* Black Stump Duo – Tim and Ollie
The Whitlams Black Stump album “Kookaburra” out March 8
Tim Freedman’s alt-country project The Whitlams Black Stump sees him and longtime drummer Terepai Richmond joined by an A Team of roots musicians, reconstructing the best of The Whitlams’ repertoire with a smattering of new songs and classic Americana.
The five piece band features Rod McCormack and Matt Fell, two CMAA Producers of the Year, on banjo and bass, and young gun Ollie Thorpe on electric and pedal steel guitar.
The mid 2022 single “The Day John Sattler Broke His Jaw” became a staple on Country radio, as did the follow up, a reworking of The Whitlams JJJ Hot 100 no. 1, “No Aphrodisiac”, which Countrytown called “a three-minute banjo-fied instant classic”.
With the debut album “Kookaburra” out on March 8, the band is gearing up for a big year, with a national tour and main stage appearances scheduled at Bluesfest, Gympie Muster, and Savannah in the Round.
DEBUT ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR PRE ORDER
👉 https://thewhitlams.com/shop
TICKETS ON SALE THU 8 FEB
👉 https://thewhitlams.com/tour
THE WHITLAMS BLACK STUMP – BAND CREATION
Like renovators and divorce lawyers I had a “good Covid”. I started booking solo shows, promoting them and travelling around the country on my own, stopping and starting for travel restrictions, but managing 70 solo shows through 2020 and 2021. I felt lucky to be able to work, and found the long hours of travel, soundcheck, performance, and merch signing rather ennobling. I had to check in on myself and make sure that I was not having a manic episode, but really what was happening was that I was living in a dream, in which the last artist on earth travels the country, and there is no competition.
It was in this artificial state of my own self-worth that I was travelling around Western NSW and received the surprising news that some Country radio stations were playing The Whitlams song “Man About a Dog”, a recording from The Whitlams comeback album “Sancho”, which had a rural setting, but had not been recorded with any country music aesthetic in mind (and so thank you Kix FM and Triple A Murri Country). Consequently, as I drove between Gunnedah and Dubbo, Orange and Tamworth I started listening to Country radio. Had not the nascent Whitlams played Hank Williams and Patsy Cline in the early 90s? Yes indeed we had, and I’m happy for you to give me Willy Nelson, George Jones, Steve Earle or Lucinda Williams any hour of the day.
By Mudgee I’d had a simple thought which went something like this: “I tour regional Australia like a good old-fashioned country artist, so why don’t I make some country music?” So it was, after a particularly convivial afternoon performance at Lowe Winery, I rang my friend the renowned producer Matt Fell and asked if he could put some sessions together with his dream lineup. My first choice of band name – “Tim Freedman’s a Country Member” – was quickly discarded. It had seemed like a very good idea, three schooners in.
In May 2021 we gathered in the basement of Sony Music in East Sydney, in the sprawling studio, and in an old school four day session, with the band playing together and the rhythm tracks coalescing between us, we recorded the core tracks of eleven songs.
It was a real thrill to record with such instinctive musicians. Rod McCormack was waiting on the first morning with his rack of numerous banjos, guitars and papooses, and Ollie Thorpe at his pedal steel. Ollie and I met that day for the first time – which it is now strange to think was only two years ago, us having been around the country four times now on many long drives with our piano and pedal steel in the back.
DEBUT ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR PRE ORDER
👉 https://thewhitlams.com/shop
TICKETS ON SALE THU 8 FEB
👉 https://thewhitlams.com/tour
https://www.facebook.com/events/1075450757062921/