harmony james

HARMONY JAMES – the EP – is a wonderful debut release for Harmony James – the singer/songwriter – and it comes as a timely reminder that Australian Country Music does indeed have a future.
Here is a reassuringly different vocalist who has sass, spunk and an edge that most females here in Oz Country have only dreamed of. Her vocals are distinct and distinctly her own.
The opening song, Tailwind, is as fine an example of songwriting as you’ll get and certainly impresses as the first offering from a new performer as well. It drives along with feeling and you just keep hoping that that tailwind will indeed take the singer where she wants to go.
The next song, Somebody Stole My Horse is a great twist on an old theme and may be the reverse of the thoughts in Tailwind. Both songs have an edginess in both lyrics and music that sucks you in completely.
Big News and Home are more traditional Country, but still way above most that is on offer elsewhere.
Production by Herm Kovac is precisely what was required and the musicians – Rudy Miranda (drums), Ian Lees (bass), James Gillard (acoustic guitars and backing vocals), Glen Hannah (electric guitars), Duncan Toombs (electric guitars), Michel Rose (pedal steel and mandolin), Mick Albeck (fiddle) and Shanley Del (backing vocals) – compliment the songs perfectly.
As this is a four-track EP, we can only hope that a full album is in the works because this is real Country and as exciting as anything I’ve heard in a very long time.
- Jon Wolfe

www.harmonyjames.com

- Jon Wolfe

Deborah Minter

The Northern Territory has uncovered some amazingly talented country artists of recent times; SARA STORER and TOM CURTAIN to name but two. Add the name HARMONY JAMES to the list.

Like many artists to emerge from the Territory, Harmony is a Territorian by choice rather than by birth. “There was no TV at our place so I read a lot,” she said. “I discovered Louis L’amour’s western novels and I was hooked. It inspired me to go Jillarooing after I finished school; if I couldn’t be a cowboy that was the next best thing.”

Harmony found the work rewarding, but dangerous. “I got bucked off a horse and broke my collarbone,” she said. “Just after I went back to work I got charged by two cows. That re-opened the break. It stayed broken for the next 2 years. I ended up having an operation with a bone graft, a steel plate and 7 screws to fix it.”

The injury had a devastating effect on her health, career and personal life. “I was really unhappy. I couldn’t sing or write music. When the one thing you have loved all your life isn’t there you know there is a serious problem.”

Climbing back from that period was slow process. “I had to re-evaluate my whole life. I decided to go to uni and study production animal science, to get back into performing music and to make some changes to the whole way I live.”

Harmony finished her degree and was offered work with Department of Primary Industries in the Northern Territory. “Here in the Barkly the Mitchell Grass downs country is so beautiful,” she enthused. “Sometimes I’ll be out in the middle of a paddock and it’s like being at sea. As far as you look 360 degrees around there is nothing but grass and the breeze. It just makes you feel happy.”

Harmony works hands-on, advising graziers on feeding and breeding programs and husbandry practices. “The job covers a huge area. I tell people I’m doing it because I can break less bones than when I was a ringer.”

Harmony, besides having the cowboy dream, also had the dream of becoming a country music singer. “When I agreed to make the move to Tennant Creek I honestly thought I was sabotaging my chances of being a musician,” she said. “That really bothered me but if I couldn’t be a performer I could still focus on songwriting. I was surprised to find that there is a demand for performers out here. I’ve played at a lot of campdrafts, race meetings and other events. The hardest part is the vast distances. I often drive 500 km or more to a gig.”

Harmony entered and won the TSA Amateur Songwriting Award in 2006. “I was really thrilled until I found out I couldn’t be amateur anymore. I was thinking, oh dear, how am I going to compete with the pros?” In a last minute decision, she decided to enter the prestigious International Songwriting Competition. “I chose Tailwin’ because I had really good responses from (producer) HERM KOVAK and the musicians who worked on the record.”

Tailwind progressed through to the finals and, to her surprise and delight, the song took out first prize in the country section. “The officials tell me I am the first Australian to ever take out 1st place in the country division,” she said, still excited by the news. “Hell, if ROSANNE CASH has heard my song that is pretty cool.”

Harmony has just released the winning song Tailwind on EP, along with three other self-penned tracks, the brilliantly unexpected Somebody Stole My Horse, the uplifting Big News and a dedication to her new happiness, Home.

“I have had so many good things happen over the last 5 years that I can barely believe it. You can achieve so much just by ‘having a go.’ My confidence has gone from barely existing to back in full swing. Sometimes I will just be driving along a highway somewhere and I will just get this strange happy feeling. It’s like a moment where you feel totally at peace with the ways things are.”





- Capital News

Deborah Minter

The Northern Territory has uncovered some amazingly talented country artists of recent times; SARA STORER and TOM CURTAIN to name but two. Add the name HARMONY JAMES to the list.

Like many artists to emerge from the Territory, Harmony is a Territorian by choice rather than by birth. “There was no TV at our place so I read a lot,” she said. “I discovered Louis L’amour’s western novels and I was hooked. It inspired me to go Jillarooing after I finished school; if I couldn’t be a cowboy that was the next best thing.”

Harmony found the work rewarding, but dangerous. “I got bucked off a horse and broke my collarbone,” she said. “Just after I went back to work I got charged by two cows. That re-opened the break. It stayed broken for the next 2 years. I ended up having an operation with a bone graft, a steel plate and 7 screws to fix it.”

The injury had a devastating effect on her health, career and personal life. “I was really unhappy. I couldn’t sing or write music. When the one thing you have loved all your life isn’t there you know there is a serious problem.”

Climbing back from that period was slow process. “I had to re-evaluate my whole life. I decided to go to uni and study production animal science, to get back into performing music and to make some changes to the whole way I live.”

Harmony finished her degree and was offered work with Department of Primary Industries in the Northern Territory. “Here in the Barkly the Mitchell Grass downs country is so beautiful,” she enthused. “Sometimes I’ll be out in the middle of a paddock and it’s like being at sea. As far as you look 360 degrees around there is nothing but grass and the breeze. It just makes you feel happy.”

Harmony works hands-on, advising graziers on feeding and breeding programs and husbandry practices. “The job covers a huge area. I tell people I’m doing it because I can break less bones than when I was a ringer.”

Harmony, besides having the cowboy dream, also had the dream of becoming a country music singer. “When I agreed to make the move to Tennant Creek I honestly thought I was sabotaging my chances of being a musician,” she said. “That really bothered me but if I couldn’t be a performer I could still focus on songwriting. I was surprised to find that there is a demand for performers out here. I’ve played at a lot of campdrafts, race meetings and other events. The hardest part is the vast distances. I often drive 500 km or more to a gig.”

Harmony entered and won the TSA Amateur Songwriting Award in 2006. “I was really thrilled until I found out I couldn’t be amateur anymore. I was thinking, oh dear, how am I going to compete with the pros?” In a last minute decision, she decided to enter the prestigious International Songwriting Competition. “I chose Tailwin’ because I had really good responses from (producer) HERM KOVAK and the musicians who worked on the record.”

Tailwind progressed through to the finals and, to her surprise and delight, the song took out first prize in the country section. “The officials tell me I am the first Australian to ever take out 1st place in the country division,” she said, still excited by the news. “Hell, if ROSANNE CASH has heard my song that is pretty cool.”

Harmony has just released the winning song Tailwind on EP, along with three other self-penned tracks, the brilliantly unexpected Somebody Stole My Horse, the uplifting Big News and a dedication to her new happiness, Home.

“I have had so many good things happen over the last 5 years that I can barely believe it. You can achieve so much just by ‘having a go.’ My confidence has gone from barely existing to back in full swing. Sometimes I will just be driving along a highway somewhere and I will just get this strange happy feeling. It’s like a moment where you feel totally at peace with the ways things are.”





- Capital News

All tracks on Harmonys' debut EP are original and each sggests a great future as a writer and performer. This is a very appealing voice and one I am anxious to hear more from with tasty pedal steel guitar from Michel Rose and a nice contemporary arrangement by producer Herm Kovac. Harmonys vocal styling has it all. A break in the voice, confident pitching and a sense of timing that show maturity beyond her years. - country music store

All tracks on Harmonys' debut EP are original and each sggests a great future as a writer and performer. This is a very appealing voice and one I am anxious to hear more from with tasty pedal steel guitar from Michel Rose and a nice contemporary arrangement by producer Herm Kovac. Harmonys vocal styling has it all. A break in the voice, confident pitching and a sense of timing that show maturity beyond her years. - country music store

HARMONY JAMES must have had a subconscious knowledge, even at 14 when she changed her name on a whim, that music was always going to be her destiny.

She made a huge splash a couple of years back when she released her debut EP, featuring two world-class singles, Tailwind and Somebody Stole My Horse.
Tailwind was the first Australian song ever to win the country category of the International Songwriting Competition, and it blew the judges - including ROSANNE CASH - out of the water.
Then along came Somebody Stole My Horse, one of the most original and appealing songs to appear on the country scene in a decade. Despite Harmony being a complete unknown when it was released, the track became Australia’s second most played country song in 2008.
Harmony is quick to mention the vital part producer HERM KOVAC has played in the recording process from the outset.
“I was really fortunate to find Herm as a producer. When I first went looking a few years back, with Herm what I really noticed was the fact that his records sounded like the artist, not the producer. I was very conscious of the fact that I wanted my songs to remain a true reflection of what it is that I do so that I could replicate the sound in the future.
“It takes a huge amount of trust to give your songs to someone and pay them to translate them into a product. I felt I could trust Herm to respect the songs and to consider my opinion on which direction they should take, and he certainly delivered.”
Delivered is the operative word. The original four track EP produced three Top 10 radio hits, a finalist placing in the Golden Guitars, and huge recognition as a songwriter with the International Songwriting Competition and several other awards.
So when it came to recording the full album, the choice of producer was easy.
“Herm had done a great job with the EP, and he believed in the music,” said Harmony. “We work together well because he understands the technical side of how to get that song to step up, but doesn’t intervene into a song to try to appeal to marketability.
“I know a lot of people can write great tracks with a specific audience in mind, but I prefer to write from the heart and then cull tracks that might not be contenders for the general public.”
Now Harmony has released her first full-length album Tailwind - indeed, it’s a bumper collection of 16 tracks, including remixed versions of the title track,
Somebody Stole My Horse and Home from the EP.
The album delivers everything promised by Harmony’s initial EP outing. It confirms that she is a talented and skilled songwriter, creating fresh music rich in insight, humour and plenty of appeal.
It also shows that she is one of the finest vocalists of her generation, both in terms of sheer vocal quality and her ability to interpret all the nuances and emotions of a song.
The first single, Fly, has already received a rapturous reception. It’s an exquisite song about the power of hopes and dreams, and the ability to transcend your own doubts about yourself.
“This is a very personal song,” Harmony said.
“When I was a young girl, I imagined being a singer but never quite believed it would happen. Now I look back at who I was and at what is beginning to happen for me, and wonder what else I might have achieved if I hadn’t held myself back.”
Harmony had an unusual childhood by any standards. One of 12 children born to a Baptist preacher, she led a sheltered life and was home schooled, rarely mixing with children other than her four brothers and seven sisters.
She was born in Melbourne, but grew up in Cairns, before heading bush when she finished her education to follow a dream of living in the outback.
She worked all over Queensland, taking several years out to complete a degree in agriculture, specializing in beef cattle. Then it was off to the wide open spaces of the Territory for a few more years.
“I guess I’ve done a lot of things I never thought were possible,” Harmony said.
“When I was a teenager, I loved reading those old Western novels, and that was the dream I chased as an adult. It’s still very much part of who I am.”
Those images and more are captured on one of the album’s most stunning tracks, the captivating Painted Pony.
“There’s a lot of autobiographical stuff in that song – I sometimes think I’m a bit too honest for my own good,” Harmony said. “But I’ve realized there is no changing things now because it’s my story, and it’s who I am.”
Harmony admits that some of the other tracks on the album are also very revealing of her inner state - especially those about being hurt by love.
“Hey, I admit it - I’ve had my heart broken by a saddle bronc rider. And there are a few songs inspired by my experiences,” she said.
They include Tailwind, about needing to get away from a difficult situation, the vulnerable The Way That I Felt, the heartfelt Good Enough (another standout track) and the wonderful, angry Cold, Cold Rage.
“I’m a girl who tells it like it is, and they are a - Capital News

COUNTRY
Tailwind
Harmony James Shock
IN recent years there have been several impressive local female country artists unearthed. Like Bec Willis, Sara Tindley and Lou Bradley, Harmony James has arrived practically fully formed. Lives have been lived, lessons have been learned and these interesting tales are told with well-worn authenticity and a touch of class.

This Melbourne-born preacher's daughter has completely immersed herself in country (and western) traditions and Call of the Currawong and Painted Pony show she can create quality Australiana, while the dirty rock of Cold Cold Rage indicates Lucinda Williams has spent time on her stereo while James worked around the Top End's cattle country.

