Every once in a while a venue like ours has an opportunity to present a magnificent pairing such as Lachlan Bryan and Hannah Aldridge. We are beyond excited to make this our opening foray into 2023 and confident that this one will sell out quickly. Lachlan was so keen he’s even bringing over the whole band!! Don’t miss this show folks.
LACHLAN BRYAN & THE WILDES
A little bit country, a little bit folky and a tiny bit rock & roll, this stunning roots collective have built a cult following of loyalists who’ll argue that LB is a master songwriter and storyteller, and that the band’s raggedy, eccentric performance is entirely unique.
“Lachlan Bryan is an incredible songwriter”
– Denise Hylands, Rhythms Magazine, Melbourne, AU
“One of the finest songwriters in the world today”
– Paul Kerr, Americana UK / No Depression, Glasgow, UK
“I’m keen to point out to readers just how good this is”
– Calvin Powers, The Americana Music Show, North Carolina, USA
“Americana done with real soul – and no wasted notes”
New York Music Daily, New York, USA
Lachlan Bryan is a genre-bending, critically acclaimed singer-songwriter from Melbourne. His eclectic, literate records and live shows, often recorded and performed with his loyal band of band of brothers The Wildes, have gained LB a loyal fanbase in Australia and The UK over the past decade. He’s flown the flag of the Americana genre in Australia since The Wildes’ debut record in 2010, and he has toured with the likes of Steve and Justin Townes Earle, Joe Pug, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin and Joan Armatrading – as well as more contemporary acts like The North Mississippi Allstars and Lord Huron. Breakthrough album Black Coffee won a Golden Guitar and a Music Victoria Award in 2014, and all of LB’s subsequent albums have been short-listed for the Australian Music Prize.
2021 was Lachlan Bryan’s most commercially successful year to date – with two ARIA Official #1 Australian Country albums. Nearest Misses, a live record recorded on the road in 2019 was released in March, whilst As Long as it’s Not Us, he and The Wildes’ first studio album since 2018, was released to much acclaim in September. The unique sonic and lyrical content of the latter album was perhaps best summed up by respected music journalist Bernard Zuel, who wrote:
“How many Americana artists can offer up a song that channels mid 80s Leonard Cohen – with a bit of sleaze, a patina of urban darkness, and an ear for the line between cynicism and realism – alongside urban bluegrass murder ballads and a dash of God versus Ego? Lachlan Bryan, like Jason Isbell and Shane Nicholson, is country only by old association, and Americana by limitation (ours, not his)”.
In the past year, LB and The Wildes have appeared at many Australian festivals including Out on the Weekend, Dashville Skyline, Groundwater Country Music Festival and The Gympie Muster. They’ve also toured the UK (twice) and Scandinavia, and appeared at Maverick (the UK’s original Americana Festival) for a record fourth time. In October this year, the band was nominated for a Music Victoria Award for Best Country Act – for the second consecutive year.
HANNAH ALDRIDGE
Hannah Aldridge grew up on the muddy banks of Muscle Shoals—her birthright is music and Alabama. A reckoning between her coming-of-age in the South and a lifetime of trying to create an identity outside of it, her songs strike a delicate balance between rebellion and self-discovery. These two themes weave through Aldridge’s gifted storytelling, making for records that soothe like a lullaby and crack like a whip. For those raised in the Bible Belt, Aldridge’s music sounds like the voice of an old friend who understands. For those not in the know, her music is an initiation to the dark side of the South, Christian fundamentalism and the struggle to forge a future in a place haunted by its past.
Daughter of Muscle Shoals legend Walt Aldridge, Hannah started her musical journey as a classically-trained pianist. It wasn’t until her early twenties that she first picked up a guitar and began using music as an outlet to grapple with her demons. With a voice equal parts gritty and melodic, the emerging artist took to the road, entertaining crowds in ten countries and three continents with her acclaimed debut album Razor Wire, superb follow-up Gold Rush and Live in Black and White – a beautifully captured live album recorded in London, England.
Aldridge has expanded her artistic vision with the ambitious, cinematic Dream of America, which is set to be released in 2023 on Swedish alternative indie label, Icons Creating Evil Art. A highly collaborative project, produced in three corners of the world with renowned Melbourne based artist/producer Lachlan Bryan, producer/engineer Damian Cafarella and Swedish mix engineer Frans Hägglund, the record peers through the lens of fading Hollywood starlets, charming psychopaths and weary vagabonds – navigating society’s underbelly through dark, romantic vignettes. Hannah’s haunting vocals, assisted by her father’s expert vocal production, deliver a cathartic message of defiance.
Hannah Aldridge’s fierce Southern energy reaches through every speaker, whether it’s in a dashboard doing 80 down I-65, a rock club in Amsterdam or a Honky Tonk in her adopted hometown of Nashville. The new album treads a fine line between the genial charm of Americana, and the raw, hypnotic and occasionally electronic stylings of what some might like to call ‘noir indie pop’. It is music for those looking to confront their demons without remaining tethered to them.
Deploying a charming blend of power and vulnerability, Aldridge delivers her stories with all the conviction of a church bell ringing out through the streets of a small Alabama town.
The Barn at Wombat Flat is a NO BYO FOOD or DRINK event please! We will have a range of drinks from Ricca Terra Vintners plus beer, cider, soft drinks, hot drinks. We will have a food truck in attendance. Baked goods from the Eudunda Bakery.
Camping tickets available from the booking site.
Gates open 5:30pm / Show 7:00pm
