The theme at the heart of Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham’s third album together is right up front. It’s the album title. It’s the name of the opening track. It’s the first lyric you hear: “Everything Around You”.

Even before the song came to life, those words were their guide, written on a whiteboard in their Birdsong studio as they crafted the album. Also close at hand was an illustration of a compass with a rose at the centre that Felicity loved, created by daughter Tia when she was still in primary school. The artwork inspired the design on the cover and became a connecting thread through the album’s many emotional highs. In every life there will be struggle and heartache, wonder and joy, all the points on the compass. It’s up to you how to respond, grow and find your way through hard times towards hope.

The result is a powerful statement from the multi-award-winning songwriters who established their careers on different paths, Felicity as a country hitmaker, Josh in the much-loved folk-rock trio The Waifs, then together as partners in life and music. Their debut as a duo, 2021’s The Song Club, was nominated for Golden Guitar and ARIA awards and topped the country charts, and 2023’s Birdsong won three Golden Guitars including song of the year for Size Up.

The new album’s title song acknowledges the healing power of music as the two sing together: “Sacred is the music/Let the notes of music ring/And don’t ever abuse it/Let it make you feel something.”  

As Josh says, “Music is a miraculous form of expression that can inspire hope, and that’s what we want to do with our songs.” Felicity adds: “Sharing our hopes, dreams and reflections feels like an important thing to do, not just for our own kids but for everything and everyone around us.”

The album finds their sound evolving and seamlessly melds a broad range of influences, from the bluesy licks of New Frontier to the country-soul of Lifeline. Would Not Want For Much is a love song that rings as clear and true as a classic from the pen of Dolly Parton or Willie Nelson. Everything Around You, Go North Go South and New Frontier contain messages to the next generation, daughters Tia and Ellie, who both contribute to the album’s final song Grace & Joy. The rockabilly twang of Joy Roller features blazing guitar work from Josh to match the message in the lyric and the energy of the band performance with co-producer Matt Fell on bass and drummer Josh Schuberth. The sublime country-rock song Stone in Your Heart finds the pair reflecting on their own experiences dealing with grief and trauma and resolving to find the positive and “stick with love”. Felicity says: “If saying that in a song helps someone else, even just one person, then that’s magic to me.”  

Male-female singing duos have always been prominent in country music and the combination of Felicity and Josh as co-writers and co-singers adds rich textures to that story. Josh says: “I had sung a few songs in The Waifs but right from the start Fliss told me I’d be singing in every song. Sometimes we sing more conventional harmony parts and sometimes we sing the song together from start to finish, working together to create one voice.” 

Felicity: “When you write a song it has to be nurtured, you need that support. We’re able to do that for each other and that’s a gift, it shows in the music that we make and love so deeply.” Every night on stage they feel that love returned in the reaction from the audience. As Josh says: “The connection at a live gig, that human interaction, is something that technology won’t ever replace.”