DAVE'S DIARY - 11 JULY 2006 - HORSWOOD CD REVIEW

TAKING THE CHIN OUT OF CHINCHILLA

"100 points of identity lay across the table in front of me/ I've got my name, the clothes on my back/ my old guitar and an empty bottle of jack." - 100 Points - Gina Horswood.

Chinchilla became known in song when singing actor Chadwick Morgan joked he lost his wick to the melon and cane-growing father of a lass he courted.

But, six decades after the Sheik Of Scrubby Creek's "cruel coming of age," the town has ignited double trouble.

Gina Horswood, 20, and sister Melanie punctuated university studies to cut debut disc Our Way (STR) featuring 12 of their original songs.

And, with regional and community radio support and vast video clip exposure on Pay TV channel CMC and Nu Country TV, Horswood draws attention to its family roots 300 kilometres west of Brisbane.

Such success is deserved - Gina began writing songs at 13 and doesn't beat around the new bush to nail her messages.

Her imagery is superb, with a wind compass - "this town don't move too fast, goes around in circles just bringing up my past."

The songs are true to pure passion of traditional country without corn quotient.

Sibling harmonies exude dual dynamics with Michael Flanders production ensuring no burial in a sea of guitars and drums.

They entrée with joyous biographical Home, Jesus & My Mum segueing into debut single 100 Points.

Superb sequencing finds the guilt fuelled but assertive nocturnal booze lament One Of These Days paired with regret charged Something So Right.

Morose fragility of Who I Am and fiddle driven Broken are reprieved by optimism in a jaunty When I Hold My Baby and maternal triumph of the title track.

Narratives are equally accessible - Gina penned climatic Ain't Seen Rain impacts with the same clout as when the sisters combine for the magnetic pull of Home.

The heartworn highway of Too Far Gone - not expat star Catherine Britt's famed title track - eases into whiskey soaked finale Cowboy's Fool.

Horswood drifts into MOR but guest fiddler Matt Harrison and Flanders' dexterity on mandolin, pedal steel, dobro and banjo and Gina's acoustic guitar are a rootsy rudder.

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