MOUNT Cotton singer-songwriter Jack Carty will tour his latest album in major cities until March 28.
Entitled In the Blue of the Day, the album is his seventh release, this time recorded completely independently with Carty writing, recording, mixing, mastering and playing all the instruments.
“I feel proud of what I have achieved. And the tour is solo too,” he said.
“The project is really an exercise in ascertaining sustainability of music.
“To do this, I went from conception to completion myself.”
Carty said while producing music was easier than ever, finding an audience remained the real challenge.
“Recording and distributing music isn’t hard,” he said.
“What’s tricky is getting people to care about it.
“The project strives to bring people back to music.”
He said the economics of modern music created challenges for artists.
“It is hard to justify making a record that people can listen to for free,” he said.
“I want to prove that it is possible to have a sustainable musical career without impediments.”
Carty, 38, said his previous albums had been more “confessional and introspective” but this one looked outwards.
“So much is happening that has a big effect on everybody every day,” he said.
“One of the songs is Polyanna which looks at the best way to make the best of a situation you can’t control and to carry on.”
Carty said his outlook changed on having his two children and moving to Mount Cotton to give them a country lifestyle, while being close to city amenities.
“I am concerned about giving them a good childhood in among the chaos,” he said.
Carty has worked as a full-time musician, playing original music on the Sydney folk scene since 2009.
He has been a regular back up artist for Josh Pyke and Katie Noonan since 2012 and most recently in early March.
He has also collaborated with Dan Wilson, Lisa Mitchell, Sarah Blasko, Bernard Fanning, Kate Miller-Heidke and Justin Towns-Earl.
He has played at folk festivals in Australia and England and made England his base for a few years.
“Covid changed a lot of things, so you had to look at a different way to keep your music alive,” he said.
