My Countrytown: Jayne Denham – Blue Mountains  

Regional towns are in our blood here at CountryTown! From Tamworth to Toowoomba to Noojee, we love the pubs, the people and the places that make Australia tick. But most of all, we love the amazing country musicians our regional centres produce, like Jayne Denham.

The three-time Golden Guitar nominee has released four albums to date: Sudden Change in Weather (2008), Shake This Town (2010), Renegade (2013) and Calamity (2018). The single, Chick Ute, from her debut album charted at #2 in Europe and Norway, #4 in Italy, #5 in the Netherlands and Denmark and #12 on the European Country Music Association Chart. Soon after the release of Sudden Change in Weather, she won the Australian Independent Country Music Award for ‘Best Rising Star’.

Her new album WANTED is due for release on August 13. She lifted two singles from the album earlier this year, with Better Make It a Double and Better Settle Up both charting in The Countrytown Music Network’s Country Hot 50 airplay charts, with the latter peaking at #14. The title track and third single was released at the end of last month.

Jayne knew her next album was going to be called WANTED and when she pitched the title to her good friends and songwriter mates Troy Kemp and Matt Scullion, the result sparked the whole idea to create an album hailing back to the wild west – inspired by old western movie soundtracks yet blending it with modern day country rock.

To get to know Jayne a little better, we’ve asked what she loves about her hometown, Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

1. The bush tracks

Growing up in the Blue mountains as kids meant we lived in the bush. There are so many awesome bush tracks everywhere to ride bikes and bush-walk but, as kids, we mostly played in caves. You would take off into the bush with your Barbie Dolls or in my brothers case, all his Star Wars figures and play for hours. Our family home backed onto bush so Mum and Dad gave us a radius and that was it because it is easy to get lost. 

2. The views 

I went over the Blue Mountains in a light plane once on our way to a festival called Music in the Mulga, and I was blown away to see we really do live on a ridge. So, the views we see from the edge of cliffs are just spectacular and you don’t have to go far to see incredible views anywhere in the mountains.  It sure is a place to breathe and take in the beauty of nature.

3. The families

My sister and I opened a shop 8 months ago in our local town called Springwood (yes closed at the moment due to lockdown but we will be okay). The reason we did, is it is a really family place to live. People are so friendly and it is a great place to raise kids so it's buzzing with families and generations mostly stay. So, living here most of my life has meant if you open a shop, everyone knows you and if you don’t, it doesn’t take long till they do.

4. Restaurants, cafes and cool bars 

I don’t know that we were ever known for our food I must say, but in the last 10 years things have really changed. And, although the tourists come here to see the sights, we are now well known for our awesome restaurants, cafes & pubs. It sure has brought tourists in to visit us little towns that are off the highway on the way to Katoomba and Leura.

5. Train trips

The train ride through the mountains is spectacular, I am telling you – you see more on that trip than you will even see from the road. It does not snow in the lower mountains where I live, so, as kids, if it ever snowed Mum and Dad would put us on a train and we would head up the mountains to see it as the highway would often get closed. But one time, I remember, we were too slow and by the time we go there it had melted … Doh!

To keep up to date with Jayne Denham, follow her on Facebook here.

For more of our My CountryTown series, check out here.

Image: Supplied