New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Jenny Mitchell is turning a piece of Gippsland history into song on ‘Mr Cotter’s Ridge’, a raw new single arriving alongside Australian and UK tour plans for 2027.
Stream it HERE.
Built around gritty banjo, restless fiddle and Mitchell’s unvarnished vocal, ‘Mr Cotter’s Ridge’ heads back to Kilcunda in the 1860s. It tells the story of a farmer who defied Australia’s Land Act, walking away from his allotment rather than clearing three ancient gum trees from the ridge. A decade later, farmers in the same district were being paid to put trees back into the landscape.
There is a personal thread running through the song too. Mitchell co-wrote it with Jenny Churchill, whose family has farmed alongside Mr Cotter’s former land for generations, before recording it with alt-bluegrass outfit Midnight Chicken and producer Shane Nicholson. The result feels deliberately stripped of polish, letting the story, banjo and fiddle do the heavy lifting.
The track continues Mitchell’s habit of connecting songwriting with issues beyond music. Previous tours have raised money for conservation and helped fund safe accommodation for women and children escaping domestic violence in New Zealand. This time, the focus turns to land, stewardship and one farmer’s refusal to destroy something that had been standing long before he arrived.
‘Mr Cotter’s Ridge’ follows Mitchell’s 2025 fourth album Forest House, recorded in rural New Zealand with producer Matt Fell. Her career has already taken her through 32 Australian dates supporting Kasey Chambers, an opening slot for The Lumineers and a 2024 appearance at Nashville’s AmericanaFest.
Next year takes Mitchell back onto the road. She will tour Australia’s east coast with Midnight Chicken across March and April before heading to the UK for her first tour there in May 2027, including shows in London, Manchester and Sheffield. Before all of that, there is Kilcunda itself, where Mitchell marks the single’s release with a sold-out show at the town’s community hall. It is difficult to imagine a more fitting place for ‘Mr Cotter’s Ridge’ to find its feet.
Go HERE for tour tickets.
