Hillbilly Moon

Hillbilly Moon
Promo photo from 1994, L-R Peter Wells, Paul Norton, Cletis Carr
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	acoustic rock, country rock, Americana
Years active	1994–1997
Labels	Pelican Records Australia, MDS
Associated acts	Rose Tattoo, Big Whiskey, The Runners
Past members	see members list below

Hillbilly Moon began as a side-project for three established songwriter-musicians, Peter Wells, Paul Norton, and Cletis Carr, that quickly became a full-time touring and recording band.

Formed in 1994, in Melbourne Australia, the original trio wanted to try a Traveling Wilburys style stripped back, acoustic approach to recording. The band quickly swelled, as Norton's wife, Wendy Stapleton, and Wells' writing partner, Lucy De Soto joined in.

Wells was best known from his pioneering work with legendary Aussie hard rock band Rose Tattoo, while Norton had enjoyed a string of top chart hits, including Under A Southern Sky and Stuck on You. Carr, fresh off the success of country-rock band Big Whiskey, was co-owner of an independent label, Pelican Records, with distribution set up via Mushroom Records. Studio time was offered through Pelican's co-owner, via Studio Centre (where television shows such as Neighbours was being filmed. The band began recording their debut with the notion that each writer would sing their own songs, with the exceptions being Carr's song Brakeman, sung by Norton, and Wells/De Soto's Lonely, in which all three took a verse. The three swapped bass guitar duties, and drums were added by Ken Farmer, a former member of the original Moonshine Jug and String Band, which later became Aussie superstars, The Angels (Australian band). Stapleton and De Soto contributed backing vocals, and a full album was quickly realised.

The debut album, titled Volume One, was released in December 1994. The band made their live debut at a sold-out show at Melbourne's Continental Club, adding bassist Tim Millikan (formerly of Divinyls and Concrete Blonde, and joined on the night by Gerry Hale on violin. The band toured Australia into 1995, and were frequent musical guests on the daytime television shows, Good Morning Australia, and Ernie and Denise.