Have truck will travel. Singer-songwriter Brad Cox is hitting the road and coming to Canberra. Photo: Supplied.
It’s been a big year for Australian country star Brad Cox, but that’s not about to dissuade him from announcing his biggest shows to date with the ‘Everything I’ve Got’ East Coast Tour – starting on 17 October in Canberra!
Named after his recently released single, the first under his new label, Warner Music Australia, Brad will be performing alongside fellow singer-songwriter Sammy White (who happens to be his wife).
Together, they will be traversing the country in his very own Mack truck and trailer to shows in Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Rockhampton, Brisbane, and then Eatons Hill on 2 November. Brad has also invited a live podcast to open for each show, with We Mean Well scheduled for NSW and Victorian performances and Proper True Yarn for the two Queensland dates.
And if that’s not enough, to cap off the year, his crew will swap out for a plane to embark on Brad’s very first European tour.
In between his live, full band recordings in Hobart at the Hot Lettuce Sessions and performing at the Deniliquin Ute Muster, Region was fortunate enough to speak with Brad from his farm as he sat in the hot Queensland sun.
Originally from Jindabyne at the foot of the Snowy Mountains, the singer-songwriter was busy packing for his tour that is set to kick off at the University of Canberra on 17 October. So I asked him the most pertinent question at the top of my mind: are there any hidden fishing spots you’d like to share from your former stomping ground?
“I used to love fly fishing in Thredbo River, but I mean, there’s no secret spots. Just walk up the river, drop a line and shut the F up!”
Despite the distance, he knows Canberra well. The country singer played under 10s footy in the capital, and he got a start on one of our iconic stages.
“To my knowledge, the first ticketed show I ever played in Canberra was at Transit Bar in its old location underneath the backpackers in Civic,” Brad said. “But I’ve pretty much grown up in that town, so I can’t remember when I started playing gigs there.”
Brad Cox: “I’m very much never influenced by trends so I’m in the dark on a lot of things.” Photo: Jordan Munns.
Despite getting into country music quite late at 15 with Jason Aldean, Brad studied the genre and was most inspired by those who challenged it, like Chris Stapleton. However, these days, he doesn’t listen to that much country except Steven Wilson Junior, but only because “he’s just weird, looks like Jeffrey Dahmer, and I’m into it”.
“Other than that, I’ve been listening to all sorts of stuff outside country music … lots of alternative rock, lots of singer-songwriter stuff.
“I’m on zero social media, so the only influence I get is from the newspaper or people that tell me to listen to albums, which is an interesting spot to be. But it also means I’m very much never influenced by trends, so I’m in the dark on a lot of things.
“Sometimes I don’t even know my friends are releasing albums, but it serves me very well.”
During his shorter-than-expected stint in the Northern Territory, fencing, harvesting and working as a jack-of-all-trades on properties, Brad was urged to pursue a career by friends who witnessed the night-time gigs he’d perform at nearby pubs.
It wasn’t long after returning home that he burst onto the country music scene in 2018 with his self-titled debut album, earning Brad two prestigious Golden Guitar nominations. Kiama local and old mate Joe Mungovan helped Brad on that album and his latest one, ACRES.
“Joe actually wrote the last song on this album, ‘The Storm’, which has now become a pretty significant part of our show on this tour. We always work together, but we’ve been writing a lot of songs recently for the next chapter.”
Brad will also be performing his third studio album, the award-winning, chart-topping ‘ACRES’. Photo: Supplied.
His talent for storytelling partly inspired the idea for podcasters to open the shows “because that’s maybe what my fans want. They want to hear a yarn”. When asked if he thought a yarn was something lacking in the present country music world, he didn’t provide an opinion.
But on the subject of why Australians don’t sing in their own accent, it was a different matter.
“I don’t think anyone wants to, mate. It sounds rubbish,” said Brad.
“I know that’s just some people’s thing, but I’ve never understood the accent argument – I don’t think it matters.
“I’ve got a real issue with people who put on a hard American accent and sing it because you don’t need to do that. But sometimes it’s a lot easier to sing the way you hear music and what do we listen to? Stuff that comes from the northern hemisphere.
“I think we will cross the divide, but it’ll be us being more appealing to them. Not us being appealing to us in an Aussie accent, it’ll never be that – it just doesn’t sound good.”
While this is a matter Brad and I will agree to disagree on, we did come to a consensus on what to say to those who think country is just a bunch of dudes talking about their truck, dog or land.
“You can buy tickets at iambradcox.com. I’ll prove them wrong,” he said.
“I mean, I still sing about that s—, but I do it while I’m dancing my ass off.”
Catch Brad Cox at UC, 7:30 pm on 17 October. Tickets at Moshtix (or iambradcox.com).
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