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Events

Boolarra Folk Festival – Stringbusters

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ssb2From the valleys and hollows of the surrounding fire ravaged mountains come the 14 piece Strzelecki StringBusters, Gippsland’s finest string-band ensemble, who will be performing tunes from their new CD ‘Scrubby Forest Run‘ at the Boolarra Folk Festival on March 7th.

After a hard day toiling away on the land, fighting fires, clearing trees and mending fences, these boys love nothing more than heading back to their little cabin on the hill, pulling out the guitars, mandolins, fiddles & banjo’s and singing songs of joy, hope, despair & misery. No electricity required, which is lucky as the cabin has none.

Lead by Yinnar’s Ray Negro, the SSB perform a wide variety of Country Blues, Old Time & Bluegrass music acoustically in the traditional single microphone format, and support a range of community activities. They can be found at their regular gig on the last Wednesday of each month at the Yinnar Pub, playing tunes that hark back to a simpler time when music was real, and whiskey came in a clay jugs.

Sydney’s Undiscovered Roots Venue Returns

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The Orphanage Sessions – returns with The Blue Preachers + The Orphans

Sydney’s undiscovered country/roots venue – The Orphanage Sessions – returns on Saturday 21st February with music from the sessions’ hosts, The Orphans, and their guests The Blues Preachers.

Founded in 2008, The Orphanage Sessions run on the third Saturday of every month from February through November and feature original, Australian, country/roots music. The nights are hosted by the alt-country duo plus pedal steel outfit The Orphans and features a different guest every month ranging from acoustic, finger-style blues through folk, traditional bluegrass and country rock.

The sessions run upstairs at the Mars Hill Café on Church Street in Parramatta. This intimate performance space features wooden floor boards and old lounges creating the perfect atmosphere in which to enjoy live music and to participate directly with those creating it. Those present can also grab a meal or enjoy ethical coffee from the café below.

The first session of the year kicks off with The Orphans playing a set followed by their guests The Blues Preachers playing authentic pre-war blues. The Blues Preachers features Brother John Morris on finger style and slide guitar with Captain Bluetongue (aka Doug Lyons) on numerous harmonicas. These guys have just returned from the Goulburn Blues Festival and are gearing up to tour as support for Diesel on his upcoming Project Blues Tours.

In coming months The Orphanage Sessions will feature Lucie Thorne, Karl Broadie, Caitlin Harnett, Lianna Rose, Nick & Liesl, Racz ‘n Waters, Heather Mandich & Southern Alliance, Ange Takats and Ronni Rae Rivers as guests.

To find out more about The Orphanage Sessions visit The Orphanage website

Ausgrass 2009

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Following some lengthy discussion with the Falling Leaf Festival Committee, Ausgrass 2009 has received the green light to proceed with a minor reduction in some aspects, money being tighter than last year, so some of the wish list has been trimmed. Unfortunately negotiations to alter the date failed and the event date remains Friday 1 to Sunday 3 May 2009 – the first weekend in May.

Funding for the Feature Bands had been reduced to two bands but this has been surprisingly helped out with the unsheduled inclusion of Bluegrass Parkway, who will be in Tumut only on Saturday night for the Ausgrass Concert and will be presenting their  1950’s Radio Show to a live audience and video cameras for a future DVD release. The rest of the of Bluegrass World will get to see this great event.

[Read more…] about Ausgrass 2009

Peter Rowan and Bluegrass Parkway in Freo

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peterrowan2Peter Rowan to Play WA’s Fly By Night Club

Bluegrass Parkway will be appearing with Peter Rowan at Fremantle’s famous Fly By Night Club on 18th March.

The Fly By Night Club has seen the beginnings of some of WA’s biggest bands including the John Butler Trio, The Waifs, Eskimo Joe, The Flairz, The Panics plus many more who have started off their careers at the club.

Bluegrass Parkway’s Paul Duff said The audience can expect a huge night of great bluegrass music including much of Rowan’s own material that has ascended to the classic bluegrass genre.  ‘Midnight Moonlight’, ‘Walls Of Time’ (co-written with Monroe), ‘Panama Red’ and ‘Land Of The Navajo’ are recognisable to thousands of bluegrass musicians and fans throughout the world. Peter was lead singer in Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys in the 60s and he really learned his craft in those early days. He’s a Grammy Award winner and has been nominated five times.

Paul advises that tickets for the Fremantle gig are available fromThe Fly By Night Club Website.

Rowan is now scheduled to play in a number of venues across Australia, taking him to Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.

Peter Rowan’s Tour dates:
Qld – The Old Brisbane Museum – 11th March 09
WA – Fly By Night Club – 18th Mar 09
Vic – Brunswick Music Festival – 20 March 09

Post Tamworth Party – Leichardt

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aaronNashville Fiddle player Aaron Till to play post-Tamworth party.

Aaron Till together with Mike Kerin – 2009 Australia’s National Fiddle Champ – and Stuie French, Chris Haig, Garry Steel and Tabea Anderfuhren will play at a Post Tamworth Party to be held at The Bald Faced Stag, 345 Parramatta Road, Leichardt on Sat. 7th Feb at 8:00pm.

Entry fee $15.00.

