Mark Tempany and Alison Hams look for the good in the bad, with their brand new single, ‘Lullaby’.
Many country music fans might ask what happened to singer songwriters Mark Tempany and Alison Hams over the last 15 years or so?
Back in 2008, the duo had successfully blended their highly successful independent solo careers, they were performing all over Australia and New Zealand, and they’d recently completed a much talked about national tour supporting UK star, Charlie Landsborough.
Then the music seemed to stop, and unless you kept in touch, you won’t know just what a journey it’s been.
Remarkably Mark and Alison have returned in 2023 with a brand new self-produced original album titled ‘Out Into The Blue’ (their last commercial solo albums broke in 2004).
“We have smiled a little that people might think we’re ‘doing an ABBA’ in this seeming comeback” said Mark. “But in reality, we’ve been more involved in music over the last 15 years than ever”.
The pair’s first major hurdle came in 2008 when Mark – a Type 1 Diabetic – suffered a severe night-time seizure that severely fractured his spine and left him in a four year-long recovery.
“It was a shock and an overnight game-changer,” said Alison. “It was an astonishingly tough time where we simply had to make time for Mark to recover – it really was only around 2012 he started to get back to any kind of normal”.
With Mark unable to perform or travel much, the pair focused on the growing need for their music tuition services in their relatively remote location of Whyalla on the edge of the South Australian outback.
“Our unique skillset allowed us to work at all levels to give young people access to professional music mentorship, and to share our real-world experience which is a pretty rare resource when you live in the bush” Mark said.
2021 also saw Alison inducted by the Governor of South Australia onto SA’s Women’s Honour Roll – recognising in-perpetuity her achievements in, and the community philanthropy provided through, her (and Mark’s) music.
“We never planned for our own music to take the backseat it has, but we love every minute of helping these kids, and will continue to do so. Late last year we were asked to provide online piano lessons to Port Augusta School Of The Air – it’s just amazing to be helping such an iconic Australian institution bring music to kids as far away as the NT border” Mark said.
The circuit-breaker that’s led the duo to ‘Out Into The Blue’, as for so many artists, was a global pandemic that stopped “normal” overnight.
“What’s been incredible with this album is how technology has changed the recording process. When we started out in the 1990’s, we recorded on big reels of tape, we only had our ears for reference – and computers and the internet didn’t exist!”
“Now with the NBN, we’ve been able to work with some of the best talent anywhere. Not that long ago we had to travel overseas to be in the same room, now we can easily collaborate, often in real time”.
“This time around we’ve mastered some tracks with Ted Jensen and Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound in Nashville and New York. These men are multiple Grammy-winning legends and to be able to so easily directly access their wealth of experience from the edge of the outback is hard to believe”.
Certainly the new album is an intriguing collection as it crosses genres and themes, yet it holds all the emotion, style and sounds old fans might expect.
Listening to the title track with its pulsating rhythms provided by Nashville percussionist, Kayleigh Moyer, it’s hard to conceive you’re listening to a ‘comfortably beyond 50!’ Mark, who sounds like he’s just continuing on from where he left off all those years ago.
Alison’s rich vocal tones and elegant songwriting shine on songs like ‘Broken Ground’, and her opening track ‘Finally Home’, sounds like a hit already (and being a co-write with Mark Drilling and Gina Jeffreys, it just might turn out to be!).
‘Buttercups In Springtime’ sees Mark narrating the epic story his late mum and dad’s life – and Ali’s rollicking bluegrass track ‘Closer’, features fiddle and banjo by US Hall-Of-Famers Michael Cleveland, and Scott Vestal.
“To work with these guys let alone have them both say how much fun they had working with us is surreal” Mark said.
The pair say that everything they hope still lies in their music can be found in the closing Track 13 – a reprise to the title track called ‘A Storm Is Brewing’.
“We think music exists to stir emotions, and to inspire” Mark says. “If we can take you on a journey out over that distant horizon where storms, and sunrises, and dreams really do lie then we’ve done the job we intended”.
“But you really do have to play it LOUD, so strap yourself in” adds Alison with a smile.