Helena by Shane Nicholson – Song of the Day

Our Song of the Day is Helena, the new single from 3 x time ARIA Award and 11 x Golden Guitar winning singer-songwriter and producer, Shane Nicholson.

Shane describes Helena as a dream song. “I’ve never had a dream song before. I was a little bit jealous of people who had. I woke up one morning and had the title and sort of a little melody in my head. ‘It only hurts for a while’ is the tagline. In the dream it was ‘Helena it only hurts ‘till you die’ - that was a little bit sadder [he laughs], maybe not as hopeful. That was the original version I wrote. I backtracked a bit and thought no I’m gonna make this a little more hopeful and open-ended.

“It was fun to record. I was having a great time, playing and playing, then I started adding backing vocals and I got carried away with it one night. You know, a couple of whiskeys and a microphone. It ballooned into something bigger and shinier than I thought it would.”

Helena features on his ARIA ‘Best Country’ nominated album, Living In Colour, released in August. The album was written and recorded in Shane’s Central Coast studio pretty much on his own due to COVID restrictions, while also producing 4-5 other artists projects at the same time. The album also features the tracks Harvest On Vinyl, The High Price Of Surviving, Life Ain’t Fine and his Top 15 country radio hit, And You Will Have Your Way.

Shane’s storied career started in the late 1990s with his first Brisbane-based band Pretty Violent Stain. They released an EP in 1997 called Blush, but split in 2000. He launched his solo career in 2002 with the release of his debut studio album, It’s A Movie. To date, he has recorded 11 studio albums, including his ARIA winning solo album Hell Breaks Loose in 2015 and for hit collaborations with Kasey Chambers – Rattlin’ Bones (2008) and Wreck & Ruin (2012). He has also won 11 CMAA Golden Guitar Awards, including the 2021 ‘Song of the Year’ for The High Price of Surviving, as well as two APRA awards.

Keep up to date with Shane Nicholson on his Facebook page here.

For more Song Of The Days from CountryTown, check out here.

Image: Supplied