Audrey Auld

by Erik HageNeo-traditionalist country singer Audrey Auld first came to prominence partnering up with Bill Chambers, father to Kasey Chambers and patriarch to Australian country music's royal family. 1999's Looking Back to See, released under the Bill & Audrey moniker, was an album of duets released on Auld and Chambers' own Reckless Records label. In 2000, she released her solo debut The Fallen. The effort, produced and recorded by Auld, featured a duet with honky tonk singer Dale Watson and a cover of Fred Eaglesmith's "Alcohol and Pills." Auld was raised in rural Tasmania and as a child endured a strict routine of classical violin and piano lessons imposed by her jazz musician father. She eventually came to country music via the unlikely route of the post-punk of such bands as the Birthday Party, Bauhaus, and the Psychedelic Furs. An art teacher friend introduced Auld to the sounds of folks such as Dwight Yoakam, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and Loretta Lynn, sparking an obsession with the genre. As an adult, Auld moved around the Northern Territory before settling in Sydney. She initially formed an a cappella country music group with two other girls, but an interest in Western swing led her to form the Harmony Grits, which played swing with a jazz flavor. That group evolved into Audrey & the Rhythm Wranglers. Soon after, Auld met Bill Chambers and the two began writing together in 1997, forming the group Luke & the Drifters.