Brooke Russell and the Mean Reds

With songs about boozy nights, bad decisions, broken hearts and the best intentions, Brooke Russell and The Mean Reds blend vintage swing, sweet pop and widescreen alt-country. Drawing influence from alt country, jazz and folk styles, the band are also inspired by the sounds of Joe Henry, Gillian Welch, Tom Waits and Neko Case. Their debut album, Poor Virginia was released in August 2013, and listed in Basement Discs Top 10 Australian Albums of The Year and Unpaved's 50 Best Albums of 2013. After showcasing at the 2014 Americana Festival in Nashville, the band released a single, Never’s Gonna Take Too Long in April 2015 and an EP of the same name in December 2015. The title track won the Darebin Music Feast Songwriters Award in 2016. Brooke received a Creative Victoria grant to return to Nashville in 2016 and the second full length album, The Way You Leave was written between Nashville and Melbourne and released October 2017. Sweet, sultry and soaring, this collection of songs document love, loss, friendship and regret and feature co-writes with Andrew Combs, Clare Reynolds and Tobias Hengeveld as well as covers of JD Souther and Tom Waits.