 Eric Bogle
‘National living treasure’ Eric Bogle is back in Australia after a mammoth 88 date tour of North America and the UK promoting his latest and possibly last studio album The Dreamer along with his first ever DVD Live at Stonyfell Winery which offers 21 songs including golden oldies and some newly written material.
The tour was a remarkable success with sold-out audiences everywhere he played. Australian audiences can now look forward to him gracing the stage in April/May 2010. As Capital News’ Jon Wolfe writes ‘if you haven’t seen him live, put it on your to-do list and immerse yourself in the majesty of Eric Bogle and his music’. Watch this space for more details.
Look and listen out for Eric Bogle in Messenger Community News, The Murray Pioneer, The Sunday Mail, JB Hi-Fi Mag, Country Update, Capital News, Trad & Now, WA’s Irish Scene, The Border Mail, Sydney Morning Herald, Blarney Bulletin, Tsunami Magazine, Simply Australia and on ABC Local Radio, Radio National and community radio nationwide especially 2BAY, 2OCN, 6NR, 3RRR, 2BLU, 3PVR, 2REM, 2BAB, 3INR, 4BAY, 3WYN, 2SEA, 2LVR, 2BAR, 2WET, 3SCB, 2EAR, 2RDJ, 6MKA, 1VFM, 1XXR, 2BAR, 7LTN, 4TTT, 4NSA, 4NAG, 4BCR, 3RPC, 3PBS, 3MBR, 3CH & 2CCC.
Both The Dreamer (RRR47) and Live at Stonyfell Winery (RRR48) are available at retail through MGM Distribution as well as Folk Trax, Trad & Now and directly from Undercover Music via mail order. Fans can also now download the best of Bogle’s back catalogue Singing The Spirit Home which has been released online through MGM.
More Information: Artist Page
 Gary Shearston
If you haven’t heard Gary Shearston’s latest double album The Best Of All Trades then to coin a phrase DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR.
As Capital News’ Keith Glass comments ‘Gary has here a document that should finally place him in the pantheon of our greatest song commentators.’ Sydney Morning Herald’s eminently respected Bruce Elder adds ‘Remarkable! Shearston’s songwriting and music have not been blunted by age’ whilst Simply Australia’s Jim Low concludes ‘the songs that make up this 2CD set are, as the title song says, definitely "sung from the heart". We live in uncertain times and these are songs of our time. They are honest responses to the world we live in and share.’
In some wonderful news for the Shearston faithful, Gary returns to the stage in February for some intimate acoustic performances commencing on Friday 5th February at a very special house concert at Lawson in the Blue Mountains put on by Greg & Lyn Hudson of Stairway to Kevin Records fame. For details or to book tickets, contact 0408 977 643 / 02 4759 1916 or stairwaytokevin@optusnet.com.au.
Gary then appears at the Museum of Sydney on Saturday 6th February at 2PM as part of the Martin Sharp Artist exhibition before returning to the reopened Harp Hotel in Tempe (the scene of his triumphant Anthology launch in November 2007) on Sunday afternoon 7th February.
Tour Dates: See the Gig Guide for dates and venues (top right).
More Information: Artist Page
Warren Fahey
In 2010 Rouseabout will be releasing two restricted triple-R CDs of bawdy songs by Warren and some of his musical mates. Titled Rooted in the Country and Rooted in the Country – Again!
The songs on the albums are very politically incorrect - racist, homophobic, sexist and every other taboo - and all collected from Australia’s rugby, bushwalking and rabblerousing past, and an important record of our disappearing colloquial language. These albums are sure to offend, shock (and entertain) whilst saluting our musical past – something Warren knows a thing or two about. The CDs will be released in conjunction with Warren Fahey's next book 'Sing Us Anothery, Dirty As Buggery', a detailed study of the bawdy song and poem in the Australian tradition.
Fresh from a Best World Music Album ARIA nomination for his 10 CD box set Australia: Folk Songs & Bush Verse released through ABC Music/Universal Music Australia Warren is also busy collaborating with video designer Mic Gruchy to produce six five minute films that will tell the story of Cockatoo Island from convict prison to dockyard and now parkland. They will be part of an installation in the old convict prison barracks on Cockatoo, and free to the public.
