The Sit Down with Piper Rodrigues
Piper Rodrigues is carving out her own lane in Australian country music as she is blending classic heartbreak with modern sparkle. She is a 2024 Toyota Star Maker Finalist at the Tamworth Country Music Festival who is quickly emerging as one of the Australia’s most exciting rising artists and another artist from down under who is beginning to attract attention from much further afield.
Whilst splitting her time back home between New South Wales and Queensland, Nashville also has become a regular destination where she was when we recently spoke to her during her recent recording trip which coincided with CMA Fest earlier this month and around the release of her latest single “You’ll Never Think Of Me”.
Hey, Piper, thanks for taking the time to hang this morning. If it’s any consolation, it’s probably as humid here in London today as it is in Nashville.
“Yeah, it’s really humid here too but I was meant to come over to the UK with my mum, because we have some family friends that live in Wales and we were meant to come over in March 2020.”
Yeah, I guess that worked out.
“Oh, yeah. I think it would have been amazing, you know, get some COVID and see the sights. Then my mum and dad booked to go over but it was in February this year, just as Dubai started getting shut down, so when they were in Vietnam, they had to just go back home to Australia.”
Well, hopefully music will be the way to finally make it here and there’s enough friends from down under that keep coming back and can give you some travel tips.
“I would love to and I think it's amazing because country music in the past couple of years has gone from a thing that felt like it's kind isolated to the US, Australia and Canada but it's growing, which is really amazing and means it's generating opportunities for artists to come over to travel and play shows. That really is the whole goal for us, we like playing music and we like people that want to listen, so it's great.”
I guess, firstly, what was your sort of gateway drug? What enticed you into the direction as a musical artist, that country was the way that you wanted to go?
“Well, country music was one of those things where I feel like I just fell into it because my mum used to play a lot of country music in the car, so I grew up listening to like Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton and Reba. I would just sing along in the car and I think when I was in kindergarten, my mum was driving me to school and I was absolutely going for it on Jolene and I think my mum was like, oh, I think something's there I'm just gonna put you in singing lessons to see what happens. Then it just sort of snowballed and I feel like I kept falling into circumstances that made me want to like push myself and get better. I just love it, music was one of those things I'd always loved and I grew up an only child and I didn't have many friends in school, so all I wanted to do was music and I taught myself how to play guitar at sixteen. I just kept stumbling into things and I started releasing music in 2021 after I'd gone to a festival in Tamworth where I met some people and realised, oh, I think I could do this, I think I could give it a go and in saying that very casually, this is all I've wanted to do with my life. Like, I cannot imagine myself doing anything different because there is like a catharsis that comes with being able to write songs,listening to those songs recorded and then another thing on top of it is being able to perform it. I’m in a position now where I can have my whole band and I, translate that whole entire thing that's been going on in my head on stage because I've learned how to do it and it's the best, it is better than I could have ever imagined.”
You mentioned Tamworth and when people talk about festivals in Australia, CMC which is closer to home for you and in terms of overseas talent is the big one, but with the whole thing in Tamworth where it ties in with The Golden Guitars and Star Maker, which you were involved in the other year, how cool is it for the whole Australian country community to have that real centrepiece that brings everyone together?
“I think it's amazing and I think Tamworth is like a small drop in the ocean, because we have so many other things going on but I think, because we're all so scattered as country music artists in Australia, Tamworth is one of those places where we can all get together and see each other, which is fantastic. Then the fans that come to Tamworth, they're the kind of people that will be in Tamworth consistently every year and I think it's amazing because they buy tickets to the shows. The way that Tamworth works is there are two stages, there's the big main stage in Toyota Park and then there's a fan zone stage on the main street, which is great and that stage haslike twenty-five minutes sets per, per act, which is really cool. Then all the other venues around town are equipped for live music, so that's where artists are doing their ticketed shows and it's basically ten straight days of constant country music, which is amazing. It's obviously at the beginning of the year and I think for me, every year, I sort of work up to Tamworth to be like, okay, by Tamworth, I want to be in this position and I want to be doing this so that I can do this in October so yeah, it's an amazing thing.”
