Podcast: Jayne Denham talks about her latest country music album Wanted

It was March 2020 and the sought-after country rock performer was stuck at home, sitting on her lounge.

"So I thought, 'OK, what am I going to do now?' I knew my new album was going to be called Wanted, so I had the title and I kind of knew the vibe, what I was going to do," Denham said.

Stuck in lockdown, she wrote the first title track of the album, which has a "country-meets-Western-meets-gunfighter sort of theme".

Unable to record the song in person in Nashville with producer Brian White, she set about organising the recording in NSW, with the whole-band track produced thousands of miles away.

The resulting album was finally released in August.

Aside from her country music fame here and abroad, performing alongside the likes of Keith Urban, Denham is known for her trucking songs.

That work has earned her a position as an Ambassador for Women In Trucking in the US and led to invitations to perform at some of the biggest truck shows in the world.

"My single Black Coffee and White Lines was released at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, in August 2019, and the video was filmed in Alaska," she says with some pride.

Back in Australia, Denham's latest single, Better Settle Up, is racing up the radio charts and has already reached No.1 on the Tamworth 2TM chart in the home of Australian country music.

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Her career in country music started when Denham, aged just 14, formed an all-girl band at her school.

Her first album, Sudden Change in Weather, was released in 2007. The following year, she was named Best Rising Star at the country music awards.

Denham had been on the bill for this year's Tamworth Country Music Festival, until it was postponed due to surging coronavirus cases. The festival has been rescheduled for April 18-24.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic Tamworth Country Music Festival, ACM (publisher of this website) created a new podcast, Celebrating Aussie Country.

The podcast was recorded and released before the recent surge in coronavirus cases that forced the festival's postponement. We are sure you'll still enjoy the interviews and the music. Just bear in mind any references to performance dates are no longer current.

In the 10-part series, available only on Spotify, you'll hear from established and emerging artists and their music.

To listen, you'll need to download the Spotify app on to your mobile phone and search for Celebrating Aussie Country. If you already have Spotify - and you're reading this story on your mobile - click on the banner below and your phone will take you direct to the podcast.

Each podcast episode includes an interview with the artist and some of their music. People with free Spotify subscriptions will hear a 30-second snippet of the song, while those with premium Spotify subscriptions can enjoy the full version.