Kasey Chambers talks about her very unusual childhood, traveling around Australia from a car.
Speaking to ABC Melbourne host Ali Moore, Kasey, 48, revealed much of her childhood was spent traveling the country with her fox hunter father.
“I grew up in the outback,” the country star explained. ‘I spent much of my early childhood living around a campfire.
‘My father was a professional fox hunter. This was in the ’70s, when that was still a job. Thank God it’s not a job now.’
As well as hunting foxes, Bill also fronted the iconic family music group The Dead Ringer Band, which also included wife Diane, Kasey and son Nash.
The outfit eventually disbanded in the late 1990s after Bill and Diane divorced.
For much of Kasey’s childhood, the family lived a very nomadic lifestyle, living out of their car in the Australian desert.
“We lived in the outback,” she said. ‘Every night we traveled to a different place, we lived out of a 4×4.
Kasey Chambers talks about her very unusual childhood, traveling around Australia from a car
“My father made a small caravan in which we kept all our supplies and towed it all over the Nullabor Plain through South Australia and Western Australia.
She added that living such a transient lifestyle also meant not having easy access to supermarkets.
“We lived completely off the land, all the food we ate was what my father hunted and we cooked it all over an open fire,” she said.
Reminiscing about her childhood, Kasey added that the open campfire had played a huge role in her upbringing and helped fuel her love of singing.
Speaking to ABC Melbourne host Ali Moore, Kasey, 48, revealed much of her childhood was spent traveling the country with her fox hunter father Bill Chambers.
For much of Kasey’s childhood, the family lived a very nomadic lifestyle, living out of their car in the Australian desert.
“My mother homeschooled us around the campfire and we also learned to sing around the campfire,” she said.
‘That’s where I actually found my connection with music and that’s where I have the most beautiful memories.’
Being immersed in wide open spaces is something that is still somewhat part of Kasey’s life, although she now explores the outback in a little more comfort.
“It’s still one of my favorite things to do now, sitting around a campfire, even up there on the Nullabor, and playing music with my kids now,” she said.
‘I now have a very nice caravan, I didn’t need my father to make it.’
Kasey has three children: eldest son Talon, 22, who she shares with ex Cori Hopper, plus son Arlo, 17, and daughter Poet, 12, with ex-husband and fellow Canadian Shane Nicholson.
After winning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent Australian Women In Music Awards, Kasey revealed on Instagram that she was going to live in a caravan with current partner Brandon Dodd, 29, for the ‘rest of the month’.
Kasey rose to fame with the success of her first album The Captain in 1999 and has been a force in country music ever since.
After winning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent Australian Women In Music Awards, Kasey revealed on Instagram that she was going to live in a caravan with current partner Brandon Dodd, 29, for the ‘rest of the month’.