It’s fair to say that Lyn Bowtell is a doyenne of Australian music, and not only because she’s the director of the Academy of Country Music, overseeing the Junior Academy each July and Senior Academy each January and everything in between – although that would be qualification enough. So it is that but it is also this: she has this glorious voice that can prompt tears and break hearts in one phrase, and she writes these songs that speak straight to whomever is listening, and when she delivers the lyrics in that glorious voice they’re somehow more devastating or more uplifting or whatever her intention is, they are more. She’s also a wonderful multi-instrumentalist. And she’s funny on stage, to the point of bending an audience member double with laughter. There is no one like her, which is another reason for that doyenne status.
Thus there is no one better qualified than Bowtell, really, to be in charge of her own music – that is, to be the producer of her own songs. So it’s past high time that she took charge of an album, and she has done that with her latest, Paper Cuts, which she produced with her partner and collaborator Damon Morton. In our latest interview we talk about why she hasn’t produced before and what the experience was like.
We also talk about some of the songs on the album, especially the latest single, ‘Scene of the Crime’, which is about violence directed at Bowtell and is also her way of working through it. If I tell you that I saw her play it live several weeks before it was released and she cried, and the audience cried with her, then we gave her a standing ovation, you’ll have a sense of the power of that song. But all of Bowtell’s songs are powerful because they come from this place of deep musicality and pure connection. It is a joy to have a new album from her, and also to speak to her about it. And she is really something live, so do try to catch one of her shows if you can – you’ll find them here and also below.
Listen to Paper Cuts on Apple Music
https://apple.co/42JwYLf
Listen to Paper Cuts on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/5SLdYH1fi3ij8iRwes9dmK?si=jF5j7vIBTyK6SWkNqR0E9w
LYN BOWTELL TOUR DATES 2025
Friday, October 24: Mantra - Yarraville, Victoria
Saturday, October 25: Noojee Hotel, Noojee, Victoria
Sunday, October 26: The Shed Theatre @ The Pig & Whistle, Main Ridge, Victoria
Saturday, November 1: Trinity Sessions, Clarence Park, South Australia
Sunday, November 2: Walloway Farm, Walloway South Australia
For more Sunburnt Country Music:
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