Jed Rowe and Alison Ferrier have teamed up to announce joint national tour dates to promote their new album releases. Jed Rowe’s The Last Day Of Winter and Alison Ferrier’s Be Here Now albums are linked as they were both recorded at Melbourne’s The Enclave Recording Facility in 2014, with the same core creative team of ARIA award winner Jeff Lang as producer and alt-country darlings The Stillsons as the studio band. Rowe and Ferrier are delighted to extend the successful collaboration with a joint headline tour, with both artists sharing a touring band comprised of The Stillsons members Cat Canteri (drums, vocals) and Justin Bernasconi (guitar vocals). The shows will be a musical feast for fans of quality songwriting, rich vocal harmonies and high calibre guitar playing.
The Last Day Of Winter is the follow up album to Jed Rowe’s critically acclaimed The Ember and The Afterglow (2012), and will be released on Friday 29th May through WJO distribution.
Whilst the new record retains Rowe’s signature electric slide guitar playing, Rowe was also keen to expand his creative palette beyond the power trio format of bass, drums and guitars.
Enlisting ARIA award winner Jeff Lang for the second time as producer, Rowe also brought in Cat Canteri and Justin Bernasconi from The Stillsons. Both had worked with Lang on other projects over the past year, and Rowe felt that this dynamic team would help create the right environment for his songwriting and performances to find their mark. Rowe himself also picked up some completely new instruments in the piano and fiddle.
The result is a diverse collection of songs which focus on Rowe’s deft touch with story and melody, with an emotional depth that resonates after the final note falls away. Rowe’s guitar talents are pushed to new heights by both Lang’s and Bernasconi’s supporting guitar roles; and three-part vocal harmonies reign throughout. Producer Lang gets creative with textured percussion loops underpinning several tracks.
Be Here Now is Alison Ferrier’s follow up album to Sugar Baby (2012); and will be released on Friday 5th June through MGM. National and regional tour dates have also been announced to coincide with the release.
Produced by ARIA award winner Jeff Lang, this is Ferrier’s first recording featuring a full band. While retaining the intimate and revealing storytelling songwriting style of
Alison’s debut album Sugar Baby, Be Here Now demonstrates her artistic growth and emergence as a forceful performer.
Harking back to a time when many hugely popular musicians were happily eclectic, Be Here Now travels through various pop and roots regions. The cumulative effect is like a poignant ballad singer from the 1940s who gets in a mood sometimes and lets her band turn up the amps and kick out the jams.
To meet the demands of such diverse material Ferrier enlisted the skills of local alt-country band The Stillsons (Cat Canteri on drums and harmonies, Justin Bernasconi on guitar and harmonies and Ben Franz – also The Waif’s long standing bassist – on bass and pedal steel). Alongside Ferrier’s voice and guitar the band provides an exciting and formidable backdrop to this compelling collection of new songs.
Alison Ferrier Tour
Friday 5th June – Basement Discs, Melbourne VIC
Jed Rowe Tour
Friday 12th June – Selby Folk Club, Selby VIC
Friday 19th June – Basement Discs, Melbourne VIC
Friday 21st August – Ararat Live, Ararat VIC
Saturday 22nd August – The Wheatsheaf – Adelaide SA
Sunday 23rd August – Red Poles, McLaren Vale SA
Jed Rowe & Alison Ferrier Tour
Wednesday 1st July – The Front, Canberra NSW
Thursday 2nd July – TBA
Friday 3rd July – Treehouse on Belongil, Byron Bay NSW
Saturday 4th July – City Sounds at Queens St Mall, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 5th July – City Sounds at Brisbane Square, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 5th July – Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane QLD
Thursday 9th July – 5 Church St, Bellingen NSW
Friday 10th July – Wauchope Arts, Wauchope NSW
Saturday 11th July – McCrossin Mill, Uralla NSW
Sunday 12th July – The Junkyard, Maitland NSW
Saturday 1st August – Bella Union, Melbourne VIC
