I had forgotten how good Wrecking Ball was or how long ago it came out.

But as they prepare it for reissue 20 years or so on (complete with a series of demos and unreleased songs), one listen to “Goodbye” reminds me instantly how she and producer Daniel Lanois reinvented her sound and made us see new possibilities in her voice.

 

Whilst chatting with new friend Robert Ellis and discussing the point where George Jones and Jackson Browne meet, and his love of Dawes and Paul Simon, he touched on the fact that his evolving musical direction might make it harder for him to play to the good ol’ boys in Texas. That’s the bars where they say (in homage to the Blues Brothers) “we enjoy both kinds of music … country and western”.

Watching Dwight Yoakam & his lively bar band do battle with terrible sound to a half full crowd of largely sober inner-city cowboys too old to even “shake and vac” let alone fingerpop on a rainy Friday night in Sydney last night it was hard to recall that he was once about as cool as one could be.

 

It’s not everyday that a legendary Australian artist stops by your office and belts out a few tunes, but the other day at Cool Accidents HQ that’s just what happened.

National icon John Williamson came in and treated us to a handful of tracks off his forthcoming album ‘The Big Red’ and had us all hanging off every single word that he sung/spoke.