Whilst splitting her time back home between New South Wales and Queensland, Nashville also has become a regular destination where she was when we recently spoke to her during her recent recording trip which coincided with CMA Fest earlier this month and around the release of her latest single “You’ll Never Think Of Me”.
Hey, Piper, thanks for taking the time to hang this morning. If it’s any consolation, it’s probably as humid here in London today as it is in Nashville.
“Yeah, it’s really humid here too but I was meant to come over to the UK with my mum, because we have some family friends that live in Wales and we were meant to come over in March 2020.”
Yeah, I guess that worked out.
“Oh, yeah. I think it would have been amazing, you know, get some COVID and see the sights. Then my mum and dad booked to go over but it was in February this year, just as Dubai started getting shut down, so when they were in Vietnam, they had to just go back home to Australia.”
Well, hopefully music will be the way to finally make it here and there’s enough friends from down under that keep coming back and can give you some travel tips.
“I would love to and I think it's amazing because country music in the past couple of years has gone from a thing that felt like it's kind isolated to the US, Australia and Canada but it's growing, which is really amazing and means it's generating opportunities for artists to come over to travel and play shows. That really is the whole goal for us, we like playing music and we like people that want to listen, so it's great.”
I guess, firstly, what was your sort of gateway drug? What enticed you into the direction as a musical artist, that country was the way that you wanted to go?
“Well, country music was one of those things where I feel like I just fell into it because my mum used to play a lot of country music in the car, so I grew up listening to like Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton and Reba. I would just sing along in the car and I think when I was in kindergarten, my mum was driving me to school and I was absolutely going for it on Jolene and I think my mum was like, oh, I think something's there I'm just gonna put you in singing lessons to see what happens. Then it just sort of snowballed and I feel like I kept falling into circumstances that made me want to like push myself and get better. I just love it, music was one of those things I'd always loved and I grew up an only child and I didn't have many friends in school, so all I wanted to do was music and I taught myself how to play guitar at sixteen. I just kept stumbling into things and I started releasing music in 2021 after I'd gone to a festival in Tamworth where I met some people and realised, oh, I think I could do this, I think I could give it a go and in saying that very casually, this is all I've wanted to do with my life. Like, I cannot imagine myself doing anything different because there is like a catharsis that comes with being able to write songs,listening to those songs recorded and then another thing on top of it is being able to perform it. I’m in a position now where I can have my whole band and I, translate that whole entire thing that's been going on in my head on stage because I've learned how to do it and it's the best, it is better than I could have ever imagined.”
You mentioned Tamworth and when people talk about festivals in Australia, CMC which is closer to home for you and in terms of overseas talent is the big one, but with the whole thing in Tamworth where it ties in with The Golden Guitars and Star Maker, which you were involved in the other year, how cool is it for the whole Australian country community to have that real centrepiece that brings everyone together?
“I think it's amazing and I think Tamworth is like a small drop in the ocean, because we have so many other things going on but I think, because we're all so scattered as country music artists in Australia, Tamworth is one of those places where we can all get together and see each other, which is fantastic. Then the fans that come to Tamworth, they're the kind of people that will be in Tamworth consistently every year and I think it's amazing because they buy tickets to the shows. The way that Tamworth works is there are two stages, there's the big main stage in Toyota Park and then there's a fan zone stage on the main street, which is great and that stage haslike twenty-five minutes sets per, per act, which is really cool. Then all the other venues around town are equipped for live music, so that's where artists are doing their ticketed shows and it's basically ten straight days of constant country music, which is amazing. It's obviously at the beginning of the year and I think for me, every year, I sort of work up to Tamworth to be like, okay, by Tamworth, I want to be in this position and I want to be doing this so that I can do this in October so yeah, it's an amazing thing.”
You're now up in Queensland aren’t you, but you're not originally from the Brisbane sort of area, you grew up in New South Wales right?
