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Dec 01, 2024 By Frank Valish

Kasey Chambers has been making affecting country-folk music out of Australia since her 2000 debut album, The Captain, and the remarkable song that gave that album its title. Over her 20-plus year career, Chambers has remained remarkably consistent and consistently remarkable, through 13 albums, from her early career highlight Barricades & Brickwalls to her most recent Backbone, which accompanies her new memoir.

Just Don’t Be a Dickhead, subtitled “And Other Profound Things I’ve Learnt,” finds Chambers recalling not only her history from a fascinating childhood growing up in the outback of Australia but also the lessons she learned along the way. In conversational prose that brings the reader into her life and allows for almost immediate connection to the subject, Chambers brings her story to life. Most interesting are the tales of her youth traversing the continent with her fox-hunter father and mother to joining the family band with her parents and brother, which eventually led to her own songwriting career.

Through it all, Chambers is honest, open, and self-reflective, always balancing fame with a humble nature and grounded family life, all which has bled into the songs she’s written over the past two decades. You’ll finish Just Don’t Be a Dickhead in awe of Chambers and appreciative of her story, looking forward to more wonderful years of songwriting ahead. (www.kaseychambers.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10