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Hardrive

Bluegrass Bonanza in Cranbourne

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Coolgrass
Coolgrass

BluegrassBonanza Folk Victoria and Berwick Folk Club have let us know of their plans to co-host a ‘Bluegrass Bonanza’ night in Cranbourne on Sat 7th June.

The artist line up includes Hardrive and Coolgrass with local clubs including Mountain Pickers Association, Peninsula Folk Club and Selby Folk Club  providing additional bands for the evening.

Hardrive
Hardrive

The venue is Balla Balla Community Centre, 65 Berwick Cranbourne Road Cranbourne in Victoria. Click on the poster to the right for more details.

Folk Victoria has been pretty dormant for the last few years. The new and invigorated committee is trying to get things moving again by building up a membership base and supporting live music.

Mike Compton, Hardrive and Bluegrass Parkway

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HardriveMike ComptonHere’s a concert not to be missed. Mike Compton, Hardrive and Bluegrass Parkway are all scheduled to play Fremantle on 9th March at the Fremantle Workers Club in Henry Street Fremantle. This is a rare opportunity to see two of the country’s leading exponents of traditional bluegrass music along with American mandolin virtuoso Mike Compton in Fremantle this March.

Show starts at 8:00pm.

Tickets: $25.00 in advance or $30.00 at the door.

Presales avaliable now at http://heatseeker.com.au.

BGPJohn Hartford once said that Mike Compton knows more about Bill Monroe style mandolin than the Father of Bluegrass himself. Mike more recently received Grammy Award acknowledgement for playing the mandolin on two award-winning projects, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”, Album of the Year and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, and “Down From the Mountain”, Best Traditional Folk Album, which included artists such as Dr. Ralph Stanley, Norman and Nancy Blake, Alison Kraus and Union Station, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Emmy Lou Harris, The Fairfield Four, John Hartford, to name a few. He was also part the sold out “Down From the Mountain” tours which included the original soundtrack cast and Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, the Del McCoury Band, and Rodney Crowell.

Victoria’s Hardrive Bluegrass Band are widely regarded as one of Australia’s foremost traditional bluegrass bands. They feature high-lonesome vocals and virtuosic instrumentals from a traditional line-up of banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and double bass played by experienced and award-winning musicians.

Fremantle’s Bluegrass Parkway are celebrating their 26th anniversary this year and are the longest continuously performing bluegrass band in Australia. The band is widely regarded as Australia’s most popular bluegrass act. They perform around a single microphone 1940’s style and entertain the audience with their three and four-part harmonies, great instrumentals and great rapport on stage.

 

2012 Harrietville Program Line up

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The Harrietville Festival this year promises to be bigger than ever with a host of local and international bands scheduled for the weekend event. As usual the weekend will consist of  a series of afternoon and evening concerts, day-time vocal and instrumental workshops, supper shows, open mic stages, Sunday Gospel concert, structured jams for less experienced players and new starters, shape note singing and lots of informal picking sessions.

The Thursday night features a community concert with Bluegrass band – Audie Blaylock and Redline as well as an Old-time mountain square dance – with live music from our old-time USA guests – all dances taught and called – no experience needed.

Here is a list of bands scheduled to feature across the four-day event.

  • Appalachian Heaven (Vic) – CD Launch!
  • Bellyache Ben & The Steamgrass Boys (NSW)
  • Bluegrass Parkway (WA)
  • Burnt Creek Deviation (NSW)
  • Chilly Strings (Vic)
  • Coal Valley (Vic & Qld)
  • Coolgrass (Vic)
  • Davidson Brothers (Vic)
  • Dear Orphans (NSW)
  • Fat Chance (Vic)
  • Faux Grass (Vic)
  • Flying Engine (Vic)
  • Four Jimmies (NSW)
  • High Times Stringband (Vic)
  • Hardrive Bluegrass Band (Vic)
  • Hunter & Suzy Owens (NSW)
  • Jane Germain & Ian Simpson (WA)
  • Karen Lynne Bluegrass Circle (NSW)
  • Monroe’s Mill (Vic)
  • My-T-Fine Stringband (NSW)
  • Nigel Wearne & The Cast Iron Promises (Vic)
  • O Willy Dear (NSW)
  • Old South (SA)
  • Ray Marshall & The Deputies (NSW)
  • Scott Collins & The Mid North (NSW)
  • Shiny Top Strings (NSW)
  • StompKats (NSW)
  • Strzelecki Stringbusters (Vic)
  • Tequila Mockingbirds (Vic)
  • The Kissin’ Cousins (NSW & Vic)
  • The Marketeers (NSW)
  • The Butcher Boys (NSW)
  • Wayward Sisters (Tas)
  • Wendy Jackson & Peter Hisco Band (Qld & Vic)