Fiddlers Feast
In 1996, on a stinking hot January afternoon, a line of impatient people queued up outside the tiny Uniting Church in Bridge Street. The hall quickly filled and the air-con groaned under the weight of the capacity audience. On stage, Pixie Jenkins, Marcus Holden, Andrew Clermont, Garry Steel and Ray Schloeffel whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their music and repartee.
It all started as a jam, a chance to play together; to explore the limits of fiddle music from around the world. Outside, while the twangs of the Tamworth Country Music Festival echoed down Peel St, the Fiddlers Festival (as it became known) took the audience on a musical journey to far off lands." We played everything from Bach to Bluegrass, Irish to Gypsy, Argentinean & Greek. We still do", says Marcus Holden. "How could we be called mainstream country? We don't even bother entering the Golden Guitar Awards these days!" The years rolled by and more fiddlers joined in. Marian Burns, from New Zealand, the Davidson Brothers (when they were just kids), Ian Cooper, Mike Kerin, Michael Lozin, Clare O'Meara, Mark Oats, George Washingmachine to name just a few. "We still have to limit the number of players; everyone wants to be part of the show!”
Then things kinda went berserk. We toured nationally for the Arts Council, went to Japan four times, Europe (met some fantastic French- Canadian fiddlers at this huge festival in Brittany), Malaysia, we even opened the Golden Guitar Awards in 2000! It's been a wild ride!
One of the saddest events was the passing of Ray Schoeffel. Ray's story is such a tale of triumph in the face of adversity. He was a ward of the state from birth and was taught by nuns. He was busking professionally at the age 13, having left his foster home. His ability to hold audiences in the palm of his hand was awe-inspiring. He said the fiddle was the only thing that kept him out of prison!
Various groups sprung up around what is now called Fiddlers Feast: The Golden Fiddle Awards, Hawkesbury National Fiddle Festival and Southern Cross Fiddlers to name a few and the FF started collaborating with other artists; Graeme Connors, Jimmy Little, John Waters, Warren Fahey etc.
"We spend our lives in the recording studio, working on albums for lots of different people from Jimmy Barnes and Diesel to films like 'Australia' and even plays like Tim Finn's 'Poor Boy'. If you look at what we do outside the FF, it's amazing! We work in so many diverse musical situations".
These days scheduling gigs for the FF takes real planning! We nearly didn't get to Tamworth last year with a high profile gig that came up at the same time in Manila (the Philippines that is.. not just up the road). Andrew Clermont spends most of his time in Europe. George Washingmachine and Mark Oats are also there for several months of the year as well. Clare O'Meara, apart working with Brian Cadd gets to feature on Australian Idol (when she can fit it in) and while Marcus Holden has been performing with orchestras around Oz and the United States with Scotland the Brave, Mike Kerin tours to Europe every year with the ACO.
So, it's official. The FF turns 15 at the 2010 Tamworth CMF. "We've come along way from playing in a little church......we're back playing in a small room! (The Scully Room at the Southgate Inn holds about 200 people). Actually we love the intimacy of smaller venues but we hope we don't have to turn people away!" See you all ... it'll be huge!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIDDLERS FEAST!
Tour Dates: See the Gig Guide for dates and venues (top right).
 Mic Conway's National Junk Band
2010 is shaping up as another busy year for Mic Conway & the National Junk Band.
Mic will perform at The Vanguard in Newtown in DUO mode with Robbie Long on Wednesday 13th January. Mic has really been enjoying playing in a more intimate mode - telling stories and going back to some songs from the Matchbox days and beyond. Audiences can hear every word ... all the corniness of his lyrics and jokes. The material is quite different and he is even writing new songs for the duo!
After having recently played at the Peats Ridge Festival, the National Junk Band will be doing some traveling in March - to both Melbourne and Tasmania where they will perform at the Forth Valley Blues Festival. Stay tuned, and keep an eye on their myspace site for details www.myspace.com/nationaljunkband.
Tour Dates: See the Gig Guide for dates and venues (top right). |
