Music
Press
MAVERICK MAGAZINE UK Aug 2003
What's in a name? Great music that's what!
Toe Sucking Cowgirls
Meadow House
Friday, July 25
YOU'RE hardly likely to forget the name in a hurry but this is the last time you'll read it in this review. The reason is simple Friday night was the Toe Sucking Cowgirls minus 1. For various reasons Glenyss Rae stayed in Australia.
The cloud in that silver lining came in the shape of honorary 'cowboy' David Blosse, better known as a brilliant blues guitarist he was pressed into service to accompany Bunn and what service he rendered.
Normally any hint of 'audience participation' leaves me cold, I have yet to hear a 'punter' who is funny or one who makes any contribution to the night other than to cause those embarrassing, pregnant pauses while people try to work out exactly what was said and then realize it wasn't worth the effort.
But whether it was because Bunn felt a little isolated without Rae I have to say she started the 'banter' and then thrived on it. The back and forth between her and the crowd seemed to provide the fuel for what was a great night's entertainment. She is an engagingly open performer and her connection with the audience was immediate and sincere, they liked her and her music and she liked them.
It may be stating the obvious to say that this was a night built around country and western but very loosely built. Bunn is obviously well-honed in the art of live performance and she rampaged through a selection of originals and lovingly created covers.
But running parallel to the energetic Sweet Sally, the barroom country of Special Friends there was an altogether deeper Tracey Bunn. If Shania is the painted, pouting, princess of country then Don't Feel Bad pegged Tracey Bunn as the no-nonsense tomboy of the genre but on Iris Dement's Our Town the softer side broke through, if Dement wrote it as a lament, Bunn turned it into an affectionate love song for a place she cares deeply about. And her version of Paul Hayes' Rake was quite simply beautiful in execution, much of the credit must go to David Blosse whose bottleneck blues surely gave the song a different dimension. In fact throughout the night his contribution was subtle but telling, he provided the stability that allowed Bunn to indulge in some of the excesses that delighted the audience.
But the final piece of evidence that there is far more to Tracey Bunn than the girl who is more than a match for any pub audience came at the end with the haunting Ballyreen. As was the case with much of her music it was born out of experience. However much she tried to play it down and convince us that she was just a 'girl and a guitar have a great time' Ballyreen convicted her of the heinous crime of being a fine writer, observer and teller of tales.
Whether as one half of the Toe Sucking Cowgirls or a solo performer she is a lady who demands we listen and then delivers.
Michael Mee MAVERICK MAGAZINE UK
- Maverick Magazine UK
Discography
: BY THE WAYSIDE – Tracey Bunn Release Due mid 2010
10 tracks
Recorded 16 Ton and Flying Machine! Studios Nashville TN USA
Produced by Anne McCue
: RED DOOR DEMO – Tracey Bunn 2007
4 tracks. Recorded Planet Mars Studio COBARGO NSW Australia. Produced by Damon Davies and Tracey Bunn.
: THIRTEEN THONGS – Toe Sucking Cowgirls 2005
13 tracks. Recorded Elevated Brains Studio HEPBURN SPRINGS Vic Australia. Produced by Richard Pleasance and TSC.
Singles from this album that have received airplay:
Winds of Change, Run When I Want To, Girl So Free
: FLAMIN’ SHEILAS – Toe Sucking Cowgirls 2001
15 tracks. Recorded Bloody Dog Studios SYDNEY Australia. Produced by Marcus Holden, Michael Vidale and TSC. 5000 copies sold.
Singles from this album that have received airplay:
Heart of Our Town, Toss The Feathers, Song For Thursday
: TOE SUCKING COWGIRLS 2000 Self Titled EP
6 tracks. Recorded live at The Darwin Restaurant DARWIN NT Australia. Produced by Ray Cattermole and TSC.
: TRACEY BUNN & PAUL HAYES 1998 Self Titled EP
6 tracks. Recorded Harmony Row Studio ENNIS Co Clare IRELAND.
: PEKAS 1992 “Since You’ve Been Gone” Single
Recorded ABC Studios Ultimo SYDNEY Australia. NT Winner of JJJ Unearthed.
Musical Collaborations
: 2007 - TRACEY BUNN &THE BAREBACK RIDERS – 2-5 piece Original Country/Folk/ Rock DARWIN NT Australia
: 2000-06 TOE SUCKING COWGIRLS – 3-5 piece Original Country/Cajun/Celtic DARWIN NT Australia
: 1999-00 HARISSA – 3 piece Original Zydeco/Bluegrass DARWIN NT Australia
: 1998-99 BUNN & HAYES DUO – Original Country/Celtic/Folk Co CLARE IRELAND
: 1997-98 BEEBOS GIRL – 6 piece Original Folk/Rock NEW ORLEANS USA
: 1994-95 DOREEN – 5 piece all guitar Acoustic Alt Country Covers/Originals DARWIN NT Australia
: 1993-94 FUNNEL OF LOVE – 4 piece all girl Original Folk/ Pop DARWIN NT Australia
: 1991-92 RED HOT BASS CHAKRAS – 8 piece 70’s Disco Covers DARWIN NT Australia
: 1990-92 PEKAS (Yothu Yindi, Horse Trank) – 5 piece Original Swamp Rock DARWIN NT Australia
Film
: TOE SUCKING COWGIRLS 2004 (unreleased)
Documentary of Cowgirls on the Road
Producer Deb Thorsen CINNIBAR Productions, ADELAIDE Australia
: INTO THE HEART OF THE UNKNOWN 2000
German Mini Series filmed in Alice Springs
Produced by SATTELITE STUDIOS Sydney Australai
Photos
Bio
Crisscrossing her continental homeland with a guitar and no fixed abode, Tracey Bunn has traveled a long way from her Western Australian childhood home, to Darwin, New Orleans, and Mexico and then on to Nashville, Tennessee.
Every road mile Bunn has covered has been accompanied by music. From her early days in Darwin playing country-rock in the late 1980s, Bunn branched out across the world with cajun, zydeco, mariachi music and western swing before decamping to Ireland where she found herself playing folk.
On her return to Australia in 1999, Tracey met Glenyss Ray, a formidably talented fiddler, accordionist and keyboard player, and together they became the Toe Sucking Cowgirls, a festival sensation who, over six grueling years, toured endlessly, released three albums and garnered a swag of awards.
Bunn’s underlying panic anxiety disorder began to impact her life and soon both the band and her recent marriage came to an end. So Tracey hung up her guitar and walked away from music. The words of her song “Shutup and Let Me Breathe” hint at how her panic manifests and how others respond to it – “You don’t have a clue/ That the way that I’m feeling is not about you”.
Two years later, Bunn began writing songs again, different songs – songs that were more introspective, serious. But it was a chance meeting with expat Aussie singer/songwriter Anne McCue that inspired her to record her first solo album. She applied for, and was given, an ArtsNT grant to make this dream a reality.
Tracey headed for Nashville, Tennessee, to record By The Wayside with McCue, alongside Aussies Mark Moffat and Bones Hillman, Jerry Roe and some of Nashville’s top gun session musicians.
I'd been looking for the right person to record (the album) with,” says Tracey. “I felt the songs were good to begin with, and the result far exceeded my expectations.”
By The Wayside is a gutsy, powerful statement of intent. It is a luscious blend of country, folk and pop rock, sometimes reminiscent of kd lang and Patsy Cline. McCue’s production and musicianship has created the right musical framework to present Tracey’s strong, personal songs.
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