We Speak Music

Award-winning Aussie Americana artist HELEN TOWNSEND asks ‘Is This Love’ with new single!

Published

3 years ago

September 28, 2023

Don Reed

Australian Americana artist Helen Townsend is that rare artist who can make large venues feel like lounge rooms. Get comfy and lean into her richly lyrical songs, get up and dance, sing along because she’s singing about you, fall in love with the stagecraft — whatever your desire, it’s all good because it’s just you and Helen. When the lights go up no one will ever know.

Townsend’s new single, ‘Is This Love’, asks the age-old question, the one we’ve all wanted answered sometime or another. Dressed up in irresistible honky tonk blues, ‘Is This Love’ is an instant dance-floor filler and the first leg of a musical oeuvre that has Townsend at the peak of her powers and will have audiences beaming and calling out for more.

Helen Townsend may have been late in picking up the tools of her trade but in a short time she has shown herself to be a master craftsman in a field too often crowded with cowboy-booted jacks and jills of all trades. Her sweet voice and tender picking rubs against songs that are filled with characters living with the costly results of impulsive choices and memories that just won’t let go. Her music takes you on a journey through beautiful valleys, coastal plains and soaring over mountains with a few deep, dark tunnels to keep you grounded.

She has carved out a reputation for edgy Americana music – one that has pushed the genre’s boundaries from roots-rock through blues and country to folk – with her upcoming album, Helen has broadened her style and flair even more so with catchy new melodies, tight harmonies and personal stories and lyrics that hook into your heart and tear up your soul. The new album builds from her previous 2 EP’s and her debut album, which scored her multiple awards and nominations including winner of WA Country Music Award for Best Emerging Artist and Song of the year.

Townsend has continued to extend her musical influence with her recent US shows and was part of the Sounds Australia Showcase at the coveted Americanafest in Nashville. All this on top of the US launch of her EP “Love, Lies ‘n’ Leaving” which found its way into the FAI top 10 Folk albums chart in the US for September 2022 has increased Helens popularity in Australia and abroad.

With ‘Is This Love’, Townsend is making her first exploration into UK territory, with plans for a UK tour and new album release to come next year. The video for the single is pure Americana nostalgia with Townsend and band arriving via a classic car to tear things up at a swinging rock ‘n’ roll bar. Through out it, we see Townsend question ‘Is This Love’ with her partner and fellow Australian musician Shannon Smith, as they share a dance, cocktails and eventually make plans to meet again. Much of Townsend’s forthcoming new album has been inspired by her new relationship with Shannon Smith, who has also channelled their love for each other in his own upcoming music project, both albums being written respectively from their different sides of the relationship, as these two musicians forged their bond.

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We Speak Country

Shania Twain Announces Major UK & Ireland Summer Shows for June 2027

Published

6 hours ago

November 2, 2026

We Speak Media

Shania Twain on horseback with her arms outstretched, wearing a fringed brown jacket and white top, with a red pickup truck and desert landscape behind her

Five-time GRAMMY Award-winning global icon Shania Twain has announced a major run of outdoor shows across the UK and Ireland for June 2027, including headlining State Fayre, the UK’s largest music and BBQ festival, on Saturday 19 June.

The eight-date run begins at Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre on 16 June, before Shania heads to Glasgow Summer Sessions at Bellahouston Park, State Fayre Festival in Chelmsford, Cardiff’s Blackweir Fields, Live at Powderham in Exeter, Dublin’s Marlay Park, Belsonic in Belfast and finally culminating at Oxfordshire’s Blenheim Palace Festival on 29 June.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday 6 November at 9am.

The announcement follows the release of Little Miss Twain – The Places I’ll Go, the deluxe edition of Shania’s acclaimed seventh studio album, Little Miss Twain. Released this July, Little Miss Twain marked a significant and deeply personal chapter for Shania. After more than three decades as one of the most successful and influential artists in music, the global superstar turned back to the beginning, revisiting the experiences, sounds and memories that shaped her before the world knew her name.

Drawing from her childhood and teenage years growing up in Canada, the acclaimed album traces the roots of her singular sound across country, pop, rock, soul and bluegrass, offering a revealing portrait of the influences behind an artist who would go on to reshape the boundaries of country and pop music. The album also features an exceptional lineup of collaborators, including Tanya Tucker, T Bone Burnett, Ronnie Wood, Josh Homme, Ray Parker Jr., and Toto’s David Paich. With Little Miss Twain – The Places I’ll Go, Shania expands that story, offering an even deeper look at the formative experiences and musical influences behind both the artist and icon she would become.

Also recently released was the audiobook of Shania’s 2011 memoir, From This Moment On, now available with narration from Shania herself. The bestselling book traces her tumultuous rise to stardom and features a new foreword with personal reflections on her journey.

Shania’s influence remains as far-reaching as ever. In 2027, she will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Come On Over and the 25th anniversary of Up!, two era-defining albums that transformed country and pop music, broke barriers around the world and cemented her status as a global icon. With a huge run of live dates in 2027, and a biopic chronicling her life and career also in development, Shania continues to look ahead while celebrating the music and milestones that have defined her extraordinary career.

SHANIA TWAIN, UK & IRELAND 2027
Wed 16 June, Scarborough, Open Air Theatre
Thu 17 June, Glasgow, Glasgow Summer Sessions, Bellahouston Park
Sat 19 June, Chelmsford, State Fayre
Tue 22 June, Cardiff, Blackweir Fields
Thu 24 June, Exeter, Live at Powderham
Sat 26 June, Dublin, Marlay Park
Sun 27 June, Belfast, Belsonic
Tue 29 June, Oxfordshire, Blenheim Palace Festival

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