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News just in from the National Folk Festival is that Limited Early Bird Tickets are now available online from 9:00am Wed 1st Sept 2010.

One of the main acts confirmed for 2011 is one of the original Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys, Peter Rowan with his full band.

Others include:

• Old Time Fiddle Banjo & Vocal Maestro – Bruce Molsky – US
• Renowned Multi-instrumentalist-Vocalist – Joe Newberry – US
• 2010 USA Blues Music Award Nominee – Fiona Boyes – AUS
• Fiddle Legend – Rafe Stefani – Italy/US
• Doyen of Irish Song – Andy Irvine – IRE

Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th October

Festival organisers have advised us that planning is well underway for the 9th Annual Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival, celebrating the wonderful traditions of bluegrass and folk music.

This year’s Festival will take place across the weekend of Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th October. This is a wonderful time to visit this picturesque mountain town which is the gateway to the Gondwana World Heritage rainforest area.

Website – dorrigofolkbluegrass.com.au.

The Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival is a small, relaxed and friendly festival with something for all members of the family.  The Festival is held at the Dorrigo Showgrounds which features loads of space and shady trees plus the added advantage of camping which is readily available adjacent to the Festival site. This means you can see the Festival across the whole 3 days.

The Dorrigo Showgrounds have 2 Pavilions – the Main Pavilion where concert performances are staged and the Luncheon Pavilion -  where you can sit, relax and enjoy some delicious food, lots of music.

Some of this year’s artists include; The Junes, Kristy Cox & Band, the Ewan MacKenzie Duo, Mothers Of Intention, Innes Campbell & Present Company as well as the fabulous Josh Bennett & Parvyn Singh.

Early Bird Tickets – $65.00 – available until 1st October.
Whole Weekend Pass is $75.00.
Youth Passes – $20.00 – for primary & secondary school students

Neurum Creek Festival 10th – 12th September 2010.

Here’s a new festival which is not strictly a bluegrass festival but there appears to be plenty of bluegrass music on stage. Indeed, Innes Campbell is running a flatpick guitar workshop as part of the festival workshop program.

I asked Innes Campbell what can we expect from his workshop?

I tend to focus a lot on technique especially right hand as this is the one thing that is very hard to get from other sources – books, youtube etc and is very often overlooked or thought of as being of a lesser importance than the other skills.
I usually start with a tune, hopefully there will be a couple of members of the band to help me, then I will talk everyone through simple backup guitar starting very simply and progressing to include chord substitutions and bass runs - Innes Campbell.

The Neurum Creek Music Festival is a local acoustic music camping weekend held at Neurum Creek Bush Retreat in September each year. The festival’s aim is to provide an atmosphere of community and inclusion for the south-east corner of Queensland by showcasing the established and up and coming talents of this corner of the world, as well as featuring acts from around Australia and at times internationally.

Innes Campbell and his band Present Company will be performing at the Neurum Festival on Sunday  at 1:30pm.

Innes Campbell’s flatpick wprkshop is on Saturday at 11:30pm.

A highlight of this year’s festival will once again be tune and singing sessions. It’s a place to pick up new songs and tunes, to experience playing with lots of different people, and most importantly to have fun.  On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, the campfires will be stocked, stoked and ready to burn most of the night (if not all of the night) for those of you who really like to session, or just absorb the atmosphere - Neil Murray.

Neurum Creek Music Festival – 10, 11, 12 September 2010 – www.neurumcreekfestival.com

News Form Gold Coast Acoustic Music Club.

While at the Redlands Bluegrass Convention this past weekend I met Rob Saunders, chairman of the Gold Cosat Acoustic Music Club, who told me of a music festival planed for the Gold Coast this year.

The Annual Gold Coast Acoustic Music Festival is scheduled for 18th and 19th of September 2010. This year’s festival features  bluegrass bands including Coolgrass, The Stetson family, Redeemers, Hillbillygoats, Bushfire and Balyana.

There will also be workshops on flat-picking guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle.

Sat 18 Sep.

• All Sports Club from  5:00pm to -10:00 pm – $10 featuring Hillbillygoats, Stetson family, Mark Cryle and the Redeemers, Daniel Champagne, Tracey Davis, Mick McHugh

Sun 19 Sep.

• Free Concertat  Glennon Park and All Sports 12-5pm featuring Coolgrass, Phyllis Sinclair, Cheynne Murphy, Brisbane Ukulele Club, Bushfire, Karl Farren, Steve Carter, Balyana, plus more
• Workshops – $10 11-1pm: Guitar, Banjo, Songwriting, Mandolin, Fiddle.

Coast Acoustics meets every 3rd Sunday for open mic, jams and concerts. Please email or phone me on 0420861911 for more details.

Go to www.coastacoustics.com.au for further information or call Rob on 0420 861 911.

News from the Redlands Bluegrass Committee is – ‘I guess we are ready.’

