Harry Foxton, Open Season Band, Wild Dog Mountains: Highlights From This Week's 'Grass Roots'

Every week, ABC Country’s Grass Roots program shines a light on the best independently released country music. Selected from the hundreds of new tracks submitted, the one-hour program is now available on demand as well as premiering each Monday at 9 pm on ABC Country, showing the health of Aussie country music across all its sub-genres. Here are three of this week's tracks you should have on your radar. 

Head here to have a listen to this week’s full episode of Grass Roots.

Harry Foxton - Backseat

Harry Foxton brings arena-ready energy to his country-rock-inspired new song, Backseat. Combining an ‘80s rock atmosphere with slide guitars and rich melodies (plus a guitar solo), Foxton’s vocal and storytelling are effortlessly engaging, marking him as one of Australia’s most exciting new talents.

Balancing charisma with intimate lyricism, Foxton’s blend of heartland rock music, indie, and country showcases the diverse creative influences in his world. Foxton has been delivering music that’s captured the nation’s attention since 2023’s One More Night, landing on industry and music lovers’ radars.

For Backseat, Foxton teamed up with award-winning producer Dylan Ollivierre (Holy Holy, Meg Mac) and Matt Kelly, who tours with City and Colour – his pedal steel skills are heard throughout the heartfelt song.

Discussing the song, Foxton said, “Backseat has ended up being a beautiful balance of heartfelt determination. Weaving between Matt Kelly’s romantic steel to Dylan’s electric riffs, it gives a true representation of the ups and downs of climbing in the front seat of your life.”

Open Season Band - I Hate I Love Her

It’s a feeling all adult humans can relate to: hating that you still love someone. Open Season Band bring this heartwrenching topic to the spotlight but turns it on its head, with bright and up-tempo banjo-playing and addictive melodies.

The Brisbane six-piece’s latest single, I Hate I Love Her, tears through heartbreak at breakneck speed—and there’s an audible grin on the band members’ faces throughout the track. The barn-burning bluegrass tune is a tongue-in-cheek lament of lovesickness, featuring humour and thrilling instrumentation.

Open Season Band are one of Australia’s most sought-after acts in the country music scene. By marrying traditional bluegrass with modern country, the group pull from inspirations as diverse as Old Crow Medicine Show, Billy Strings and country legend Alan Jackson for their unique brand of music, which they describe as “Hillbilly Honkytonk.”

Wild Dog Mountains - Riverina

Wild Dog Mountains, an emerging band from Melbourne, Australia, highlight Australiana with their new single, Riverina.

The upbeat, curious single tells a dark tale of an unsolved murder. With its rollicking verse and chorus melodies, the driving single is led by crunchy guitars, pedal steel, and drums, making for a stirring build-up.

Wild Dog Mountains recently released their debut EP, Greetings From Wild Dog Mountains.

The EP showcases the group’s alt-country/Americana vibe, featuring two previously released songs The Light is Getting Darker and Maybe So. The release finds them displaying overdriven guitars, pedal steel and Wurlitzer organs on Riverina, plus string quartet arrangements on the track Almost Invasion Day.

Really, what makes Wild Dog Mountains essential to listen to is their songwriting: songs of love, loss, loneliness, dreams of real estate, wild camping trip stories, and other suburban tragedies… all with a twist.

You can listen to the latest full episode of ABC Country’s Grass Roots here.