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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2008
Tamworth Songwriters' Association (TSA) has announced finalists for its awards to held during the annual festival in Country Music Capital in January.
This year is the 31st year of the TSA awards.
In the Songwriter Salute Awards, finalists are...
For Traditional Bush Ballad Of The Year... A Saddle For A Throne by Graham Rodger, Australia Is Another Word For Free by John Williamson, Last Of The Packhorse Bagmen by Ted Egan, Took His Saddle Home by Peter Denahy and What Happened To The Handshake by Ben Jacobs & Shaza Leigh.
For Contemporary Song Of The Year... Dancing On The Darling by Sophie Clabburn, Hillbilly Road by John Williamson, I’m Doing Alright by Adam Harvey & Phil Buckle, Mistakes by Connie Neilsen and Strum by Manfred Vijars & Shaza Leigh.
For Country Ballad Of The Year... Don’t Ring A Bell by Ted Egan, Give This Hug To Daddy by Graham Rodger, His Little Shiralee by Ben Jacobs, Shaza Leigh & Lindsay Butler, Like Water by Lana Ross and The Ringing Of The Steel by Peter Denahy.
For Comedy|Novelty Song Of The Year... The Day That Tammy Took Me Tongs by Tony Williams, The Devil’s New Girlfriend by David-Dele Vergin & Nathan Warrick, Dogs Like Fishing Too by Anita Ree, Genie In The Bottle by Adam Harvey & Kevin B Wilson and Sort Of Dunno Nothin’ by Peter Denahy.
For Children’s Song Of The Year... Eurobooalla by Jeff Auschmann & Rod Slockee, Hootin’ Tootin’ Cowboy by Pete Smith, If I Were A Bird by Merilyn Steel, Louie by Anita Ree and Smile by Stan Lenz.
For Gospel Song Of The Year... Arrogance by Pat Drummond, God Is In Australia by Darren Johnson, Heavens Park by Lana Ross, My Mothers Bible by Alec Raymer & Johnny Kaye and Valley Of Tears by Doug Mcintyre.
In the TSA|Capital News New Songwriter Award, finalists are Celeste Clabburn with Take The Time, David Delle-Vergin with The Devil’s New Girlfriend and Picking Up The Pieces, Doug Mcintyre with Cowgirl Games, Connie Neilsen with Mistakes and Dane Sharp & Charles Daoud with Another Star In The Sky.
In the TSA National Country Songwriting Contest, the finalists are...
In the Amateur-Traditional section... Robert Cooper with Sadness In Her Eyes, John Loveridge with Cockatoos And Gidgee, Maurie Marion with Roly, Waves That Wash Far Shores and My Hometown and Magdalena McDonald with Fixing Fences.
In the Amateur-Contemporary section... Kathleen Coleman with One Piece At A Time, Dana Hassel with Two Steps, Christie Lamb with Back Again, Paige Jeffrey with My Mother My Friend, Warren Johncock with All Country, Magdalena McDonald with Never In A Million Years and Maree Stacey with Link In The Chain.
In the Professional-Traditional section... Doug Bruce with Just Three Minutes, Paul Jeffrey & Roger Corbett with The Boundary Rider, John Loveridge & Alan Caswell with Not Ashamed Of That, Maurie Marion with The Travelling Showman, Graham Rodger with The Almond Tree and Peter Simpson with Akubras In The Snow.
In the Professional-Contemporary section... Benn Allen & Mathew Arthur with Halcyon Day, Greg Atherton with Hometown Dreaming, Doug Bruce with I Know About Lonesome, Rick Capballo & Bill Diluiggi with Black Jezebel Road, Kristal Collins with Not Worth The Time, Karen Grace with Angels, Noel Hill & Darren Coggan with The Temple Of The Brave, Grant Morris with Walk Away, Maree Stacey & Stuie French with Field Of Flowers, Karen-Anne Waters & Ingrid Racz with Revenge, Jayson Watkin with Jacky Kneebone, Jayson Watkin & Vicki Watkin with Reginia Dore, Wendy Wood with Do You Want Love With That and Wendy Wood & Matt Scullion with You Don’t Know What It’s Like.
In the Junior section... Gennifer Altmann with A Little Rain, Jessica Hannan with Just Let Her Be and Christie Lamb with Blue Eyed Guy, A Girl Like Me and All Partied Out.
In the Lyrics Only section... Noel Downs with To The Jangle Of The Drovers’s Bells, John Norman with Droving Again, John P Toomey with Canberra War Museum, Merv Webster with The Times Have Changed So Quickly and A True Blue Home Grown Love Tale and Wendy Wood with The Tears That He Shed.
"It’s a mammoth task to collate and distribute to judges, assess the judges scoring for semi-finalists and redistribute in a second round for finalists judging," TSA organisers said. "This year’s National Songwriting Competition attracted 380 entries, the New Songwriter (award) just under 100, and, professionally, in the Salute Awards, slightly in excess of 180 (nominations were received)."
A number of categories in the songwriting competition have semi finalists rather than finalists.
TSA President Vicki Walsh said the finalists in these sections should be known by Christmas and would be posted on the organisation's website.
"I’d like to congratulate those songwriters whose work is selected in next year’s 2009 Salute Awards, New Songwriter and the National Country Songwriting Contest and to say thank you to all entrants. Entries were slightly up on last year and the standard extremely high," she said.
Winners of all awards, the songwriting competition and the Tex Morton "industry" award (for which there are no finalists) will be announced on Wednesday January 21 at West Leagues from 7pm.
Weblink – www.tsaonline.com.au.
Chart update – Kenny at number one
America's Kenny Chesney is at number one on the coming week's national Top 30 Country Tracks chart with his hit Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven.
