Website: http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/
Tickets: QMU Box Office
Location: Qudos

The John Butler Trio effortlessly combines gritty soulful vocals, elements of hip-hop, and Appalachian folk with subtle hints of everything from reggae to Zeppelin. As a multi-talented musician, John plays a variety of instruments, including numerous 12-strings, lapsteel guitars, and banjos, with dexterity on par with some of the all-time greats. Alongside Butler, joining the trio are powerhouse drummer Michael Barker and upright bassist Shannon Birchall.

JBT's What You Want EP will be the band's initial introduction to the U.S. The EP will be followed by a full-length album scheduled for the spring 2005. In the meantime, fans can whet their appetite with What You Want, which contains a total of six songs, three of which are previously unreleased. The unreleased material includes the funk-a-fied, uptempo track "Something's Gotta Give," an acoustic version of "Treat Yo Mama," and an introspective, heartfelt version of the Lennon/McCartney classic "Across The Universe."

In their native Australia, the John Butler Trio has established themselves as one of the most successful independent artists in recent history. JBT are commercial superstars as well as critic favorites in addition to being the country's number-two top touring act. The band's most recent Australian album release Sunrise Over Sea debuted at number one, marking the highest position ever achieved by an independently released artist. The disc was certified platinum after two weeks and went double-platinum in 10 weeks. It remains at the number two spot on the Aria Charts after 16 weeks. In addition, JBT received the highest honor at this year's APRA awards (Australia's version of the Ascap/BMI awards), winning the highly coveted Song Of The Year award for their song "Zebra," beating out Jet's "Are You Going To Be My Girl?" This is the first time in history that the award was given to a self-published, independent singer-songwriter.

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