The Amazing 3

"Unique Australian Sound, Folksy and Clean. Interesting lyrically and very personal sound recording, present, bright and Live sounding. Hints of Irish in Buck’s renditions of his sung tracks that have grown into a truly Australian sound of story telling. Really enjoyed the understated use of instrumentation which gives the listener an intimate performance that is very much a live feel! Deanne’s vocal prowess is accurate and sweet. The song writing is well constructed and easy listening with clear arrangements. An album both Buck and Deanne should be very proud of creating." - Paul Bonner Jones - www.myspace.com/pbjonesmusic

"Buck & Deanne both have such a great authentic Aussie sound. I enjoyed each song [from DEMONS PASSED] in a different way. My favourites are "One Day there You were" and "Last of the Riverboats" - great songs and well sung." - Kel-Anne Brandt - www.kel-annebrandt.com

”I’m enjoying this one from start to finish. Buck & Deanne’s voices are fantastic and they harmonize well together. The mixes are very crisp and clean, never cluttered, and the playing is top notch. Listen out for “Pinned To The Sky” with Deanne’s wonderful voice and phrasing and the harmonica break that fits just perfectly, and “Back Home In Aberdeen” which has those sad/happy personal lyrics that make you really feel the song and reflect on your own life, regrets and achievements. Simply, this is a great compilation of different songs that defies a real definition. It's just good music.” - Michael Mowatt - CANADIAN CONSULATE

"Buck and Deanne fans have had their appetities whetted by 'Four Songs on the Run' and 'Live at the Loaded Dog', but here's the real deal. 'Demons Passed' is 11 beautifully blended tracks of something borrowed, something new; a rich brew of folk, blues, country, mostly served up with a sardonic smile and a dash of whimsy. CAUTION: includes some gratuitous lap steel; do not operate heavy machinery or go swimming for an hour after playing." - Bill Quinn - www.artsound.com.au/about/presenters.htm#billquinn

From the moment you hear the opening lines of "One Day, There You Were,” the opening track of “Demons Passed,” you know you are in the presence of something special.

The voices join and rise in a meeting as pure and as natural as a country morning. And they keep on doing it - obviously, these two were born to sing together - across the 11 amazing tracks of “Demons Passed” their first album together.

Buck & Deanne are a musical partnership that evokes and embraces the pre-eminent ambassadors of folk, blues, country, and rockabilly, one which showcases Deanne as the perfect foil for Buck as a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist.

For Buck, it's the fulfillment of a search for a sound that draws deep on the roots of country, rockabilly, folk and rural blues music, songs of yearning and hurt and hope, a place - like life - where joy and sorrow walk close at hand.

It is also proof that you don't have to be heartbroken to write songs that delve deep into these emotions. For this couple, the last few years have been the happiest of their lives, punctuating the release of their CD "Demons Passed" with a low-key series of performances together and a flurry of songwriting that has produced enough material for a solid follow-up.

This is premium-grade Folk-a-billy, an album that can sit proudly on the shelf beside classics from the likes of Johnny Cash & June Carter, Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, Bob Dylan & Joan Baez.

Amazingly, Buck & Deanne had never written together before.

A series of Festival appearances with Jim Stubbs on harmonica and long-time champions “The Mothers of Intention” swapping vocals, guitars and yarns in intimate mode to adoring audiences, helped light the fuse. And during a series of what-would-you-like-to-hear-next? shows at various open-mic venues around Sydney, they found their voices blending together in a way that demanded further examination.

“Co-writing was something I had always wanted to do but I never felt comfortable with until now,” Buck explains. “But with this, there's no pressure, there's no we've booked this day, we have to finish something!”

Deanne says: “Writing was a product of our environment, something that happened in and around our daily lives. And something that, getting to know the way Buck lives, has shown me is a beautiful way to make music.”

For Buck, music has always been a part of life, from his teenage years amassing an amazing 1000+ LPs by the age of 20, a decade as a backpacking busker, and with Deanne playing anything he could find to suit their eclectic musical tastes.

That blend of taste and experience is at the heart of Demons Passed, recorded during Winter 2009 at John Stuart's Sound Heaven Studio in The Blue Mountains.

The instrumentation is as direct and heartfelt as the songs, with a solid rhythm section, acoustic & electric guitars, lap steel, keyboards, harmonica and fiddle, leaving all the space required for two voices to work their magic.

Seven of the songs are original, at least three co-written, the rest are covers from the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Vic Farrell & 70s Aussie Cowboy band Stars. They range through the complete country palette, from the skeptic rambler on the trad-sounding Nihilistic Cowboy (on the range) through the Beatlesque zeal of One Day There You Were to the steamy, sexy blues of Filthy Cute Man. If any more evidence is needed that it’s never too late to find happiness, look no further than the beautiful, poetic tale of two people overcoming time and adversity to be together, Hymn 85.

“We didn't want a duets album, where people come together for a vocal collaboration and go on their way,” Deanne says. “We wanted an album that sounds like a band with two singers in it. It feels that way to us. And we hope it feels that way to the people who hear it too.” - Margaret Bradford - http://margaretbradford.com/bio.html