The Tasmanian Songbook: Volume 3

Hayley Couper is a singer, songwriter and producer from Hobart, Tasmania. Blending elements of Dream Pop to Psych Rock, her hypnotic live shows have been described as “holding everyone in the room captive” (Beat Magazine), while Abbe May thinks she is “one of Australia’s great hidden treasures”.

It is now just over ten years since The Wolfe Brothers captured the attention of the nation when they were beamed into millions of lounge rooms around Australia each week as they progressed through the heats and into the Final of Australia’s Got Talent 2012. Their popularity grew from strength to strength after every electrifying performance on the show where they chose to break all the rules by playing their own original country rock songs. This incredibly brave move paid off and saw the boys take out second place and also catch the attention of Lee Kernaghan’s long- time manager Steve White who was working in Nashville at the time and who, based on the strength of the band’s performances he saw on-line from the TV show, and numerous international phone calls with Tom, White signed them up for management.
It was only a matter of a few months before they found themselves in a rehearsal studio in Sydney auditioning for Lee Kernaghan to hopefully be in his touring band. After just two songs at the audition Lee said “Boys, you have got the job!”. Lee not only hired them to play in his band but he also gave The Wolfe Brothers the highly sought after opening spot at all of his concerts which allowed The Wolfe Brothers to play their own music at Lee’s sold out concerts all over Australia. This experience not only garnered the group a big and loyal fan base over the years but it also turned them into a world class recording and touring act that now headlines their own tours and festivals. After 10 years on the road with Lee the boys will be performing their last show as players in his band on home turf in Hobart in November 2022.
Brothers Nick and Tom Wolfe have become renowned over the past few years for their jaw-dropping live shows and steady ascent to Australian country music’s upper echelon. Part of their rise has been due to talent, and a lot of it due to hard work. But the truth is “we come from four generations of farmers and musicians. We grew up and Tom still lives on the farm that has been in the family for over 120 years” Nick explains. Their father, Malcolm Wolfe, encouraged them to start playing and helped facilitate their first shows in their early teens. Malcolm was a rock drummer in the popular Tasmanian band Midnight Revival. Their grandfather played saxophone, touring around the brothers’ home state of Tasmania with the Wolfe Family Band. Their great-grandfather was a fiddle player. It is this pedigree and the abundance of musical influences that were always around them at home on the farm throughout the brothers’ youth, combined with an innate musicality, that has resulted in the development of a unique yet embracingly familiar sound that is The Wolfe Brothers.

April 2023 will see the band release their 6th studio album with the apt title “Livin’ The Dream”. This new album was written during the pandemic over many Zoom writing sessions with writers all over the world. The Producer role for the new album has been filled by Nick Wolfe and co-produced with veteran Australian Record Producer and musician Rod McCormack. Multi-award winning Producer Matt Fell was also involved in producing 3 of the 12 songs on the disc.

The title track from the “Livin’ The Dream” album was released on 28th October, 2022. Nick Wolfe explained " ‘Livin' The Dream’ is a phrase I'm sure we all have heard every day in conversation. Most of us have probably even said it ourselves. Usually, it's making light of a challenging situation. I love it because instead of having a whinge about how snowed under we are, how tired we are, how overworked or how busy we are, we do the Aussie thing and just say - yeah mate just livin’ the dream. To me it's saying there's good and bad in every job out there. That's life. It's keeping your spirits up, cracking a smile and rolling with it”.

Nick continued saying “Sonically, ‘Livin' the Dream’ is a conscious decision by us to get back to our country roots. We explored a lot of pop and rock territory on our last record but we want to come out of the gate swinging country style and give everyone a taste of what's to come for the rest of this record that we're really proud of!”

Tom Wolfe added "We are very excited for this new single and next chapter in our music. if feels right, fun and is a real return to our roots. We are country boys from Tassie who are just Livin' The Dream".

It has been an amazing 10 year ride so fat for The Wolfe Brothers. Three #1 and two #2 ARIA Country Albums. 17 consecutive #1 singles on the National Radio Chart. Six Golden Guitars under the belt so far making them the most awarded country rock duo ever in Australia. They have travelled countless road miles doing shows around Australia, USA and Canada.

The future is looking bright for the brothers from Tasmania and according to those who have heard tracks from the new album that is a return to a more country sound 2023 will see the group continue livin’ the dream.

Howard Eynon is an Australian singer & songwriter. His 1974 album So What if I'm Standing in Apricot Jam became one of Australia's most eclectic albums of the 70's.

Forty years later Howard had a musical resurgance when his album was re-released on both vinyl & CD, first in Australia through Buttercup Records and later through the Earth label of Fire Records in London.

With his charismatic storytelling and a rich 12-string guitar sound featuring a unique tuning of its own, Howard's music has been described as 'psychedelic acid folk'.

Cheryl is a pakana woman from the Pinterrairer people of Little Musselroe, Cape Portland in the north east of lutruwita. She grew up in Bothwell in the Central Highlands with two sisters and brothers and has a son and three grandchildren. Her great great great Grandmother Tanganuturra was abducted by sealers, sold amongst them for four seal skins, and later incarcerated at Wybalena Settlement on Flinders Island where Cheryls great great grandmother Fanny was born in 1834. Fanny’s granddaughter Pearl had nine children including Cheryls father Bert Mundy.
The recording of Fanny Smith is the only recording of original Tasmanian Aboriginal language. Her Springtime song can be heard in the First Nations Gallery of TMAG. Cheryl travels the songlines of her ancestors and sings in cultural continuity. She performs at community events and music events nationally and overseas. Her song Bring Em Home is featured on the Weddings Parties Anything - Island of Humour mini-CD.

