Nashville is certainly a long way from Brisbane. But according to alt-country troubadour Chris Pickering, when it comes to music, the two cities aren’t as far apart as you’d think.
Nashville is certainly a long way from Brisbane. But according to alt-country troubadour Chris Pickering, when it comes to music, the two cities aren’t as far apart as you’d think. “Nashville and Brisbane are actually really similar scenes,” he explains. “The only difference is that Nashville is a lot more aware of its musical culture than Brisbane is. That’s really the exciting thing about living in Nashville; everybody kinda knows it’s a music town.”
And having spent the better part of the last two years playing the Nashville indie circuit, the city has now almost become Pickering’s second home. Originally from Brisbane, he was first drawn to Nashville for its well renowned and vibrant music scene, as well as the huge admiration for many of the local bands and artists which call the city home. “The scene itself is great,” he admits. “Nashville has got a really good indie scene which is certainly the kind of scene that I am more at home in. Like I didn’t go there to try and force my way in to be a country songwriter or anything like that which is what most people do and go to Nashville for. I was just more interested in being in a real music town and you know going to see the kind of bands I like and fortunately Nashville has heaps of that.
“There’s so many good indie, blues kind-of alternative-country bands; it’s just a really healthy scene. Once I got there I tried to go to as many gigs as I could and setup as many song-writing sessions with other songwriters and keep myself occupied. It was a pretty hard slog you know,” he grins. “You got to try and stay alive as well as pursue your dreams so it was pretty tough at times, but it was definitely very rewarding.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of the experience was coming away with his latest record, Work Of Fiction. Recorded in five days at the famous Ardent Recording Studios in Memphis, Pickering looks back on the experience with nothing but fondness. “Oh man it was great. I haven’t ever had as much fun making a record as I did with this one,” he beams.
“It was a different experience in the sense that, we actually – my producer Don Nix and I – wanted to make it that old-fashioned kinda way, in the sense that we wanted to record it all in a short amount of time. All the other times I’ve made a record, I’ve chipped away at it over like a period of say six months, just kinda worked on tracks, kinda pieced it together.
“With this one we were like, ‘No, we’ve got the songs let’s get some people in to play them and try and get it all done in five days’. Which is what we did. It was great, it was really, really good fun.”
And according to Pickering a lot of the fun and good vibes during the recording process were due to the way in which Stax Records producer and artist Don Nix went about recording the album. “He (Nix) basically acted as an old school producer. Rather than just come in and sit on the back of the couch and offer suggestions as to how it was going to go, he booked the studio, organised the (session) players and all the details regarding the recording sessions. So me being the artist as it were, all I had to do was come in, sing and play.”
Now back in Australia and in support of the recent release of Work Of Fiction, Pickering along with country songstress Catherine Britt, are currently in the middle of a joint national tour. Landing in Melbourne on November 18, Pickering is just as enthused at playing these local shows as he was when he was back in Nashville. “I’m really looking forward to it,” he admits. “We’re playing at The Empress; it’s one of my favourite places. Everything I’ve ever seen there I’ve just come away thinking ‘Wow that was amazing’ and I think obviously most of that is due in part to the great musicians I’ve seen there. It’s just such a fantastic, intimate venue.”
CHRIS PICKERING and Catherine Britt play The Empress this Thursday November 18. They also play The Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads on Friday November 19 and The Great Ocean Hotel, Apollo Bay Saturday November 20.
CHRIS PICKERING’s new album Work Of Fiction is out now through Other Tongues.