Between these extremes are more than 12 gems that showcase her powerful voice and winning eye for detail. Much of James's material is concerned with love, both lost and longed for. The title track won the country category in the International Songwriting Competition. Somebody Stole My Horse uses classic western imagery to explain the cold light of morning realisation that Mr Right Now could become Mr Right.

In Painted Pony she sings of having a scar on her shoulder, but mostly on this album those scars run way deeper and her characters try to make sense of bad choices and regrets. All of them are worth at least a little of your time.

Polly Coufos

* * * - Weekend Australian

HARMONY JAMES must have had a subconscious knowledge, even at 14 when she changed her name on a whim, that music was always going to be her destiny.

She made a huge splash a couple of years back when she released her debut EP, featuring two world-class singles, Tailwind and Somebody Stole My Horse.
Tailwind was the first Australian song ever to win the country category of the International Songwriting Competition, and it blew the judges - including ROSANNE CASH - out of the water.
Then along came Somebody Stole My Horse, one of the most original and appealing songs to appear on the country scene in a decade. Despite Harmony being a complete unknown when it was released, the track became Australia’s second most played country song in 2008.
Harmony is quick to mention the vital part producer HERM KOVAC has played in the recording process from the outset.
“I was really fortunate to find Herm as a producer. When I first went looking a few years back, with Herm what I really noticed was the fact that his records sounded like the artist, not the producer. I was very conscious of the fact that I wanted my songs to remain a true reflection of what it is that I do so that I could replicate the sound in the future.
“It takes a huge amount of trust to give your songs to someone and pay them to translate them into a product. I felt I could trust Herm to respect the songs and to consider my opinion on which direction they should take, and he certainly delivered.”
Delivered is the operative word. The original four track EP produced three Top 10 radio hits, a finalist placing in the Golden Guitars, and huge recognition as a songwriter with the International Songwriting Competition and several other awards.
So when it came to recording the full album, the choice of producer was easy.
“Herm had done a great job with the EP, and he believed in the music,” said Harmony. “We work together well because he understands the technical side of how to get that song to step up, but doesn’t intervene into a song to try to appeal to marketability.
“I know a lot of people can write great tracks with a specific audience in mind, but I prefer to write from the heart and then cull tracks that might not be contenders for the general public.”
Now Harmony has released her first full-length album Tailwind - indeed, it’s a bumper collection of 16 tracks, including remixed versions of the title track,
Somebody Stole My Horse and Home from the EP.
The album delivers everything promised by Harmony’s initial EP outing. It confirms that she is a talented and skilled songwriter, creating fresh music rich in insight, humour and plenty of appeal.
It also shows that she is one of the finest vocalists of her generation, both in terms of sheer vocal quality and her ability to interpret all the nuances and emotions of a song.
The first single, Fly, has already received a rapturous reception. It’s an exquisite song about the power of hopes and dreams, and the ability to transcend your own doubts about yourself.
“This is a very personal song,” Harmony said.
“When I was a young girl, I imagined being a singer but never quite believed it would happen. Now I look back at who I was and at what is beginning to happen for me, and wonder what else I might have achieved if I hadn’t held myself back.”
Harmony had an unusual childhood by any standards. One of 12 children born to a Baptist preacher, she led a sheltered life and was home schooled, rarely mixing with children other than her four brothers and seven sisters.
She was born in Melbourne, but grew up in Cairns, before heading bush when she finished her education to follow a dream of living in the outback.
She worked all over Queensland, taking several years out to complete a degree in agriculture, specializing in beef cattle. Then it was off to the wide open spaces of the Territory for a few more years.
“I guess I’ve done a lot of things I never thought were possible,” Harmony said.
“When I was a teenager, I loved reading those old Western novels, and that was the dream I chased as an adult. It’s still very much part of who I am.”
Those images and more are captured on one of the album’s most stunning tracks, the captivating Painted Pony.
“There’s a lot of autobiographical stuff in that song – I sometimes think I’m a bit too honest for my own good,” Harmony said. “But I’ve realized there is no changing things now because it’s my story, and it’s who I am.”
Harmony admits that some of the other tracks on the album are also very revealing of her inner state - especially those about being hurt by love.
“Hey, I admit it - I’ve had my heart broken by a saddle bronc rider. And there are a few songs inspired by my experiences,” she said.
They include Tailwind, about needing to get away from a difficult situation, the vulnerable The Way That I Felt, the heartfelt Good Enough (another standout track) and the wonderful, angry Cold, Cold Rage.
“I’m a girl who tells it like it is, and they are a - Capital News