{"id":981,"date":"2023-10-10T02:28:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T02:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zfmcountry.com.au\/?p=981"},"modified":"2023-10-10T02:28:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T02:28:57","slug":"james-blundell-queen-of-the-lost-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/2023\/10\/10\/james-blundell-queen-of-the-lost-highway\/","title":{"rendered":"James Blundell &#8211; Queen Of The Lost Highway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If Sideways announced the return of James Blundell to the charts, then Queen of The Lost Highway is the perfect follow-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Penned by the acclaimed international songwriting team of Australian lyricist Terry McArthur and Finnish composer Mika Kuokkanen, Queen of The Lost Highway is a unique fusion of classic Hank William&#8217;s country meets contemporary Americana and Finnish minor chord melancholia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Producer Larry Campbell&#8217;s signature guitar motifs and Little Feat&#8217;s Bill Payne&#8217;s killer key feels curl around James Blundell&#8217;s bittersweet vocals as he laments love&#8217;s last rites, eyes wide open and the shadow of a smile on his face\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But don&#8217;t take my word for it, let&#8217;s see what JAMES BLUNDELL, the man described as the most influential Australian country artist of his generation has to say about queens, lost highways, and the ghost of Hank Williams\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LEMAR: Leon Payne penned The Lost Highway in the 1940s. The song has since<br>Been covered by a many artists, including Hank Williams .Tom Petty and<br>Willie Nelson. Queen of The Lost Highway seems like real deal sister song\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JAMES : During my time in Nashville the term Lost Highway developed absolute reality. It was used when artists were suffering burnout or were playing the Don Quixote card. It actually is a very real term in the American music or the Americana Country Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LEMAR: How did you come to record Queen of The Lost Highway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JAMES: &#8221; The first two lines of the song go ( James sings)<br>Thought I saw your taillights out along the lake<br>You always drove so fast, so heavy on the brakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were very representative of my relationship with Lidia, mother of my two oldest children. Lidia drove like a bat out of hell and always hit the brakes real hard. So, the minute I read those lyrics I thought, I actually have to sing this song. It&#8217;s a calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I resonated immediately with the song and the truth of my relationship with Lidia. It was a very, very strong, very deep committed, and loving relationship. And as it slowly unwound, it was probably the first time in my adult life that I came face-to-face with the fact that sometimes love is actually not enough. There&#8217;s all sorts of other forces at play that can determine whether a relationship does the term of each partner&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I related to everything about Queen of The Lost Highway ~ its musicality, definitely the nostalgia and definitely the sense of loss, but also recognising the inevitability of the demise of a relationship really, really struck a chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LEMAR: You&#8217;re taking to the road on the Aussie Legends Hemp Lost Highway Tour October through November. What can fans expect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JAMES: &#8220;The Aussie Legends Hemp Lost Highway Tour is me going live, intimate, and unplugged. I will be playing all the fan favourites and previewing a selection of songs from my new album World Don&#8217;t Stop. Can&#8217;t wait to do it!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Sideways announced the return of James Blundell to the charts, then Queen of The Lost Highway is the perfect follow-up. Penned by the acclaimed international songwriting team of Australian lyricist Terry McArthur and Finnish composer Mika Kuokkanen, Queen of The Lost Highway is a unique fusion of classic Hank William&#8217;s country meets contemporary Americana &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/2023\/10\/10\/james-blundell-queen-of-the-lost-highway\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;James Blundell &#8211; Queen Of The Lost Highway&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zfmcountry.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}