“Yeah, so I split my time between Queensland and New South Wales, then at the moment, I'm in Nashville and I'm only in Nashville for a couple of weeks because I'm recording and I'm just getting some bits and pieces together for the rest of the year. I grew up in New South Wales and I still spend a lot of time in New South Wales but I also spend a lot of time in Queensland so I'm kind of like a yo-yo, just like going back and forth because it's a fifty minute flight.”
Talking about being in Nashville and you recording there, the two songs you put out this year were both things that you recorded there as well. When was the writing and recording trip that those songs came out of, were they quite early last year or they both fairly recent as well?
“Quite recent, actually. Like most other artists, I have a bunch of songs in the bank and it's just like trying to pick the right ones to put out then when I was in town in September last year and I originally was only going to write but a friend of ours, Michael, who is my producer now, said you've been you've been back and forth, you've been writing songs, so why don't you just record? I was like, I don't know, am I ready? Because I started off in a very alternative country sort of space, then put out twosingles that were a little bit more pop and “HEARTBRAKES” which was two singles ago was still a little bit more pop so, I was like, no, I think there's still a little bit more work to do. Then, my partner Jack, who also co-wrote on these two, we were both just like, you know what? Maybe we're just actually ready, maybe we just need to give it a go and I'm so glad that we did. What came out of like those recording sessions, which really only goes two songs, which was “Whiskey Talkin’” and “You'll Never Hear From Me” but I've never felt more myself, like, recorded. Recording is always, for me personally, very nerve-wracking and I know what I want, but sometimes you don't know if that's going to work until it's done.”
Talking about “You'll Never Hear From Me” which is the one that came out last week, you said that Michael Flanders is the guy that you’re working with as your producer then you co-wrote that with Jack and with Lynn. Where did the whole idea behind that come from and how was that one born?
“Oh, strap in, this is a really funny story and this is the first time that I'm actually getting to tell it because you're my first interview for this song so you’re getting the unfiltered version, by the way because I feel that you Brits will like it. A couple of years ago. I was with a guy who hated that I did music and I I was 21, I was still very green to what I was doing, as you are when you're 21 years oldbut when we broke up, it was at my parents thirtiethwedding anniversary party. Then as you do, you end up out on the street where he ends up yelling at you, you end up yelling at him and that was burned into my brain because that was the first time I'd broken up with someone. It was basically, you know when you watch a movie and you're like, oh my god and your skin is crawling for someone because it's just like mortifying,that's what that sort of was like. Then fast forward to a couple years later, I still doing music and doing better at music. I'd done Star Maker and all that kind of stuff, but I'm still a very little fish at this point and I still am, but I was doing a festival around the Hunter Valley, which is around where my parents live and also around where this guy lived and they were running TV ads for it. The booking agency decided to select, potentially, the most risqué little video to put in this TV ad of me, which was the “HEARTBRAKES” music video in which I am wearing a corset kneeling in dirt. In practice, you don't really feel attractive doing that because you're worried a spider's going to bite you, but in in the shot, you're like, wow, I’ve never looked better.
“Yeah, so I split my time between Queensland and New South Wales, then at the moment, I'm in Nashville and I'm only in Nashville for a couple of weeks because I'm recording and I'm just getting some bits and pieces together for the rest of the year. I grew up in New South Wales and I still spend a lot of time in New South Wales but I also spend a lot of time in Queensland so I'm kind of like a yo-yo, just like going back and forth because it's a fifty minute flight.”
Talking about being in Nashville and you recording there, the two songs you put out this year were both things that you recorded there as well. When was the writing and recording trip that those songs came out of, were they quite early last year or they both fairly recent as well?
