Carla Herrod: Press Articles

IF her debut album is anything to go by, North Queenslander Carla Herrod is headed for bigger
and better things. Herrod's album 'en years in 5' was released earlier this year but has attracted renewed attention in recent weeks following recognition of her talents.
Herrod won Best Country Artist at the MusicOz Awards, for independent artists, in Wollongong early this month and has been nominated as one of five finalists for a Golden Guitar in the best new artist category at next month's Country Music Awards in Tamworth.
Herrod will leave her job in the Townsville Bulletin's
classifieds department next month to go on the road, playing her music as she travels around Australia. Her music, described as country with an influence of folk and bluegrass, is uncomplicated and to the point. She either wrote or co-wrote all the tracks on 'Ten Years in 5' which further adds to her achievement in producing
an album that is equal to if not better than anything
being offered by the big names in Australian and
American country music.
The album's first track 'Out All Night' has a
distinct Townsville flavour.
It tells of a night out which starts on the Flinders Street East
nightclub strip, milking "The Cow" and robbing "The
Bank".
The rest of the album is not North Queensland-specific and the lyrics are more universal. Standout tracks include 'Little Piece Of Heaven', 'Good
Now You're Gone', 'Life Of Mine' and 'Should've Known
Better'.
'Boy For The Weekend', while not a personal
favourite, has generated a lot of positive feedback from fans on Herrod's website.
She shows she has a sense of humour with the novelty
track Bob's Birthday, which deals with a woman's
insecurity about her looks, summed up by the chorus:
"Does my ass look big in this dress."
The album's strength is its depth, with all tracks having appeal. Townsville's loss will be Australia's gain.

ECSTATIC . . . Carla Herrod has been nominated for a Golden Guitar in
Tamworth next month

Photo: SCOTT RADFORD-CHISHOLM SR237065

TOWNSVILLE singer/songwriter Carla Herrod is in the running for a Golden Guitar at the 2005 Toyota Country Music Awards in Tamworth next month. Herrod, who has paved the way for her country music career as
a telephonist in the Townsville Bulletin's classifieds section was ecstatic about her nomination yesterday.
Fresh from a win in the
Country Section at the 2004 Musicoz Awards, she was nominated in the top five for New Talent Of The Year and the top 10 for Female Vocalist of the Year along with the likes
of Kasey Chambers, Beccy
Cole, Melinda Schneider, Sara Storer and Felicity Urquhart.
Herrod has decided to take the plunge and take to the road to meet her fate in the country
music stakes by travelling the festival circuit over the next six months.
The 2005 Toyota Country
Music Awards, the 33rd since the awards began in 1973, will see Australia's established and rising stars rub shoulders with about
5000 fans, industry folk and
media at the gala event which will herald Tamworth's annual
festival.

Country girl wows music industry folk with acoustics

HER style may not be traditional but it has not stopped Townsville's Carla
Herrod (pictured) storming the country music scene.
Herrod claimed the top gong in the Country section of the 2004 Musicoz Awards last night and, performing live
in front of fans and the Australian music industry, took home more than a trophy.
Musicoz, established in 2001, has ignited the careers of Australia's best new talent.
Herrod, 25, was the only Queenslander in the Country category's top five.
Up against performers from Victoria and New South Wales, Herrod claimed the section for which she was not even
shortlisted last year.
"I'm very excited because last year I didn't even make the top ten," she said
last month after discovering she was
nominated in the top five.
Musicoz manager Pat Maloney said no other event had such exposure for original music culture.
The accolade is yet another in Herrod's ever growing list.
In the past few months she has taken out two country music awards.
In October, Herrod took out the Rising Star Female category in the Telstra
Southern Stars Australian Independent Country Music Awards.
And in the same month, Australia's country music capital embraced her
style, a folk country acoustic, granting her a Golden Guitar Award for Best New Talent.
The 2004 Musicoz Awards will be on WIN on December 11 at 8.30pm.

