Surrounded by the wilds of the rainforest and the azure beauty of the reef, Leanne Tennant is an artist who pulls you across boundaries.  Her songs sweep and fall, rock and flow and bring you into her world - one where you can escape that concrete, and get lost in a myriad of stories of real people, real life and real experiences.

Her first album Pull Up Your Britches (2015) build her serious momentum across the country - but it was the release of her sophomore album Red Wine, Late Nights (20126) that really put Leanne on the map.  Award nominations and glowing reviews quickly followed the release of the award-winning songs 'Gentle Annie' and 'Bearing the Crown' - along with national and international airplay, touring, supports, festival slots and TV and film placements.

Now Leanne is working on her third album after winning the prestigious Carol Lloyd Award in 2018 - allowing her more time and freedom in the studio.  This, her third offering, sees Leanne branch out into new directions and exploring a completely new sonic pallet.  That said, the depth of her storytelling and songwriting remains at the very core of her music.

The first single CHERRY COLA is a glimpse of what we can expect from Leanne's new direction and within the first 48 x hours of its release, Cherry Cola gained official rotation on Double J, was premiered on BBC Radio Uk and continues to receive airtime,  it has been picked up by Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 6, and playlisted on UK's Amazing Radio after reaching #1 on Charlie Ashcroft's show.  In Australia it has received 4* reviews from Triple J, Triple J Unearthed and Double J, was added to rotation on 2sfer and added to Amazons best new music. The song has also been featured across New York, Germany, France and London and also named as a Semi-Finalist in the 2019 International Songwriting Competition our of more than 19,000 entries.  

The track, produced by Konstantin Kerstin, (Mallrat, The Belligerents, Tia Gostelow), epitomises Leanne's leap in a new direction - one she calls exhilarating - and reveals her best work yet.  While staying true to her alternative tones, Tennant has diversified to reveal a bold, new and intoxicating evolution of her style.

"This song was the first track written for the album, before i even knew I was making another album," Leanne explains, :It is about loving someone yet missing them and feeling lonely all at the same time.

"It felt so good to write again, that once I started I couldn't stop.  I've spent the past two years experimenting with new styles of writing and letting go of expectations to remain within a certain genre.  I didn't want to deliberately sculpt my sound to 'fit in'.  After all, I feel music is at its best when it's free and loose, and coming from a natural creative space.  I stopped thinking about what I 'should' be writing, and just wrote what felt good for me."

"I wanted to record an album where there were no 'fillers' and I genuinely loved each song.  Because of this commitment to myself, the whole process has taken a little longer than expected while I weeded out the tracks that weren't resonating with me anymore.  I'm really proud of the new songs and am excited to be trying something new."

CHERRY COLA is out now!

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY:

TRIPLE J

4**** "That simple guitar picking at the start draws you straight in.  The atmosphere Tennant has created through the song - with the stomping rhythm and the layers of voices - brings out such an ominous mood" - RICHARD KINGSMILL, TRIPLE J

4****  "This could be really weird to read, but I love the way your voice wraps around vowels.  The production on this is deluxe too, simmering reverb that gives the song a sun dappled quality and works with the build.  Beautiful stuff" - ZAN ROWE, DOUBLE J

4****  "Nicely done from Leanne Tennant on this new track.  I can confirm that it burrows deep beneath the skin after just a couple of listens."  - DAVE RUBY HOWE, TRIPLE J UNEARTHED

4****  "I love the layering in this.  It's unpredictable without being jarring, and draws you in from the get go" - LUCY SMITH, TRIPLE J

"A bit MØ, a little bit of BANKS, and the musical answer to what would have been if Lana Del Rey had been a bit happier".
Thanks TONSPION, - GERMANY

"Right from the haunting acapella intro, Leanne Tennant's commandingly haunting vocals latch on. "Gentle Annie" — the first track lifted from her forthcoming second album, Red Wine, Late Nights — teasingly edges towards complete collapse or euphoric explosion (dependent on your own perspective), as Tennant slowly succumbs to the soulful darkness of her late-night world." - ROLLING STONE

"Hearing her, without having seen her live, you can imagine she's standing there like Big Mama Thornton, with a guitar pointed at you and a no-nonsense attitude." - THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD


“Songs inspired by a Hollywood movie about a nymphomaniac that was named after a 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson blues number. What’s not to get excited about?”  Rhythms Magazine
 