“Quite recent, actually. Like most other artists, I have a bunch of songs in the bank and it's just like trying to pick the right ones to put out then when I was in town in September last year and I originally was only going to write but a friend of ours, Michael, who is my producer now, said you've been you've been back and forth, you've been writing songs, so why don't you just record? I was like, I don't know, am I ready? Because I started off in a very alternative country sort of space, then put out twosingles that were a little bit more pop and “HEARTBRAKES” which was two singles ago was still a little bit more pop so, I was like, no, I think there's still a little bit more work to do. Then, my partner Jack, who also co-wrote on these two, we were both just like, you know what? Maybe we're just actually ready, maybe we just need to give it a go and I'm so glad that we did. What came out of like those recording sessions, which really only goes two songs, which was “Whiskey Talkin’” and “You'll Never Hear From Me” but I've never felt more myself, like, recorded. Recording is always, for me personally, very nerve-wracking and I know what I want, but sometimes you don't know if that's going to work until it's done.”
Talking about “You'll Never Hear From Me” which is the one that came out last week, you said that Michael Flanders is the guy that you’re working with as your producer then you co-wrote that with Jack and with Lynn. Where did the whole idea behind that come from and how was that one born?
“Oh, strap in, this is a really funny story and this is the first time that I'm actually getting to tell it because you're my first interview for this song so you’re getting the unfiltered version, by the way because I feel that you Brits will like it. A couple of years ago. I was with a guy who hated that I did music and I I was 21, I was still very green to what I was doing, as you are when you're 21 years oldbut when we broke up, it was at my parents thirtiethwedding anniversary party. Then as you do, you end up out on the street where he ends up yelling at you, you end up yelling at him and that was burned into my brain because that was the first time I'd broken up with someone. It was basically, you know when you watch a movie and you're like, oh my god and your skin is crawling for someone because it's just like mortifying,that's what that sort of was like. Then fast forward to a couple years later, I still doing music and doing better at music. I'd done Star Maker and all that kind of stuff, but I'm still a very little fish at this point and I still am, but I was doing a festival around the Hunter Valley, which is around where my parents live and also around where this guy lived and they were running TV ads for it. The booking agency decided to select, potentially, the most risqué little video to put in this TV ad of me, which was the “HEARTBRAKES” music video in which I am wearing a corset kneeling in dirt. In practice, you don't really feel attractive doing that because you're worried a spider's going to bite you, but in in the shot, you're like, wow, I’ve never looked better.
Then you realise that his entire family would be watching the news at seven PM and this ad would just keep flashing up, so I was like, he's never getting rid of me, is he? I've personally never heard back from him and I've never like reached out to talk to him, but it's like, that whole concept of when people are gone and they're meant to be gone, you're never going to hear from them again and that's the case for me, but not for him. I remember going in to write this song with Jack and with Lynn, which was the firstsong I'd ever written with Lynn in the room and I absolutely love writing with Lynn Wilbanks. She is the kindest, so easy going and she just adapted to the idea so well because it was my first American co-write, so I'm like, oh my god, she's very ladylike, she's very southern and what if the idea doesn't land? Prior to that, I was like watching Stevie Nicks perform “Silver Springs” with that video where she's like staring daggers into him and that whole amalgamation of that situation is just how we wrote “You'll Never Hear From Me”. A sign of a good co-write is not quite remembering how it happened in the room but walking out of it and going, oh my god, this could be something. We were playing the song at shows long before we recorded it and people liked it, so I had a feeling that it was going to land okay recorded and I couldn't be prouder of it.”
Can I just say that when you said about being knelt in the dirt and you were conscious about spiders, that's one of the mostAustralian things I've ever heard.
“Ha-ha. Look, I'm Australian, you can hear it in my voiceand the way that I speak.”
It's like one of those, how do you know someone's an Aussie without knowing there an Aussie is the fact that you’reconscious of spiders, because no other country has so many things that can bite or kill you.
“Oh, one hundred percent and I’m afraid of them all! I am not built for the country where I am from. I got bitten by a Redback spider when I was four, I was in Rockhampton and I was doing something my mum told me not to do, we were staying in a hotel and I was like climbing on top of a little waterfall and diving off. I got bitten on the toe and it was like eighteen hours in hospital, so never again. I did listen to my mum from then on out, but I'm scared of all that stuff. I can't do snakes, can't do reptiles or If there's a cockroach in the house, I have to call Jack to come and get rid of it because I'm not going anywhere there near it.”
