BIO
Name - Sherrié Austin Born - 28th August 1970 Camperdown NSW Australia Hair - Brown Eyes - Green/Brown Family - Parents : Alfred & Rae, Siblings : Chantell & Guy Nickname - The Saucy Ozzie Lives - Nashville Tennessee U.S.A. The following Information from the Sherrié Austin Web Site
"I spent two years putting my heart, soul and guts into this record. I think
people who
hear it will get something from it, because in the last two or three years,
I've lived all of
it! From moving to a new town and knowing no one to falling in love and
getting my
heart broken... it's the things that every one of us goes through. It's
what makes life
what it is, and that includes sharing the stuff on this record!"
Sherrie' Austin is a 26-year-old spark plug of a woman who meets life on
its own terms.
Having spent the last three years dedicated to her songwriting, she steps
into the
spotlight with Words, a debut that examines the many facets of life, love
and getting by.
"I moved to Nashville to write, and I didn't even think about getting a
record deal,"
Sherrie' (pronounced sha-ree) explains. "I came to town with all these ideas,
these
scraps of paper with lyrics and bits of melodies and was determined to put
them
together. There's nothing that frustrates me more, nor thrills me more.
And the more I
do it, the more I learn about myself. It's always evolving, so even though
it's difficult
sometimes, I can't stop writing. It's where the truth comes out." That commitment
allows Austin to write from a place of both strength and vulnerability.
In the
convergence of those two realities, she embraces the inherent humanity in
us all -- and
finds plenty of room to let romance find its proper place in the spectrum.
"There's
definitely a love theme here," the dark-haired vocalist says with a laugh.
"The album's
whole journey is about love: losing love, finding love, unrequited love,
unconditional
love. "A lot of it has to do with getting my heart broken for the first
time. It's amazing
what you learn from that. I used to write about what I thought you were
supposed to
feel. Now I know, and it came out in the songs.
"My favorite songs have always been the ones that made me feel something.
That's
what I wanted for this record. Everybody relates to pain more than happiness,
because
everybody feels that; it's such a strong emotion. But you can also have
with it a sense
of humor about love. "It's in catching those emotions just right that songs
strike you. I
worked very hard on that. And that's why we decided to call this album Words.
It's very
simple, and the words are so very important." With Words, Nashville welcomes
another strong female point-of-view to the party. Having written or co-written
seven of
the album's ten songs -- and recording outside material that filled in the
gaps of what
she wanted to say -- Austin and producers Ed Seay and Will Rambeaux created
an
album that embodies the joy that is coming-of-age with the kind of tenacity
that allows
people to keep at their quest for love. In addition to using some of Nashville's
finest
musicians, there are special guest appearances by Vince Gill ["I Wanna Fall
In Love
(So Hard It Hurts")], Mary-Anne Kennedy and Pam Rose ["Innocent Man"] and
Linda
Ronstadt's veteran steel guitarist Dan Dugmore ["One Solitary Tear"]. "Everyone
who
came in brought so much to the music," Austin says with a smile. Raised
by a father
who was a contractor and a mother who loved country music and wasn't afraid
to chase
the dream, the petite songstress began traveling to country festivals in
her native
Australia at 13 years of age. "My Mom would check out the papers, then we'd
pack up
my Dad's truck, toss a tent in back and off we'd go." It wasn't long until
the precocious
talent caught the ears of some of Australia's leading country music champions.
After
singing "Jolene" and "Queen of Hearts" for her stage debut, SherrieÇ found
herself
opening a series of concerts for Johnny Cash in her satin cowgirl skirt
and matching hat
just shy of her 15th birthday. With a fearless sense of adventure and an
awareness of
the limited opportunities for Sherrie' in their native land, the family
decided to stake
their claim in the U.S. With her father continuing his work re-modeling
houses and her
mother landing a job as a chef, the family settled in Los Angeles. But L.A.
would never
be home to a progressive girl with traditional influences like Dolly Parton
and Loretta
Lynn. And as her adolescence melted away, Sherrie' started asking herself
a lot of the
hard questions impending adulthood creates.
"In your early 20s, you start questioning everything you do. 'Is this what
I want to be
doing for the rest of my life?,' that sort of thing. I didn't feel like
that with the music I
was making, and it freaked me out because I'd always known exactly what
I wanted.
"One day, I woke up, went upstairs to Mom and said, 'I'm gonna go to Nashville.'
She
looked at me and I thought she was gonna say, 'What? Are you nuts?' But
she said,
'It's about bloody time.' So they'd been waiting for me to realize Nashville
was where I
belonged for a long time." Armed with a few telephone numbers and an offer
to house
sit for songwriter Jan Buckingham ("Cleopatra, Queen of Denial"), Austin
decided to
try her luck. Selling her musical equipment to raise the plane fare, the
girl with the
quick smile and dancing eyes came to town on a wing and a dream. But it
wasn't long
before she ran into Will Rambeaux ("Wild One"), who shared her creative
vision.
Though she'd been given his publisher's number, it was an off-chance meeting
at an
ASCAP #1 party that sealed the deal. Soon the pair began exploring the possibilities
of
Austin's songwriting. In the process, they found a simpatico musical vision
that led to
Rambeaux's co-producing Words. "I grew up on the Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis
and
Johnny Cash that my Mother listened to," Sherrie' admits. "But I'm also
a product of
the '70s. I love the melodies of Bread, Elton John and Simon and Garfunkel
because
they just sweep you up and are so gorgeous. "But the thing about country
music is the
lyrics. It tells a story. It's about human emotions and feelings. I like
the idea of writing
and singing about things that are real. That -- more than anything -- is
what we were
after when we were putting this album together. "I also received a lot of
encouragement from people I really respect. When I'd go in to play songs
for Tim
DuBois (Arista/Nashville President), he was pretty tough on me. He'd tell
me, 'You're
a writer and I want you to write the songs for this album. I want you to
write the best
songs you have in you, and that means working hard.' Tim pushed me, and
it really paid
off." Paid off, indeed. Whether it's the first single "Lucky In Love," which
percolates
on quick-witted wordplay and basic reality, the breath-taking "One Solitary
Tear" or
the friendly warning of "Put Your Heart Into It," Austin reveals the essence
of what
women need and men want. It's a heady combination, but when you back this
much
verve with old-fashioned common sense, a romantic streak a mile wide and
an "aw
shucks" grin, you can't help but fall in love.
"I don't think men and women are all that different really," Sherrie' laughs.
"There
doesn't really have to be war between the sexes, you know. At the end of
it, we all just
want love and the knowledge that there's someone out there who really cares
for us.
"It's simple stuff. So when we were making Words, I wanted to make sure
we were
pretty straight ahead. I wanted to have some fun on here, as well, so itÍs
not all
darkness and pain. Yes, I got my heart broken. But love is fun, too; you
should want
that! "Now that I've learned that, I've got a bit of a sense of humor about
love. It's
better than slitting your wrists, and it keeps you going. If my album can
get that across,
then I'm happy." With Words, Sherrie' more than delivers on her promise.
With a
strong vision and a voice that carries emotional current like electricity,
she's figured
out how to strike the perfect balance. Charged with that knowledge, there's
probably
nothing she can't do -- or won't be willing to try -- in the name of music.