Rob Potts Entertainment Edge

When Adam Harvey decided he wanted to record a duets album, he knew he didn't want it to be a contrived mix and match job that cynically teamed the country artist and the latest hot new thing on the charts.

It's about me getting on the phone and asking a bunch of people I know if they'll have a sing with me," he says simply. "It's been a very natural thing, people coming into the studio and having a laugh, which is how it should be."

Of course, it just so happens that Adam has an enviable little black book containing some of the country's best loved artists. "When I had the idea, I went to Sony and said, 'it'd be great if a person can pick up the album and know every song and know every artist on there'," he says. "So hopefully people won't look at it and think, 'Who's that?'

Unlikely.

For 'Both Sides Now', Adam has assembled the likes of Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, John Williamson, Shannon Noll, Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar-Daley, Wendy Matthews, David Campbell, The McClymonts, Leo Sayer, Renee Geyer, Tommy Emmanuel and Guy Sebastian for an unforgettable set of classic songs performed by classic Australian artists.

"Whenever Troy Cassar-Daley and I get together we seem to find a corner somewhere out of the way and sit down, get our guitars out and sing old country songs," Adam explains. "I said to him that we should record something and he said he'd love to. So I started to think, over the years I've had a few people say they'd love to record a duet or something with me and that's when the idea first popped into my head."

"Kasey Chambers is a great friend of mine so she was an obvious choice, and Beccy Cole and I have worked together and done duets in the past. I shared a dressing room with David Campbell on "It Takes Two". He's a great guy and we really got on well - he's really funny - so he's someone I really wanted on there. Then there are people I hadn't had a lot to do with that I wanted on there, people like Wendy Matthews and Guy Sebastian. I've met Guy a few times and I really loved his work and I think he's a great singer."

The title, taken from the Joni Mitchell song which Adam performs with The McClymonts, sums up not only the duet aspect of the album but also the fact that Adam is bringing a new dimension to songs from genres other than country.

It was his appearance last year as a mentor on TV's celebrity singing competition "It Takes Two" that gave Adam a taste of performing outside his chosen genre, as well as exposing the multi Golden Guitar Award winner to an even broader audience. "I think it was really good for me to do it," he says. "I was a fish out of water, and I look back on one or two of the performances and cringe. But it made me a better singer and I met some great people, like David Campbell. It taught me that it's okay to sing songs that you wouldn't normally sing, and before that I would never have thought of singing 'It's All Over Now' or 'Stuck In The Middle', I would have just thought; "country singers don't do that". But great singers are great singers and good songs are good songs, whether they're pop, rock, jazz or country so it was good for me to learn that."

Recording an album of classic songs also comes with the pressure of being able to come up with a version that will stand up against the original. "It's really tricky because you don't want to change it," Adam says. "I think the reason they were hits in the first place is because of how they were recorded then. And then you've got to do it justice as its always going to be compared to the original. By recording songs here that weren't originally duets, its possible to keep the elements of the original but still making them unique because of the two vocals on them."

The recordings are a revelation, and will undoubtedly be cross-over hits on radio and music TV.

Those who've heard the album are buzzing about the duet with Guy Sebastian. "Stuck In The Middle With You" is sure to impress and become an album favourite.

Wendy Matthews delivers an amazing performance on "Easy", the Commodores classic. "It's a hit all over again, I reckon," Adam agrees. "I've seen Wendy live, but when she came into the studio and sang it just made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. When she just nailed it in one take it was like, wow she can sing."

There's similar praise for Renee Geyer, who joins Adam on 'Have I Told You Lately'. "Renee Geyer is amazing," he says.

Another winning combination is with fellow boy from the bush Shannon Noll, who appears on the Rolling Stones track 'It's All Over Now'. "I think we had the song done and recorded within half an hour," Adam recalls. "Some of those songs don't require you to go over and over it, they're about catching the moment. If it's obvious that we're having a great time, that's it. Shannon's a bit of a rocker but he loves country music and I reckon he'd make a good country singer."

At the heart and soul of the album, though, is the connection that Adam makes with the guest artists. The passion everybody feels for the material can clearly be heard and felt by the listener.

"People don't call them records any more," Adam says. "But I call this one a record - it's like you're recording a moment in time. You get all these different singers from all these walks of life to come together and sing songs they wouldn't normally do on one album and it's just recording a moment."

- BOTH SIDES NOW by ADAM HARVEY is out now-