Sue Dwyer called us this week and spoke about a number of new initiatives they have put in place as preparations continue for this year’s Redlands Bluegrass Convention to be held from 9th – 11th July.

Now in its 16th year the Redlands Bluegrass Weekend is organised by the The Redlands Modern Country Music Club which has now been operating for over 27 years.

Festival planning is almost done with some really exciting things happening this year.

Some firsts for the Convention are, A Tony Rice Tribute Concert on Saturday afternoon, a Huge All instrument Jam after the slow jam workshops and an Introduction to Bluegrass Jamming Workshop for beginners.

We are looking forward to seeing for the first time some new local bands in, Twisted Oak and Groundspeed who have some very talented musicians in their line up, and of course we can’t wait to see our special guests Midnight from Memphis. They are performing in the Saturday night Showcase concert as well as facilitating instrument workshops throughout the weekend.

This year we were overwhelmed by the number and quality of bands wishing to perform at Redlands and we think this year’s concerts will be the best yet. Featuring favourites like Bluegrass Parkway, The Davidson Brothers, Karen Lynne & Martin Louis, Pirate Brides, The O’Donnells, Innes Campbell and The Redland Bluegrass Boys, how could the concerts be anything but fabulous?

Redlands is always a great festival to make new friends, catch up with old ones and spend time with members of our extended Bluegrass family, which gets bigger every year. I guess that’s why we are ‘The Friendly Festival’ - Sue Dwyer, Redlands Bluegrass Committee.

Girgarre Moosic Muster – 7th, 8th and 9th January 2011.

Organisers of the Girgarre Moozic Muster have advised us of the dates for the 2011 muster.

this is one of the most amazing festivals in the country, this event kicked off in a time when their whole lifestyle is under threat from drought, the global economic crisis and future uncertainty. They encountered a group of people from the city, willing to help  create this amazing weekend event which most describe as nothing short of spectacular. the Moosic Muster has had an amazing affect on the town of just 200 people.

During the running of the Farmer’s Market, some 40 people aged from 10 to 70 volunteer to cook breakfast, squeeze juice, make tea and coffee, set up and pack up. People who had never volunteered before were driving over the district nailing up market signs in trees to advertise the day.

Some of the financial benefits for their community have included the funding of a community car, (so necessary as there is limited public transport), upgrading of the local CFA facilities and the local school and the Recreation Reserve also receives vital financial support.

The township of Girgarre hopes you can join them for the 2011 Girgarre Moosic Muster and Farmer’s Market.

Bluegrass and Old Time Country Music Convention 20th, 21st, 22nd August 2010

News from the folks at the Kelly Country Pick in Beechworth Victoria, is that this year they’ll include Western Swing at the festival through the fabulous music of the Dancehall Racketeers – featuring the Baylor Brothers. To complement this, they will be offering workshops in Swing Dance, Swing Guitar and Swing Fiddle – plus all of the other regular workshops.

Other acts confirmed for this year include: Coolgrass, The Strezlecki Stringbusters, Flying Engine String Band, The Stetson Family, Orange Blossom, Fat Chance and the Bluegrass Playboys, High and Lonesome, The Le Blanc Brothers Cajun Band, String Theory, Hotwired, The Lonesome Low, Charlie Horse, Chilli Strings, Mel and Bec, Appalachian Heaven and Andrew Clermont.

A small group of volunteers is required to help run the main desk, MC, and operate sound over the weekend. Complementary weekend passes available. If you are interested in volunteering, call Wendy Jackson on 0408 543 439. If you would like to be added to our mailing list Click Here.

Download the program here – BeechworthProgram

Other Information:

• Peter Hisco 0425 134 976.
• Weekend Tickets: $50.00
• Day tickets available

Submitted  by Wendy Holman, Qld.

Fingerstyle Pickathon took place in Imbil, Queensland on the 21st to 23rd  May this year.

Despite a couple of thunderstorms on the Friday, the weather was kind to us for the rest of the weekend and the first Fingerstyle Pickathon was judged a great success.

Pickers came from as far north as Bundaberg, and as far south-west as Toowoomba. There were no formal locations or set times for jamming. This relaxed atmosphere stimulated new friendships – folks wandered in and out of each others campsites with their instruments, keen to have a go at harmonising and even willing to play the same song again.

The majority of pickers were from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast – some of them professional-level musicians.  More skilled pickers were generous in sharing their knowledge and folks of all skill levels were able to join in.

Some comments received by email after the weekend:

• get-togethers like these are a great help to all levels of players
• very laid-back weekend with some nice music and good friends
• it was a really encouraging experience – everyone was so supportive.
• what a lovely bunch of people.
• we had so much fun!  Great concept and do we have to wait a whole year for the next?”
• liked the idea making it participants only.  My partner hates being oggled at festivals and won’t go but he had a great time at this event.

On the wish list for the next Fingerstyle Pickathon; a fiddle player or two. Thanks to all who participated and here’s to the next one.