Country music singer's uplifting new post-cancer album

 CATHERINE Britt has beaten breast cancer, but she didn't want her next album to focus on her health scare.

She says the roller coaster of diagnosis, treatment and remission over the past three years was crucial, though, to the outlook she now has on life.

The country music singer's seventh studio album Catherine Britt & The Cold Cold Hearts, out today, is steeped in positivity.

"You have to make a decision when you're going through something like that if you're going to be public or private about it, and that depends on the person's personality and your way of dealing with crisis," she says.

"I don't think anyone knows how they're going to act in that situation. My only real way to get through it was to work harder and keep busy. I did things during my treatment like the F U Cancer tour with the McGrath Foundation. It was my way of coping for sure.

"This new album is really not about that at all. It's got one song on there (I'm Not Ready) about almost dying and living life to the fullest, but I don't see it as a cancer song. I see it as a realisation to live life like everyday day is your last. I'm very blessed with that hindsight at 33. I feel very grateful in that way and I wanted to express that in the album.

"The rest of the record is such a positive record. It's all about travelling and our life for the past three years, and I'm really proud of that. I couldn't have written this record until after everything that happened."

There are a few love songs for her husband, James. The couple welcomed their son Hank into the world just two days after Catherine finished recording the album in her home studio, aptly named Beverley Hillbilly Studios.

"The next single is Met My Match. It's all about James, which he loves," she says.

"Every artist wants their own creative space but to record at that professional level is really cool. I was really lucky the label bought into the idea of doing the home studio thing instead of flying me to another part of the world and paying a big-time producer. After everything I've been through I want to be home."

Packing her family up in a camper van, Catherine is on the road in support of the album.

"We've officially rented our house out and are living in the caravan full time," she says.

"We're travelling with a six-month-old, but he's so good. We left when he was three weeks old, so he doesn't know any different. That's his life, which is pretty special."

She's looking forward to showcasing her long-time band members Michael Muchow and Andy Toombs, who make up The Cold Cold Hearts.

"These two guys are my best mates. They've been in my band for 20 years," she says.

"I've always wanted to do one of those 'artist and a band' projects like Ryan Adams & The Cardinals and Emmylou Harris & The Hot Band.

"When you're seven albums in you've got to do something different. I felt like it was finally time to give it a go and see where it goes. Maybe we can do a couple of records like this."

Country sheds to come alive with music

With a timber frame and floor and tin walls and roof the shiny new addition became a hive of activity in the 1950s, filled with shearers and wool classers.

But generations on and Paul, now 62, and son David, 33, at the helm, it's almost a livestock-free property after the family's diversification into tulip growing.
"We've been growing tulips for 30 years and pretty much moved completely out of sheep a decade ago, so these days the shed is mainly just used to store stuff," Paul told AAP.
It's a common tale across rural Australia, with unused sheds dotting numerous landscapes, well past their heyday.
In these sheds, now most appealing to spiders and rodents, Melbourne-based musician and producer Andrew Viney saw potential during a visit to his home town of Burnie.
And so the Acoustic Life of Sheds was born.
Held over the last two weekends in March, the event aims to bring to life agricultural ruins, turning them into performance venues as part of a progressive concert.
As part of the project, musicians spend a couple of days getting to know the property owners and visit the sheds before composing pieces for a 20-minute performance to be played eight times across both weekends.
The free event asks visitors to follow a map linking five sheds and hear productions from 10 composers.
"It's a chance for the audience to be at each location for about 45 minutes, including the performance, and then they jump back in their cars and head to the next shed," Viney said.
The genres vary, from chamber opera, to jazz, swing and country.
At the Roberts-Thomson shed, Lucky Oceans will perform his blend of pedal and lap steel guitars.
Farmer Paul quite likes the music on offer and champions the event, co-ordinated by arts and social-justice outfit, Big hART.
"The digitalised economic framework we live in these days can be isolating and to be able to participate in the arts scene is effectively about building a sense of community and broadening peoples' ideas."

The Mysterious World Of Country Music Is Really Wonderful

When one drives 12 hours in one day from Florida to Kentucky, as I did this past weekend, one gets pretty darn desperate for ways to occupy the time. Usually, I bring plenty of podcasts and CDs to listen to, but I was out of podcasts and while going 75 on the interstate is not always the best time to search for new CDs. NPR was playing classical music, as it often does in the southern states. I was stuck. Desperate. And there was no way I was going to listen to Top 40 radio.

At first, I was listening ironically. It's easy to find entertainment when listening to such hits as "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." But as I continued to listen to the top 7 songs of the Foxworthy Countdown, I found myself not only really enjoying the music, but also finding an odd affinity for the whole genre of country music. People who know me well know that this represents the beginning of the end of the world.
So, as we await the implicitly imminent return of Christ, I thought I might share with you some things I really appreciate about this mysterious world of country music.

An Appreciation for the "Old Guard", remember that guy who sand "Chatahootchee" way back in the day, when you went through that country music phase? Well, he's got the current number one hit song right now in country music! And that's not just a fluke! The country music charts are filled with older country music stars who weren't cast out and left to fend for themselves like much of the music industry we're familiar with. Not only does this demonstrate loyalty, but it also demonstrates an encouraging respect for those who have come before us. While much of pop music is obsessed with throwing off the old ways and embracing younger and younger stars, country music seems to be just as obsessed with the "been there, done that" crowd.

An Acceptance of Family Life, pop music as a rule seems to have an utter disregard for the family, not only in the content of its lyrics, but in its demands and expectations for artists. But as I listened to a few interviews with several country music stars, I started noticing that they spoke a lot about their family, and they seemed to be able to make them a priority in the context of the "Big Country Star" life. And from what I gathered, the fans and radio stations that support them wouldn't have it any other way. It's just a part of the culture.

An Esteem for "Home", while pop music is often about running away or doing your own thing, country music loves nothing more than "back home," a place where you can be around those you trust, go to your home church, honor your parents, and feel comfortable raising your kids. While this isn't the best way for everyone, I do feel like many in our culture tend to leave home simply out of rebellion or escape. Plus, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that our constant longing for "home" points to a more eternal longing we all have for a place that will truly be our home.

Lyrically and musically, a lot of it is actually kind of good. Here's the thing: I haven't given country music enough credit. The truth is, like most genres, it has good and bad bands, artists and songs within it. Toby Keith is an example of bad country music. But I heard quite a few truly good songs that seemed to be celebrated for all the right reasons, including the fact that they were just good, artistically.