Maddy Hay Tell Me a Story

Maddy Hay Tell Me a Story

Prodigious Australian talent Maddy Hay will release her second album, Tell Me A Story this October. The 23 year old dazzled audiences and critics with her sophisticated compositions, celestial voice, vivid imagination and unique blend of Jazz-Pop, with the 2010 debut album Smoke in the City. Tell Me A Story extends her musical talents in exciting new directions.

For Maddy Hay music has always been central to her life. "As an infant I could hum before I could speak. I grew up listening to opera and classical jazz whilst dozing under my mother's easel as she painted. I began violin lessons at the age of five and if I had behaved mischievously and was sent to my room, I would recline on my bed with my legs crossed and play boisterously until I was allowed out again."

Hay was signed to the legendary Sony Music - Columbia Records at 21, and wrote most of her debut album when she was just 16. Since the release of Smoke in the City, she has played sold out gigs in Australia and Europe, and been play listed on radio 1 and radio 2. Her YouTube channel's a regular fixture in the top ten most viewed musicians in Australia and Smoke in The City tracks have featured on television programs such as Spirited and Winners and Losers.

The new album Tell Me A Story, which releases in Europe in 2012, is a collection of songs and stories from a whirlwind of adventures that took place in 2010. The songs began their life when Maddy spent several months living in Amsterdam and Paris. She set to work with voice and a glockenspiel, the only instrument she had bought with her.

Upon her arrival back in Australia, producer Jonathan Zion set her the task of writing 30 songs in 30 days and the songs she had been playing in Europe came to life. Hay and Zion then travelled to Nashville and spent time working at the historic Castle Recording Studios (past clients include Bob Dylan, Etta James, Johnny Cash) with acclaimed musical engineer Rob Feaster (Joni Mitchell, Sting, Pat Metheny). "This was an exhilarating and very eye opening time, meeting musicians from all over the world, and mixing with some very inspiring people."

Tell Me A Story has an electro acoustic sound threaded through the album, mixed with the ambience of alternative country and a strong jazz influence, in particular with regards to vocal inflection.

Hay says, "Lyrically it is filled with more 'in the moment' stream of writing, with an almost cryptic and mystical take on my everyday thoughts and experiences. It stemmed from late night writing sessions in Holland, long days sitting with my glockenspiel in the gardens of Paris, gazing out the windows of my Melbourne bedroom, and is field with songs and stories from a whirlwind fo travels that finally came to an end in wintery Nashville, 2010."

Maddy Hay Tour Dates
Wednesday 12th of October, Red Bennies, Melbourne - 03 9826 2689
Wednesday 19th of October, Paris Cat, Melbourne - 03 9642 4711
Friday 11th of November, The Promethean - 08 8212 0266
Wednesday 23rd of November, Camelot Lounge - 02 9550 3777