In which Ms Rich journeys from Melbourne to Nashville and teams up with the non-singing members of Wilco and Kerryn Tolhurst of The Dingoes. The result is 12 slices of sharp, well crafted New Country, full of twanging guitars and gentle regrets. Fans of cliche free ruralism will love this.
'Sherry Rich', 1994, Punter's Club
Form Guide, Issue 6, March 1994.
When it comes to accomplished songwriting,
few can compare to the talent of Sherry Rich. Sherry first came to the
attention of Melbourne punters as the vocalist/guitarist/songwriter for
Girl Monstar. That band "ran it's natural course" according to Sherry and
now she's branching out on her own with a killer new line-up and a new
musical vision.
Sherry's mother,
Noeline Rich, was a country music songstress who toured with the likes
of Slim Dusty and Billy Thorpe in the 1960s. "I grew up with that country
influence", explains Sherry who's now even adopted her mother's surname
in preference to Valier - the surname she was known by in Girl Monstar.
"I'm influenced by the new country coming out of the States...". But she
hastens to point out that her style is a million miles away from the likes
of Billy Ray Cyrus! It's perhaps best described as "roots rock" with the
emphasis heavily on "rock".
Sherry has recruited
a very strong-lineup to breathe life into her material. Steve Connelly,
formerly of Paul Kelly's band plays guitar. Doug Robertson (Ice Cream Hands)
plays bass; Matt Hayden (Nick Barker) is keyboardist; and Steve Morrison
(Hub) plays drums. "I rang up who I thought I'd like to have in the band...
people I thought could be into country music. I wanted people who were
experienced and a pleasure to work with."
With the new
band Sherry aims to play live - "I really miss playing live" - and avoid
being "pigeon holed". Ultimately she hopes her music will take her to Nashville.
Whatever label you attach to Sherry's music there's no denying she has
awesome songwriting ability, and a charismatic stage presence.
Mihelakos, Mary, 1999, 'Sherry Rich',
Beat Magazine
Sherry Rich has just returned
from Nashville in the USA. Having spent almost a year there Sherry has
affirmed her position as one of Australia's most ambitious country rock
singer songwriters.
It was Sherry's
own determination and motivation that took her to the world's country music
centre.
"The best thing
about Nashville is it is not a cheesy country music place as portrayed
by the media. But there are so many musicians there that flock from at
over the USA just to be there because it is such an industry town."
"Sixty per cent of the population
of Nashville are involved in the music industry in someway. Be it being
a singer-songwriter, working for the record companies, doing music videos,
working for publishing companies and soon. So it is an incredible environment
to be in for that reason."
"It is very inspirational to me
because I had no distractions apart from the fact that I was there, to
write as much as I could and to do my thing. hereas in Melbourne because
it is my hometown I live a more rounded life but in Nashville it was just
music music music." Over the last year based in Nashville." She wrote about
40 songs, "songs that I am really happy with while l was over there.Which
is cool because I have doubled, I had only written about fifty songs before
that."
Collaborating
with other writers was an invaluable experience to Sherry. As a songwriter
in Australia she has a co-written only a few songs with Paul Kelly, Michael
Thomas and Garth Porter. ln Nashville she mostly wrote songs with other
people including Bob DiPiero, Jim Lauderdale, Tammy Rogers (Dead Reckoners),
Pat Buchanan, Tim Carroll, Jay Bennett (Wilco) and Fred Eaglesmith.
It seems it really
did help Sherry being female and Australian in Nashville, "It gave me an
edge and people agreed to see me."
"it helped me a lot being signed
to BMG publishing here and they have a Nashville office. I met all those
people last year and that was a help as a base for me. I would go into
the publishing off ice two or three times a week. They really looked after
me and introduced me to a lot of different writers and helped me get my
head around the industry and the way it worked there."
Song writing
in Nashville is an industry within itself as Sherry describes this unique
factory workshop floor. "In Nashville it is amazing to see how it works.