Herrod picked for Musicoz competition

Townsville's Carla Herrod is about to head south after cracking the Musicoz Top 5. Story by OLIVIA KATTER

Carla Herrod THIS time last year Townsville muso Carla Herrod didn't even get a look in for the Musicoz
shortlist.
This year the country music artist will be
attending the nationally televised event in
Wollongong after making it into the Top 5 for the
country category.
Herrod said she was very proud of the result after
being overlooked for the shortlist when entering the
2003 Musicoz competition.
She will now be heading down to Wollongong for
2004 Musicoz Awards on Wednesday, December
1 where Celebrity Big Brother winner and former
Pepsi Live host Dylan Lewis will be in charge of the
mike for the night.
The Musicoz Awards is a non-profit organisation
which kicked off in 2001, helping to push the
careers of bands such as Porcelain, Sender,
bluejuice, Bliss n Eso, Underlapper, Audience and
many more.
The awards event will showcase some of the
most exciting, new music this country has to offer,
live in front of the Australian Music Industry and fans. "No other event has this sort of exposure for original music culture," Musicoz manager Pat
Maloney said. "We're at the
forefront of officially
recognising the best
achievements of original music by providing opportunities as they carve out careers for
themselves.
Other categories for this year's event includes
dance, Aboriginal and Torres Strait, rock, RnB,
Christian/Gospel, schoolies, instrumental, folk, jazz, acoustic, classical, metal/hardcore, world, alternative, pop, hip hop and blues.
There are five finalists for each category at the
event, which will also feature performances by Tex Perkins, Jebediah and RnB artist Cristian Alexanda.

The 2004 Musicoz Awards will be on WIN on
Saturday, December 11 at 8.30pm.

Northerner rising star in country

WINNER . . . country music singer-songwriter Carla Herrod displays her prestigious award

Photo: LORI NEILSEN LN155036

A TOWNSVILLE woman is the first North Queenslander to win
one of only a few prestigious awards
at the Australian Independent
Country Music Awards.
Country music singer-songwriter Carla Herrod was among more than
600 nominees before she was named one of four finalists.
She was then announced winner of the Rising Star Female category in a national live-to-air radio broadcast of the annual festival.
Herrod was unable to attend the award ceremony in Mildura, Victoria, but was notified of her win on the night.
"I didn't think I would win so I was very surprised," Herrod said.
Her winning song, 'Out All Night', is the opening track from her debut
album 'Ten years in 5' which was released
independently in May.
The award follows a stream of successes for the 25 year old.
Only five months after her
album's release, Ms Herrod secured a national distribution deal and has
since received widespread airplay for her first radio single.
The Telstra Southern Stars Australian Independent Country Music Awards were started in 1997 by the
Mildura Country Music Festival Committee to recognise the recording
achievements of independent artists in Australian country music.
"It was an absolute shock,"
Herrod said. "I'm overwhelmed."

Tamworth bound

Townsville's Carla Herrod is hoping to cut a swathe through country music competitions after
her recent win writes OLIVIA KATTER

CARLA Herrod is always looking to the future.
While rejoicing over her win at Telstra Southern
Stars Australian Independent Country Music Awards in Mildura, Victoria on Saturday, Carla was making plans.
The singer-songwriter knows her status in the
industry has gone up several notches, especially
as last year's winner of the Rising Star Female, the
award bestowed to Carla, was not only nominated
but also managed to score a Golden Guitar Award
for Best New Talent at Tamworth.
Now Carla has her sights set on a similar achievement.
"I'm hoping this award will result inmegetting a
Golden Guitar nomination," she said.
"Hopefully I'd win it too but I don't think that's
possible."
Carla's plans include performing at the
Tamworth Country Music Festival at the start of next
year, with this event kicking off her national tour.
She explained how she had a van and was
planning on taking her tunes on the road as of
January 2005. After Tamworth she planned on gigging around Australia, picking up musicians to perform with as she travelled. She said the idea was to promote her album 'Ten Years in 5' which was released earlier this year.
The album has been well received with radio stations in Australia and overseas playing her tunes,
with her song 'Little Piece of Heaven' being listed in
ABC's Top 100 country hits.
Carla's first port of call for her tour seems to fit
perfectly with Tamworth not only being the place
where she won the Stan Coster Memorial in 2002
for her songwriting but it also indicates the direction
in which Carla has taken her music.
"I haven't really focused on country music, it's
just turned out that way," she said.
She put this down to the fact she had undertaken
studies at the Country Music College in Tamworth.
"It is not traditional country music," Carla said.
"It is categorised as folk country acoustic, but is
accepted by a country audience."