Anyway, while you're while you're in Nashville, luckily their isn’t as much to worry about in terms of the wildlife, but you said you're recording again and we've had the two singles this year already, so are we looking to get some more songs and be building towards something a little bit more extended for later in the year?
“Absolutely, I can't talk too much about it, but yes, I am very, very, very excited. I feel so much like myself in the music that I'm making at the moment and I have never gotten over anything in my life, so at the moment, we're just sifting through a bunch of songs that I've written, because sometimes, in my mind, it's better to laugh about it than cry. That's starting to shine through in some of the songs ha-ha. Sometimes t's like, oh god, we need to adjust some lyrics there, that is potentially a little too honest.”
How much longer are you out in town for and how long have you been over in the States?
“I've got a week left, so all in all we will have been in town for about three and a half weeks.”
Oh, so you tied it in with CMA Fest too.
“Yeah, I was at CMA and it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing but very warm and like e a different kind of heat than at home. It was dry and wet at the same time, you know the humidity is suffocating and I thought being Australian, I'd be equipped but nope. I went in 2024 as well, but I think with the two-year gap, you forget what the heat is like and after CMA Fest, we came back to Nashville in the February, then we were in town in September and now we're here again.”
You’ll have seen it change so much over those two years. Some things sadly don’t change, like the traffic is still shit, Uber’s are still ridiculously expensive and Broadway is complete chaos so, you understand why the locals try to avoid it. CMA, I’ve done it twice and it’s great fun but you're right, it's too hot and also to pay twenty dollars or whatever it is for a can of beer in the stadium, is disgusting!
“Oh, yeah, don't even get us started. Since our first trip, we've started like hiring cars. I won't drive because it’s the other side of the car, other side of the road and their road rules are more like vague suggestions. We'll go to Broadway, but we'll really only go from Monday to Wednesday, those are the good days and even if you try and buy a drink on Broadway, it's either horrendously overpoured or horrendously expensive. Although I feel like it's the whole vibe about it of being able to actually go and see that much live music every night and there are other places in East Nashville that you find incredible bands. I think it's the overall vibe around here, you can't quite put your finger on it but it's like that sense of community. People will be like, oh, what do you do and you like, oh, I make music, then they're like, cool, me too,let's hang out. It's so easy to make friends over here and I think, for me personally, if I meet someone, I just want to be their friend. That's very much how I've just like lived my life and I love Nashville for that because I feel like I fit in and growing up as a songwriter and being a musician, you don't really feel that way until you find artists and friends in the industry. CMA Fest is amazing because you get to see an amazing calibre of country music and you get to meet some amazing industry people but you get to see how the fans react to the music. I think for me, when I go and see live music, of course I’m watching the artist and having the best time ever, but I'm also looking at the crowd because class is basically in session, so you need to have a look and you need to see how people react because it's so easy to get hung up on the industry end of it. You don't want to forget that it's about country music fans having fun and if you're lucky enough to be in a situation where you're playing your music at that level, you want to do a good job.”
Well, fingers crossed, like we were saying at the start, it’s not too long before you can join that list of Aussies heading to Europe and come to play for us.
“I’m Absolutely trying and I would love to. I think my goal for the next year and a bit is that I want to start playing internationally. I love playing music and I think in the past couple of months, the door is starting to really open for me, which is really exciting. I'm really excited to see where things are going to be at the end of the year or even by the end of October, so it's really, really exciting.”
The new single “You’ll Never Think Of Me” from Piper Rodrigues is out now and available HERE. You can learn more about Piper on her WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that she is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
Can I just say that when you said about being knelt in the dirt and you were conscious about spiders, that's one of the mostAustralian things I've ever heard.
“Ha-ha. Look, I'm Australian, you can hear it in my voiceand the way that I speak.”
It's like one of those, how do you know someone's an Aussie without knowing there an Aussie is the fact that you’reconscious of spiders, because no other country has so many things that can bite or kill you.
