Closer is a ballad, a love song for a love that stands the test of time.  Closer was written by Geoffrey Bates and Kym Watling, with both writers singing their respective parts.  

The duo is joined by Nick Peterson on…

‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’. Grandfather’s Watch compares the old ways with the new, seeking the common threads that hold us together through time.

Grandfather’s Watch was written and produced by Geoffrey Bates, featuring Kym…

Alice and the trucker move on parallel highways, never sure where their travels will lead, or if their paths will meet. Geoffrey Bates tells the story, with featured artist Thor Phillips on guitars, keyboards, and bass. Kym Watling plays harmonica…

Love, loss, shame, and regret hit the gravel after a fall from the heights of romance. Love Was is a song for those who have loved, lost, brushed off the dust, and got back on their feet. 

Love Was features…

Thrilled to bits to be interviewed by Luke Grant on Wake Up Australia this morning, on Sydney's 2GB! Listen link here!  An absolute treat to feature on Australia's most venerated commercial radio station. 

Christmas in Australia. It’s hot and muggy, no place for a big bloke in a wooly red suit. If It’s Ok With Santa looks at the irony of the hot Australian Christmas and the growing tradition of Christmas in July.…

Black Ducks tells a tale from a Northern Rivers bushman of how he used to catch black ducks on the riverbank in Coraki NSW.  His method was so ingeniously simple that the ducks were lulled into a state of relaxation…

Prophets is a road trip to an uncertain future. 

It features Geoffrey Bates on vocals and guitars, Marcus Schintler on drums, Nick Peterson on keyboards, Scott French on piano and tambourine and Kym Watling on backing vocals.

Prophets was written…

Our new single Coolatai Waltz heads out to radio and digital through Checked Label Services on 9th May. The song was written for a wedding in Coolatai NSW in 2019, weaving a ‘tale tales and true' story of the couple’s…

Sat In the Car And Remembered is heading out to radio on 20 September, as the final single from the Small Town Tales album. The song tells of an impetuous trip across the Nullarbor Plain fuelled by the optimism of…

We had the best time at The GAS Old Time Acoustic Music Weekend at the Hillbilly Goat HQ in Brooweena, Queensland in April. We started Saturday morning off with our trademark rooster crow and steeped ourselves in the culture and…

Our Soundtrack Our Stories is an initiative by ARIA to get local artists streaming in homes and businesses while the live performance sector is down.  We've put together a playlist of music of artists and colleagues linked to Kyogle and…

The Shelly Jones Band’s upbeat traditional country sound merges with Watling & Bates’ old time Gothic hillbilly and honkytonk style on this latest single from these two accomplished country duos. 

Written by Shelly Jones, IF YOU KNEW WHAT YOU KNOW…

Candy Moon, released on Valentine's Day 2021, is available for streaming, download, and home delivery as a CD single!  Producer and guitarist Thor Phillips and drummer Marcus Schintler have bought some hillbilly swing and rockabilly jazz to this old…

Wonderful to see the long-awaited Kyogle Backroads episode, in which we performed for the launch of the Richmond River Independent community newspaper at the Kyogle Bowling Club!

So grateful to receive our finalist nomination certificates for the Tamworth Songwriters Association (TSA) Salute Awards. This year we were honoured with five semi-final nominations, with one of them, Wondering About My Time, reaching the finals in the Gospel category…

2020 marks 140 years since Ned Kelly’s last stand and subsequent execution on the 11th of November 1880. Producer and guitarist Thor Phillips and drummer Marcus Schintler deliver a sharp edge of Australian rock to this colonial tale, with…

Thor Phillips pits a full-house of Dobro against Christopher Ridgway‘s hand of chicken-pickin’ guitar. Watling crashes the saloon with a harmonica while Bates keeps a safe distance and thoughtfully nurses his beer. Wondering About My Time is from the Small…

Celebrating the launch of our new independent local newspaper, the Richmond River Independent, filmed by ABC Back Roads for their Kyogle episode. Photo by our local MP Janelle Saffin. 

We're back in the studio with Thor Phillips working on our next album. Can't wait to see where the road will lead us.

We've been social isolating for a while now, time to put some spring in our step. Old Times was released to radio on 5th May by CRS Publicity.

The global arrival of COVID-19 forced us all off the road. The music industry, like many others, is shifting its feet in the prevailing conditions, so we're hunkering down in Unumgar to work on material for our next album. We'll…

How exciting to take our place on the famous Toyota Fanzone Stage at the 2020 Tamworth Country Music Festival. Thanks so much Jeannie Kleynhans for this fabulous pic!