BMG has thirty-eight staff writers, Sony has a hundred and twenty and they
get paid a wage of four or five hundred dollars a week or more depending
on how successful they are. They just go in, make appointments and write
songs with whoever and they write a song a day."
"A lot of people don't get cuts,
a cut is what they call it when you get a major artist to record your song
on their record. Some people don't get cuts for like five years and they
are still getting paid this wage to write songs. A friend of mine just
recently got a cut on a Ty Herndon album and that will earn him six figures."
In Nashville,
Sherry had some funny experiences A tornado which caused extensive damage
and a once thirty years cicada plague. "I was also in Nashville when Tammy
Wynette died and I played in New York with Wilco
the night that Sinatra died; that was pretty full on," she remembers.
To date Sherry
Rich has released two EPs and an album on Rubber Records. The songs can
be described as both tough and tender. The last album was recorded in the
USA at the end of 1996, early 1997 with Courtesy Move. Courtesy Move are
Wilco minus Jeff Tweedy. Sherry has almost completed her next album, once
again with Jay Bennett as producer. He is currently mixing the record.
In January this year Sherry recorded her next album in Chicago with Jay
Bennett and Leroy Buck from Wilco and a drummer who was a friend of Jay's
and friend Rick from Nashville. "We just set up studio recording equipment
in Wilco's loft which is in a warehouse where they have all their equipment.
We recorded there overten days from 6 at night until 4 in the morning,
it was freezing cold outside."
When Sherry went
over to the States to write songs she also played a few live shows. Her
performance at last year's SXSW (Austin) where she played with Wilco left
a lot of people buzzing. Sherry also did shows in Nashville, Florida, Seaside,
Toronto, New York, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago.
Sherry Rich is
planning to return the USA in May and to complete a tour of France which
has been line up. However Sherry has just recorded an album in Melbourne
with Ashley Naylor from Even, they have called themselves The Grapes. The
Grapes release is slated for July/August on Rubber Records and Sherry will
probably he back to promote this and tour.
'Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move', 1998, Women of Country - Past reviews,
www.womenofcountry.com/reviews/pastrev.html, downloaded, 22/7/1999
Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move - Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move
4 Stars
Sherry Rich brings a new meaning to rockin' up country music.
The Australia native grew up listening to rock and had a
country music singing father(?) (mother?). It is apparent that both styles of
music affected the music Rich decided to write and sing.
In fact Rich wrote eleven of the albums twelve tracks. Her songwriting is simple and attitude filled. From "Beautiful,
Talented & Dead," a song that tackles the challenges people in
the public eye face to "Three Time Loser," a song where Sherry
downs herself for taking a guy that treats her bad back three
times. Each song is nothing fancy, but that's where the power
lies, in the simplicity.
"Two White Dogs," takes the theme of breaking away, puts a ountry twist on the lyrics and rocks up the instrumental. An addictive combination. The mello "Things You Left Behind," is one of the best pieces of material on the album.
Rich's deep, heavy vocal styling is showcased perfectly on the albums opener "Polite Kisses." The most country sounding track "Funny How Things Change," is another softer tune.
The only complaint, the albums final track "Little Miss Cool," is ruined with a stupid echo effect put on Rich's voice throughout the duration. There is also an annoying hidden track that isn't even performed by Rich.
While I am not known to support the mixing of pop and rock into country, this album is done so well I will make an exception. If you can get your hands on this album, it's worth the money.
'Sherry Rich, Reckoned to be 'Musically Gifted' ', 1999, Music Lounge online magazine, April 1999,
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/local612/sherry.html, downloaded, 22/7/1999
According to alt-country star, Sherry Rich,"[My mother] reckons my brothers and I are 'musically gifted' because she gave guitar lessons all the way through her pregnancies . . . hmmm wild theory but certainly possible I guess."
Seems like Rich's mother, Noelene Rich, was correct after all. Sherry Rich, a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist, is making a music splash in her home country Australia as well as in the United States. She got her big start when she moved from her home on an island
off the coast of Queensland to Melbourne. That's when she
decided to start an all girl rock band, Girl Monstar, that quickly
became popular.