“Oh, one hundred percent and I’m afraid of them all! I am not built for the country where I am from. I got bitten by a Redback spider when I was four, I was in Rockhampton and I was doing something my mum told me not to do, we were staying in a hotel and I was like climbing on top of a little waterfall and diving off. I got bitten on the toe and it was like eighteen hours in hospital, so never again. I did listen to my mum from then on out, but I'm scared of all that stuff. I can't do snakes, can't do reptiles or If there's a cockroach in the house, I have to call Jack to come and get rid of it because I'm not going anywhere there near it.”
Anyway, while you're while you're in Nashville, luckily their isn’t as much to worry about in terms of the wildlife, but you said you're recording again and we've had the two singles this year already, so are we looking to get some more songs and be building towards something a little bit more extended for later in the year?
“Absolutely, I can't talk too much about it, but yes, I am very, very, very excited. I feel so much like myself in the music that I'm making at the moment and I have never gotten over anything in my life, so at the moment, we're just sifting through a bunch of songs that I've written, because sometimes, in my mind, it's better to laugh about it than cry. That's starting to shine through in some of the songs ha-ha. Sometimes t's like, oh god, we need to adjust some lyrics there, that is potentially a little too honest.”
How much longer are you out in town for and how long have you been over in the States?
“I've got a week left, so all in all we will have been in town for about three and a half weeks.”
Oh, so you tied it in with CMA Fest too.
“Yeah, I was at CMA and it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing but very warm and like e a different kind of heat than at home. It was dry and wet at the same time, you know the humidity is suffocating and I thought being Australian, I'd be equipped but nope. I went in 2024 as well, but I think with the two-year gap, you forget what the heat is like and after CMA Fest, we came back to Nashville in the February, then we were in town in September and now we're here again.”
You’ll have seen it change so much over those two years. Some things sadly don’t change, like the traffic is still shit, Uber’s are still ridiculously expensive and Broadway is complete chaos so, you understand why the locals try to avoid it. CMA, I’ve done it twice and it’s great fun but you're right, it's too hot and also to pay twenty dollars or whatever it is for a can of beer in the stadium, is disgusting!
“Oh, yeah, don't even get us started. Since our first trip, we've started like hiring cars. I won't drive because it’s the other side of the car, other side of the road and their road rules are more like vague suggestions. We'll go to Broadway, but we'll really only go from Monday to Wednesday, those are the good days and even if you try and buy a drink on Broadway, it's either horrendously overpoured or horrendously expensive. Although I feel like it's the whole vibe about it of being able to actually go and see that much live music every night and there are other places in East Nashville that you find incredible bands. I think it's the overall vibe around here, you can't quite put your finger on it but it's like that sense of community. People will be like, oh, what do you do and you like, oh, I make music, then they're like, cool, me too,let's hang out. It's so easy to make friends over here and I think, for me personally, if I meet someone, I just want to be their friend. That's very much how I've just like lived my life and I love Nashville for that because I feel like I fit in and growing up as a songwriter and being a musician, you don't really feel that way until you find artists and friends in the industry. CMA Fest is amazing because you get to see an amazing calibre of country music and you get to meet some amazing industry people but you get to see how the fans react to the music. I think for me, when I go and see live music, of course I’m watching the artist and having the best time ever, but I'm also looking at the crowd because class is basically in session, so you need to have a look and you need to see how people react because it's so easy to get hung up on the industry end of it. You don't want to forget that it's about country music fans having fun and if you're lucky enough to be in a situation where you're playing your music at that level, you want to do a good job.”
Well, fingers crossed, like we were saying at the start, it’s not too long before you can join that list of Aussies heading to Europe and come to play for us.
“I’m Absolutely trying and I would love to. I think my goal for the next year and a bit is that I want to start playing internationally. I love playing music and I think in the past couple of months, the door is starting to really open for me, which is really exciting. I'm really excited to see where things are going to be at the end of the year or even by the end of October, so it's really, really exciting.”
The new single “You’ll Never Think Of Me” from Piper Rodrigues is out now and available HERE. You can learn more about Piper on her WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that she is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.