KENT EASTWOOD
Image: Kent Eastwood
The word “Troubadour” doesn’t apply to many people more accurately than it does to songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kent Eastwood. The country and bluegrass performer has been roaming the country regaling audiences with travel stories he’s accumulated over the years.
“I ended up writing The Corktown Sessions [Eastwood’s second record] while I was in New York and recorded it in a backpackers hostel before I flew home.” Says Eastwood about the precursor to his upcoming release.
“I was really inspired by that project so the following year I went to Europe with a multi-track app that you can get for your phone and set out on this journey of doing lots of travel writing, often, about the mundane things you observe when you’re travelling but wouldn’t notice if you lived there.”
The upcoming album launch for Eastwood’s new record Travelin’ Tales will be a journey through the various experiences that Eastwood was able to commit to record while on the road.
“The new album’s got a lot of different styles on there because I was literally travelling around and depending on what country or city I was in I might be thinking about whacky electronic music or some really simple folk music or something like that. As far as the show goes I really wanna capture the essence of the things you observe when you’re travelling.”
Eastwood has been drawing attention for his unconventional cello playing technique, which generally has first time audiences bewildered at the unfamiliar method.
“I bought the cello cheaply on Ebay and it was just instinctive for me to play it like a guitar. Then, when I listened back to recordings I thought it sounded really cool so I’ve never bothered to learn how to play it properly,” he muses.
There will however be more than just his peculiar cello playing on show.
“It’ll be a band show of bass, drums, piano and guitar and I’m trying to put a little choir together just because some extra friends wanna come down and have a sing. So we’re making it a family affair.” (IS)
Thurs, May 2nd, The Basement, 7 Macquarie Place, Circular Quay, 9251 2797, thebasement.com.au
