Nathan May, Loren Ryan & Nathan Lamont: 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.

Nathan May - Darwin Son

Nathan May knows how to bring sunshine to a cloudy day. With his latest track, Darwin Son, May presents an immediate classic – exactly the kind of song you can imagine playing while driving with the windows down. The mid-tempo tune is soothing yet bright, summery and authentic.

Reminiscing about growing up in Darwin and the feeling of having a lot in life despite having few material items, May effortlessly tells a story of having parents who provided him with the best life possible, despite the odds.

The song was written just before the birth of his first child. A year later, May recorded the tune at Rod McCormack’s studio alongside producer and musician James Gillard, Lawrie Minson on harmonica, and Scott Hills on drums.

“I wanted to write a song that reflects what many people experience in Darwin,” May said. “There’s a real magical beauty to the place, and growing up there was the best. It’s my home and a huge part of who I am.

“The vibe was incredible and really captures the spirit of Darwin. It came together beautifully, and I am so proud of how it turned out.”

Loren Ryan - BOUNTY

Loren Ryan is not a woman you should mess with. On her new track, BOUNTY, she combines hip-hop flair with modern country music while singing with stacks of attitude.

BOUNTY finds Ryan embracing anger and reflecting on her upbringing in a small country town, where she learned to be tough. She found further inspiration in the movie title Dead For A Dollar and “a sheer lack of anger management therapy,” all of which came to life following some real-life experiences.

The single is packed with modern themes and production, with an epic Western twist; the music video portrays Ryan as an outlaw. After writing the track, Ryan teamed up with producer Jared Adlam at Machine Lab Studios to record it, reuniting for the first time since releasing her track HOEDOWN last year.

Ryan commented, “I’m not going to name names specifically, but I’d like to say thank you to those who have put me through just the right amount of trauma to become unhinged enough to create some of my best work - happy streaming.”

Nathan Lamont - What Comes After

Nathan Lamont performs his latest power ballad, What Comes After, beautifully. Combining pop with country, his vocals and the backing instrumentation are pure country, while the melody and full-band arrangement should get him on pop radio.

Lamont wrote the single alongside his friend and former bandmate Rhianna Goldstein. The song was brought to life thanks to the MSquared Productions team—Michael Paynter and Michael De Lorenzis—who knew there was tons of heart behind the different song for Lamont.

“This song was born out of real-life experiences, both ours and those around us,” he explained. “For me personally, it’s deeply tied to moments in my relationship with my wife, moments where we stood right on the edge of walking away.

“It’s about choosing to fight for love when it would be easier to give up. It’s about pushing past the pride, digging into the memories of how it all began, and holding onto the belief that the story isn’t over yet.”

He continued, “When I arrived at the studio with MSquared, I sent through a handful of rough voice memos the morning of our session. Out of everything, they gravitated straight toward ‘What Comes After’. Together, we refined the structure, made some key lyrical and musical inclusions, and elevated what was already there without losing the raw emotion behind it.”

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