Also featured for the weekend is International line up of:

Bluegrass band – Audie Blaylock and Redline

 

Old Timey Band – Adam Hurt, Ben Hartness and Stephanie Coleman

 

Old Time to Cajun – Nadine Landry and Sammy Lind

Dave Hellens Talks Hardrive

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Fire in the Belly for Traditional Bluegrass –

Hardrive’s newest band member Dave Hellen’s bluegrass banjo extraordinaire shares with the Australian Bluegrass Blog the band’s latest news and why after over 20 years he’s still as passionate as ever about playing traditional bluegrass music. Hardrive Bluegrass Band have recently released a new CD and DVD and will also play the Redlands Bluegrass Festival, in Queensland 8th -10th July 2011.

Featuring high-lonesome vocals and fine instrumentals the Hardrive Bluegrass Band’s is a hard hitting traditional bluegrass ensemble.

Dave Hellens, from Newcastle has played with many top musicians both in Australia and the US and has won Australian banjo championships and came 2nd in the Rocky Grass banjo comp in 2008 (Colorado USA). He with us about his dedication to playing Traditional Bluegrass an d his experiences:

Bluegrass is similar to jazz in a lot of ways where you can play the typical standard tunes yet play them at varying levels of complexity and continue to refine your technique regardless of how long you’ve been playing them. There are so many tunes,  you’ll never know all of them and I’m always discovering new things in my playing and new possibilities even within the same songs.

If you’re going to stick to tradition then you need to capture that power, timing and hard-driving rhythm like the Hardrive Bluegrass Band can. Playing Traditional Bluegrass is a lot harder than it looks and it’s great playing with a band that capture the real essence of this style of music. I sometimes strike a perception in the general community that the banjo is an instrument that adds a kind of knee slapping novelty to a country song.  The Hardrive guys have high demands of their banjo player that would bury that perception 6 feet under.

Hardrive consists of Nick Dear on fiddle and mandolin, Dave Hellens on banjo, Lachlan Dear on guitar and Matt Ryan on double bass.

For more information see Hardrive’s website.

Hardrive Bluegrass Band To Play Redlands

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Redland’s Bluegrass Festival, Queensland 8th -10th July 2011.

Hardrive Bluegrass Band will be one of the many band line ups for this year’s Redlands Bluegrass Festival. Hardrive has been around for some time and their high-lonesome vocals and fine instrumentals their take no prisoners hard hitting traditional bluegrass has been captured in their recent live recording from the Old Guildford Music Hall which is now available on CD & DVD.

This recording pays homage to Bill Monroe, recorded like it was back in the day when radio programs broadcast live from the Grand Old Opry – Dave Helens.

Adopting a traditional bluegrass line-up the band is Nick Dear on fiddle and mandolin, Dave Hellens on banjo, Lachlan Dear on guitar and Matt Ryan on double bass. Hardrive is one of Australia’s favourite bluegrass bands and plays both traditional and original Australian songs and tunes in the bluegrass style. The band and band members have received accolades and awards in bluegrass and traditional country music in both Australia and the US.

Hardrive pays homage to the creators of the original, with their onstage presentation delivered in suits and hats. Their individual and collective musical mastery shines through on stage, which is why the band members and the band have received a range of Australian and the US bluegrass and traditional country music awards and accolades.

Don’t miss this band if you’re at Redland’s this year.

Pheonix FM and Star Community Cinema Fundraiser

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IMGSaturday week 24th October, commencing at 6 p.m.

News from Geoff Morris of Bendigo in Victoria is that the community radio station Phoenix FM and the Star Community Cinema are holding a joint fundraiser in Eaglehawk on Sat 24th October at 6:00pm

They are presenting two films, the first is a beautiful documentary tracing a journey by Bascom Lamar Lunsford through the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1965, while the second film is Song Catcher, a well-known film about a musicologist researching and collecting Appalachian folk music in the mountains of western North Carolina.

In between these films the audience will be enjoying a spectacular two-course southern -style meal which seems to have a lot to do with marinated chicken pieces in buttermilk for twenty-four hours then double dipping and deep frying them, plus corn and grits, followed by a dessert of sweet potato pie topped with strawberries and cream.

In addition to the meal will be entertainment by Australian bluegrass band Hardrive.

Personally I’m thrilled to be involved in putting it on as, apart from all related experiences and its fund-raising aspect,  it is bringing bluegrass music and culture to Bendigo in a way never done before. Please wish us luck – Geoff Morris, Phoenix FM.