Rich describes her experience with Girl Monstar as "great fun touring with girlfriends all over the country and receiving the wealth of press and notoriety that all-female bands attracted.
..." In the End, Rich says, the "freak show" element led her to pursue a solo career. Even before her big break she was on stage with her mother, who was one of the first country "girl singer/guitarist" in the sixties. "I sang from age 10, sometimes reluctantly as I was shy as a kid with mum." Rich also
discussed growing up with her country star mother. "Mostly it
helped me view singing and performing as a natural part of life, and mum taught me the ukelele and then the guitar early on. Rediscovering her country record collection after my punk rock/art school days led my brother, Rusty, and I to form our first alt-country band in 1985."
Rich's solo career took off when she released her debut album with backup band, Grievous Angels: Steve
Connolly, Doug Lee Robertson, Steve Morrison, and Matt Heydon. An article that appeared in the magazine VK#1 states, "With 'New Country' music not all that prominent in Australia, the talented Sherry Rich is
determined to change this somewhat stale situation."
With band Courtesy Move, a side project of Wilco's Jay Bennett, John Stirratt, and Ken Coomer, Rich also touched bases in the States. "My publisher from Australia was in the US and I asked him to keep an eye out for anyone in contact with Wilco, Son Volt, and the Jayhawks, my favorite bands at the time. Strangely enough he saw Courtesy Move playing with Jeff Black in
Nashville, and told them about me. They expressed interest and we sent them demos. Luckily they were liked." Rich enjoyed recording with Courtesy Move and formed a "lasting musical relationship" with Bennett who contributed to Rich's upcoming album.
Other current projects of Rich's include a recording with singer Ashley Naylor from the band Even. "He shares my love of sixties classic pop. It was kind of by accident we started recording stuff together. It's just us playing, writing, and singing everything. It turned into a full length disc,The Grapes, to be released here in Australia in July-August. So we'll be putting a touring band together for that." Rich will be touring in France for two weeks in May, then heads back to Australia for The Grapes tour, and then to the US in September. Her next album for the States should be out by the end of this year.
Lil, 199, 'We Got Both Types of Music', Vallure Magazine,
http://www.vallure.aus.net/dec97/music.htm, downloaded, 22/7/1999
Local Melbourne girl Sherry Rich has beautiful big hair and an even bigger voice. If you like that country style then she is the gal for you. Getting to a Sherry Rich show means a night of tassels, twang and Sherry's rich sexy country voice coupled with some very funky lyrics. This is country and western with a modern woman's twist.
There is the familiar wife left me, dog died, pranged my truck underlying theme but with a special Sherry take. Her songs about real kissing, dogs eating your ex-lover and the horrors of observing one's own behaviour vis a vis blokes will make you smile and smile. The Grievous Angels are Sherry's band and they're excellent with lots of rocking guitar and a fabulous drummer who takes that band along.
Sherry's brother, (the littlest member of the stand-up comedy duo 'The Scared, Weird, Little Guys') has been known to bring along his harmonica and join her on stage. Their live version of "Love Hurts" (does anybody know who first recorded this?) combines lilting harmonies with only a softly strummed guitar to touch the audience in all the right places. Sherry's latest CD was recorded in Nashville and is fantastic so look out for it. Try and make it to one of Sherry's shows and let that old country music move you.
Yeeeharrrr!!
Aloi, Daniel, 1997, 'Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move', Consumable online magazine, http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1998/06.02/revrich.html,
downloaded, 22/7/1999
Country music hasn't had a crossover superstar from Australia since Olivia Newton-John hit more than 25 years ago.
When Sherry Rich came from Melbourne to record in Nashville last year, she made a pop-meets-country debut album that blows away, aesthetically at least, the current crop of stars with big hits and big hair.
