Believe it or not, there is more to Australian country music than frosted-tipped superstar Keith Urban. The country has a long history of its own country music, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the outback cowboy culture that has long been a part of the Australian identity. In fact, Australian country music is so popular that they’ve been holding their own awards show since 1973. This year, one of the top winners was a singer-songwriter little known in the States: Lachlan Bryan.
Along with his band the Wildes, Lachlan Bryan took home the award for Alternative Country Album of the Year, for his sophomore effort, Black Coffee. Listen to the opening guitar hook of first song “309” and you’ll immediately understand why. When Lachlan sings “There’s moonlight on the highway and gravel at my feet” in his gritty voice, you just know you’re in for a damn good journey. The sound of Black Coffee is simultaneously retro and new, reflecting the musical taste of the man behind the songs.
“I was never really into the music of ‘my generation’,” says Bryan. “My taste sat sort of 20 or 30 or 50 years behind, I guess. I liked ‘adult music’ — soul music, the blues — that kind of thing. My first musical heroes were guys like Ray Charles.”
Ranging from the care-free honky tonk of “You, Me, and the Blues” to the soulful roots rock of “Dragging My Chain,” Black Coffee covers the spectrum of “adult music” while exuding plenty of gusto and youthful appeal. Like any good alt-country artist, Bryan can’t help but focus on darker subject matter, as can be heard on tunes like the ominously titled “The CEO Must Die” which, in this age of mass shootings we live in, is hauntingly relevant.
“I had that line kicking around for a long time. I had a day job at one point where the boss actually liked to be called ‘The CEO.’ I never wanted to kill him, but I found the title funny. I then was reading a story about a guy that went crazy and shot up his office, and I sort of put the two ideas together,” says Bryan.
Lachlan Bryan comes across as a natural fit for the country genre and his success in Australia reflects this, but initially his approach to a career in music wasn’t nearly as ambitious.
“I really wanted to play piano in a dive bar. That was sort of the extent of my musical ambition,” says Bryan.
As many an Australian musician has been known to do, Bryan and his band knew that receiving accolades for Black Coffee in their home country meant one thing: it was time to tour America. This, of course, is easier said than done for an up-and-coming band with little recognition in the States. Luckily, Bryan has a positive if not humorous outlook on touring stateside.
“Just getting here is an epic journey — 20 or 30 hours on the plane and in airports. So that’s the main thing. Then it’s just a matter of working out which cheap hotels are the good ones,” says Bryan.
Kicking off in early October, the band’s U.S. tour sees them playing more intimate venues than they are used to in Australia, but so far they have received a positive reception from American audiences. And given the success of countrified artists like Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, and the Drive-By Truckers, why shouldn’t they?
This article was originally published on The Horn, an online publication based out of Austin, Texas.
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