Audrey Auld

Singer/songwriter Audrey Auld was born in Australia and raised in the bush in Tasmania, without television or radio. She studied dancing and took up the classical violin in a musical family; her father played jazz piano, and her stepfather had a jazz band. As a pre-adolescent, she moved to town and became immersed in the popular music of the 1970s, listening to punk rock in her teens. Living in Sydney, she began studying acting, soon moving into video and film work, and she spent six years as an animator. Then she moved out of the city and began performing country music. She returned to Sydney, but continued to perform, working in an a cappella group led by Tony Backhouse. Then she formed her own vocal group, the Cowbelles, and later performed in such bands as the Harmony Grits and Audrey & the Rhythm Wranglers.

Looking for a producer to work with her as a solo singer/songwriter, she met Bill Chambers of the Dead Ringer Band (the father of Kasey Chambers), and with him made a four-song EP released in 1997. This was followed by Looking Back to See, an album of traditional country duets, released on their own label, Reckless Records, in 1998 and credited to Bill & Audrey. Next, Auld wrote and recorded a solo album, The Fallen, in 2000. When it found American distribution, she toured the U.S. in 2001. She released her second solo album, Losing Faith, in 2003. The same year, she married and relocated to America, settling in the town of Bolinas in Northern California. In 2004, she released a live album, Texas. This was the first album on which she employed her married name of Audrey Auld Mezera. In December 2005, she played a concert with guitarist Nina Gerber that was recorded for a double-CD live album, In the House, released in May 2006. Her third solo studio album, Lost Men and Angry Girls, was released in February 2007. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi