The directors of the Kelly Country Pick, Wendy Jackson and Peter Hisco, are starting to gear up for their 2nd Kelly Country Pick Music Camp at Beechworth in Victoria.
The Kelly Country Pick is a winter Bluegrass and Old Time Country Music Convention based in the historic town of Beechworth. Now in its 13th year, it attracts some 300-500 musicians and patrons.
Organisers had a great response for the camp last year. They ended up with 36 people from a range of locations indicating that people are certainly willing to travel a long way to participate in an intensive learning camp.
The idea for a camp came along last year by chance. We had spent a few months in Canada and the States and attended ‘Wintergrass’ in Seattle. We saw that many of the American festivals have intensive learning academies prior to their weekend events. I love the idea of immersing myself in an intense learning environment and having the chance to really try and move my playing to the next step. From this sprang the idea that maybe we could put on our own camp, prior to the Kelly Country Pick – Wendy Jackson.
This year, Wendy and Peter have been back to the US, where they have just spent a week at the award winning Steve Kaufman Bluegrass Camp in Tennessee with about 400 other pickers. They’ll be bringing back a host of ideas to help make this years camp even better than last year.
The camp this year has been extended by a day, to now start on the Tuesday and going right through to Thursday night. They will be a small break to allow everyone to prepare for the weekend festivities starting on Friday night.
The camp camp program will also extend into the evenings and include a performance component this year.
So, if you play any of the bluegrass/old timey instruments and want to do some intensive instruction, with some fabulous tutors and a supportive group of people, get on to the web site and register. They will be taking registrations till the end of July and still have spots available on most instruments – www.kellycountrypick.org
0 Comments