Here comes a Sydney, Australia outfit led by singer-songwriter Tim Rogers, aka Jack Ladder – he of the weighty baritone voice and wryly melancholic delivery – and supported by his accomplished backing band, The Dreamlanders, featuring guitarist Kirin J. Callinan who has a solo career as well.  (Try his album Embracism.)

If Jack Ladder is a character that Tim Rogers plays, it’s clear that Rogers is a character too.  The title of the debut album a decade ago, Not Worth Waiting For, is strong evidence for that. It was followed up by Love is Gone and Hurtsville (which many a critic swooned over) so a new record called Playmates was a bit of a surprise but it’s much more of a progression that an about-face.  In this interview, Rogers tells where he has been coming from and hints at where he might go.  Wherever that is, he’ll go there boldly and with humor.

In this session, he talks about antagonizing his audiences as a young performer and growing out of that and into a place in his life where he is comfortable enough in his own skin to open up on stage as well as on record.  Looking at Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders set up gear in our studio, I remarked that they looked like they belonged to five different bands but when they started to play their simpatico musical sensibilities were evident.

Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders stopped by WFUV FM radio to talk about the new record and play us some of the new songs.  We’ll hear that performance and conversation during this episode of FUV Live.