Without Labels

One of the most interesting developments in country music over the past decade or two has been the ever-broadening of the musical boundaries to embrace artists who don?t necessarily fit the stereotypes of a traditional country performer.

In the US, names like ROSANNE CASH, LUCINDA WILLIAMS, MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER, EMMYLOU HARRIS spring to mind, and in Australia we have plenty, JOHN WILLIAMSON, GRAEME CONNORS, ERIC BOGLE, KASEY CHAMBERS, and SARA STORER all have unique styles and music that transcends labels, but are still enormously popular with country fans.

Like-minded emerging talent seems more comfortable these days to be "different" and remain true to their craft, and Townsville's CARLA HERROD is an excellent example.

Her new album 'Ten Years in 5' doesn't fit easily into a single category. There certainly are country influences, but her music sits in that almost undefinable sector that is becoming more populated every day - eloquent and descriptive singer/songwriters who mix their own colours and create wonderful musical canvases without ever having attended art classes to be told how it should be done.

Maybe country/folk would be a close guess in the category stakes, but in the end it's the strength of the songs and the performances that have drawn many ears in the country music industry and amongst country fans.

Carla is a true country girl and make no mistake about that. She grew up on a sprawling cattle property in the isolated basalt country north of Hughenden in Queensland, and her family later moved into the small township to run a produce store.

That's a good potential background for a country singer/songwriter, but Carla is quick to point out that the connection is not that clear cut.

"It's not so much the bush as the relationships between people there that provides the inspiration for my songs," said Carla. "It's relationships, romance, personal insights, the things that happen to my family and friends that influence my creativity."

Certainly the influences are diverse, because the songs on her album take you on a real journey of emotions. The fun of Out All Night or the quirky Bob's Birthday reveals that Carla doesn't take the world too seriously (or not all the time).

But then there are offerings like 'Little Piece of Heaven'. It is her first radio single from the album, and has been received enthusiastically by radio programmers around the country, as well as giving Carla a high placing in the nation OzMusic Songwriting Competition. But the poignant connection with the song comes from a much sadder direction.

"My Dad died suddenly last September, and we played 'Little Piece of Heaven' at his funeral," said Carla, "So it has particular significance for me and it's been wonderful to see it do so well on radio and in the charts."

"My father was a very powerful influence in my life, and instrumental in me releasing this album, so it has been difficult coming to terms with the fact that he won't ever see it," said Carla.

"After he died there were six or more months where I was grief stricken and couldn't write and didn't play. So releasing this album has I suppose been therapeutic. It means a lot to me."

Today at 25, the talented young lady confesses that she is still developing her craft. "I suppose Ten Years in 5 was experimental in a sense," she admits. "It was about me working out my niche as a singer and songwriter,"

From the reaction so far, it would seem that Carla's experiment was based on a very good formula.

TEN YEARS IN FIVE, Carla Herrod (Independent)


THE strength of the Australian independent market is truly amazing. Every now and then, an artist comes through the ranks who delivers an album which makes you sit up and take notice. This time it's Carla Herrod whose album Ten Years in Five would easily rival, if not surpass, many new releases coming out of the US, especially by female artists. The appeal of independents is that they are not bound by constraints of major record labels and can explore the boundaries.

The style is possibly more of a modern sound without being sugary. She doesn't get bogged down in heart wrenching ballads and takes a broad and at times frank look at life. There's plenty of enthusiasm in many of her songs, especially the uptempo numbers such as the opening Out All Night, the unmistakable country flavour of Little Piece of Heaven , the quirky Boy For The Weekend, the solid Good Now You're Gone (with its rocky feel) and her more mellow tracks like the lyrically strong Not Supposed To Know and the West Coast feel of Should've Known Better. She lacks nothing in her ballads with tracks like Smile, The 10:05, and the gentle Driving.

