Rhinestoned, Jessie Monk & Dave Wells: 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 9pm 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.

Rhinestoned – Margarita Weather

Australian country music trio Rhinestoned are thrilled to announce the release of their Jimmy Buffet-inspired second single, Margarita Weather. After blowing the roof off at the recent Groundwater Country Music Festival, mainstream media attention and performances on morning TV, hear for yourself why fans can’t get enough of this earworm tune. Rhinestoned features one of Australian country music’s most unique voices, Kirsty Lee Akers, joined by her melomaniac husband Jesse Anderson and show-stopping lead guitarist Dan Ebbels.

Dave Wells – Ella

Those that have witnessed a Dave Wells performance are privy to the beguiling power of this most rare of musicians, whose command of both voice and guitar captivates to the point of transcendency. While his full-band shows are a must-see, there’s an otherworldly majesty and emotive force at work when Wells is alone onstage with his six-stringed instrument.

The tea leaves tell us that 2024 will be a big year for Wells, who has been quietly making music with world-renowned producer and engineer Nick DiDia at his prestigious Byron Bay studio. There’s whispers of a dark, acoustic record that tips its hat to sonically sparse recordings like Bruce Springsteen’s seminal Nebraska, plus an emotive new record of full-band alt-rock songs.

Jessie Monk – What’ll You Be

Jessie Monk appears to be a conglomeration of subatomic particles, originally from Gunai/Kurnai land in Australia. She sings folk songs inspired by the people she keeps meeting, stories she keeps hearing and thresholds she keeps walking through. Also occasionally dancin' and actin', Jessie had a brief professional music theatre career in Australia, living her dreams in David Bowie’s last piece, Lazarus.

She began singing her own tunes for people around Palestine in 2019, before moving to Berlin in 2020, where she was astounded by her warm welcome to the thriving folk scene. Chasing the holy grail of albums like Blue and New Skin For The Old Ceremony, from Jessie you can expect to hear quirky, gloomy, joyful and heartfelt folk tunes that harken back to a previous era whilst blooming in sheer authenticity.

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