Most recently her original songs were recorded by Mike Gissing for posterity, and for the TMAG taypene miylathina exhibition, with copyright intact. This was a deliberate gesture of the TMAG given issues raised about her great great grandmothers songs that were recorded on wax cylinders and remain in the hands of the Royal Society - not family. In collaboration with palawa Photographer and Journalist Jillian Mundy two outdoor soundscapes were created and installed for the Taypene milaythina exhibition. One conversational through hidden speakers in the TMAG Welcome Garden, and the other emerging as looped songs from a section of the actual wall of the TMAG, The installation was called If these Walls Could Talk. There was more than 2.5 million TicToc views of the wall installation.

Cheryl’s first public artwork was commissioned by KickstART Arts. The inground sculpture was a collaboration with renown sculptor Marcus Tatton, produced by Richard Bladel and launched in 2022 when the Boys Orphanage was repurposed as a KSA creative space by the Govenor . ‘The Walk Out Step’ is a truth telling healing artwork. Cheryl continues to contribute to Cultural Education, and advocates for Truth Telling and a Treaty.

Scott Targett has been playing music professionally for most of his life. In 2007, his Melbourne-band, Dukes of Windsor, made their way to the top of the Australian ARIA charts, remaining in the top 50 for 20 consecutive weeks and became the ARIA #1 club song of 2007.

Now based in Hobart, Scott’s focus has turned to ROBOTIKUS, of which he is responsible for a majority of the production.

He is a keen collaborator and this year directs an all star lineup for The Tasmanian Songbook Project.

Lachy Hamill is a hiphop artist and producer based in Tasmania,

He has worked with a number of artists. Some of these include Wombat, DENNI, Dunn D, Greeley, Stretch One, Skurge0ne, Burd Brain, Pseudo Lucid, DJ Dameza, Reflekt, Lovett$, Jestar Dahmer, CAINE, Kiz, DaVinci, Brother Pete, Wattl Mob, Swaz Benjamin, Menz, Stray, HipO MonkE/MightE DreamR, Young Tom, Butter D, Chuckles, Topski, Dee Dare, Pax, SteezE, META, D.BAX and Drops Wun.

"This is the most traditional form of banjo playing I do" says CC Thornley.- "Wolfe & Thorn is a duo consisting of myself and the amazingly talented Emily Wolfe on fiddle."
We play traditional folk music with occasional twists. An outlet for our mutual passion for folk & heritage music, Wolfe & Thorn play music from Tasmania, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, England, Jamaica, as well as traditional standards of Jazz, bluegrass and classical.
A great option for venues wanting a low cost, high quality, good energy act.

Traditional music from Tasmania and abroad
Dixie & Gypsy Jazz
Classic timeless favourites
Serendipitous surprises and Unexpected Joy
The Wolfe & Thorn's music is sustainably sourced, gluten free and suitable for all diets including Vegan and generally fussy.- We recommend a Tasmanian cider, craft beer or red wine to compliment the palate.
Non-alcoholic varieties also available.
There's nothing that quite matches the charm of the combination of violin and banjo!

Tyler Richardson has spent the last 13 years singing out front of Tassie heroes Luca Brasi.

What started as fun between mates in a sleepy East Coast Tassie town turned into 5 full length records, countless shows in Australia and overseas, alongside every festival slot you can imagine.

Taking on a new challenge and adding a solo string to his bow, Richo has now put out his debut solo record Heaven in the Suburbs.

Both nostalgic and new, the idea was to push his own boundaries and keep learning as a songwriter and now solo artist.

Kat Edwards was born in Australia’s capital city Canberra, outside the hospital, inside the car. Although for as long as she can remember, she has lived off the mainland in the beautiful, sleepy town of Hobart.

Kat is the youngest of 9 siblings, with seven brothers and one sister. In 2013 she performed at her first open mic night and in 2016, a sixteen-year-old Kat emersed herself in the local music scene, busking on weekends, writing and recording. She self-released music digitally and showed the world her raw songwriting talent and a voice that completely defies her youth.

Kat spends most of her spare time at the beach, hiking, camping, reading, gardening and sewing. Now 22, she is ready to explore past the mainland, to surprise and be surprised by the world.

Mia Palencia is a singer-songwriter and educator. Born in Malaysia, she has written, recorded and released seven albums in jazz and popular music genres, and has performed extensively throughout Asia and Australia.
Mia first began dabbling in musical theatre as a performer in 2006. In 2014, she was commissioned by the Kuala Lumpur City Council to compose her first musical, MUD: Our Story of KL. The show ran for an unprecedented 3 years, making it Malaysia’s longest running musical. Her second musical, Ola Bola The Musical (2017), has enjoyed three successful runs and won 8 awards at the Boh Cameronian Arts Awards, including Best Original Score. Her third musical, Euphrasia The Musical (2018), enjoyed its second run in February 2020.

Mia’s passion for songwriting is a strong focus of her PhD research. She is based at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Tasmania, where she lectures in songwriting and contemporary voice.

Photo credit: Fiona Vail Photography