Rich landed in Music City (and America) for the first time to work on her songs over Christmas and New Year's 1996-97 with Courtesy Move, otherwise known as Wilco members Jay Bennett, John Stirratt and Ken Coomer. Bar-hopping with the band there and in Chicago between rehearsals and recording sessions, she cemented a landmark collaboration on a par with that of Linda Ronstadt and the fledgling Eagles.
Starting with the bare bones of some songs, they ended that fun, alcohol-fueled fortnight with one great record that shows how accessible so-called "alternative country" can be. It all feels loose and lived-in, an almost effortless meeting of a great singer and a great band.
Smart and winsome, Rich is the daughter of a country singer but she grew up in love with rock'n'roll. Most of the proud swagger you hear on the album is balanced by revelation and sensitivity, adding up to a statement of purpose in the same league as Amy Rigby's acclaimed "Diary of a Mod Housewife" two years ago.
Released in Oz last October, Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move is now making its way into the hands, hearts and minds of Americans who've seen Rich play across the country, both with and without her adopted backing band. Rich is in her 20s, and seems to have no stars in her eyes. Her songs are mature and realistic, and she claims ownership -- no team of producers to pick her material, no calculated angling for a hit.
Most of the 13 songs -- some written with Bennett and the other band members, one composed with Paul Kelly -- are pure delights and serious fun, from the opening rocker "Polite Kisses" (think of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses" with more up-front sexuality) to the gritty and bluesy "Little Miss Cool." She kisses off a succession of men in her lyrics, particularly in "Is That All You Wanted" and "Three Time Loser," and in the see-ya-later sentiments of the fast, open-road song "Two White Dogs." She can be just as adept at a hesitant admission that she's fallen in love ("Who's That Girl"). Rarely do the highs and lows of romance sound so good, in either country or pop songs.
The album's atypical standout is "Beautiful, Talented, Dead," a ballad examining Kurt Cobain's suicide. (It was first recorded well before Michael Hutchence's exit, now something of a national obsession in Rich's homeland - but it could certainly apply.) Rich captures the shock and misunderstanding felt by millions of fans. She's a bit disapproving, but lets the words and music convey respectful mourning as well.
A cover of Badfinger's "I'll Be the One" complements the album's romantic focus. On a hidden track, "Cheese Quiches," Bennett goofs on "Polite Kisses" in a "Weird Al" Yankovic way.
The musicianship is up to the material, as well - Rich's rhythm guitar and Bennett's slide, lead picking and keyboards are aided by Coomer's offbeat menagerie of percussion, Stirratt's rock-steady basslines and relocated Aussie Kerryn Tolhurst on mandolin and lap steel.
Nashville's music establishment should wake up to the talent hitting the bars on its own streets. A deal and airplay for an artist like Sherry Rich could single-handedly up the quality of contemporary rockin' country several notches. The way it works now, though, a song like "Polite Kisses" could be a smash hit for the likes of Pam Tillis or Patty Loveless.
After playing South by Southwest and some limited touring with Courtesy Move, Rich now plans on continuing her stay, to write new songs in Nashville with Jim Lauderdale and others. Something equally wonderful should come of it.
Weeky, T., 1999, 'The Grapes - Self titled', Revolver Magazine
Bit fab really, some of this. Ashley Naylor and Sherry Rich make up The Grapes; a somewhat musically delightful coupling that appear to take ti me off from being writers and performers in their own right to dust off the musty avenues of the sixties in a refreshing way.
Those of you whose lives are besotted with totally non-organic-electro-technology should probably skip forward to the next review at this point; however others wishing to be versed in the fundamental machinations of musical structure and composition, circa, not of this decade should take heed.
Recorded at various global locations, the CD is a sixties influenced pastiche of yesteryear with a very noticeable Beatles influence in places. With a healthy slab of time, production and money this could be a legendary recording, but in its current form of enticing tunes it still presents a bargain to anyone jaded by the doof. Will be very interested to see if radio formatters give this a look-in. Stay tuned.
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