Bonnie Kellett, Ella Powell, Dan Keyes + The New Rides: The Highlights From This Week's Grass Roots

Every week, ABC Country's Grass Roots program shines a light on the best independently released Australian country content. 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 four 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.

Bonnie Kellett - Bare Feet

A cheerful modern country song packed with the mandolin and stomp beats, “stealing glances, hidden smiles” and “stolen touches” have never sounded so romantic. Bonnie Kellett’s new single, Bare Feet, is all about jumping straight in, bare feet and carefree.

Written by Kellett and Michael Carpenter (who also produced the track), Bare Feet is set behind a time we all know well: the last night of freedom before the world plunged into the uncertainties of that first COVID lockdown.

Bare Feet recalls Kellett’s own memories of that night, “No one wanted that night to end; everyone was just hanging on to the moment.” It's a relatable, gorgeous track.

Dan Keyes + The New Rides - London

Today is a very good day, as Dan Keyes + The New Rides feature on Grass Roots with their masterful, epic debut single, London. The mournful track was produced by Tim Metcalfe and mixed, engineered and mastered by James Millar.

The music of Keys + The New Rides sits somewhere between the country music heartland of Texas, the bustling palm trees of Los Angeles and the sandy shores of Australia, with a unique take on yearning and living in the moment.

In addition to the great vibe and impressive start to their career, Dan Keyes + The New Rides is the first new signing to the resurrected Wheatley Records, first established in 1980 by the late Australian music icon Glenn Wheatley.

Ella Powell - Country Love

The opposite to the above track, Ella Powell’s latest, Country Love, is a light-hearted, joyful love song. The song highlights Powell’s greatest strength: her country-inspired storytelling and catchy pop melodies.

With Country Love, Powell enlisted the help of Aussie country music experts Matt Fell and Shane Nicholson on production and met her goal of becoming a “cowgirl and pop princess”.

Powell grew up listening to all sorts of artists. By the time she entered her teens, she began to blend country, pop and folk genres together to create her own distinctive sound. Powell hopes to connect with fans of Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini and Jewel with her superbly relatable lyrics and powerful vocals.

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