'BEST OF THE FEST'

WITH HANA & JESSIE-LEE'S BAD HABITS

PLUS SARAH CARROLL & SHANNON BOURNE and FREYA JOSEPHINE HOLLICK

Queenscliff Music Festival proudly presents 'BEST OF THE FEST' at Queenscliff Town Hall, a series of evenings featuring much loved artists who have graced the Festival stages over the years.

With hook laden twang, steeped in rock n roll swagger, Hana & Jessie-Lee’s Bad Habits pierce the core of alt-country-soul and have recently taken the award for “Best Country Work” at the 2024 Music Victoria Awards.

The combination of Hana’s searing, sophisticated and effortlessly dexterous vocals and Jessie-Lee’s reverb-drenched lustrous notes that ascend into striking twangy solos have seen them, in recent years, take on Port Fairy Folk Festival, Riverboats Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival, WOMADelaide, Out On The Weekend, Dashville Skyline, Queenscliff Music Festival & the Gympie Muster, relentlessly road testing and refining their live on stage sound.

Their highly anticipated second album ‘Say What You Mean’, grips you from the first note, with songs depicting everything from problematic relationships, to insomnia, to love, and missing home. Nothing is off limits when Jessie-Lee’s signature green Gretsch launches into one of her unmistakable ear-worm guitar lines that shimmers and jangles, only to be met with Hana’s brassy vocals that are equal parts ache, blues and crackle, creating something that is nothing short of magnetic.

SARAH CARROLL & SHANNON BOURNE

Sarah Carroll and Shannon Bourne make incredible original music together. Sarah's recent release, NQR&B, was voted Best Australian Album 2024 by Chris Lambie in Rhythms Magazine and she was July's Musician of the Month in Australian Musician Magazine last year. Shannon is Australia's premier guitar wizard, who also plays with Checkerboard Lounge and Don Walker. He received the Blues Victoria Blues Legend People's Choice award in 2023.

FREYA JOSEPHINE HOLLICK

Born and raised in the historic gold boom center of Ballarat in Western Victoria, Australian Cosmic Country Queen Freya Josephine Hollick has mined a rich alluvial songwriting vein across 3 full-length albums including The Unceremonious Junking Of Me (2015), 2018’s Feral Fusion and most recently 2022’s The Real World.

As a young child cherry picking her dad’s hip 70’s record collection, Freya was exposed to the cosmic sounds of outliers like Townes Van Zandt, The Band and Gene Clark, authentic storytellers with pioneering spirit. The resultant contact high imbued Freya’s spirit, solidifying her desire to deal in that same brand of raw, heartfelt writing. With a voice that demands attention, and a rapidly developing craft, Freya found her resolve and her reason.

Freya’s most recent album The Real World, was born as a revelation in the Mojave Desert with Lucinda William’s Buick 6 in tow. It was and then shaped with her Australian band across the most treacherous time in recent human history. With it, Freya is ready to answer the call in her heart to take her music further. To America and beyond, with the most important record of her life.

ARIA chart action including a top 10 vinyl entry, a #2 on The Australian Country charts and a #1 on the AIR 100% independent chart, along with album of the week nods from 3PBS, 3RRR, ABC Country and a cover feature on the venerable Rhythms Magazine were highlights among a raft of media attention for the release.

DOORS OPEN 6:30PM
MUSIC STARTS 7:00PM

PRESENTED BY QUEENSCLIFF MUSIC FESTIVAL INC.