Ellie Parnell

Metal, marimbas, vampires and EDM: ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me as you’ve never heard it before, with producer Paul Mac and composer Alice Chance. This is the first episode of Cover Story, a new series from The Music Show in which Andy and his guests take songs of the popular music canon and examine their cover versions, for better, worse, and weirder.  Music details: Lay All Your Love On Me Composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus Originally recorded by ABBA for the album Super Trouper (1980) on Atlantic Records Covers by: Erasure Brian David Gilbert Bentley Robles Amberian Dawn Pale Honey Siv Jakobsen Caroline Shaw & So Percussion Paul Mac’s Tekno Train: The Album is out now.  German vocal ensemble Sjaella perform works by Alice Chance in July: Hobart Festival of Voices 1/7/25, 2/7/25 Ballina 6/7/25 Brisbane - QPAC 10/7/25 Sydney - Utzon Room 13/7/25 Adelaide - Ukaria 19/7/25, 20/7/25 Canberra 23/7/25 Melbourne Recital Centre 25/7/25 The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra

Harnessing looping pedals, percussion and vocal manipulation, Tune-Yards make a very big sound for a core membership of two people. It's been ten years since the experimental pop project released their third album Nikki Nack and creepy hit Water Fountain. Songwriter and singer Merrill Garbus is on The Music Show to talk about the duo's complex rhythms, vocal athleticism, and how to play with words. Omar Musa is an author, artist, poet, and woodcutter making music and art from Borneo to Brooklyn. His third album. The Fullness, touches on the environment, culture, religious identity, and mortality. He creates poetry from a spoken-word background, melding hip-hop, jazz, and electronic sounds with earnest lyricism. 

At 13 years old Janis Ian wrote one of the most iconic American songs of 1960s, Society's Child. Ten years later At Seventeen spoke to millions of women and girls around the world and made her even more of a household name. Janis' extraordinary life is told in a new documentary by filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar, who follows the highs (GRAMMY awards, multi-platinum albums) as well as the lows (homophobia, misogyny and heartbreak) that follow Janis throughout her career. The director is on to celebrate this living songwriting legend. And we hear Janis Ian from The Music Show archives: in 1994 following the release of her album 'Breaking Silence', and in 2005 in front of an adoring crowd at Port Fairy Folk Festival.  Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is screening as part of the Jewish International Film Festival which is currently on in Perth, WA.

JADE Ensemble are four Brisbane-based musicians who compose and improvise across musical styles: Wakka Wakka man and didgeridoo player David Williams, Japanese koto master Takako Haggarty, Nepalese tabla virtuoso Dheeraj Shrestha and guitarist/composer Anthony Garcia. Anthony and Takako join Andrew ahead of a performance at Brisbane Powerhouse next week to share how each member contributes equally to the group’s unique sound world while retaining their strong cultural identities. Dharug composer Christopher Sainsbury has been writing guitar music that’s been played by guitarist Ken Murray for the best part of twenty years. Both are on The Music Show to talk about the endless possibilities of the instrument, how place can seep through in music, and the joys of bringing in other collaborators like soprano Merinda Dias-Jayasinha. 

Bill Bailey is best known for his stand-up comedy, but one of his first public performances was a Mozart piano concerto, with his own cadenza, in his hometown of Bath. He joins Andy to explain what Mozart has in common with dancing on television, how timing is crucial to both comedy and music, and making sure there’s enough affection in his musical parodies. Modern troubadour Darren Hanlon has performed in hundreds of halls and pubs around Australia, and is on a mission to visit at least one new town per tour. His observational songwriting, sharp wit and catchy melodies earn him fans everywhere he goes.  Darren is on The Music Show to reflect on a life on the road and talk about making his latest album Life Tax in an old church hall (he was able to record when the hall wasn’t being used for swing dance or yoga classes).

How The Saints and Radio Birdman paved the way for punk and independent music in Australia.

Australian music icon and proud Torres Strait Islander Christine Anu has just released her first album of new music in 20 years. Waku-Minaral A Minalay was recorded across the Pacific in places like New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands and the Solomon Islands - utilising traditional percussion instruments like the Warup (drums), the Urub (shakers) and the Kulap (seed pot rattles). It’s a deeply personal bilingual album which includes songs written by Christine Anu, her grandfather and her daughter.  British countertenor Iestyn Davies is about to make his Australian debut singing music by JS Bach and Arvo Pärt alongside the Australian Chamber Orchestra and dancers from Sydney Dance Company. He speaks to Andrew Ford about what links these two composers (born nearly three centuries apart) and the changing attitudes, and repertoire, for high male voices. Christine Anu performs at the Mt Isa Rodeo on 8 August, at Cairns Festival on 23 August and at North Australian Festival of Arts on

In 1961, the first elected leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated just months after the country’s newfound independence. Unbeknownst to themselves, US jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzie Gillespie, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln played an unlikely role in his death. Belgian director Johan Grimonprez joins us on The Music Show to explain the bizarre link between jazz and the CIA involvement in this Congolese coup, detailed in his new documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, playing as part of Melbourne International Film Festival.  Sinking Cities is a new work from jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger Rafael Karlen. It laments the 2019 flooding of 12,000-year old Türkish city Hasankeyf (one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) to make way for a controversial dam. Karlen, who has never been to Türkiye, explains to Andrew Ford why this issue inspired him to write a large-scale piece of music for string orchestra, choir and saxophone.

Andrew Gurruwiwi leads the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band in what they call 'Yolŋu funk', a mix between reggae, heavy metal, and funk in language from across the region. Andrew tells us about his music-making, his career as a radio presenter, and explains the stories behind some of the tracks on the band's dynamic debut album, Sing Your Own Song. "He basically invents the rules of jazz. He shows you 'this is how to play a solo, this is how to sing, this is how to phrase, this is how to tell a story, this is how to swing. Ok, this is jazz. And now I'm going to break all those rules.'" - Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong Towards the end of the 1960s Louis Armstrong's performances were hit-and-miss. Plagued by health issues and pushing 70, the veteran entertainer was determined to keep playing, singing and touring, despite calls from his doctors to slow down. But in 1968, with a burst of vitality, he performed for BBC TV with hits spanning his remarkable five decades in music. This included What A Wonderful World, a

First Nations listeners are advised that this program contains the names and voices of people who have died. At the start of NAIDOC Week, The Music Show explores the legacy of the late Ruby Hunter – short in stature, a giant in music, and a mentor and parental figure to so many First Nations musicians in subsequent generations. We’ll hear Ruby from the archives, and catch up with Emily Wurramara and Dan Sultan, both of whom have sung a tribute to Ruby Hunter alongside their fantastic new albums. Dan Sultan reunites with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra  to perform 12 & 13 July, before playing Yabaardu in Ceduna SA on 19 July. Emily Wurramara is performing at Live in the Gardens on 13 November. Music in this program Title: Kurongk Boy, Kurongk Girl Artist: Ruby Hunter Album: Thoughts Within Label: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2 Title: Proud, Proud Women Artist: Ruby Hunter Album: Thoughts Within Label: Mushroom – MUSH32309.2 Title: Midnight Blues Artist: Emily Wurramara Composer: Bed Edgar,