8 May 2019

On May 17, Liv Austen will be releasing a double A-side, which is her first batch of new music since ‘A Moment of Your Time’ was released in October 2018. Maverick caught up with the talented artist to find out more about the tracks. You’ve got Detour and Whole Heart coming out very soon – were they recorded at the same time as ‘A Moment of Your Time’ or as part of a separate project? They are recordings from the album, but they have been remixed and edited to be single edits. They were part of the process of making the album, so it’s all kind of come from that same time. So are these B sides that have been revisited then? Yes exactly! We had the two songs and they had something different about them and they fitted together. There’s a bit of a story connection between them as well, so we wanted to something special with them basically. We were kind of playing around with the mix and talking about how we could make them sound a bit different and how we could edit them down so we could send them to radio as well, then we had a conversation about it and said ‘well, if we want to release two songs, we have to do something a bit old school like a double A side’ – that’s where that idea came from! Was it your idea to get it out on vinyl? Me and my label came up with the idea together. We were talking about it and I’ve always wanted to do vinyl – my idea was to do the album on vinyl eventually, like a deluxe version with the tracks, but when we were talking about doing it like this, it just made sense. Obviously we’ll release them digitally as that’s where most people get their music, but it’s just something different and when I went on tour with Sarah Darling, she had one of her albums on vinyl and people really love it – people love vinyl so it’s just something that we all wanted to do. The songs themselves are incredibly personal to you – what are they about? Detour is the one that was born first and it’s a story that spans way back. I wrote it about a situation that happened to me years and years ago with my first love that broke my heart – so many songs are written that way! As for Whole Heart, I wrote that as I was falling in love again and I was just really, really scared that the same thing was going to happen again. Whole Heartreferences back to what happened in Detour, so it’s a bit like a sequel – you understand it better if you’ve heard the first one. It’s about me changing and growing. Looking ahead to the summer, you’re keeping busy and you’ve got a set at Long Road – how are you feeling about that? I’m really excited about The Long Road, I was so happy to get offered to play there. Last summer I was at Millport Country Music Festival, so I didn’t get a chance to go to Long Road as they overlapped, but I couldn’t believe how well it was organised – especially for its first year. It looks amazing and everyone’s spoken so, so warmly about it, so I’m very happy to be playing. I love that I get to my band as well and I’m playing on the Friday night, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of the highlights of the summer.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd has given his fans a glimpse into his upcoming album ‘The Traveler’ – which is released on May 31 – with country inspired track Tailwind. You can listen to the track here. ‘The Traveler’ is the ninth studio album to be released by the  blues artist – who headlined the Country Stage at Ramblin’ Man Fair 2017 – and he has indicated it could see a shift from the guitar shredding that he’s famed for in favour of a softer approach. Speaking about the Tailwind itself, the 41-year-old opened up on how the song set the theme for the rest of the album and how he’s rather taken aback by all the animosity in the world at this moment in time. “The album title comes from the song Tailwind,” Kenny Wayne Shepherd explains. “We’re all travelling together through this thing called life. These are testing times for us as a society and it seems to me that it’s been a bit crazy in the world lately, with so much division. Without making any kind of political point, it’s like, ‘Let’s get through this together, appreciate one another and not always be trying to fight’.” ‘The Traveler’ is available to pre-order here, while Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be returning to UK shores in July for a handful of gigs. He will be playing: 17 July – Boiler Shop, Newcastle, England 18 July – Leadmill, Sheffield, England 19 July – City Hall, Salisbury, England