Country music lovers shouldn't miss Mitch Grainger when he returns to Canowindra on Thursday, March 24.
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Grainger will be performing at the Blue Jacket Motel where his fans will enjoy his latest material.
"I am releasing new material this year with my first single called 'Strong Woman' in time for the Canowindra show," Grainger said.
"Audiences can definitely look forward to hearing some of this new material at the show and all about the plans I have for the new music. "
Mitch Grainger wowed Canowindra audiences last year with his powerful storytelling, joyous tunes, and wonderful live show.
On March 24 he will perform in the stunning new event room and bar at the refurbished Blue Jacket Motel before he returns home to Nashville, USA.
Mitch Grainger is a perfect paradox. A white guy from Australia, that infuses the blues genre's traditional stylings with a confidence, and depth of spirit, that has him being compared to the likes of Robert Johnson by American music critics.
His sound, built on a talented configuration of vocals, harmonica and guitar, has come of age.
It's been likened to a fine single malt whiskey by Steve Creedy of the Australian Newspaper, and the comparison is apt, as Mitch Grainger has quietly been maturing as an artist for over 25 years, while performing and recording alongside some of Australia and the world's greatest artists, such as Malcolm Young (AC/DC) and Harry Vanda to name but two.
Q&A with Mitch Grainger
You've been described as "a perfect paradox. A white guy from Australia, that infuses the blues genre's traditional stylings with a confidence, and depth of spirit, that has him being compared to the likes of Robert Johnson by American music critics." Robert Johnson has been recognised as a 'Master of the blues' whose albums have gone on to inspire musicians such as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Eric Clapton has said he was "the most important blues singer that ever lived." I would imagine as a blues musician yourself this has been quite a humbling comparison.
True I was a little shocked at the comparison. I'm nowhere near him really in my book but a funny kinda related story is that I have been mistaken for being an African American performer by the man who recorded Robert Lockwood Jr (one of Robert Johnson's contemporaries). He was listening in the other room of a bar in Glebe and then told me he was shocked to see that I was white when he walked in... I can only say I've listened to a lot of early blues.
You started performing professionally at the age of 13 so you've been on stage and in recording studios for most of your life, what have been some of the highlights of your career that have brought you to where you are now musically?
Working in my first band 'The Beefs' with Alex Lloyd, was a hugely formative experience. Through that band I got to meet and work with Malcolm Young of AC/DC and that connection with him and then in Turn Harry Vanda, had the most impact on my career. Most my professional relationships in Australia came through that connection.
Then moving to the US has to be the next big formative experience. Playing 3 - 4 nights a week in the bars and nightclubs of LA for 10 year with some of the best musicians in the world. That has shaped me into the player I am today.
You 'usually' travel between Australia and your home in Nashville, USA. With COVID having halted the music industry worldwide over the last couple of years, I have to say we got the good with the bad as I couldn't imagine we would have been so privileged to have had to perform in Canowindra last year if it were not for the travel and performance restrictions. Is this the case or do you regularly get out to perform in regional towns? How has the whole 'COVID thing' changed your life as a performing musician?
COVID definitely put a stop my my plans to record and release a new record in 2020. I'm only now planning to release that material; in the hope I can tour both here and, in the US, to back up the release. That's the biggest impact. Basically, taking two years out of my live music calendar.
Before that, I was regularly coming out west to perform I towns like Orange, Cowra, and some others when I was back in NSW. I like to play country towns. This goes back to my days with the Bondi Cigars, when we played literally everywhere across the entire country from aboriginal settlements to small towns like Canowindra. I find it very rewarding.
So, yes, I do like playing the country towns, but if not for COVID I most likely would still have been performing in the US late year and may not have got to Canowindra.
Who has been your greatest inspiration as a musician and / or performer?
If I had to pick one, I'd say Ry Cooder. He's always done the projects he wanted, not stuck to one genre, and produced stellar records and music for over 40 years.
Anything else you would like to add about new music or anything to promote your show in Canowindra.
As I mentioned I am releasing new material this year. I don't have the release date yet, though I will have a release date for my first single called 'Strong Woman' by the time of the Canowindra show. So, audiences can definitely look forward to hearing some of this new material at the show and all about the plans I have for the new music.