Peter Rowan – Brisbane Museum

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peterrowan1Peter Rowan is scheduled to play a number of gigs in Australia this year not the least of which will be at The Old Brisbane Museum Concert Hall on 11 March 2009.

Peter Rowan was one of the major cult bluegrass artists of the ’80s. Born in Boston, Massachusetts Rowan grew up surrounded by music of his parents and a great number of relatives.

Rowan formed the Tex-Mex band the Cupids during his time at high school. After college, he decided to become a professional musician. In 1964, after performing with Jim Rooney and Bill Keith, Rowan became a rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. He remained with them through 1967, leaving to join mandolinist David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera.

Additional Information – Concert details and Tickets

Fairbridge Festival – WA

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Several bluegrass and ol’ timey bands are booked to play this years Fairbridge Festival WA to be held from the 17th to 19th April 2009.

Organisers have announced that Camping and Ticket sales are now open and available online.

Like many festivals and venues in Oz, Fairbridge Festival organisers have enlisted the online ticketing services of Seat Advisor Box Office (SABO) to manage their online ticket sales.

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Some of the acts featured this year’s festival are:

The Lawnmowers from NSW. Listed as Australia’s hottest exponents of the cutting hedge of bluegrass, way out there.
Dev’lish Mary from Vic. A good time, old-time “jillbilly” music – from Western Swing to Appalachia.
Bluegrass Parkway from WA. Australia’s best bluegrass band in the eyes of many.

Bookings available online at Fairbridge Tix

More information available at Festival Website

Melbourne Guitar Festival

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mgfIn December last year we brought news of the Melbourne Guitar Makers Festival to be held later this year on 16 and 17 May. Our endless web trawling has revealed yet another event featuring the guitar. The inaugural Melbourne Guitar Festival is planed for the 23 to 25 January 2009.

This event aims to bring together guitar players, teachers, luthiers and anyone else with an interest or an involvement in the guitar. The festival plans a number of presentations, including five masterclasses, catering for all levels of student players, seven concerts, featuring soloists and ensembles, and workshops with luthiers and composers.

Here is an opportunity for guitar enthusiasts, artists and luthiers to meet, discover and learn. The Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music is the venue – 45 York Street Richond, Melbourne.

Additional reading: Melbourne Guitar Festival

Redlands Bluegrass Boys Play Madass

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redlands-bluegrass-boysThe Redlands Bluegrass Boys – Madass Folk Club – Thursday 15th Jan.

The Redlands Bluegrass Boys hail from the Redland Shire just south of Brisbane. Collectively the band can claim about 200 years of music experience.

Together they perform a range of traditional bluegrass songs and instrumentals, demonstrating tight vocal harmonies and driving instrumentals epitomised by the bluegrass style of music. The band features Allen McMonagle on guitar and fiddle, Bill Turner on guitar, Tom Steginga on double bass, Fred Hudson on banjo, and Neil Wills on mandolin.

Banjo Worshops – Illawarra Folk School

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sammartinbluegrassJohn Taylor, the disgraced former President of the Board of Directors of the National Folk Festival – more on that later – advises that on Thursday 15 January 2009, he will be conducting two workshop sessions at the Illawarra Folk School.

John will be conducting a morning session on Bluegrass for Beginners, with the afternoon session on Intermediate Bluegrass Banjo.

John says; The Beginners session will concentrate on the basics of bluegrass, looking at timing, rhythm, kick offs for tunes and songs, endings, back up and basic soloing. There will be a focus on jamming etiquette – which is the key to everyone getting the chance to participate. I’ve taken a few pointers out of the sessions of this sort that I have seen at bluegrass events – such as Mike Kear’s Safety in Numbers jam, and the morning beginners jam in the Session Bar at the National Folk Festival. If nothing else what I want to come out of it are people with a lot more confidence to join in a session, not get overawed and make a contribution.

The Intermediate Banjo session is designed for those banjophonists who have got a few tunes and/or songs under their belt, have a few rolls and licks that they can pull off and are branching out into wider techniques. This session will look at more advanced arrangements for the standard tunes as well as getting into building a worked out break for a song or tune, with the idea being to wean people away from sole reliance on tablature and stepping into playing by ear.

The Illawarra Folk School is a fantastic concept, and I am really excited about being a part of it in 2009. I’ve been to the Illawarra Folk Festival a couple of times when it was sited at Jamberoo, and I am looking forward to seeing the new venue at Slacky Flat in Bulli. says John.

Why Disgraced?

In 2008, after 3 years as Board President, John stepped down – but 2008 was not without controversy. It can be reported that on opening night 2008 NFF Security, Production Managers and assorted hangers on responded to a noise complaint from the campgrounds behind the stadium, in an area known as The Swamp. Upon attending the incident they found Chris Jacobs, Kevin Parsell, Pete Hisco, Dave O’Neill (the NFF Artistic Director) and Taylor in a high octane session. OK, it was 1:00am and Chris was belting out Blue Yodel #4, but heck, there were about 40 others enjoying the blast. Very embarrassing but, what was amusing, said Taylor was the fact that that the complaint was about a group of youths, aged in their teens/early 20s, playing music on a ghetto blaster. We thought it quite a hoot, given that none of us is on the right side of 40