DAVE'S DIARY - 25 SEPTEMBER 2006 - AUDREY AULD MEZERA CD REVIEW
AUDREY - LOOKS FOR LUCKENBACH FROM BOLINAS
"I got lost looking for Luckenbach late one Saturday night/ but I found cowboys and fireflies and bikers dancing in the neon lights." - Looking For Luckenbach - Audrey Auld Mezera.
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Van
Diemens Land export Audrey Auld Mezera has travelled further north
than other members of the expatriate Australian country music power
base in the U.S. Most our better known refugees - Keith Urban, Jedd Hughes, Jamie O'Neal, Sherrie Austin, Catherine Britt, Kylie Sackley, Natalie Howard, The Greencards and Tommy Emmanuel - live in or near Nashville. But Audrey settled at Bolinas in Northern California with husband Daniel - formerly with the US Navy - who first met her 24 years ago when his ship docked in Hobart. |
They kept
in touch over the years and their romance blossomed during one of her
U.S. tours.
Mez has swapped the sea life for a chauffeurial role in his Dodge Ram
pick-up truck, driving Audrey from gig to gig around California.
"The thing that puts it into perspective for me is that there are
20 million people in Australia, and 35 million in California," Audrey
says.
"I'm really blown out by the amount of great entertainers and musicians
that you've never heard of, but they're out there working and it makes
you really lift your game."
She maintains her links with the Deep South by touring and recording in
Texas and spends more time in her homeland than many peers.
LOST MEN AND ANGRY GIRLS
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Audrey
recorded most of third solo disc Lost Men And Angry Girls
(Reckless) at the Boneyard and Music Cellar Studios on the Central
NSW Coast on her summer return. Nina Gerber & Audrey> |
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"America
is such a political entity in the world, and I'm living in Hippy Central,
Ca. but it's still the Wild West", Audrey revealed after winning
Chris Austin Song Contest at the famed Merlefest with Losing Faith from
her 2003 album of the same name.
"The San Andreas Fault line runs through our lounge room, restraining
orders are fashion accessories, the cops wear bullet-proof vests, the
wealthy look 'Homeless.'"
Ironically, a couple of decades ago another Australian songwriter Reece
Kirk earned healthy royalties when his song Our Love Is On The Fault
Line became a big hit for Crystal Gayle - younger sister of Loretta
Lynn.
So the singer feels comfortable delving into social comment on her adoptive
home's foreign policy.
"Now the crows are counting the sorrows and joys/ of those getting
high on the mesa/ who hide behind flags while they're counting their spoils/
dancing on dead men's faces."
BUCK HUNGRY
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Auld
is equally vitriolic in Buck Hungry - a duet with Bill Chambers,
ignited by his mandolin and Tim Wedde on accordion. |
That becomes
a trilogy as Audrey and Bill do a live cut of Clinch Mountain Prayer -
their Carter Family eulogy.
But the album highlight is the Tex-Mex flavoured Looking For Luckenbach,
replete with accordion and name checks of Ray Wylie Hubbard, Waylon &
Willie and the boys.
Other memorable tunes are wry Self Help Helped Me, mining metaphor
of Down In A Hole and duet with Karl Broadie on Dublin Boy.
Also worthy is Last Seen In Gainesville - a song inspired by a
missing person poster - on which Wedde trades accordion for organ.
Mezera joins producer and former touring partner Chambers and Dave Steel
on a tour including her home state.
The Van Diemen's Land diva, unlike many expats, plunges into the wilds
of Victoria.
The trio plays Manchester Lane in the CBD - September 28, Limelight in
Geelong - September 29 and Meeniyan Hall - September 30.
And on October 1 they celebrate with The Flood and expatriate Kiwi Brent
Parlane, enjoying a new kidney, at Harmony Row Vineyard at Piper's Creek
near Kyneton.
Nu Country TV producer & fellow Tasmanian Kerry Richardson films that
show.