australianbluegrass.com

Here’s a reminder from Terry Cook of the bluegrass jam session to be held at Palmwoods Bowls Club in Queensland, this Sunday 15th August from 1:30pm till 5:00pm.

Intermediate to advanced session from 1.30pm and normal session around 3:00pm onwards. All are welcome to come along and enjoy the music, there is no charge.

Just bring your own instrument, or just come along to enjoy the music,there is no charge. To get there exit to Palmwoods just past the Big Pineapple and then left again at Nicklin Rd before the railway at Palmwoods its then 200m on the left you cant miss it. The club is fully licensed. For any further details you can contact me – Terry Cook on Ph 54921727 or email  bluegrassjam@hotmail.com.

Dear Orphans headline show at The Vanguard this Sunday night

Sydney Bluegrass & Old Time Music get-together regulars, Dear Orphans, will be playing a headline show at The Vanguard in Newtown this Sunday night.

After releasing their long awaited debut album, Dear Orphans are capturing hearts across Australia with their endearing honesty and passion for their work. Melding innocence with purity of melody, while tapping into darker themes, Dear Orphans have drawn upon their country and bluegrass roots to create haunting songs that take a little while to get into, but persist in a way that other music doesn’t.

Dear Orphans are made up of Nick Payne and Lyn Taylor and will be appearing with their full band including Mike Kirkley on dobro and pedal steel, Richard Galuzzi on claw-hammer banjo and Lindsay Mar on upright bass.

Also on the bill are country act Indigo Belle and folk muso Jennifer Concannon.

Doors open from 6.30pm and tickets can be pre-purchased at: www.thevanguard.com.au

For more information on Dear Orphans and to join their mailing list visit their website at www.dearorphans.com.

Hi everyone – due to circumstances beyond our control, tomorrow night’s gig at The Vanguard has been postponed for approximately 4-6 weeks. We’ll know the new date by the end of next week and will let you all know as soon as we do.

To prevent disappointment for those who were hanging out to see us play, we are instead playing a house concert tomorrow night. It’ll be from 6.30pm at a location in the Eastern Suburbs. There are limited places, so if you want to come along you’ll need to email us at houseconcert@dearorphans.com. We’ll respond to let you know the address or we’ll apologise profusely that we’ve run out of room - Nick Payne, The Dear Orphans.

After a very successful weekend at the Redland’s Bluegrass Convention this month, David Long and his band Midnight From Memphis have been taking their music to various places in New South Wales and are soon to head in to Victoria.

Debbie Smith went to the concert in Tempe, and here’s what she had to say:

…amazing evening at ‘the Harp’, Tempe on Friday night. An hour before the band started all the seats were gone and the audience were sitting around the stage holding the best spots to see the show. I couldn’t get over the amazingly clear sound these guys can deliver live from one mic and their clever choreographed and highly entertaining movement mixing throughout their performance. All the guys gave so much and Scott Simontacchi’s ‘modern take/lyrics’ love songs to the blue grass style went down really well. The band’s CD’s were flying off the table during interval. The mixed audience ( my daughter was the youngest fan at 10 years) didn’t have much room to move, but basically it was mesmerised anyway.

Just a shame they are only doing one gig in Sydney. Please come back soon - Debbie Smith – NSW.

You can catch the band at the following locations:

• Thursday 22nd July – Briagolong Hotel, VIC – (03) 5145 5202 for bookings
• Friday 23rd July – Harvester Moon, Bellarine VIC – www.harvestermoon.com.au – Bookings online and at the door
• Saturday 24th July – Spencer’s Live, Melbourne VIC, www.spenserslive.com – Bookings online and at the door
• Sunday 25th July – Guildford Music Hall, VIC, 2:00pm -  Contact Steve:
• Tuesday 27th July – Workshop – Yinnar, VIC – (See contact details below)
• Wednesday 28th July 28 – Yinnar Community Hotel – Main St Yinnar, VIC – strzeleckistringbusters.com or email or Phone: 0427631217.

Midnight from Memphis – featuring David Long and Scott Simontacchi.

News from Ruth Hazleton at Across the Borders is that David Long is touring Australia post Redland’s Convention.

From Nashville, Tennessee, Midnight from Memphis is a unique and formidable combination of leading young artists, currently rendering their own version of acoustic American roots music.

Individually, they are all masters of their instruments and have collectively shared the stage with such iconic artists as Ralph Stanley, Sam Bush, Hazel Dickens, Ricky Skaggs and Mike Compton. Midnight from Memphis is stylistically enigmatic. They echo the great attributes of string band music from blues, old time music, and bluegrass in a style uniquely their own.

The Band:

Mandolinist and vocalist David Long was a 2006 nominee for the International Bluegrass Music Association Recorded Event of the Year for his album “Stomp” with Mike Compton, and is considered to be one of the new masters of traditional, bluegrass mandolin playing.  He has performed around the world, including two previous tours in Japan as well as Australia, playing at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and National Folk Festival in Canberra (2005).  The online journal Mandozine wrote, Today, a revival of traditional music is in full swing and gritty, soulful mandolin playing is again at the forefront. At the top of the list of new masters is David Long.

