Andy Golledge: Strength Of A Queen | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Alt-country singer-songwriter Andy Golledge has been strumming away in the pubs of Sydney’s inner-west for well over a decade, but it wasn’t until 2020 that he released his first EP Namoi. Two years later, he is finally ready with his debut full-length Strength Of A Queen.

What took him so long? We get a few hints in opening track Ghost Of Love which finds him leaving his home town of Tamworth for the city where he says he “burnt his dreams in alcohol”, “choked on stage” and wound up in his bedroom “hiding from life and afraid of everything”.

Ghost Of Love is really a fantastic song – a gorgeous country rock backing for Golledge’s silky drawl. The lyrics as we’ve already seen are a very honest look at some of Andy’s struggles, but they also show how a shift of perspective helped him get through it. On the last chorus, the words change from “I’m the one breaking down… the ghost of love haunts my dreams” to “you’re not the only one breaking down… the ghost of love haunts all our dreams”. If only all sad songs came with tips for how to heal and come out of it a better person!

While his debut EP was mostly ballads making good use of Golledge’s lovely falsetto; Strength Of A Queen is heavy with rock’n’roll numbers suited to the sweaty pubs where he does much of his gigging. It’s still the ballads that provide the highlights though, showcasing Golledge’s confessional lyrics, that rich voice, and his harmonies with banjo player and fellow inner-city country songwriter Caitlin Harnett.

Love Like This is an exploration of fears and neuroses and how love can transform them. Dreaming Of A Highway is a reflection on loss, while Heavy Hand again delves into Golledge’s own past with more references to his two homes of Tamworth and Newtown.

Those two places are also pretty good reference points for Andy Golledge’s music, with a sound that is unmistakably country but dodges the cliches of much of the music that is these days associated with his home town. Still, plenty of alt-country artists can mimic the sounds of the genre, but great country music affects you emotionally with its honest and simple depiction of life’s struggles. This though is where Strength Of A Queen shines – there’s something touchingly genuine about Golledge’s lyrics; deeply personal yet universal in their exploration of our collective mental frailties.

Those simple themes and the album’s classic sounds are clearly born from his upbringing on the Namoi River, but the genuine reflection in the lyrics probably hails from the inner city where there is some critique of the norms of masculinity that often prevail in rural Australia. Strength Of A Queen then we could say is half hillbilly and half hipster - the best bits of both.

- Andy Paine.