Just don’t be a dickhead. That’s the fatherly advice given to country queen Kasey Chambers, which
shaped her into the grounded artist she is today.
“My dad’s a very simple, outback kinda guy and he just says things like they are, he doesn’t sugarcoat them or turn them into profound Instagram quotes,” Chambers reminisced.
“Basically, my life is about figuring out what I think being a dickhead is and then choosing
not to be one.”
The singer recently released a book aptly named after the quote, which in turn helped
inspire songs for her new album, ‘Backbone’, which is now on the road.
“We call it the ‘Backbone Tour’, but I feel like it’s the backbone to my whole life,” Chambers explained.
“The album sparked this book that I wrote, and the book also sparked more songs on the
album – it was like two journeys going on at the same time.”
One stand-out song from the album is its namesake, ‘Backbone (The Desert Child)’, which paints a picture of the singer’s childhood.
“I was born in Mount Gambier, so that’s sort of what I think of as my hometown, although we also lived half of my early childhood on the Nullarbor Plain where we would travel around, and my dad was a professional fox hunter,” Chambers recounted.
“So, we lived in the outback for a lot of my childhood. I think of that as my home base as well.”
Chambers still craves the outback lifestyle and often returns to her roots.
“Whenever we get a gig in Perth, which is a few times a year, we will drive across and I go and stay out on the Nullarbor and sit around campfires like I did as a kid and do cooking on the campfire and sit around with guitars like my mum and dad used to do,” Chambers said.
“I do often feel like I need that outback life again, and I feel like it’s a big part of who I am, and I get drawn back there a lot and my kids love it.”
She will share that story at her upcoming concert in Penrith soon.
“You’ll get the real me whether you like it or not,” Chambers said with a laugh.
“We call it the ‘Backbone Tour’ because that’s our latest album and I will play a few songs from that, but I love going back and playing all the old ones more than the new ones.
“I love playing ‘The Captain’ and ‘Barricades’ and ‘Not Pretty Enough’ – songs like that.”
Touring alongside her will be a talented New Zealand artist with songs full of grace and grit.
“We’ll have one of my favourite singer-songwriters from New Zealand, Jenny Mitchell, opening up the show, who is someone that I listen to a lot,” Chambers admitted.
“I basically just booked her for the tour so that I could get free tickets to see her play every night.”
You can see the two performers at Panthers’ EVAN Theatre on Saturday, March 22, at 7.30pm. Explore the incredible life of Kasey Chambers through her heartfelt lyrics for $53.20 a ticket. Book online now!
Ally Hall
Ally Hall joined the Weekender in 2024, and focuses on entertainment and community stories. She's a graduate of the University of South Australia and has previously worked as a Video Journalist with Southern Cross Austereo and as a News Reader with Australian Radio Network.