by Luke Voogt
Geelong country fans will get an earful of new songs when Australia’s Got Talent runners-up The Wolfe Brothers come to town in January.
“This is day two of album number five,” Tom Wolfe told the Indy recently, during a break from a studio session.
“I think we’ve got the best batch of songs we’ve had yet. If the first song’s anything to go by, I think we’ve got a killer record.”
The brothers were busily creating new music for a song they had just written while taking time off from touring, Wolfe explained.
“For us it’s about pulling it apart and looking at the melodies and hooks,” he said.
“We’re just really trying to find out what works for the song.”
In 2018 the brothers released their most successful record to date, Country Heart, which won album of the year at the 2019 Australian Country Music Awards.
They also took home Golden Guitars for best group and their song Ain’t Seen It Yet.
“The songs on Country Heart were our most real and honest,” Wolfe said.
“I don’t want to say it’s changed our lives but it has. Our audience numbers have doubled and tripled.
“It all came together on that album and it’s been an incredible ride so far.”
The brothers recently went to Canada and the US, including Nashville, where they penned 35 new songs, Wolfe said.
“We added eight more songs and now we’ve started weeding them out for the new album.”
While the US was the home of country music, the market in Canada was also huge compared to Australia, Wolfe explained.
“We’re going to go over and have a crack at Canada over the next two years,” he said.
The band drew inspiration from ’60s country singer George Jones, who also had an album named Country Heart.
“My favourite type of country is the older sad songs with the heartache,” Wolfe said.
“The pictures they paint are incredible. But my wife hates me putting it on in the house.”
The Wolfe Brothers shot to fame after coming second on Australia’s Got Talent in 2012.
“You don’t know where your music’s going to take you – it’s taken us to the other side of the world,” Wolfe said.
“Country music is so varied and there’s so much going on – it’s a booming genre at the moment. “
On 11 January the boys head back to Gateway Hotel, “without a doubt” one of Wolfe’s favourite venues.
“Last time we played at Gateway it was probably one of the best shows we had on that entire tour,” he said.
“It was anything but tame – it was packed.
“A lady feinted and they wanted her to go to hospital but she wouldn’t go until we’d done the show – that’s pretty loyal.
“She grabbed some water and sat at the back.”
He said the band would play a few new songs during the Geelong show on their No Sad Songs tour.
“We like to road test some of the material. I think the fans are really going to like it – they’re songs that are so much fun to play.”
