Biography
Born in Australia as Audrey Auld, singer/songwriter Audrey Auld Mezera grew up in rural Tasmania amid the bush without access to television or radio. From a musical household she took classical violin lessons and studied dance, with her father performing jazz piano and her stepfather leading a jazz ensemble. As a pre-adolescent she relocated to town, where she absorbed 1970s pop music before embracing punk rock during her teenage years. While based in Sydney she trained as an actor before shifting into video and film production, ultimately spending six years working as an animator. She later left the city to begin performing country music, then returned to Sydney yet kept gigging, including a stint in an a cappella ensemble directed by Tony Backhouse. She subsequently assembled her own vocal group, the Cowbelles, and appeared with outfits such as the Harmony Grits and Audrey & the Rhythm Wranglers.
Seeking a producer for her solo songwriting, she connected with Bill Chambers of the Dead Ringer Band, father of Kasey Chambers, and the pair issued a four-song EP in 1997. That release preceded Looking Back to See, a collection of traditional country duets they issued on their Reckless Records imprint in 1998 under the billing Bill & Audrey. Mezera next composed and tracked the solo album The Fallen in 2000; once it secured U.S. distribution she toured America in 2001. Her second solo effort, Losing Faith, appeared in 2003, the same year she wed and moved to the United States, establishing residence in the northern California town of Bolinas. She issued the live recording Texas in 2004, marking the first project to carry her married name, Audrey Auld Mezera. A December 2005 concert with guitarist Nina Gerber yielded the double-CD live set In the House, which surfaced in May 2006. Her third solo studio album, Lost Men and Angry Girls, followed in February 2007.
Seeking a producer for her solo songwriting, she connected with Bill Chambers of the Dead Ringer Band, father of Kasey Chambers, and the pair issued a four-song EP in 1997. That release preceded Looking Back to See, a collection of traditional country duets they issued on their Reckless Records imprint in 1998 under the billing Bill & Audrey. Mezera next composed and tracked the solo album The Fallen in 2000; once it secured U.S. distribution she toured America in 2001. Her second solo effort, Losing Faith, appeared in 2003, the same year she wed and moved to the United States, establishing residence in the northern California town of Bolinas. She issued the live recording Texas in 2004, marking the first project to carry her married name, Audrey Auld Mezera. A December 2005 concert with guitarist Nina Gerber yielded the double-CD live set In the House, which surfaced in May 2006. Her third solo studio album, Lost Men and Angry Girls, followed in February 2007.