Remake Remodel

"Talking about when and how we'd do it, the idea of maybe doing a recording of something came up, maybe a collaboration with other artists.” Pete Murray recalls, explaining that the decision to revisit his 2011 album, Blue Sky Blue, came out of discussions held with his management some 18 months or more before this solo tour he's currently undertaking. “So it was all just thrown up in the air, and my manager sent the song, Blue Sky Blue, off to Natalie [Pa'apa'a] from Blue King Brown. And that rhyme, that rap on there, is what Natalie wrote, even though Fantine sang it, on an acoustic demo and sent it back, and that just sounded great, so we thought, 'Okay, cool, let's try and get some other artists involved and see what we can do'.

“Then the next question was: what songs do we do? And it was mentioned that maybe we should be doing some of the hits and I went, 'No, smells like a greatest hits album and I don't wanna do that. So I thought, I really like the songs off Blue Sky Blue – they're all quite electric, I think I could really do a different version of those songs on acoustic guitar – so let's get some other artists involved in that and let's make it more lush, more harmonies and more kind of a beautiful sound to it, I guess, than what Blue Sky Blue was.'”

Revisiting an already recorded and released album isn't exactly new for Murray, of course. A decade ago when he first signed to Sony and released the album, Feeler, the LP featured five tracks that had appeared on his independent album of the year before, The Game, which had brought him to Sony's attention. The result this time is Blue Sky Blue – The Byron Sessions.

“That's very funny isn't it?” Murray concedes. “And the funny thing is a lot of people now are really liking the [Byron Sessions] album, saying it's the best album since Feeler, and likening it to a similar sound to Feeler as well, in the vibe. It was just kind of a fun project that turned out to be an album, I guess.

“It's just it was my choice to make to [originally] do an electric album, so I felt I needed to make a bit of a change from what I'd done before, and I'm really glad I did that. I like the last album but I like this one more. It just has more feeling to it and I think it just works better. And I love keys on this one too – the keys are great.”

The keyboards come courtesy of A-list sideman Gerard Masters, who's played with artists as diverse as The Potbelleez, The McClymonts and Wes Carr, while sitting behind the kit is The Whitlams' Terepai Richmond. Of course it's the “pretty good mates” featured on the album that has brought it so much attention, among them Bernard Fanning (on Led); fellow former Powderfinger member, guitarist Darren Middleton (H.O.L.L.A.N.D.); Katie Noonan (Hold It All For Love); Busby Marou (Free and Let You Go), who cut their debut EP, 2009's The Blue Road, in Murray's studio; Ash Grunwald and Living End bass player Scott Owen (Hurricane Coming).

“I gave [the guest artists] a little bit of a choice. For Ash, I gave him a listen to Hurricane, which I thought was a much better choice for him. I sent Bernard Led and Broken, and he wanted to do Led. Katie, I thought Hold It All For Love was just perfect for her.”

Pete Murray will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 14 March - Regent Multiplex, Ballarat VIC
Friday 15 March - Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 16 March - The Depot, Adelaide SA
Sunday 17 March - Nautilus Thetare, Port Lincoln SA
Thursday 21 March - Panthers, Port Macquarie NSW
Friday 22 March - Club Forster, Forster NSW
Saturday 23 March - The Cambridge, Newcastle NSW
Sunday 24 March - West Tamworth Leagues Club, Tamworth NSW
Thursday 4 April - Ex Services Club, Orange NSW
Friday 5 April - Dubbo RSL, Dubbo NSW
Saturday 6 April - Entrance Leagues Club, Bateau Bay NSW
Sunday 7 April - Hornsby RSL, Hornsby NSW
Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 April - Lizotte's, Dee Why NSW
Thursday 11 April - The Abbey, Canberra ACT
Friday 12 April - York Theatre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 13 April - Waves, Wollongong NSW
Sunday 14 April - Soldiers Club, Batemans Bay NSW
Thursday 18 April - Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone QLD
Friday 19 April - Magnums Hotel, Airlie Beach QLD
Saturday 20 April - Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville QLD
Sunday 21 April - Brothers Leagues Club, Cairns QLD
Tuesday 23 April - Racehorse Hotel, Ipswich QLD
Wednesday 24 April - The Hi-Fi, Brisbane QLD
Friday 26 April - Villa Noosa, Noosaville QLD
Saturday 27 April - The Northern, Byron Bay NSW
Sunday 28 April - Twin Towns, Tweed Heads NSW
Saturday 11 May - Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour NSW