Be prepared for a "surprise in Bob's Birthday - it has a truthful message to it which will appeal to both males and females (for different reasons). This is a very appealing album, especially for those young at heart and should win her plenty of fans who are looking for something fresh in their country.

TEN YEARS IN 5 - Carla Herrod Independent

I don’t know what music Carla Herrod grew up on, but it’s a fair bet there’s a definite sprinkling of MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER, ROSEANNE CASH, and LUCINDA WILLIAMS in the album collection. Carla hails from Townsville in North Queensland, but her music is more global that tropical, - and it tends to sit in that uncategorized paddock that stocks country, folk and contemporary breeds without segregation. Her songwriting is very impressive – thoughtful and eloquent, - and her vocals are excellent. Producer Roger Corbett has obviously recognised the lyrical importance of the songs and built an empathic musical base that complements Carla’s songs and allows her the front spot. Her debut radio single Little Piece of Heaven is doing well, but there is a bunch of fine songs here including Anywhere, Smile, Out All Night, and the very tounge-in-cheek Bob’s Birthday. A surprise package from the far north.

A NOTE OF INSPIRATION

WHEN she was a little girl growing up on an isolated cattle station in the basalt country of North Queensland Carla Herrod dreamed of being a singer.
At 10 she taught to herself to play guitar – a move motivated by the fact the closest music teacher was 400km away – and now 15 years later she has just released her first album, Ten Years in Five.
Today at 25, the Townsville-based singer songwriter is gradually rising to national prominence with an original style of contemporary folk and country music that was born in the outback.
Despite city living she remains well aware of the influence bush life has had on her music and her determination to succeed in her chosen industry.
Carla grew up on Dutton River Station, a sprawling cattle property in the isolated basalt country north of Hughenden, later her family shifted into the small township to run a produce store, so her life has been entwined with the rural industry.
Yet, she says, it is not the bush, so much as the relationships between people there, which have provided the inspiration for her music.
Though with quick humour she advises listeners not to go searching for references to well known, western characters in her songs, “because they won’t find them.”
“Sure people I have known have prompted me to write music, but its relationships, romance, personal insights, the things that happen to my family and friends, which influence my creativity,” Ms Herrod said.
As a child growing up in the bush without television or even static-free radio reception, she loved music, but no one in her family was what would even be considered musical.
“I suppose my parents were initially a little surprised by my singing and song writing ambitions, but they were incredibly supportive.”
In a sense she has been a relative latecomer to the industry. Her first break came in 2002 when she was accepted into and graduated from the renowned Australian College of Country Music.
The same year she was runner up in the prestigious Young Songwriter of the Year Quest in Tamworth.
More recently one of her personal favourites Little Piece of Heaven, a song from her current album, made number 11 in the top 100 country music songs in the national OzMusic song writing competition.
The placing had special significance for Ms Herrod, as she wrote the song and it was played at her father’s funeral late last year.
“My Dad died suddenly in September and we played the song at his funeral so it has particular significance for me and it has been wonderful to see it do so well on the radio and in the charts.
“My father was a very powerful influence in my life and he was instrumental in me releasing this album, so it has been difficult coming to terms with the fact that he won’t ever see it.
“After he died there were three months when I was just grief stricken and couldn’t write and didn’t play. So releasing this album now has I suppose being therapeutic. It means a lot.”
While sales for her album have been wonderful she admits it is still a little premature to consider quitting her day job.
“But I studied business marketing at university and I now I have the energy and commitment to give the music industry my best shot. I am counting on becoming a fulltime musician in about two years. Though who knows?”
Classified now as an independent artist – a tag she wants to retain – she says it is now a matter of determining what music works from the first album and taking it from there.
“I suppose my first album was experimental in a sense. It was about me working out my niche as a singer and a songwriter.”
In retrospect she concedes her achievements are an example of how talent and determination can overcome the adversity of isolation.
Carla Herrod will be performing at the WOMUT Showcase in South Townsville on May 27 and at the Palm Creek Rainforest Festival, 40km south of Townsville, on June 11-14.

…ends