A couple of weeks ago a friend turned me on to the keyboard wizardry of Lachlan “Lachy” Doley.  Thanks, Rainer!  Doley is an Australian whose 2019 album Make or Break debuted at the top of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Jazz and Blues Chart.   A solo artist and group leader since 2011, Doley has also been a session player since the 1990’s.

Here’s the 2016 live performance of “Stop Listening to the Blues” that got me going on this post.  Doley is known for playing Hammond organs, which are among the most incredible sounding and beautifully complicated electromechanical devices ever created.  It’s wonderful to hear artists like Doley keeping that sound alive.

The keyboard parked on top of the Hammond is a Hohner Clavinet (another amazing instrument with strings and pickups under the keyboard) equipped with a monster whammy bar.  Here’s Doley doing his best Hendrix imitation.

Digging into Doley’s past took me on a detour to the Australian band, Powderfinger.   Doley played on the band’s fifth studio album, Vulture Street, which won the 2003 ARIA award for Best Rock Album.  Doley then toured with the band from 2007 to 2010.  Here’s “(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind” from Vulture Street.  The song doesn’t feature Doley, but there’s a point.

While I haven’t seen Powderfinger compared to the legendary Australian band INXS, seems to me their lead singer Bernard Fanning is trying to channel a bit of Michael Hutchence in this video. And though Fanning is pretty good, Australia may never see another Micheal Hutchence.