Lady Valiant

Hey friends, we trust you're all keeping well!  We've just hit the United States again... for a month!  Needless to say, a very well deserved month off. 

Since we got back from our 4 month tour at the start of April we went straight back into gigs in a big way, we've spent the last 6 months cranking out our tunes around Far North Queensland as well as attend and play at some proper inspiration inducing Festivals.  As for now, we're back in Georgia for two weeks then we head up to Seattle and Canada for another two.  No doubt the time will fly so we intend of stuffing in as much fun as we can including catching a few of our favourite bands (one was supposed to be Metallica!)  With no tour planned for this Summer we've allowed ourselves plenty of free time over the wet season to concentrate on our new songs that have since remained unfinished over 2019.  We have some pretty cool production ideas this time around and some great new riffage, exciting stuff! 

Which brings us to our next topic:

Lineup addition!  We're happy to say that we will now have Stacey Brown, fiddle fiend, and family member joining us for our Festival shows, weaving some savage fiddle through the Lady Valiant sound on the big stages.  We also have a couple more announcements of 2020 news that we can't let out of the bag just yet, but it won't be long.  There's good things coming!  As you know, change is as good as a holiday so we decided to try something that not many are doing.  Holiday is also as good as a holiday so I'm going to get back to mine!  Until then, Cheers from LV!  

Hi friends!  As usual, its been a long time between blogs.  We've been back home in the warm arms of the Far North now for 6 weeks after our three month Backroads Tour down to Tasmania and back.  We realised we hadn't sent out a huge thankyou to all the people who looked after us on the road.  The generosity we come across always blows us away.  You all know who you are.  We met some gret new friends and caught up with a lot of old ones as well which was way overdue.  Our tour took us slowly down the East Coast to Victoria, across Mount Kosziousko down in Tassie for a month and then back to the mainland.  We caught Port Fairy Folk Fest and Yack Folk Fest along the way, both exceptional festivals for anyone who hasn't checked them out! The tour took us to some beautiful little places which we definately plan to return to from regional Victoria, the stunning NSW Central Coast and tiny remote country towns of Tasmania.  The new album sold well on the tour and we've had some great feedback along the way with the album also making it to number 15 on the Australian Blues & Roots Charts.  We would like thank all the radio stations around the country that have made that possible by spinning our tunes on their stations, you guys are awesome! Another thankyou to all the overseas Stations also giving us airtime!

So far 2019 has proved to be pretty busy, we're trying to grab any free time we can to work on some new songs and get the framework of a new album started. We're looking forward to the Black Mountain Picnic Festival in June and Mitchell Creek Blues in September this year, our two main festivals before we head back to the States in October some time off and family visits.  No plans to tour this year, it will be a year of 'trying' to enjoy the wet season and putting time into our music while we have the chance over the quiet period.  Keep an eye on our social pages for any updates and news friends! Much love LV

Hi friends,  Its been a while since we last posted.  2018 has been a busy year indeed for Lady Valiant.  We've travelled across the country to play at some excellent festivals, cranked out over 150 gigs, met new friends, recorded our first album, and have now hit the road on a three month, 30 date tour to Tasmania and back to promote the new album.  

It's been an awesome journey over the past 3 years since LV formed and we are eternally grateful that we are able to do this as a full time job.   Travelling the world, playing music, immersing ourselves in our surroundings and meeting some amazing characters along the way.  What a life!  

The majority of songs on the album were written from inspiration from our trip through the Deep South U.S in 2017.  It took us a while to sort through the lyric books and see what we could come up with but we finally got there!  There's seven original songs and one cover that we just had to add, a version of Blind Willie Johnson's 1930 gospel song 'John The Revelator' which we had a lot of fun recording.  You might even find a little hidden suprise at the end of the CD, hit us with a message sometime if you'd like to hear the story behind it!  We also need to do a big shout out of love to everyone who helped us achieve this goal and make the album happen, you all know who you are.

So as mentioned above, the album will go on sale through our store this Boxing Day and should be streamable on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Play, Shazam, Pandora and a host of overs.  We will put up a combo package soon if you'd like a Lady Valiant tote bag with your CD as well.  You can purchase all this through the store section of the website but you will need a Paypal account to buy.  If you buy anything online you should have one by now for safe, secure shopping. 

We are on the road from December until April 2019 with gigs all the way down the coast and around Tasmania so head across to the shows section and hopefully we can share at a beer or two with you at one of our shows!  We've already made a start with songs and ideas for a new album so the fun continues! 

We can't thank you enough for all your support and love for what we do, you all rock!!!  See you in 2019!  Much love, LV

Hi friends, 

Some good news that we just can't keep a lid on any longer!  We will be supporting Ash at The Edge Hill Tavern in Cairns on his most recent tour of Australia.  Grab yourselves some tickets from either our website in the events section or Ash's website in the tour section, the Tavern will also be selling tickets.  Tickets are around $30 and the show starts at 8pm.  Come and rock the party with us, its going to be awesome!  Hope to see you there!  LV

Hi friends, its been a while since our last post.  Time has a habit of steaming away from us at no less than light speed so please excuse the tardiness of our updates of the goings on in the world of Lady Valiant.  We have a couple of pretty cool announcements that we are excited about.  First of all we have been accepted in the 2018 lineup of the 21st Yackandandah Folk Festival.  Awesome firstly because its not the easiest Festival to be granted entry into and secondly because its Marty's home town so we're heading back to play on home turf after quite a few years worth of applications and years interstate.   Pretty sure it will be quite huge considering its the 21st anniversary, the lineup is already outstanding.   Secondly we have been included in the lineup for the Australian Commonwealth Games Festival.  Cairns will be hosting the basketball segment of the games and will be setting up plenty of other events over the games.  We have a 7:00pm slot on the 7th April, main stage on the Esplanade, well worth a look!  

