Kasey Chambers heads lineup for Brunswick’s Country Sounds Music and Arts Festival

She is the undisputed queen of Australia’s country music scene. Kasey Chambers has won more accolades and been more commercially successful than most artists could dream of, including having a number one hit on the ARIA Charts. Now, the Mount Gambier-born product will be one of the headline acts for a new music festival set to make its debut in the South West next week. The Country Sounds Music and Arts Festival will take over the Brunswick Junction Showgrounds for the first time next Saturday, with fellow Australian country music royalty Lee Kernaghan and up-and-coming artists Fanny Lumsden and Brad Cox the main drawcards for the event. Chambers said to say she was very excited about performing at the event would be an “understatement”. “A new country music festival is exciting in itself but the fact that it finally gets me back to WA is a bonus,” she said. Having spent much of her early childhood living on the Nullarbor Plain, Chambers is no stranger to Western Australia. “I lived in the Australian outback with my family travelling constantly — so I think there’s a sense of familiarity that I feel when I’m over there,” she said. “It feels like coming back home to my childhood. The people coming out to the gigs feel like old friends.” She has played multiple times in the South West during her career, including the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival in 2013 and as part of her Campfire tour at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre in 2018. Chambers was supposed to return to BREC in April, but had to cancel her show due to COVID restrictions. She said her return to the South West had been a long time coming. “This is the longest I’ve ever been in my life not visiting WA,” Chambers said. “We try to get there every year at least once, not only because is it one of my favourite places in Australia to visit (even outside of music) but because we have such genuine support from people in the West.” Although she had been part of her family’s music band from a young age, it was when she went solo at age 22 that her musical career took on a life of its own. In 1999, Chambers released her debut album The Captain, which resulted in her first ARIA Award that year for Best Country Album. She has not looked back, adding another 12 ARIAs to her collection. A quarter of those gongs were picked up in 2002 for her second album, Barricades And Brickwalls. The release included her song “Not Pretty Enough”, her most commercially successful track. She was last recognised in 2018 with her win for Best County Album, the same year she became the youngest woman inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. She also has a string of Golden Guitar Awards to her name, most recently taking out the Tradition Country Album of the Year award in 2019. After more than two decades of performing, Chambers has managed to mostly hush the nerves of singing live. “It’s almost the opposite,” she said. “I actually feel more at home on stage than I do in some other aspects of my life really. “Performing on stage is a big part of who I am and I usually feel a sense of ease when I’m up there doing it.” Audiences are being promised a performance of the classics from her first two albums and more. They may also be in for a serving of mum’s spaghetti. Chambers made headlines earlier this year when she performed a cover of Eminem’s 2002 rap hit “Lose Yourself” as part of her Behind the Barricades tour on the East Coast. The eight-minute rendition, which starts softly before slowly moving to a rock-style finish, proved to be a big hit with audiences. She has not ruled out performing the song for her Brunswick Junction audience. “I love losing myself in ’Lose Yourself’ so there’s a good chance I’ll chuck that in the set,” Chambers said. “I mean is it really a country festival without an Eminem cover on the banjo!” Alongside the East Coast imports, four Western Australian acts will take to the Country Sounds stage. The local contingent will be led by up-and-coming Perth alt-country/rock singer-songwriter Siobhan Cotchin, with Delilah Rose, Lincoln MacKinnon and Myalup’s Ray Jones rounding the lineup for the festival. Chambers said festivals were also great because artists could also hear and watch all the other performers. “I’ll be in the audience trying to see as many artists as I can,” she said. Tickets to the show and passes for camping, parking and the bus shuttle can be found at countrysounds.com.au