Doing Their Own Thing

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday February 26, 2008

Chris Watson

Camille Te Nahu and Stuie French find life, and music,

better together.

Camille Te Nahu and spouse-guitarist

Stuie French are widely

acknowledged as being among

Australia's premier country music duos,

and have shown their popularity at the

countrymusic festival before, starring at

Wyong RSL in 2006.

"The Central Coast festival is one of

our favourite festivals," says Te Nahu.

"It's a mini Tamworth with all the venues

and entertainment that happens

over the weekend. We love playing at

the park as its such a good fun vibe and

so family friendly."

The duo kicked off 2008 with just one

show at Tamworth after a busy last year

including festivals at Bunyip, Wandong,

Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Caboolture and

Mildura - all with a new baby in tow

(their second son) - and are now writing

for a new album they hope to release in

August/September, a follow up to their

second combined album, Recovered,

which in turn followed their initial

album outing together, Not Without

You , released in 2005.

Their current single, All I Ever Need Is

You , has been hovering around number

20 on the top 30 country tracks.

Te Nahu, born in Gisborne, New

Zealand, where she was one of the

nation?s favourite daughters, remembers

her first gig as busking inside

a Woolworth?s supermarket to raise

money for her first trip to Tamworth.

She raised $800 in nine hours, showing

talent can win out.

She has come a long way since then,

releasing her own solo album before

her joint ventures with French, touring

the US, appearing on the Texan

TV show Austin City Limits with Kasey

Chambers (who she backed on the hit

single Not Pretty Enough), touring with

Gina Jeffreys and Rick Price, making

prestige TV appearances and singing

backing vocals for Australian award

winners such as Troy Cassar-Daley,

Beccy Cole and Sara Storer.

She came to Australia in 1999,

joining up with French, a top gun in

the guitar world who has toured and

recorded with some of country?s best,

including recent sideman gigs for

Adam Harvey, who won album of the

year for I'm Doing Alright at this year's

Tamworth Golden Guitar awards, plus

eight years touring with Cassar-Daley

and five years in Gina Jeffrey?s band.

Of combining their talents in a duo,

Te Nahu said they had performed and

recorded for just about everyone, so

they thought it about time they did

their own thing.

Together Te Nahu and French won the

Mildura Australian Independent Duo of

the Year award in 2006 before taking

out a hat-trick at the 2006 TIARAs

for best country duo of the year with

their first number one country chart hit

Wives Don?t Like Old Girfriends , female

vocal of the year with Love You Like The

Earth and the Barry Thornton Memorial

instrumental award with Ode To Roy

And Chet , a tribute to Merle Haggard's

late guitarist Roy Nicholls, who died in

2001, and Chet Atkins.

The last few years have been a whirlwind

for the couple, including tours

of New Zealand and within Australia,

and also keeping them busy has been

another project with steel guitarist

Michel Rose, a western swing band

called the Feral Swing Katz.

The Katz - with its guitarists having

backed or jammed with artists such

as Haggard, The Highwaymen, Albert

Lee and Leann Rimes - picked up the

2002 Golden Guitar award for best

instrumental track and in 2001 the Mo

award for best live country band.

"The Central Coast festival

is one of our favourite

festivals. It's a mini

Tamworth"

- Camille Te Nahu

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home