Golden Guitar nominee Abbie Ferris is back with ‘Bad for Business’, the lead single of her forthcoming EP and a raunchy slice of 90s country-rock.
Written in Nashville with Brian White (Jason Aldean) and Jason Sever (Luke Bryan) and recorded between Nashville and Australia with longtime producer Michael Carpenter, the sexy, hard-driving track was inspired by Abbie’s love of Brooks & Dunn’s classic hits. It was only natural that she recruited the legendary Brent Mason, whose guitar hooks and solos powered every 90s country hit from Brooks & Dunn to Alan Jackson to Shania Twain and many many more.
“I’ve been obsessed with 90s and early 00s country” says Abbie. “Early Miranda, Brooks & Dunn, that sound where the guitars are loud and rowdy and you feel the humans making it, and you want to go to the gig and hear it live. That’s the vibe I brought into the writing session with Brian and Jason and what we’ve captured on the track”.
The song is accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video shot at Sydney’s hottest honky-tonk, Jolene’s, where Thomas Rhett and Wyatt Flores recently hung out while touring Australia, and where Abbie has played a popular residency show for the past year.
The release of ‘Bad for Business’ is the kick off to another era for Abbie, with an EP set for release later in the year and a busy year of touring to come. Already in Nashville, Abbie will officially showcase at the world’s biggest country music festival CMA Fest next week, as well as performing at The Aussie BBQ and Sounds Australia’s Australia Sounds Like… event. Once back in Australia, Abbie will hit the road with Kingswood for their Midnight Mavericks tour in July, with more touring and festivals through the remainder of 2025, including Savannah in the Round.
Abbie kicked off the year with a bang – a Golden Guitar nomination into a Countrytown Awards nomination, KIX Live in the Park into CMC Rocks QLD, touring with Travis Collins and now officially showcasing at CMA Fest, a milestone reflecting how far her star has risen and her growing acceptance within the Nashville music community.
“I feel like I’ve come so far but I’ve got so many dreams still to chase”, she says. “I’m a stockman’s daughter, I come from a town of 600 people. I know how to work hard and keep my feet on the ground, but I’ve also got my head in the sky and I never want to stop trying to take all of this to the next level.”
Words of encouragement from Lainey Wilson “keep holding on to what makes you stand out” when she met the superstar after they shared the bill at CMC Rocks helped push Abbie to embrace her raucous, emotional, scrappy sound – raunchy guitars, propulsive drums, lyrics that tell her story from small-town farmgirl to traveling the world, finding strength after heartbreak and delivering it all with the smoky passion in her voice.
“I want my music to make people feel powerful, to help them heal from heartbreak, to be a woman young girls can look up to as someone making a path for themselves in a crazy world,” she says. “I want the energy I feel from the crowd when I’m up there on stage to come back to those people through my records, and I never want to stop trying to take all of this to the next level”.