The Dearhunters

In 1998 The Dearhunters formed in Sydney, Australia, injecting the local scene with an additional strain of country-soaked pop. Jodi Phillis, once guitarist for Clouds, and Tim Oxley, previously bassist in The Verys, supplied the male-female vocal harmonies while Greg Hitchcock handled guitar and Raph Whittingham played drums, shaping the band’s set of hauntingly bittersweet ballads. Their first outing arrived as a 1999 split EP alongside The Hired Guns, after which Dave Aston took over the drum chair from Whittingham upon the release of the group’s debut full-length, Red Wine & Blue.