After 15 years, 7 full length albums, over 1000 shows all over the world, a beautiful 2 year-old daughter and a brand spanking new bouncing baby boy, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Australian blues/roots musician Mike Elrington would slow things down some, even just for a little while.
But, with the release of his first completely acoustic LP, Two Lucky Stars and an East Coast Australian tour in the works, that’s clearly not the case.
Comprising of 14 tracks, Two Lucky Stars sees Elrington dig deep with trademark raw passion and a no-holds barred honesty, delivering listeners a heartfelt and eclectic mix of blues, roots, folk & swamp-rock.
The album was produced by ARIA-award winning Peter “Reggie” Bowman, and features the talents of Chris Wilson on vocals and harmonica, Roderick McLeod on drums/percussion, Catherine Quirk and Michelle Meehan on Violin and Cello and extra vocal duties from June Harrison, Chase Bowman and Michelle Meehan.
Elrington has captured his triple-threat prowess perfectly on this release. Not just with the booming vocals and blistering guitar playing he is well-known for, but also with some incredibly personal and sometimes confronting songwriting.
One listen to the first single from the release “Build You Up (To Cut You Down)”, and you can immediately feel the passion and pain as Elrington describes the constant struggle of attempting to find his way as an artist in on often cut-throat and unforgiving music industry. As he clearly states himself, “I can’t be bothered sugar-coating it, this business is tough and can be incredibly soul-destroying, but rather than just keep it bottled up inside, I had to write about it, which was incredibly cathartic on this particular track.”
Title track “Two Lucky Stars” shines with a beautiful honesty and sincerity on the topic of difficult, yet unrelenting love. A warm, heartfelt ballad, this piece captures the softer, more sensitive side of this hard- edged blues man.
In addition to the 9 original tunes on this release, Elrington has also included an eclectic array of covers, ranging from the reggae-groove of Ray Charles’s “I Got A Woman”, the low, powerful drone of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, and even the iconic theme from Top Gun -“Danger Zone”, from Kenny Loggins, inspired by Elrington’s childhood ambitions of flying fighter jets for the Air Force.
Mike Elrington plays two North QLD dates this weekend:-
Saturday 1st October 8pm
The Shed 3 Mcconaghie St Atherton
Sunday 2nd October 5pm
Café Petit Therein St Kuranda
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