October is set to be a good month for Kasey Chambers and her fans, with the Australian country music icon announcing her new album, Backbone, and her brilliantly titled new book, Just Don’t Be A Dickhead.
The follow-up to her 2018 book, Little Kasey Chambers And The Lost Music, Chambers is about to release her third book. Backbone marks her thirteenth album, following her 2018 release Campfire (with the Fireside Disciples).
Set for release on Tuesday, 1 October (book) and Friday, 4 October (album), Chambers will be sharing two very different representations of her life and creative soul with her fans, revealing that she’s always tried to live by the best advice he’s ever received: the book title.
Chambers explained the two projects in a press release: “I’ve just finished writing a book! I am beyond excited to be releasing it along with a brand-new album.
“The book is a collection of stories and experiences from my life that I’ve learnt from over the years. Some from humorous, embarrassing moments, some from deep, heartfelt memories that taught me unlikely things to consistently draw on along the way.”
She continued, “I am so keen (and a little bit scared) to share these two real and honest representations of my creative soul, along with the inspiration I’ve found in unexpected places throughout my unique life.
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“Good and bad, this album is who I am. I worked with my favourite musicians, and I sang about every beautiful, joyous, embarrassing and tough thing I’ve gone through. Everything that’s gone into making me this person.
“Even before anyone has heard this album or read the book, I feel like I’ve achieved something special.”
Just Don’t Be A Dickhead …. And other profound things I’ve learnt will be published in hardback, eBook, and audiobook formats. The book will come with QR codes readers can scan to learn about the album’s correlating song, so they can experience the way Chambers wrote Backbone and her new book: together.
Chambers has enlisted some of the usual suspects for her new LP: her dad and guitarist Bill Chambers, her guitarist Brandon Dodd and longtime bassist Jeff McCormack.
However, in a surprise for the Aussie icon, she’s brought in some first-timers: The Teskey Brothers’ Sam Teskey and American drummer Brady Blade – who has drummed for Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Dave Matthews, to name a few.
Just Don’t Be A Dickhead has already received support from Chambers’ friends, including Keith Urban, who said: “This ‘born of the dirt-think on your feet-no bullshit way of being’ that Kasey shares through her life experiences in her book helps you not only navigate life but informs how you treat others as well.
“Sometimes, it’s the most simple truisms that light the way for us. – who knows, maybe there was an 11th commandment, and it simply stated, ‘JUST DON’T BE A DICKHEAD.’”
You can pre-order Chambers’s new book here and pre-order/pre-save Backbone here. The album’s stunning first single, Backbone (The Desert Child), is out now. You can watch the music video below.
