Kasey Chambers - 'The Older News'

The Book
Kasey's US Manager has recently had a book published about the amazing life of the Dead Ringer Band, here is a bite.......

        Red Desert Sky is a tale of family survival, first against natural forces, later in the cut-throat world of show business. The Chambers family: Bill, Diane, Nash and Kasey, have lived their own, uniquely Australian version of Swiss Family Robinson. Here they share their extraordinary experiences as they transformed themselves from nomadic hunters to one of Australia's most treasured musical exports.
        In 1976, hoping to earn a living hunting foxes, Bill and Diane Chambers took their two year-old son Nash and newborn daughter Kasey into the Nullarbor Plain. Here the four Chambers lived for much of the next ten years, amid venomous snakes, vicious dingoes, poisonous spiders and feral cats, camping in a different spot on the parched Plain after each night's hunting.
        Gathering their supplies from the Indian Pacific Tea & Sugar Train, the family endured seven to eight months annually on the Nullarbor, relocating to a small fishing village during the hottest months.
        After returning to "civilisation" permanently in 1986, Bill and Diane re-launched their musical careers, performing as a duo in pubs, with Kasey, then Nash joining to form a group soon dubbed Dead Ringer Band. By 1992, they had become musicians full-time, pulling a small trailer behind their four-wheel drive and playing nationally, to big city music lovers as well as rural and outback audiences.
        During the 1990s Dead Ringer Band members released seven CD's and collectively earned two ARIA's, five MO Awards and seven Gold Guitars at Tamworth. In May of 1999, lead singer Kasey Chambers stepped out as a solo artist, issuing The Captain, already certified for double-platinum sales in Australia and subsequently released in Europe and the U.S. Nash produced The Captain as well as Barricades & Brickwalls, Kasey's second solo album, released by EMI in September and scheduled for January, 2002 issue in the U.S. (via Warner Bros.).

Only 11 days after release 'Barricades' has achieved gold record status in Australia. After a fantastic debut entry on the ARIA album chart at Number 4, 'The Captain' also found its way back into the Top 50, after a staggering 101 weeks in the Top 100 albums. 'Barricades' is Number 1 on the ARIA Country chart, closely followed by 'The Captain' at Number 2. The new album also made its way to Number 1 on the Australasian Charts (for Oz & NZ artists). Just as a footnote, 'The Captain' had sold just over 1000 copies at the same time!!!

Kasey won an APRA Award for 'Most Performed Country Work' at the recent awards night in Sydney on May 28. Although missing out on the gong for 'Song Of The Year', I know she is still pretty chuffed at being nominated.

KASEY WINS TOP ARIA
Tuesday October 24, 2000
Kasey took home the ARIA
(Aust. Record Industry Assoc.) award for
BEST FEMALE ARTIST.
An outstanding achievement in anyone's language when you consider
competition such as Kylie Minogue and Vanessa Amorosi.
Tuesday October 24, 2000

Kasey and Co. head off to the States on Sunday (29th October) for a five week tour including the Tonight Show with David Letterman (scheduled for late November) and numerous shows from L.A. to Chicago to Texas and all points between. At least there is something to brag about now!!!!!
The new album is progressing well and pencilled in for release around May 2001.

There are lots of little things going on in the life of Kasey at the moment but nothing real exciting. The album has been released in The States and is getting some great reviews. The tour went very well, Kasey played to full houses almost everywhere she went, Di said the merchandise sales are exceeding any expectations and there have been a lot of people reaching into there pockets and making donations to
'The Christina Noble Children's Foundation'
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,
this is a cause that both Kasey and Di are very committed towards.
Anyone going to one of Kasey's shows are now able to have there photo taken with Kasey for $10.00, with all profits being donated to this charity.

Kasey and 'band' are heading back off to America shortly for a big promo tour which includes an appearance on the David Letterman show in front of an audience of a few million.
Don't get nervous Kasey!!!!!!

Kasey Chambers - l3th Note Club, Glasgow, Scotland
She may have been born and raised in the dusty plains of Southern Australia, but Kasey Chambers lets rip with a voice straight out of the heart of Nashville that belies her true origins. She is improbably small for such as a rich, luminous voice; a smile and an almost inaudible Australian "hello" provide little in the way of warning of what’s to come. Her debut album, last year’s The Captain, took Hank Williams and Emmylou Harris as starting points, and its intricate, spinning melodies fused traditional country sensibilities with a thoroughly modern viewpoint. Critical and commercial acclaim both followed in quick succession, and the plaudits, from the likes of Lucinda Williams, testified to the richness, quality and power of her songwriting.
‘Live, Chambers’ songs are fleshed-out rewrites, electrifying and vivid when compared to the recorded versions. Their strength lies, initially at least, in her voice. Smoky and resonant, it’s a thing of great beauty, infused with wonder and wide-eyed longing that make her unique.
These songs are deceptively simple, with hooks as sharp as any. Drawn in by a barbed guitar line, a lilting fiddle or a rousing bluegrass stomp, you’re suddenly awash in deep, complex waters —almost overwhelmed, but happy to be in the thick of such a beautiful storm.
Leon McDermott "Glasgow Herald"

