Country songstress brings Aussie twang to United States

AUDIO "Cry Like A Baby" 320K WAV sound "Last Hard Bible" 240K WAV sound

By Mary Jo DiLonardo
Special to CNN Interactive

(CNN) -- All things Australian are hip right now, so it's no surprise that hot Aussie country singing phenom Kasey Chambers' United States' debut coincides with the Sydney Summer Games.

But Chambers is far more than a suave marketing tool. She is a refreshingly new voice offering lyric-driven songs, all penned by the young singer herself.

There is an undeniably unique quality to her sound. It's a little bit mournful, a tad playful and extremely intense, an odd combination makes this disc impossible to dismiss as as background music. You just can't tune it out.

At 24, Chambers has the wise-beyond-her-years sensibility of Jewel. And, like Jewel, she had quite the nontraditional childhood.

Her parents sold most everything they owned and moved to the Outback when Kasey was only three weeks old and her brother was 3. For the first year, the family lived in a two-room shack. After that, they became nomads, wandering rural Australia in their four-wheel drive, sleeping under the stars and hunting foxes and rabbits for food.

Without TV or Nintendo, the kids grew up entertaining themselves the Girl Scout way, singing with their parents around the campfire. When the family returned to civilization after a decade in the Outback, they formed a band and began touring and recording albums.

Going solo

The Dead Ringer Band earned the family some ARIA awards, Australia's equivalent of the Grammys, for best country group. But Kasey quickly became the star, singing songs that she penned herself as young as age 13.

So, with dad on guitar, brother Nash engineering and mom dealing with merchandising, Kasey ventured out as a solo act with "The Captain," her debut album. It shot to the top of the Australia country charts, then went on to make waves on the alternative rock and pop scene, before coming to the U.S.

Chambers wrote all the songs between the ages of 15 and 22, showing surprising depth and perception for someone so young. The cuts range from wailing laments such as "Don't Go" and "Cry Like a Baby" to the barroom boot-stompers "We're All Gonna Die Someday" and the infectious "Last Hard Bible."

While Chambers has incredible talent and a unique, new sound, it may not fit very well in the American radio scene. It's too twangy for pop, too alternative for country. Her music is highly unclassifiable, which is a very good thing so long as you don't need your sound categorized.

Hopefully, Chambers will find a place in the American music scene. Hers is an Aussie talent of Olympic proportions.

Kasey Chambers
Country Music in Australia

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