Hot on the heels of two cracking 2021 singles in the form of More Than a Woman and Weed, Wine and Women, Newcastle country rocker Natalie Henry is back with album number two White Heat.
Undoubtedly a country album through and through, in this day and age country is a genre that encompasses many ‘hats’ and on White Heat, Natalie dons quite a few to create an eclectic and sonically and stylistically adventurous slab.
From tracks that conjure up the classic sounds of Dolly-era Nashville (When’d You Change Your Mind, We Don’t Stand Together) to more contemporary country offerings (Reckless, Blue), much sonic territory is traversed here.
In the hands of a lesser songwriter, this approach may come off sounding like a confusing mishmash, but Natalie deftly balances the individual parts to create an impressively cohesive whole.
That, paired with her no-holds, vulnerable and un-sanitised style of storytelling, serve to make this album a fitting follow up to her 2019 debut Apple and Pride.
“White Heat was only made possible by all the real-life fixins’ that go into cookin’ up good stories. I did the heartbreak in live-action technicolour; the lovin’, the leavin’, the drinkin’ and grievin’,” Natalie said.
“They disturbed all of the peace in me, and what came after the happenins’ were the songs. I hope it feels like I’m speakin’ the truths of many folks out there. ‘Cause lord knows I didn’t hold back to make myself seem shinier.”
Made possible thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, White Heat was recorded at Byron Bay’s Rocking Horse Studio and produced by ARIA-charting producer Michael Muchow and fellow Novocastrian country heavyweight Catherine Britt, with Natalie being the first artist signed to Catherine’s Hillbilly Records label.
White Heat is out now. To celebrate, Natalie will take to the Stag and Hunter Hotel stage on Friday 1 October. Get your tickets here.
