Paul Dempsey

Australian singer/songwriter Paul Dempsey continues to show how well he's incorporated the lessons that he learned from the American recordings that he was sent by a pen pal in Washington, D.C. Accompanied by his band, Something for Kate -- featuring drummer Clint Hyndman, whom he met at school in Mornington, and bassist Julian Carroll -- he crafts an infectious mixture of poetic lyrics, gutsy vocals, and roots-influenced arrangements. Dempsey and Something for Kate's debut album, Elsewhere for Eight Minutes, released in 1996, was produced by American producer Brian Paulson, whose previous credits included work with Archers of Loaf, Superchunk, Uncle Tupelo, and Wilco. The product of an Irish mother who sang professionally and a father who died when he was "too young to remember," Dempsey was inspired by the piano playing of his grandmother. Although he tried his hand at the keyboards, he switched to the guitar by the age of eight. He later taught himself to play the drums. ~ Craig Harris