CONGRATULATIONS TO NASH
On Monday, 24/7/2000, Nash finally achieved some recognition for his work when he was named 'Producer Of The Year' at the CMAA Awards in Sydney for his work on 'The Captain'. What makes the award even sweeter is the fact that Garth Porter (Lee Kernaghan's Producer) has won the award for the past 7 years.
AND
Here is a rough idea of what Kasey is up to between now and Christmas.
There will probably be at least 3 trips to both the UK & USA.
Around August the new album will go into production with a release date expected to be around March 2001.
There is a tour of Queensland planned for October.
Keep Checking Back For More Info

'The Wiseacre Review' - London U.K. - June/July 2000
The history of Australian country music is a short one. Or, at least, the history of decent Australian country music is a short one. However, the person who writes the book on Australian country music - well, it's less of a book and more of a back-of-a-bus-ticket - will surely have to think about revising his masterwork after a quick blast or two of The Captain . Kasey Chambers is a 23-year-old who hails from New South Wales, though you wouldn't guess either of those facts from from a cursory listen to her debut album. To negate the second point, she sounds like she's straight out of Austin, Texas, so convincingly does she pull off this most American of musics. And to confuse the former, she sounds for all the world like she's been making records for years. This is not the sound of some naive young buck. Another thing it's not, by the way, is country music of the Shania Twain/Faith Hill ilk. Far from it, thankfully. Chambers' country music is far more gutsy and compelling that any of the Barbie-doll clones that Nashville has thus far come up with. And with better tunes, too: Chambers proves herself adept with a pop hook or two on the likes of "You Got The Car" and "Don't Talk Back", songs complemented more than adequately by ballads such as "These Pines" and "Don't Go". Lyrically, The Captain covers most of the usual bases: a stack of car and road references, stuff about learning "the hard way", even a couple of well-chosen namedrops. What distinguishes them more than anything, though, is the way in which they're sung. Chambers has an extraordinary voice, soaring one moment, cracked and breathy the next. Again, and like 'most everything else about The Captain, it belies her years and is, in no small measure, extraordinary. Perhaps the most obvious reference point for anyone wanting to know where Chambers is coming from is also an extremely flattering one. However, Lucinda Williams took the best part of two decades to make a record as good as this. And though The Captain isn't quite up there with Williams' "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road", it's not that far behind. Spellbinding.

KASEY AT FAN FAIR 2000
REPRISE/WARNER/ASYLUM RECORDS SHOWCASE
Kasey Chambers may be a new name to country music fans but judging from their response to her performance, it's a name they will remember. Chambers performed songs from her album, The Captain , for which she wrote 10 of the 12 tracks herself, co-writing two with her father and her road manager. Although the album was released in Australia over a year ago, Chambers looks forward to its U.S. release in September. "It's so exciting," she said after her performance, "I never dreamed that my album would be released in America." This 24-year-old Australian-born artist, who has been performing with her mother and father's band since age 9, recently has put together her own band, which includes her father and brother. "I was brought up on American country music," she said, and cited Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Gram Parsons as some of her musical influences.

REVIEW IN THE 'SUNDAY IRISH TRIBUNE'
The Captain - Kasey Chambers
"Photo-friendly country singer gets big label deal and promotion to match. So far, so Shania Twain, only Kasey Chambers is a fantastic singer and nowhere on this 12 track album is Nu Country allowed to wrestle control. I thought record companies had given up on any country music that didn't fit between Steps and Geri Halliwell on the sound scale. I was wrong - you really don't have to drink alcopops to get into country. This is a wonderful album and the arrival of a massive talent."

KASEY WINS ANOTHER AWARD
Kasey has recently added another award to her collection. She won the 'Best Female Artist' at the recent MICA (Music Industry Critic's Association) Awards. These awards are voted on by a panel of about 100 music journo's and critics in Australia. Good to see that the 'experts' have recognised Kasey for the fantastic talent she is.

'THE CAPTAIN' GOES PLATINUM .........
ON TUESDAY 18th APRIL 2000, KASEY'S DEBUT ALBUM ACHIEVED PLATINUM STATUS
FOR SALES EXCEEDING 70,000 COPIES.
WELL DONE KASEY

Kasey is in Europe and the U.S. at the moment. She will be schmoozing and promoting her album as well as playing a few gigs. 'The Captain' is being launched in the U.K. on the 'Virgin' label. She then heads off to 'The States' for fanfare in Nashville and who knows what else while she is there. Kasey will be away for about six weeks in Europe and the United States, we all wish Kasey the best of luck and success.

The debut album from Kasey Chambers 'The Captain', has done something that nobody has been able to do for over 2 years ...... push Shania Twain from her No.1 perch on the ARIA Country Album Chart. The two albums have since battled for the No 1 spot. 'The Captain' has also stayed entrenched in the Australian Top 20 for a couple of months now and in the Top 5 Australasian albums with of the likes of AC/DC, Savage Garden, Killing Heidi and Vanessa Amorosi.