We received an email from Dave Eyles in Mackay North Queensland recently. Dave has been presenting a bluegrass music program on regional radio for some time. The station he broadcasts on is My105.9FM.
We asked Dave to give us some background, particularly how he became involved in bluegrass music, and a little information about his radio program.
First let me introduce myself. My name is Dave Eyles. I have been a resident of Mackay for some fifteen years.
Growing up I had pretty normal musical tastes, until one day I walked into my local music shop and on sifting through their instructional DVD’s, I found Steve Kaufman’s Flatpicking Banjo Tunes. Now I don’t know what made me buy it, but the moment I played it, I knew this was what I had been looking for. This music was special to me and it was real music, played by real musicians. Since that time, I have been listening to everything that I could get my hands on. I have also been trying to learn as many tunes as I can – so many tunes so little time.
This experience got me thinking. I had been doing a sports show on a local indigenous community radio station, up to that point. I thought it was my duty to try and promote bluegrass music and to get people to really listen to what most people thought was just hillbilly music. Thus, Dave’s Bluegrass Breakfast was born.
MY-105 is a country station broadcasting out of Mackay in Queensland. The station reaches out to Sarina in the south and to Proserpine in the north,. The station’s reach will soon be extended to take in Airlie Beach and Bowen, thanks to a generous grant for a new transmitter from the Queensland State Government.
My program airs on Sunday mornings at 8:00am and runs for an hour. I generally record the show on Saturday mornings. The program typically features a variety of artists from Norman Blake, Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, along with more contemporary artists such as Lonesome River Band, Chris Jones, Daily & Vincent, Chris Thile and Rhonda Vincent.
I really enjoy Australian Bluegrass groups such as the Davidson Brothers, who have a big future. I also like to listen to progressive bluegrass and Newgrass. I like steel-string sessions which include anything with a bluegrass feel.
I’d like to play more Australian music and would like to invite any band or artist that wants to get their music on the airwaves in our area to get in touch with me either through My105FM or send me an email at Dave@hotmail.com
0 Comments