Photo of Hannah Gillespie

Hannah Gillespie

Hannah Gillespie Radio

General Info

  • Genre: Acoustic / Folk / Roots Music

    Location Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Au

    Profile Views: 12960

    Last Login: 10/18/2011

    Member Since 10/6/2008

    Website hannahgillespie.com.au

    Record Label Independent

    Type of Label Unsigned

  • Bio

    Hannah Gillespie's folky credentials go back – way back, to her dad's genetics that gave birth to a step-sister – the Majors Creek Folk Festival, an ongoing concern that continued in the daily singalongs at the Gillespie family kitchen table. With her formative musical years wisely misspent in the maelstrom of inner-city life, Hannah Gillespie managed to fine-tune her hedonistic credentials enough to study music business in Melbourne and gained some experience band, stage and tour-managing some of Melbourne's up and coming acts of the late 90s. In 2000 she completed formal studies in performance and composition and went on to form the band August with Jane Williams (Moruya/Melbourne singer/songwriter) and Tom Jones on bass (The Re-mains, Leah Flanagan Band). Various other players contributed to what was becoming The August Collective, who played many memorable gigs, including the National Folk Festival. She finally poured all her yearnings into one fine album, Growing Up Stupid, under the watchful production eyes of Duncan Lowe and Kevin Nicol (Noiseworks). The album features Matt Nightingale - Bass (The Wedded Bliss, Fire On The Hill), Munro Melano – Keys (Casual Projects), Kevin Nicol – Drums (Noiseworks), Ben Gillespie –Trombone (The Band Who Knew Too Much, The Snappers) and reflected a latent jazz aesthetic, but her folk and country gene pool could not be ignored. Beseiged by her past, she began her second album in 2010, recruiting renowned musician/producer Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, R.E.M, Big Star) to Infidel in Queanbeyan, and re-enlisting Matt Nightingale on double bass, guitar, mandolin, Kevin Nicol on drums, cousin Ben Gillespie on Trombone, Hannah's sister Briohny with backup vocals, and Ken Stringfellow himself, contributing guitar, backing vocals, mandolin, wurlitzer and tambourine. The new album, All The Dirt, has taken her folk and country lineage and run, deep into the territory haunted by the fragile, cracked hearts of Marianne Faithfull and Lucinda Williams. Embedded in Stringfellow's famous pop ambience, the deep country colours of Tony Hunter on banjo, Paris based Terry Lee Hale on dobro and the string arrangements of Phil Peterson (Owl City, Nada Surf) subtly frame Hannah's powerful songwriting and distinctive voice. Such is the quality of the songs that the track 'Just A Man' was sung by mainstream country star Felicity Urquhart in the 2010 Telstra Road to Tamworth Awards, for which Hannah was one of four songwriters in the country to be shortlisted. A life of music has combined country, folk and jazz into a potent mix for Hannah Gillespie. With her band shaping up for tours in 2011, she's finally alchemised it into one sweet libation. Drink deep.

  • Members

    Album features the awesome talents of: Ken Stringfellow-guitars:keys:Mando & other bits and pieces, Kevin Nicol-Drums, Matty Nightingale-Bass:Guitars:Saxophone, Terry Lee Hale-Dobro, Ben Gillespie-Trombone, Tony Hunter-Banjo, Phil Peterson-Strings, Cameron Smith-Trumpet, Briohny 'honeyvox' Gillespie-Additional Vocals

  • Influences

    Quality music with heart..whatever the sound

  • Sounds Like

All The Dirt

NEW ALBUM "ALL THE DIRT" OUT NOW


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With a voice redolent of Marianne Faithfull’s world-weary vulnerability, Canberra balladeer Hannah Gillespie presents her second album, All The Dirt. The follow-up to the highly acclaimed Growing Up Stupid, it’s produced by Ken Stringfellow (REM, The Posies, Big Star). A vivid compendium of countrified emotions, these songs comprise vignettes both joyful and bitter, veering musically between sultry dirge and jaunty march, painted lavishly with Stringfellow’s opulent production, the dobro brilliance of Terry Lee Hale and the poignant string arrangements of Phil Peterson (Owl City, Nada Surf). Equally as ethereal and fey-folk/country as Faithfull’s timeless laments, these songs sparkle with a wry energy, courtesy of a top-flight band that haunts them like tasteful poltergeists, artfully toppling a chorus here, scattering marbles under a verse there, to create as joyful and lively a work as anything in the alt-country catalogue.



BUY "GROWING UP STUPID" ON ITUNES !!!

This album encompasses a vast array of musical styles and influences in a collection of beautifully crafted songs brought to life by some of Canberra’s finest players. Hannah maintains that pursuing song writing was never the plan but creativity is a powerful force as is the urge to write This project is a testament to that journey and as she says ‘There is no greater source of inspiration for a songwriter than a broken heart, a lost soul, a shit party or a bad day at the races and that is Growing Up Stupid.

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