THE FINE LINE
 

Mike Smith

With the release of her new album Beautiful Dreams, RACHEL RICHARDS admits that there was much soul-searching during the songwriting for this new collection.

Following her win at the 2008 Australian Bush Balladeers Star Quest, Rachel released her successful debut album I’m A Country Girl and subsequently won the New Talent awards at both the Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards and Stan Coster Memorial Awards at Bungendore.
All indicators were positioning Rachael squarely as a new rising star in the bush ballad camp, a direction that she had wholeheartedly embraced with the I’m A Country Girl album. When first introduced to the world of the bush ballad a number of years ago, Rachel felt an instant connection to the music and its Australian stories and what was clearly a very natural style for her. The first album included self penned bush ballads together with songs from SLIM DUSTY, STAN COSTER and KEITH JAMIESON.
But when work started on writing songs for Beautiful Dreams, Rachel quickly found she was facing a dilemma. The songs that she was writing, still pure Australian and strong stories of our country and its characters, were shifting stylistically from her original bush ballad course, but not completely diverse by any means.
Rachel found herself in a parallel dimension that has opened to many of the other second and third generation of bush balladeers – the likes of GRAHAM RODGER, TRACY COSTER, IAN QUINN and ANITA REE - whose music has undergone a significant shift in more recent times.
The simple, formulated structure of the unique bush ballad has been complemented by the new generation, morphing into, for want of a better description, an updated version of the original style and inherent storytelling.
What we now have is a highly talented band of Australian storytellers and balladeers – all with a strong background in the traditions and heritage of the bush ballad and an accompanying respect for the fans of the genre – who have moved this musical treasure into the new millenium.
And that’s not a new move by any means – look back over the past two or three decades and examples like JOHN WILLIAMSON, NORMA O’HARA MURPHY and more recently SARA STORER – all wonderful exponents of unique music capturing the essence and heart of Australia.
And there came the fine line for Rachel Richards. Her music was undergoing an evolution, and she was acutely aware of the balancing factor between the bush ballads and her Australian stories. But she was passionately determined to be true to herself and her music, and Beautiful Dreams is a wonderful example of someone carrying the tradition and heritage into this new dimension.
“I believe if I continue to make honest music with feeling, then genre and categorisation aren’t the important factors,” says Rachel. “What matters is that people connect with my songs and music - be they bush ballad fans or country music fans. I believe if music is written honestly, it doesn't need to be categorised and will still reach the people for that emotional outlet.
“I want to take people on my journey, and I want them to enjoy the ride I take them on. I want nothing more than for people to continue to listen to my songs and to paint that picture in their mind as they listen.”
Rachel is quite an extraordinary writer – her songs, while often strongly personal, don’t have any of the introversion and self indulgence that often separate listeners from stories with many new songwriters. Her stories are often simplistic on the surface, but enforced with strong messages and visual impact.
“It's a collection of stories about my life and the lives of those around me,” explains Rachel, “and I have put my heart and soul into this to make you feel something – happy, sad, to remember the past, and to delight in the future.”
The breadth of the new album is quite empowering. From the poignancy of the title track and Bowling In Heaven as Rachel tells of her close encounter with dementia via her grandmother and her subsequent passing to the inspiring optimism of the first single Carry On, the stories immediately connect.
Memories of childhood in Great Australian Bush and the reflective Going Home, and the life lessons in Handle With Prayer and We've Got It Good – the collection draws you in, song after song, story after story.
With innovative production by STUIE FRENCH and featuring a cast of Australia’s finest musicians, Beautiful Dreams is a compelling album.