Fanny Lumsden is a shining star in Australia’s country music scene – a genre admittedly not often covered by me – and her new single ‘Tidy Town’ is a glorious upbeat and positive track that crosses genres with aplomb: a swiftly moving feast of jangling guitars and shimmering melodies.
There is a glorious sparkle to the track, which Lumsden says:
…is a song about the classic tale of ‘don’t be too quick to judge’, and how clichés always seem to cloud our view of the truth, and although they have their place there is always more to the story. We wanted to capture this in the Tidy Town Clip, by almost making the visuals confusing. 38 weeks pregnant, in a wedding dress, driving a B Double is not really what you expect, but it really paints the picture of there clearly being more to the story, so you have to trust and go with it.’
This tidy town it’s got nothing to hide, but there’s more than meets the eye.
Ultimately it is a song that is ebullient and joyous, something we all need after the last 18 months. The accompanying video has a charming joie de vivre about it, subverting expectations and with a certain self-deprecatory sense of humour:
The single is off the award-winning album ‘Fallow’ which is available to download and stream here.
Despite the exigencies of lockdown, Lumsden won 5 x Golden Guitars back in January, an AIR Award for Best Independent Country Album (fallow), the recent nomination of ‘Dig’ for CMT Video of the Year at the 2022 50th Golden Guitar Awards, along with being included in ABC TV’s two-part ‘Going Country’ documentary. And produced baby.
Lumsden is about to embark on a massive tour (tickets available here):
14 January – CHT Spiegeltent, Barwon Heads VIC *
22 January – CHT TCMF, Tamworth Town Hall, Tamworth NSW *
28 January – CHT Tenterfield Scout Hall, Tenterfield NSW *
11 February – CHT Violet Town Community Complex, Violet Town VIC *
12 February – CHT Newry Hall, Newry Vic
26 February – Tumbafest, Tumbarumba NSW
5 March – Capital Country Festival, Stage 88, Canberra ACT
11 March – CHT Furner Community Hall, Furner SA *
13 March – Adelaide Fringe Festival, Wonderland Spiegeltent, Adelaide SA *
18 March – CHT Trundle War Memorial Hall, Trundle NSW *
19 March – CHT Grenfell Show Pavilion, Grenfell NSW
25 March – CHT Ariah Park Memorial Hall, Ariah Park NSW *
26 March – Montreal Community Theatre, Tumut NSW ~
27 March – CHT Wombat Soldiers Memorial Hall, Wombat NSW *
29 March – Club Sapphire, Merimbula NSW ^
31 March – BMEC, Bathurst NSW ^
2 April – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul NSW ^
3 April – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul NSW ^
4 April – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul NSW ^
6 April – Civic Theatre, Newcastle NSW ^
8 April – Club Forster, Forster NSW ^
9 April – Tamworth Town Hall, Tamworth NSW ^
11 April – The Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour NSW ^
12 April – Yamba Bowling Club, Yamba NSW ^
28 May – Boots & Beach Festival, Port Macquarie NSW
- Country Halls Tour rescheduled
~ Great Southern Nights
^ Supporting Paul Kelly
More Country Halls Tour dates TBA.
