ARTnews.US [AMERICAN NEWS AGENCY]

By Lars Brandle | Billboard.com

Australian country singer Kasey Chambers has been told to quieten things down for a while after she was diagnosed with small nodules and inflammation on her vocal cords.

Over the next few months, Chambers will undergo vocal therapy to repair the damage and, ultimately, avoid surgery. As a result of the condition, she’ll postpone her Bittersweet Tour of Australia until early 2015 and her performance at the Nov. 28-30 Queenscliff Festival has been canceled.

“I’m so disappointed that I will have to postpone the Bittersweet Tour due to two small nodules on my vocal cords,” she comments in a statement. “Doctors have advised that I lighten my workload considerably for a little while to give them a chance to heal, but luckily, if I take their advice, no surgery is needed. Thank you for the support over the last year, with some rest and  ‘no yelling at the kids to clean their room’, I’ll be back on track in no time.”

The new concert dates can be seen here.

Chambers’ 10th and most recent album, the Nick DiDia-produced Bittersweet (Essence Group), opened at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart in September, her highest appearance since she topped the list back in 2006 with Carnival. She’s up for best female artist and best country at next month’s ARIA Awards. To date, she’s collected 10 ARIAs, 10 APRA Awards and 20 Golden Guitars and she’s had a pair of nominations for the Americana Music Awards.

Chambers has enjoyed modest success in the U.S. Her sophmore album, Barricades & Brickwalls from 2001, reached No. 104 on the Billboard 200 and she has landed six entries on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart

Chambers and her husband and collaborator Shane Nicholson shocked their fanbase when they announced their separation in April 2013 after eight years of marriage. It had been a creatively impressive relationship which earned the pair kudos as the king and queen of Australian country music.

Reference:  Billboard.com By Lars Brandle