Ashley Naylor

Ashley Naylor is one of Australia’s most loved guitarists, singers and songwriters. Described by leading Australian music journalist Jeff Jenkins as a ‘human jukebox’, Ashley was also named by Jenkins as his Australian Artist of the Year for 2010. Many of the plaudits for his musical exploits stem from his reputation as an exceptional live musician. Naylor’s musical career commenced in 1987 at the age of seventeen, when he played guitar for indie rock band The Swarm. In 1994 he formed EVEN with Matthew Cotter, whom he had played with in The Swarm, and bass player Wally Kempton of The Meanies. In addition to his work in EVEN, Ashley has been involved as Musical Director for the recent Bob Dylan Night series and the ARIA award-winning Triple J Tribute to Paul Kelly ‘Before Too Long’. He has performed alongside Tex Perkins in the Johnny Cash musical ‘Man In Black’ and Claire Bowditch in ‘Tales from the Life of Eva Cassidy’. Ashley’s talents have seen him touring with the RocKwiz Orkestra, an integral member of the Countdown Spectacular (2006) house band, member of The Bull Sisters’ (Vika and Linda) band, and of course lead guitarist for the past 5 years for one of our national musical treasures, Paul Kelly. Ashley’s most recent professional accolade is his inclusion in Australian Guitar Magazine’s May 2012 list of the ’50 Greatest Australian Guitarists of All Time’.