Living in Los Angeles, Australian bassist and singer-songwriter Tal Wilkenfeld has just one thing on her mind for when she returns here for Bluesfest.
“Probably grab a meat pie,” she says.
“I mean, an Australian version is hard to get. There's some English spots around here that make pies, but not like an Aussie meat pie. Then also, just go to the beach; the beaches here are nothing like an Australian beach. The sand here is really rocky and almost hard to walk on, but in Australia it's smooth like silk and the air is clean.”
Tal will be playing at Bluesfest off the back of her new album 'Love Remains', which was released last year and is her debut as a singer-songwriter having primarily been an instrumentalist throughout her career and working with high-calibre artists such Jeff Beck, Prince, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger.
Though writing songs with lyrics may come as a surprise to people familiar with Tal, she's been writing songs since she was 14 years old. “I've definitely shocked some of my audience, I think,” Tal laughs, “but for me it's always been a big part of my life, writing songs, so I didn't shock myself. . . it feels good to write songs with words again.”
Australian audiences get their chance to hear Tal perform songs from 'Love Remains' live when she plays Bluesfest in April as well as a number of sideshows.
"I've never been to Byron Bay, so I'm super-excited about checking out Byron, and then playing that festival – it's a very prestigious festival and there's a lot of acts on the bill this year that I'm excited to see, so it will be great in that respect,” she says.
“Also, I've been working on my album for quite some time and it will be the first time I come to Australia to play this new material, and so that's something I've been looking forward to for a long time.
“In fact, I lost my grandparents while I was making this record and I did dedicate it to them and some other friends who have passed, and I was really looking forward to coming to play it for them because they did come to see me play with Jeff Beck when I was in Australia. They're not going to be there physically, but they're going to be there in spirit and it's going to feel really great to come back and perform the stuff I've been working on.”
At Bluesfest, Tal joins a line-up that features legends like Patti Smith, Dave Matthews Band and Dweezil Zappa alongside a number of acts Tal says she's keen to see perform live.
“John Butler because I grew up listening to him and he's one of the first people that I ever saw perform, and so it will be nice to come back home and see him play,” she says. “Then Dave Matthews is a friend of mine, so it will be good to see him; also, I want to see Crowded House and Alanis Morissette.”