Guitarist and vocalist Scott Simontacchi has been a member of Nashville’s artistic community for over ten years.  His travel resume is extensive.  In his fifteen-year career, he has played all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Cuba, and Russia.  Revered by older musicians in Nashville, Scott is considered as having the stage charisma of Frank Sinatra, the song-writing ability of John Hartford, and the lonesome bend of Jimmy Martin.

Twenty-two year old Preston Schmidt is an emerging fiddle player who began playing at the young age of three in the unlikely state of North Dakota. He cites some of his many influences as Ron Stewart, Paul Warren, Hunter Berry, Aubrey Haney, Casey Driessen and Stuart Duncan.  Along with playing fiddle in Midnight from Memphis, he also currently tours with Brand New Strings and Karl Shiflett and His Big Country Show.

Eric Thorin’s musical ability is trenchant to say the least. He has played double bass in salsa band such as Kizumba and Conjunto Colores, toured extensively with rock act The Thugs, made up a third of the Flamenco/Indian ensemble Curandero, and toured with the Tony Furtado Band for four years. He was a member of steel band Pan Jumbies and continues to appear in various Jazz and Acoustic settings throughout the year. Eric has served as a clinician and guest artist at the Yellowstone Jazz Festival, Augusta Heritage Center, Grand Targhee Bluegrass Academy and Sorrento, BC Bluegrass School.

Tour Dates

JULY 2010
09 – 11 Redlands Bluegrass Convention, QLD
14 – Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba NSW
15 – Gallipoli Club, Newcastle NSW
16 – The Harp, Tempe NSW
17 – Merry Muse FC, Canberra ACT
18 – TBA
21 – Nerrigundah Hall, NSW
22 – Briagolong Hotel, VIC
23 – Harvester Moon, Bellarine VIC
24 – Spencer’s Live, Melbourne VIC
25 – Guildford VIC, TBA
28 – Yinnar Pub, VIC

Contact Ruth Hazleton for further details.

The Davidson Brothers will be appearing at the Corner Hotel in Richmond this month with Liam Brew & Brody Young.

You can book tickets now by calling the venue’s box office on 03 9427 9198 or visit www.cornerhotel.com

Date: Friday, April 23, 2010
Time: 8:00pm – 11:00pm
Location: Corner Hotel, 57 Swan Street, Richmond.

Australia’s Hottest Young Bluegrass Group in Melbourne.

Back from another successful US tour, Australia’s hottest Bluegrass group, the Davidson Brothers return to Melbourne for a rare performance. Originally from Gippsland, these National Bluegrass Champions recently won their 2nd Golden Guitar Award.

Known for converting crowds with their high-energy performances on banjo, fiddle & mandolin; their music has been referred to as the ‘Punk of Country’. The boys will team up with Compass Bros recording artist, Liam Brew from Qld. He’s been attracting fans to his style of contemporary country off the back of his 2009 Starmaker win.

Bèla Fleck’s Africa Project – The Arts Centre, Melbourne

The wonderful Bèla Fleck’s African Project featuring Oumou Sangarè, in the country for Bluesfest over Easter 2010, will play a theatre sideshow at Hamer Hall on Thursday 8th April.

New York City native Béla Fleck is regularly considered the premier banjo player in the world. He made a name for himself on countless solo and ensemble projects as a virtuoso instrumentalist unbounded by genre. The man has won eleven Grammy awards and has received 25 nominations in more diverse categories than any other musician in history. His latest album, Throw Down Your Heart is a companion to the award-winning documentary of the same name, which premiered in 2009. Motivated by a deep love of African music, the film follows Béla on a boundary-breaking musical adventure to explore the little-known African roots of the banjo and record an album.

Bèla Fleck plays:

• the Arts Centre, Melbourne on 8th April 2010
• the Sydney Opera House on 6th April 2010

Innes Campbell – The Muddy Farmer 14th January – 8:00pm to 11:00pm.

Innes Campbell is a guitarist with a love of singing, songwriting and playing great music with great musicians.

Innes’s festival appearances in 2009,  included Redlands Bluegrass Festival, The Gympie Muster, Dorrigo Bluegrass Festival and more recently the Woodford Festival, where he showcased his virtuoso bluegrass guitar chops, thoughtful songwriting and sense of humour.

Innes is the 2009 National Bluegrass Guitar Champion (Tamworth), and since arriving here in August last year he has hunted down the best bluegrass musicians Brisbane has to offer  in Luke Moller (mandolin), George Jackson (fiddle) and Mark Webber (bass).

The Bug features three booked acts along with occasional blackboards each week. 7.30pm every Thursday night at the Muddy Farmer Hotel cnr Ipswich Rd. and Annerley Rd., Annerley. Admission is free – meals are available.

Check out the website at brisbane-unplugged.org.