Visits to Woodstock and the Big Pink — a house where Bob Dylan and his buddies gathered to write material — along with Steve Earle, and her fiance James, served as the main sources of inspiration for Australian songstress Catherine Britt’s forthcoming album, Boneshaker.
The celebrated singer-songwriter will release the new alt-country platter on Friday, May 1, the same night her tour rolls in to Rooty Hill RSL.
The 11-track album was produced by Seattle-based Ryan Hadlock, known for his work with The Strokes, The Lumineers and The Foo Fighters.
‘‘This is probably the biggest record I’ve ever made as far as production,’’ said Britt.
‘‘The reason I chose Ryan as producer is because I listened to all of the stuff that he has done, which is very much folk-pop, even full-blown rock with the Foo Fighters, and the one thing I noticed the whole way through streaming his sounds is it was all about the singer and the lyrics, they were all at the front. Even though there were a million things going on behind them, you could totally hear the singer and you could totally hear every lyric and that was what sold it for me.
‘‘There’s so much more going on than ever before, but it really is still about me, my guitar and my songs and what I’m trying to say in my lyrics. That was the most important element of this record for me, and then being brave and trying something a little different.’’
Britt laughed off the notion raised in her own press material, that the new album was ‘‘grittier and darker’’ than previous outings.
‘‘I don’t write that,’’ she said. ‘‘I think I’m always just me and I write what comes out naturally. I’m not trying to be anything, or I’m not feeling any grittier or darker or whatever. It’s just what comes out.
‘‘I guess it has a lot to do with who I work with and sounds and stuff, but everyone always goes on about, ‘oh you’re always doing something different’, but I really feel like I’m not. I really feel like I’m making albums that are very much on the same path and from the same realm. I’m just writing different songs, because I’m influenced by different things over the last two years.’’
Britt said that the new material was written between America and home.
‘‘I wrote Good To Bad first and I guess that sort of set the tone and then I just wrote a fair bit back at home in my house in Australia in Newcastle and then I flew over to upstate New York, just outside of Woodstock and rented a little unit and yeah, just dug deep and spent my whole time writing the rest of the record,’’ she said.
‘‘It felt good to not have any distractions and not worry about doing the washing while I’m at my home studio or silly things like that that take you away and make you feel guilty. It was great and so vibey and it was great to go and visit the site of Woodstock and Big Pink ... all those things are very inspiring to me and such a part of the music world that I totally just dig and that I really get a lot of inspiration from. It was really good to go there for the first time and really pull from that.’’
Britt has long cited Steve Earle as an influence. Having him join her for a duet on new track You And Me Against The World was a major coup.
‘‘I’m so stoked,’’ she said. ‘‘I think the great thing about it is, it’s a bucket list thing that I can tick off, and I love doing that, but also I was listening a lot to his record Washington Square Serenade when I was writing my record, so this whole album, Boneshaker, is totally inspired by that album.
‘‘It felt like it came full circle when he became involved with the album. I felt like it all sort of verified everything and made it all make sense. I’m absolutely stoked beyond belief that he was a part of it and just love the song and love what he did ... it’s so Steve Earle and that just excites me so much.’’
Another of the new tracks Britt is pleased to sell is Nice Girl, a track in which she suggests if it weren’t for all the bad things she’d seen and done she could quite easily be a ‘‘nice girl’’ all of the time. ‘‘It’s probably one of my favourites and I love doing it live,’’ she said. ‘‘I loved writing it and I loved recording it. I knew it was going to be one of those songs on the record that I would always love. It’s something I’ve wanted to say, the whole premise of the song, and I’m glad it came out that way, because it’s not the way I thought I’d ever say it. I think it’s one of the coolest sounding songs on the record.’’
Another standout is The Way That It Goes, a track Britt is equally passionate about.
‘‘I think I’ve been in the industry for such a long time and I’ve learned a lot,’’ she said. ‘‘I feel very old on the inside even though I’m only 30. And I think it’s because from the moment I was born I was go go go and I was always doing things, almost like touching hotplates when I shouldn’t to learn that I shouldn’t ... that was totally me, and up until this day I’m still doing that.
‘‘I feel like that song is a little bit of a lesson learned. I just realised you just really have to take it all with a grain of salt. People are always going to say what they’re going to say, and they’re always going to think negative thoughts because that’s the tall poppy thing and that’s the way it goes. You’ve just got to get on with it and be yourself and be cool with that.
‘‘I was really glad with that one too when I had finished writing it, because I really wanted to say that in a way that hadn’t been said before ... like my own realisation of it. It’s a little reflection of my life in that one.’’
Also a direct reflection of her life is track Working Class Man, inspired by her fiance James.
‘‘He’s definitely inspired a few songs on this record, that one in particular,’’ Britt said. ‘‘It’s so funny. We’ve always said it doesn’t make any sense on paper but it works and that it’s me and him against the world and these were two things that I totally stole and used on the record, because they are so true.
‘‘When you get in a relationship that is for life and you plan a wedding and a future with somebody — and this is the first time I’ve ever done that — things change. It’s completely different to dating or being in a relationship that feels committed but really isn’t. There’s no future planning, no goals that you’re working towards together.
‘‘I feel like I have that for the first time ever and I just really wanted to express that on the record, that he is perfect for me. He’s so not in the music business at all. He’s like me, but a guy, but he’s had nowhere near the life that I have. It’s really bizarre. We met and it was almost like we met our match ... two very strong, bull-headed, determined and driven, centre-of-attention people finally met their match. It’s just calmed us both and we’ve both found love for the first time and we’re both stoked.’’
Britt is planning to be wed in six months.
‘‘We plan to tour right up until the wedding and then we are going on a honeymoon and then we’re planning to go on tour straight after that up until Tamworth again,’’ she said.
Britt said she looked forward to the Rooty Hill RSL album launch.
‘‘I think the first time I played that gig I was like 11 years old,’’ she said. ‘‘They’ve been supporting country music forever and it’s just such a great place to feel like you’re at home. The crowd is always very much the crowd that has been seeing me there since I was 11 and I love that. I love that the gig I am doing the day my album is released is that one. It’s kind of perfect.’’
Ticket details: www.rootyhillrsl.com.au
