‘What Kind Of World’ is a soft protest song from Golden Guitar finalists Cornell & Carr questioning what sort of world we have created and are leaving for future generations. This single is the first release from Matt Cornell and Mike Carr since July 2019, and they’ve come out of the blocks with a thought-provoking, ‘FU’ to the year that’s been. It’s not only a look at 2020, but a reflection on everything that’s been happening in the world, and a song of hope, adaptation and optimism.
When two voices, the songwriting talents, and personalities of Matt Cornell and Mike Carr combine, it creates musical magic with these two award-winning artists. Cornell & Carr continue their journey together with the upcoming release of ‘What Kind Of World’, released on January 1. This is the first release under Ian “Dicko” Dickson’s management team and Cornell & Carr are excited to be working with someone they not only respect as a manager, but love as a dear friend.
The Cornell & Carr journey began years ago when they came together for a songwriting session where they discovered a history that went ‘way back’. Both Matt’s musician parents (Wayne Cornell and Cheryl Assange) and Mike’s musician father (Warren Carr) had previously performed together. Matt and Mike later joined Adam Brand and The Outlaws with fellow country music artists Travis Collins and Drew McAlister. This group went on to win the CMC award for ARIA highest selling Australian artist in 2017.
Mike is a two-time ARIA Award winner and a Golden Guitar winner and has written many of Australian country music’s biggest hits including songs for Adam Brand, McAlister Kemp, Adam Harvey, Drew McAlister, Aleyce Simmonds, Kaylee Bell, Kaylens Rain , and Melinda Schneider.
Matt has worked as Adam Brand’s musical director for more than a decade, has opened for international artists including Richard Marx and was a member of iconic rock band The Baby Animals, and has toured and recorded with Richard Clapton, Shannon Noll, Jenny Morris, Damien Leith, Matt Finish and Angry Anderson. He was nominated for two Golden Guitar Awards in 2018, was a 2014 CMC Music Awards New Oz Artist of the Year finalist, and was a finalist again, this time for Male Artist Of The Year at the 2017 CMC Music Awards.
In January 2018, Matt and Mike performed a one-off show together at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and the vibe on stage was such, that they knew they had something musically special between them. Before the year was out, they’d formed Cornell & Carr, and released their debut single, ‘Be In The Band’. They followed this with the album, ‘We Go Way Back’, and have since released two more singles, ‘Town Like This’, and ‘Things I Leave Behind’. ‘We Go Way Back’ garnered the duo two Golden Guitar finalist spots in January 2020.