WOMAD

Karma County

From Australia

Karma County are tuneful harbingers of excellence and sweet emotion. Begun as a solo music project by Brendan Gallagher of Sydney, Australia in late 1994, the band evolved with the addition of a bass player, Michael Galeazzi and drummer Stuart Eadie.Their aspiration was to use mainly acoustic instruments (guitar, double bass and drums/percussion) to make song-based music incorporating Middle Eastern influences and regional roots music; a kind of east-meets-south. It has since developed into a broad ranging pop music of distinction and depth.The debut album 'Last Stop Heavenly Heights' was released in Australia in May 1997 and in 1998 the band received the Best Debut Album (independent) award and the Best Unsigned Artist (NSW) award at the inaugural Music Industry Critics' Awards.March 1998 saw the release of their second album 'Olana' which received widespread media acclaim.In early 1999 the band signed with Melody Management and Universal Publishing and concluded a licencing deal with Warner Music, and released their third album 'Into the Land of Promise', from which two singles were released.At the WOMAD Festival in Rivermead 2000, Karma County perform both independently and with fellow Australian artist Jimmy Little.June 2000