While roots music is a serious growth area, the darker, starker end of it doesn't get anywhere near as much attention. That less visited territory is where you'll find the likes of our own Jess Ribeiro, American Rhiannon Giddens and another local, Leanne Tennant, whose stripped back to simple album offers an interesting example of trade-offs. It's true that Tennant's songs aren't as powerful as Giddens, who also packs the bigger voice, but Tennant has something the American doesn't do: emotional empathy. The Australian gets you inside her songs more effectively and moves you far more. On the other side, while Ribeiro can be emotionally devastating with little or no ostentation, Tennant quietly works the low ground between a kind of Big Mama Thornton blues and the workhouse" - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD  - Bernard Zuel

Her strong smoldering vocals belie her relatively tender age, and the album title sums up the word her music evokes, as the listener is teleported to a late-night smoky blues bar.  At only seven tracks, this promising homegrown talent is obviously going for quality over quantity - THE COURIER MAIL - John O'Brien

"LEANNE TENNANT is one of the most authentic artists that I have worked within a very long time.  Bearing The Crown taking out the Queensland Music Award is only the tip of the iceberg for Leanne.  She is going to be sending shivers up our backs for many years to come."  GRAHAM ASHTON - Footstomp Music - Director - 2015

GREAT OCEAN QUARTERLY
“As Leanne begins a softly-hummed and improvised vocal, the audience falls silent, a breeze blows off the waters of the inlet and down the path. And in that moment she has calmed the savagery of the morning and somehow created a true – if temporary – paradise” -  Cameron Fergus, Great Ocean Quarterly Magazine - 2015

RHYTHMS MAGAZINE
https://rhythms.com.au/news/video-premiere-leanne-tennant-black-snake-calls/

ABC RADIO

- “One of the best aspects of presenting a radio program is the opportunity it gives me to put music loversand musicians together and thereʼs nothing quite so rewarding as the moment the phone rings at thestation and someone says, “I loved that song.” Iʼve had that experience many times when Iʼve played themusic of FNQ singer songwriter Leanne Tennant.

- Richard Dinnen, ABC Far North Radio & mojowire.net.au

JIMI HOCKING

-"We called into the ʻ12 barʼ during the Cairns blues festival. It was an incredible scene with a rockingband fronted by a sassy rockabilly gal called Leanne Tennant. She had the crowd eating out of her hand,and within minutes so were we!" - Jimi Hocking (the Screaming Jets & Jimi Hocking aka Jimi the

Human)

BILL CHAMBERS

-“Leanne Tennant is a serious Australian talent. Her lyrics express exactly what she feels and she sings witha unique voice that immediately grabs your attention. Listening to her E.P., “Are You There?” has made mea true believer.” - Bill Chambers The Hillbillykillers (and father to Kasey Chambers)

 

 

 

• Winner of Carol Lloyd Award - $15'000 - 2018
• Winner of Qld Music Award - Blues & Roots for track GENTLE ANNIE - 2017
• Triple Z - Hot 100 (2017)
• Mentorship w/ Kram - Spiderbait - 2017
• Red Deer festival - 2017
• Nominated for the Grant McLennan FellowshipNominated for 3 x Qld Music Awards
• Double J Rotation - 2016
• Rolling Stone Premiere - 2016
• Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier Mail reviews - 2016
• RAGE premiere - 2016
• Billy Thorpe Scholarship Nomination - 2016
• Triple Z - Hot 100 - 2016
• Invited to showcase BIGSOUND, Red Deer Festival, Sydney Blues & Roots - 2016
• Awarded Contemporary Touring Grant, Australia Council - 2016
• Support on the Cold Chisel tour - 2015
• Support on the Ash Grunwald tour - 2015
• Invited to showcase at JB Arts Festival, Malaysia - 2015
• Qld Music Award - 2015
• The Triffid Roots, presented by Sarah Howells - 2015
• Support to the Audreys - 2015
• Being reviewed by Rhythms Magazine - 2015
• Triple J support - 2014 ongoing
• Added to Triple J Unearthed rotation - 2014
• Sofar Sounds Sydney - 2014
• Crowd funding campaign to fund Pull Up Your Britches - 2014
• Pull Up Your Britches launch @ Tanks Arts Centre - 2014
• Awarded RADF grant 
• Cairns Blues Festival with Hatz & Cara - 2013
• "Up Late" with You Am I @ Tanks Arts Centre - 2013
• The QMusic Round & Round, Up & Down tour - 2013
• Cairns Festival - 2012 / 2013 / 2014
• Support Colin Hay "Men At Work" - 2012