DAVE'S DIARY - 16 /1/12 - KATRINA BURGOYNE CD REVIEW
GUNNEDAH GHOSTS HAUNT GUITAR
"Each night you creep around, crawl across my bones/ your breath don't make a sound/ but it pierces through my soul." - Ghosts - Katrina Burgoyne-Bill Chambers
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When
Katrina Burgoyne returned to her century old family home at Gunnedah
after a stint in Brisbane she found an extra resident - a ghost. Instead of haunting her, Ghost became the entrée song for her debut disc produced by guitarist fiancé Michael Muchow. Burgoyne, aided by a $12,000 APRA development grant, earlier spent a month in Nashville where she swung from the writing ropes. So it's no surprise she wrote all 11 songs - with a little help from Ghost co-writer Bill Chambers who added mandolin and lap steel. |
Chambers
also plays dobro on I Wasn't Gonna Cry - a song she began at school
and finished much later with Matt Scullion.
The singer has been touring with peers to promote her indie album that
she released in March.
"Due to minimum budget we recorded the band tracks and vocals in
the studio over 2 days," Burgoyne confessed.
"I think I got really lucky, everything just worked out perfect and
my microphone was a dream to work with."
Burgoyne's disc is not just an artistic success - it also reached the
finals of two categories in the 40th Tamworth Golden Guitar awards in
January.
Katrina is a contender in new talent and also female vocalist with Beccy
Cole, Kirsty Lee Akers, Jasmine Rae and Aleyce Simmonds.
At just 23 the singer is a 10-year veteran of Tamworth pilgrimages but
a relative novice at ruptured romance.
CRYING IN THE RAIN
"I'm walking in the rain, I'm holding back the tears/ I'm calling out your name/ I wasn't gonna cry today." - I Wasn't Gonna Cry - Katrina Burgoyne-Matt Scullion.
Burgoyne
explores faded love from recent back pages in the title track, penned
with Lianna Rose, You Messed Up with expat Aussie Natalie Howard
and finale Just A Boy.
But there's more to this disc than just journeys along jagged edges of
teen torment.
At 17 Burgoyne wrote Too Late For Sorry about a family member toying
with suicide because of depression.
It first surfaced on the debut disc by Chasing Bailey featuring co-writer
Crystal Bailey.
The singer credits her artistic bent to a much earlier generation.
"Both my grandfathers were musical," Katrina revealed.
"Grandpa Burgoyne playing the violin in the pit orchestras as a young
boy and continued his passion as an elderly man playing saxophone and
clarinet. Poppy Wilkinson (my mum's dad), was offered a record deal at
19 but his band mates didn't want to move to Sydney so he continued to
play at local pubs and clubs. I grew up sitting on his lap as he sang
all the classic country songs. At age 73, Poppy still plays music today,
however I'm a little bit big for his lap now days."
JESSICA - TEEN ROMANCE
"The chapter it ends like a withering rose/ our youth is a drowning skimming stone/ the future unwritten will soon be exposed/ but we were 17." - Jessica - Katrina Burgoyne.
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Burgoyne
explores overcoming self-doubt - suffered in primary school but overcome
late in secondary school in Perfect - and beating similar fears
in Bones. Guitarist Glenn Hannah - husband of Felicity - played guitar, piano and percussion and produced Perfect with Rod McCormack adding mandolin and banjo. Jessica is a tribute the young friend who stood by her during her first split at 16, tempered by Chambers' dobro and Luke Moller on mandolin, and I Don't Know - a paean to true love. OK that's an analysis of song sources - what about the music? |
Well, Burgoyne
avoids pitfalls of peers country-pop and delivers a more organic capsule
where the vocals - not guitars and drums - reign in a sea of acoustic
bliss.
The only pop deviation is her collaboration with Phil Barton on Wrecking
Ball - a song that shares its title with many.
That's not a criticism - just an observation.
Burgoyne digs from a deep country roots well with credible tales from
a creative young life.