Essentials: The Top Ten Kasey Chambers Songs

Kasey Chambers flies well below the radar of most American fans of this genre, and it is probably the same with UK listeners – she is a very niche listen. The reason is simple. For a start she is Australian and initially, she did not fit into the Nashville profile as a country singer which is how she was perceived in her homeland. And a very successful one at that – a multiple-award winner for her songs, her albums and her induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Even then she had problems with commercial radio in Oz as explained in most successful song ‘Am I Not Pretty Enough?‘

But anyone who does know her music will attest to an extraordinary range of musical styles and her vocal range, and topics in songs that she has demonstrated over a catalogue of 13 albums starting with “The Captain” in 1999 – this was her first solo outing after some time in the family group, The Dead Ringer Band, from age 11,  which included her mother Diane and her father Bill Chambers (a multi-talented guitar player and regular contributor to her solo albums ) and brother Nash Chambers who has produced most of her albums. The Dead Ringer Band broke up when Chambers’ parents divorced in the late 1990s.

Chambers was born in Mount Gambier, South Western Australia to a poor family who spent half the year in the Nullarbor Plain, a rather desolate and arid expanse nearby, hunting animals for pelts. The area and her lived experiences there have provided considerable inspiration for her songs. With a voice both fragile and twangy,  emotional and powerful yet vulnerable, her more or less immediate success and popularity in Australia led to thoughts of similar success in the US. However, the twang had a discernible Australian lilt and the subject matter did not fit with commercial Nashville’s lyrical requirements of beer and broads, or trucking.  Her sophomore album contained the aforementioned  ‘Am I Not Pretty Enough’, a theme she returned to on several occasions in slightly different guises, which provided her with a big hit in Australia and New Zealand, but US radio pitched it to a different market and it sort of fell between the cracks.

Nevertheless, consistent success was found at home as album after album delivered a mix of songs tackling love and relationships, her early home life, politics and religion. Always a fan of Emmylou Harris and influenced by the likes of Lucinda Williams (who have both appeared on her albums, she also sounded at times like Elizabeth Cook or Iris Dement). Her thirteen albums have been very varied, the first two (“The Captain” 1999 and “Barricades and Brickwalls” 2001) very much in country vein, the third “Wayward Angel” (2004) with a different tone as she became a mother, then a more produced rootsier pop sound on ‘Carnival’ in 2006. She married and divorced Corey Hopper in short order and then met and toured with Shane Nicholson, a lesser-known Australian singer with whom she made two stunning duet albums “Rattlin’ Bones” (2008) and “Wreck n Ruin” (2013), before their marriage ended in the latter year.  In between she recorded an album of children’s songs, an album of covers (“Storybook“) and the rather more varied pop rock of “Little Bird“, whose title track could be traced back to the themes of ‘Am I Not Pretty Enough’.

Variously described as a country singer, a folk singer and at times a pop crooner, Chambers could rock out with the best of them and occasionally sang a form of roots blues,  Gospelly at times, especially when she is taking a religious line. But her last four albums have cemented her reputation in the Americana field, with tracks that include full-throated with a band  (the first half of the 2017 double album “Dragonfly“, produced by Aussie superstar and AUK favourite  Paul Kelly), solo on acoustic guitar, half-spoken monologues a la Dylan, alt-country ballads as if from the early 2000s, and folksy sing-alongs. “Bittersweet” in 2014 had a number of ‘Top Ten songs’ contenders, as did the second half of “Dragonfly” in 2017,  Nash Chambers producing a more typical Chambers album in the second half than Kelly in the first, “Campfire” in 2018 was predominantly a vehicle for cowboy songs as sung around a campfire, but included some very hard-hitting songs (take a listen to ‘Abraham’ or ‘Early Grave’), while, after a 6 year wait, 2024’s “Backbone”, a trip back to her roots with a more varied palette than her early albums, was self-produced and included some sassy jazz swing, folk duets, an amusing love song using Springsteen song titles, on the whole as good an album as she has delivered.  She is up there with the best of the US singer-songwriters of this century and that has made this a difficult exercise to conclude, due to the remarkable consistency of her songwriting.

So, with a ton of songs to choose from, how do we get to an essential ten? At the end of the day, and at the risk of upsetting some Chambers’ fans, these are the ones that just appealed to me the most. I could list another ten that on another day would themselves form the top ten; they are waiting in reserve for your comments.

