James Ellis and the Jealous Guys + Small Town Romance at Thornbury Bowls Club

James Ellis and the Jealous Guys + Small Town Romance team up to put on a very special country music event at the Thornbury Bowls Club on Friday 6 June. Join them for one set each plus some special combined performances. 

Doors at 7pm. Music from 8pm. Presale tickets are $25 + bf ($30 on the door if still available).

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Flora Smith and Jim Arneman front country outfit Small Town Romance. With an uncanny ear for melody and an innate poeticism, STR blend country, folk and roots influences to create a sound that is uniquely their own. They know their way around a country song but make no apologies for speaking in an Australian voice.

Released in August 2024, Home Fires is the long awaited second record from Small Town Romance. A rich and ambitious collection of songs bursting with life and finely attuned insights. The record is twang forward (and accordion heavy) but knows when to swing and when to take it down a notch. Home Fires debuted at number 5 on the Australian Country Aria charts was selected as PBS Feature Album, 3RRR Feature sounds and ABC Country Spotlight album.

Since the Home Fires release, STR have toured the east coast playing high profile festivals such as The Gympie Muster, Dashville Skyline, Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Cygnet Folk Festival.  Add to that three CMAA golden guitar nominations, a Music Victoria nomination and a slew of high-profile festivals and supports, and it’s quite clear that STR are a band coming into their own.

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James Ellis and the Jealous Guys are a country and honky tonk band from Melbourne. The new album, The Party Might Be Over, features Nashville-based stars Chris Scruggs (Marty Stuart), Fats Kaplin (John Prine) and Lillie Mae and recalls the late 60s / early 70s Nashville sounds of Mercury / Smash’s Jerry Kennedy. 

They’ve made two other records: 2018’s It Ain’t Texas (But It Ain’t Bad), which won Best Country Album at The Age Music Victoria Awards; and 2020’s Country Lion. 

They’ve held a honky tonk residency in Fitzroy since 2018 and they’ve put on tribute shows to Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and Gram Parsons. They've also played Australian country music festivals like Tamworth Country Music Festival, Gympie Music Muster and Out on the Weekend and supported a bunch of great touring American country performers like Justin Townes Earle, Tyler Childers, Lillie Mae, the Deslondes and Leo Rondeau.