Our Nan lent us money for our first album when we were teenagers, and then a banjo player lent us some money, he was a truck driver [laughs]. He wanted us to go to Nashville and make our first record there, and so he lent us a wad of cash at a truck stop… But we’ve always had people who have supported us in that way.”
It was the brother’s late grandmother who drove them towards country. “I feel like she was probably a big driver for us to win a Golden Guitar, ’cause Tamworth meant the most to her out of everyone in the family,” he continues (in fact Davidson Brothers have been awarded three of these prestigious Australian Country Music Awards to date). Nan must’ve been smiling proudly down on her grandsons in January when the Davidson Brothers added their hand prints to the Hands Of Fame monument during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, further cementing their status among the most influential artists in Australian music history.
“If you ask me all you need is music/And a little red wine/To have a good time.” And if said music just so happens to be All You Need Is Music by the Davidson Brothers? Then those good times are guaranteed.
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“Australia’s most influential music acts. Indeed that are arguably the best bluegrass band in the country.” – Bluegrass Today
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“Australia’s best bluegrass band” – Henry Wagons, Double J
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“Exceptional musicianship… They weave some fine melodies and solos that dance and spark off each other with a lightness of touch” – The Music
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“…blistering, beautiful bluegrass… The Davidson Brothers are musicians of the highest order” – Beat Magazine
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“Simply world class. From straight bluegrass, to Charlie Daniels, to David Grisman-style jazzy originals, they didn’t’ put a foot wrong. Can’t wait to see them again.” – Rhythms Magazine
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