Digging deep reaps rewards

It has been a busy year for Dumbleyung musician and singer-songwriter Jonny Taylor, and with the release of his new album Dig Deep, next year doesn’t look to be any different.

The record, which was four years in the making, was released on November 17 and debuted at No.3 on the iTunes Singer Songwriter chart.

Earlier this year, Taylor drove more than 4000km to tour Australia’s east coast and said he was now enjoying life settled into the Dumbleyung community with his wife, Nicole.

“Before we moved to Dumbleyung, my wife and I were homeless for about three years just touring around Australia living on the road,” he said.

“It was really fun but we needed to find our roots and we have really submersed ourselves into the Dumbleyung community, which has been lovely.”

Dig Deep is Taylor’s third album and with the balance of contemporary rock, grunge and hard country, he calls it his best record yet.

“I think in a nutshell, this is definitely the most honest record I’ve done — I forgot about trying to fit into the mould and stopped worrying about trying to write music that I thought would sell and started writing what was natural to me,” he said.

“It’s called Dig Deep because that is what I had to do to get the album done — it’s an expression that I use throughout life.”

Taylor’s life on the road has earned him the reputation of being one of the most hardworking and influential young singer-songwriters in the country, averaging 180 shows a year.

“Generally, I’m just inspired by being out on the road and hearing people’s stories when I’m touring, so I’m really inspired by the underdog, and the Aussie spirit of just getting on with it,” he said.

“I think a really common theme throughout this record was the sense of becoming a man and all the things you start thinking about, when you’re being too hard on yourself sometimes you just need to take a breath.”

Taylor is set to do a three-month tour of the east coast in January, with shows booked until March.