Courtney Barnett to headline new MTV Unplugged Melbourne series

Courtney Barnett is going to be on the telly.

MTV Australia has revealed that the Melbourne singer and songwriter will perform at Howler in Brunswick next month for a reboot of the Unplugged concert series.

Barnett joins an exclusive list of Aussie exports to perform stripped-back renditions of their hits.

Gang of Youths, Amy Shark, DMA’S and The Rubens have all played the Unplugged stage since the award-winning franchise was made new again. And now it’s Barnett’s turn.

“I’m looking forward to coming home and playing MTV Unplugged Melbourne with my wonderful band and a few very special guests,” said the six-time ARIA award winner.

“It’s been fun to re-arrange my songs and sometimes revisit where they started as demos. Gonna try a few new things.

“In my house growing up we had Nirvana Unplugged and Clapton Unplugged on repeat and I discovered a whole new world of music through the cover songs”.

MTV Australia boss Simon Bates told TMN that its programming is distributed to over 790 million homes: “An exciting opportunity for Australian artists to potentially reach a new global audience.”

And that viewership could be even bigger for Barnett and the Unplugged alumni.

MTV Australis is expected to get a second coming on free-to-air as part of Network Ten’s 2020 multichannel offering. A firm indicator that music is baking real dough, again.

Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit won her three ARIA Awards and garnered her nominations for Best International Female at the 2016 Brit Awards and Best New Artist at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

That year she was also named Australia’s songwriter of the year by APRA.

In 2018, she returned with her sophomore album Tell Me How You Feel, which included her hit single ‘Nameless’, ‘Faceless’ and saw her become the first woman ever to win Best Rock Artist at the ARIA Awards.

Barnett’s incredible live show has seen her grace some of the biggest festival stages and the most prestigious concert halls in the world. From Glastonbury to Coachella, Roskilde to Splendour In The Grass.

MTV reps also told TMN that this will be the first time Barnett and her phenomenal band have “stripped it all back” and presented her acclaimed body of work in Unplugged mode.

Filming will take place on October 22  in front of a live audience.