Aside form this, we realize we have been raving on about the release of our debut original album for at least a year and with the recent news we have decided to nail down a deadline and finish our stagnant songs to align our album release with the Yack Festival.  The pressure is now resting squarely on our foreheads and was perhaps the perfect incentive to kick our arses back into gear.  We hope if not to see you at the Yack Folk Fest to be able to expose you to our new music inspired by our epic travels into the Deep South of the U.S.A, the birth place of the blues and the inspiration behind so many of our songs.  As you know we usually play as a duo...the album however will be a far bigger and more sinister monster.   Stay tuned...  we look forward to sharing it with you all!

Well, it's been some time since our last blog.  These things happen when you're having too much fun.  So far we've been in the US around 5 weeks, covered thousands of kilometers and had a great time with our party of 6.  We landed in LA and left immediately to head to New Orleans for 5 days.  To call it a hardcore party town is almost laughable.  We all agreed that 'Norlins' is actually alive in itself, it even wakes up hungover!  We had a great time, caught some great music, went on a steam boat on the Mississippi, checked out BB Kings Blues Club, got flooded into a bar by some furious Southern rain and all in all, got into the thick of the action, having said that we were all more than ready to leave after a few days.  Make no mistake, New Orleans won't take it easy on you in any way.

After leaving Norlins we picked up a couple of hire cars, to head up to Columbus Georgia, to regroup our minds and bodies...and also to wash some clothes along with our souls.  A few days rest and we were off again on our big road trip.  Starting with beautiful Savannah where we walked the Spanish Moss lined streets and took in the sites.  Next was onto Charleston South Carolina (now basically underwater from Hurricane Irma) then onto The Great Smoky Mountains for a week for the solar eclipse.  The Appalachian mountains are something special, it was nice to be able to relax in the forest away from the chaos...finally.  The eclipse was nothing short of spectacular as usual.

From leaving the mountains we headed West and the 2 teams parted ways temporarily.  One headed to Nashville to take in the Johnny Cash Museums and memorabilia, the others straight onto Memphis via Muscle Shoals famous recording studio.  We had only intended on walking into get some souvenirs but after asking about rates we found ourselves on a free guided tour through studio A & B where legends like Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Etta James and The Staples Singers have all recorded.  It was a next level experience for music geeks like ourselves.

Onto Memphis to meet the rest of the crew and basically straight down into Beale Street.  This is about where the Blues starts to get involved in our journey.  We had heard of a little place called Rum Boogie Cafe down on Beale and when we checked it out we werent dissapointed.  Raggy, half delapidated decor, the type that you can't design.  Only age and time can create that look.  It was what we'd hoped for, some authentic blues in just the right surroundings.

We caught a tour of Sun Studios and we're throroughly impressed.  Elvis' Shure 55 mic that he recorded in is still there, you can touch it, get photos with it along with U2's drumkit from the Rattle & Hum recordings.  Another humbling experience as you stand where some of the legends have stood and recorded.

After another few days it was time to head deep into the Delta to Clarkesdale Mississippi, home of the Blues.  By chance it was a Sunday when we drove out of Memphis and we had heard that from time to time Bishop Al Green does services at a Gospel Tabernacle Church on the outskirts of town.  We were in luck, and what an experience it was.  Just as you would imagine from watching Sister Act all those years ago.  Straight down Highway 61 and we had hit the legendary crossroads where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in return for guitar mastery.  Here we found Red's Juke Joint, one of the last real Juke Joints in the country, cheap beers and real blues.  The Delta Blues Museum is also worth a look.  The lyric book is getting a serious workout,  this plays literally breathes the Blues.  Its easy to see how so much inspiration is forged in this tiny Southern town.  Amazing.

The next few weeks involved, playing some tunes at a real Southern Thow Down party, shooting fireworks, handguns, shotguns, travelling North to New England to play some more music for a large outdoor party for some lovely Vermonters and finally ending up where I sit now at the table of an amazing house on a lake in New Hampshire.  Our gig at Radio Bean in Burlington was great, the venue is spectacular and the people we're as awesome as usual!  We now finally have a few days to gather ourselves and catch up on things like blogs and the quickly approaching real world that we return to too soon as usual.  Its been an adventure so far and there's still more to come.  We will try and get some words down again before we leave the US and head back to Far North Queensland.  The foliage is changing in New England, the sun is shining and there is a canoe outside waiting for us so thats enough typing for now.  Take care you lot!  

Hello again friends and fellow music fiends!  Its that time of year again...late November.  Like it is every year, and we're starting to wrap up 2016.  What a year it's been for Lady Valiant, we've done upwards of a hundred gigs so far this year and we still have December to rip through which is always a busy time for us.  As we mentioned in a previous blog we won't be doing the usual Southern summer tour this year but decided to have some down time, focus on writing, enjoy the glorious wet season of the North and even squeeze in a small holiday to Western Australia. Its been an awesome year for us in so many ways, we've met so many new friends, fans, and fellow musicians that our heads are still spinning!  We can't wait to catch up with you all down South when we tour at the end of 2017 which will coincide with our debut album launch.  We will also be hitting U.S shores again on an epic Blues trail experience and back to where Lady Valiant was founded.  

On a final note, we'd like to thank everyone who voted for us in the Douglas Shire Business Awards, we truly appreciate that you dig our sound and vibe, it means the world to us so much love to you guys!!!  We came Runner Up behind folk demons 'The Kroovs' and after only 8 months together as a duo we were humbled to even make the finalists.  We've got some awesome plans for 2017 and plan to kick it directly in the dick from the get go, take care friends!

ROCK ON!