Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson are married to one another. She's released four albums. I own two of them (her first two), and I like them very much. She sounds like Julie Miller (that comparison helped, no doubt, because Buddy Miller also plays and sings on those albums). Shane Nicholson sounds like Neil Finn, the great Crowded House singer/songwriter. He released an album a few years back called It's a Movie that nobody heard, and that would have been the second-best Crowded House album ever released if he had done the smart thing and called himself Neil Finn. Even Huck Finn would have been smarter than Shane Nicholson, who sounds like the nondescript guy who comes out to exterminate the cockroaches in your apartment.

Kasey and Shane are from Australia, where people are born with extra melodic genes. This is another reason to like them. At any rate, they have a new album, together, arriving in September. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Here are the details.

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Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson Are 'Rattlin' Bones'
New Album Out September 16th on Sugar Hill Records

Aussie songwriting forces Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson have
teamed together for the first time to write and record the country and
bluegrass infused 'Rattlin' Bones' out September 16th on Sugar Hill
Records, their first for the label.

While both artists have successful solo careers in their native
Australia and stateside, the husband and wife duo decided to join
forces and create a sparsely produced record that highlights the
intertwining of two distinct, yet perfectly harmonized voices in a
style honoring their musical roots. The result is 'Rattlin' Bones' - a
fourteen song LP featuring nine tracks written collaboratively and the
remaining tracks written by either Chambers or Nicholson. The album was
produced by Kasey's brother Nash alongside Nicholson and recorded in
just a week's time in Australia.

'Rattlin' Bones' features a bevy of stringed instruments - guitars,
dobros, banjos, lap-steels and fiddles - all perfectly accompanying
seamless harmonies and bluegrass-tinged songwriting. The album kicks
off with the title track--a dobro driven lament on loss and love that
features Kasey and Shane's vocals in unison as well as trading lines
back and forth in the verses. 'Monkey On a Wire' is an up tempo song
touching upon the dangers of vices and addiction -- all underscored by
the wail of a remorseful fiddle. 'Wildflower' is a sweet ballad sung by
two lovers singing together in conversation.

To check out select tracks from 'Rattlin' Bones' click here:
http://www.myspace.com/kaseychambers

Prior to 'Rattlin' Bones,' Kasey's four solo albums were each released
to critical acclaim and achieved multi-platinum status in Australia and
major sales and critical success in the U.S. Rolling Stone raved that
Kasey is "the freshest young voice in American roots music" and the New
York Times cheered: "it's about time Lucinda Williams had a bona-fide
disciple."

Shane Nicholson's solo effort 'It's A Movie' garnered praise across the
board in Australia and the States. USA Today applauded this "lovely,
lyrical solo debut" with a 3.5 star rating and it was dubbed one of the
'Best of 2005' by Billboard's Executive Editor's list. He's toured
Australia and North America extensively.

Released in Australia this spring, 'Rattlin' Bones' has achieved gold
status, reached number 1 on the Australian Pop/ARIA chart and received
critical praise across the board. The Australian: "This is a roots
album of global significance. Sublime!" and the West Australian cheers:
"As songwriting, singing and life partners, this debut proves the
pairing is truly a winning love match."

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson will tour North America this fall in
support of the release of 'Rattlin' Bones.'

What a superb album. This is the real deal, truckstop-jukebox country duets that do George and Tammy, Gram and Emmylou proud. I'll write a more detailed review, but suffice to say that this is the most accomplished country duets album I've heard since Caitlin Cary's and Thad Cockrell's great 2005 album Begonias. The songs are consistently excellent. There are fourteen of them, and there are fourteen winners.

Kasey Chambers has, no doubt, a great voice for that kind of record.

I remember discovering this singer after she released The Captain. It really caught me. I thought she was gonna be great. But unfortunately, none of the following records confirmed the promise in my opinion (not even Barricades & Brickwalls). I was mainly disappointed with the last two.

So, what would make me purchase her new one would be a review that says "the record we were all expecting from Kasey Chambers since the start".

Anyway, she still has a perfect voice for duets, as could attest the few ones she did in the past with Paul Kelly (another Australian).

I loved The Captain, and thought Barricades and Brickwalls was pretty good as well. But I agree that her last two albums have been disappointing.

I'll also confess that I like Kasey's voice when it's, umm, tempered a bit by other voices. Sometimes her nasal qualities remind me more of Popeye's love Olive Oyl than Julie Miller. So as far as I'm concerned she's actually at her best in duet settings. The duets with Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams, and Matthew Ryan were the highlights of her solo albums, I thought. Rattlin' Bones is nothing but duets, and Shane Nicholson, her husband, is the ideal foil. He has a pure, keening tenor that is the sugar to her more idiosyncratic spice. I'd say this is the record we were all expecting from Kasey Chambers all along.

I was expecting this answer.

This record releases today, so let me second Andy's recommendation: This is a sensational album. Check out Mark Deming's 4 /1/2 star, checkmarked review at AMG for still another rave; my own review will be up shortly.

(Andy, did you review this for Paste, or post a review anywhere?)

I liked the samples enough to purchase it. The close vocal harmonies create a kind of warmth that I should enjoy all over, whether the songs happen to be great or not.

My review.

I don't know what you think now y'all, but though I was positively impressed on the first spin, this record doesn't leave many traces upon the following listenings. It's more close to Nickel Creek than the Carter Family. It's old-fashioned country for museums. It's slick, despite Kasey's vocal potential. I wish it could hurt me more, or be more challenging.

But giving the fact I already think the same about Emmylou Harris's body of work from the seventies, I may sound too provocative here!

I like the singin'. "Sweetest Waste of Time" sounds like it ought to be blasting out of a jukebox at some truckstop on Route 66. Nickel Creek are better instrumentally, but I'm a sucker for the sweet and sour of the harmony vocals. Kasey is the sour, and her idiosyncratic, little-girl vocals mesh perfectly with Shane's pure, sweet tenor. I also admit that I like the novelty of hearing classic American country music sung with an Australian accent. I wasn't quite sure at first about the meaning of whyst of time. Then I figured it out.