Review’s Isolation Room: Fanny Lumsden sings from her caravan
The country singer and her husband have recorded an intimate duo version of a song from her Golden Guitar award-winning album | WATCH
For country singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden, this year is on track to be the most dramatic, unpredictable and successful of her career, despite all the odds.
It began with sweeping the Golden Guitars in January by winning five awards – including album of the year for her third release Fallow – in the midst of playing dozens of sold-out theatre shows across five states.
In May, Lumsden landed the plum gig of supporting Paul Kelly on an extensive national regional tour. “We were meant to have 58 shows from the end of May to the end of October – and then I’m going to have a baby,” she told The Weekend Australian.
Her new arrival is due in November, yet Lumsden and her band managed to complete only five of their Kelly support slots in Queensland before Covid restrictions intervened.
In recent weeks, 33 of her concerts have been postponed or cancelled, including her own Country Halls tour across five states. But the eternal optimist is still smiling through the disappointments.
“If things are completely out of our control, then there’s no point stressing over it,” she said.
“We understand the need to make these sacrifices for the greater good, and we’re on board with that. At the same time, as a small-business owner, if you were really attached to the forecasts for your business, you’d be devastated. But it’ll be all right. Maybe it’s just because we’re musicians through this whole time – anything feels like a bonus.”
With her husband Dan Stanley Freeman and their son Walter, 3, Lumsden last week drove from Queensland to the Northern Territory in a caravan to perform at the Darwin Festival.
At this stage, her final booking of the year is next weekend at the Rock’n Country music festival in Mackay, alongside Troy Cassar-Daley and Ian Moss.
For Review’s exclusive Isolation Room video series, Lumsden and Freeman have recorded an intimate duo version of Peed in the Pool, a single from Fallow.
“We wanted to do something that was a little lighthearted; I didn’t want to get too serious and heavy,” she said. “Everyone is going through their own battles right now. I thought it’d be funny to laugh at yourself a little bit – and this song is definitely that.”
Near midnight in Darwin earlier this week, the pair filmed their special performance inside their caravan while Walter – who has grown up on the road with them – slept soundly nearby.
“He actually wakes up when it’s quiet,” said Lumsden with a laugh. “When we got home from tour when he was really little, we would have to put him in a pram in the lounge, put music on and rock him to sleep.
“I think it’d be very hard if it was the other way around.”
To rewatch our Review’s Isolation Room archive, click here.
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