Number 10: ‘Sweetest Waste of Time’ (from “Rattlin’ Bones” 2008)

A most beautiful song about an unrequited love – “If you don’t need me, when you get lonely, If you don’t want me, to call your own, If all this waiting, just leaves me wanting, You still would be the sweetest waste of time”– interesting because Chambers and Nicholson were a married couple at the time but it maybe reflected their situation when they first met.

Number 9: ‘These Pines‘ (from “The Captain” 1999)

Written when Chambers was missing the famous Norfolk Island Pines that were dear to her heart, rather than the ones she could see out of her window at the time – “Yeah these pines Are not mine / They don’t smell so sweet / Like the ones in my mind”. The track includes lovely harmonies and acoustic guitar from Buddy Miller.

Number 8: ‘Something to Believe In‘ (from “Backbone” 2024).  From her new album containing a plethora of great songs. To show that after a 6-year hiatus Chambers’ songwriting was still ‘up there’, this is a bluesy Gospelly, hymn-like ballad with inspired singing, a sharp guitar solo and a lovely organ hovering in the background, and some great lines too  “the start of the sorrow is the end of the line/ a run through tomorrow is a walk through the pines”.  It’s the one that stood out immediately for this writer on her latest outing.

Number 7:  ‘If We Had a Child‘ with Keith Urban (from “Dragonfly” 2017).

Put away your commercial country prejudices, people, Keith Urban delivers a superb harmony and counterpoint voice to Chambers’ vocal on this charming song. The meaning of the song is obvious but instead of being sickly sweet, the arrangement takes it into ‘charming’ territory

Number 6: ‘Million Tears‘ (from “Barricades and Brickwalls” 2001)

Chambers’ way with words were evident in this song about not being able to have the person you want – “take these tears / wash your skin / i’m having trouble breathin’ since you walked in” People everywhere will relate to this feeling.

Number 5: ‘Southern Kind of Life‘ (from “The Captain” 1999)

Described by Chambers as the story of her life growing up – “My town wasn’t even on the map / You could pass right through it in 20 seconds flat / But the south was like the whole world to me / Wasn’t easy to stay but it was harder to leave”.  More recent songs have expanded on that earlier life but this was the first time she had written about it and put it on record.

Number 4: ‘Ain’t no Little Girl’ (from “Dragonfly” 2017)

Developing on themes prevalent in earlier songs this is Chambers taking control, an anthem of empowerment, self-respect and female assertiveness, delivered in one of Chambers’ most full-throated performances after surgery on her vocal chords, and represented a kind of riposte to her earlier song “Am I Not Pretty Enough“. And if you want to watch something a little special take a look at the acoustic live version of this song that Chambers performed at the Bluegrass Undergound Cavern Sessions in 2017. Chambers described this song ‘writing her’ rather than ‘her writing the song’  “No, I ain’t no little girl / I won’t break, I won’t bend / I won’t wait, I won’t end up / With nothing to say”

Number 3:  “Bittersweet” with Bernard Fanning (from “Bittersweet” 2014)

This brilliant duet is shot through with love despite the hopelessness and resentment forged in the lyrics. You can feel this in the closing choruses beautifully sung by Chambers and the rather talented Bernard Fanning  – “I am a big boy now / Don’t have to be hangin around / I probably would have let you down again / Anyhow…….And I am a big girl now / And I don’t want you hanging around / You probably would have let me down again /Anyhow”

Number 2: ‘Paper Aeroplane’ (from “Wayward Angel” 2004)

A sad but beautiful piano ballad written from the perspective of a depressed old man nearing the end of his life reflecting his undying love for his wife who died sometime in the past. “And some days make me / Feel weak and shaky / Some fly right right by me / Like a paper aeroplane / And I hardly notice  That the world’s gone crazy / But nothings clearer  Than the way your said my name”  One of Chambers’ most emotional readings. treads the very edges of Americana, but an essential Chambers song.

Number 1; ‘Nullarbor Song’ (from “Barricades and Brickwalls” 2001)

I don’t know what to say about this number. I have never been to Australia so have no idea what the Nullarbor Plain is like, but the beauty of the song lies in its utter simplicity, beautiful tune, and wonderful evocation of the place that meant so much to Chambers.   Enjoy this live version, but do take a listen to the original on the album! ” If I’m not here in the morning / I’ll cry a river of tears / I’ll learn to live in a new town / But my heart is staying here”