The McClymonts' number one from last week – Favourite Boyfriend Of The Year – is at two, Keith Urban & Brad Paisley are at three with Start A Band and Adam Brand is steady at four with Blame It On Eve.
Catherine Britt's Little Wildflower is at five, Carter & Carter's Open Road is up two to six and America's Carrie Underwood is at seven with Just A Dream.
Alan Jackson is at eight with Country Boy, Tim McGraw is at nine with River Of Love while Tim McGraw is at 10 with Let It Go.
Bullet performers for the coming week include Tracey Killeen's Good Friends & Good Times (16 to 13), The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling (23 to 18), Jetty Road's Good Times (26 to 21), Amber Lawrence with The Mile (28 to 24) and Graham Rodger's A Saddle For A Throne (29 to 26).
New entries to the chart Drew McAlister, Allan Caswell & Matt Scullion with The Billy Joel Song (in at 28), Talia Wittmann with Ladylike (at 28) and 8 Ball Aitken's Hands On Top Of The Wheel (at 30).
The full chart can be viewed at www.countrymusicradio.com.au.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008
Star Quest finalists announced
Finalists have been announced for the Australian Bush Balladeers Association (ABBA) Star Quest 2009.
They are (pictured from left) Natalie Foley, Bec Hance, Sharon Smith and Trevor Tolton.
The Star Quest will be staged at Wests Diggers in Tamworth at 1pm, Monday, January 19 with special guests Rachel Richards (2008 Star Quest winner) and Daly Stephenson and hosts Lynn Manning and Anita Ree. The Charley Boyter Band will provide backing.
Winner of the quest will receive recording time for a radio single and major festival appearances around the country throughout their 12 months as winner.
More details on the 2009 Finalists can be found at www.bushballadeers.com.au/finalists.htm.
Meanwhile, ABBA has announced details of its extensive 2009 program at the Balladeers Homestead (Salvation Army Hall on the Sydney Road) during the upcoming Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Full details can be found on the ABBA website (see below). But, to name just a few, the Homestead will be hosting, in addition to balladeer showcases, concerts including Dinki Di Country On Tour, the Gospel Bluegrass & Ballads, the Hall of Fame Fundraiser, Hillbilly Hit Parade, Ladies Of Country, Reg Lindsay Memory Trail Show, the Shorty Ranger / Shirley Thoms Tribute Concert, the Slim/Bazza/Stan Tribute Show and Yodelling Spectacular.
Performers will include Greg Bain, Melissa Bajric, Owen Blundell, Jeff Brown, Lindsay Butler, Nathan Charlton, Big Mal Coad, Peter Coad, the Coad Sisters, Ernie Constance, Ashley Cook, Trevor Day, Laura Downing, Kevin & Joyce Durdin, Bob Easter, Col Edmonds ,Bluey Francis, Johnny Greenwood, Lynette Guest, Angela Hayden, Jim Hermel, Dianne Lindsay, Wave Jackson, Keith Jamieson, Kevin King, Matt & Dan Manning, Slim Newton, Noel Parlane, Julie Perandes, Dean Perrett, Ron Peters, Reg Poole, Anita Ree, Rachel Richards, Ray Rose, Hank Sasaki, Peter Simpson and Lindsay Waddington.
The Association will also hold its annual general meeting at the Homestead at 2pm on Saturday January 24 and will also be releasing Volume 10 in its The Balladeers series of compilation CDs during the Festival.
Weblink – www.bushballadeers.com.au.
Gary Burrows (pictured) has been named winner of the prestigious 2008 South Australian Industry Award "for his outstanding service to the country music industry".
The announcement was made at the weekend during the South Australian Country Music Showcase and Stampede at Gawler.
Also announced were winners of... the Rocky Page Memorial Scholarship – Tracey Rains; the APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Awards – Kristal Collins in the Traditional Section with Not Worth The Time and Twyce Dail in the Modern Section with Gypsy In My Heart. Twyce was also named overall winner.
A number of new awards were introduced this year... the People's Choice Award went to Kristal Collins, the Rising Star Award went to Nathaniel O'Brien and the South Australian Achiever Award went to Danny Hooper.
"The main objectives of the Showcase are to encourage the continued pursuit of excellence and professionalism in country music, actively seek and help develop new talent and also to focus both the Government and community attention on country music as an integral part of Australia's music culture," a spokesman said.
"Showcase provides a vital professional development opportunity for these talented new artists and gives audiences the opportunity to see and hear the stars of tomorrow.
"The Showcase concept has proved to be an exceptional opportunity to highlight and foster new talent in our state and genre. It continues to be the annual finale to artists’ progress through our talent quest program and a stepping-stone to future success in the entertainment industry."
Weblink – www.saccm.com.
Jasmine and Morgan on latest Forces Entertainment tour
Telstra Road to Tamworth winners 2009 and 2008 – Jasmine Rae and Morgan Evans – will join the troupe confirmed to tour with the Australian Defence Force to East Timor this month as part of the Forces Entertainment program.
Joining the pair will be comedian Lehmo and compere Aniela Hedditch.
The troupe will perform for our Australian troops for Christmas.
Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Jasmine, at just 20, has already achieved great success after winning the Telstra national country music talent competition this year, travelling to Nashville as part of her prize and performing at the CMA (Country Music Association) Music Festival.
Recently, she released her debut album – Look It Up – which has already achieved number two on the Itunes Country Chart.
Forces Entertainment is an organisation established to provide entertainment to Australian forces all over the world in regions including Afghanistan, East Timor, Iraq and the Solomon Islands. The sole aim of the program is to provide entertainment to Australian Forces that will improve morale by bringing "a little piece of Australia" to far-flung places.
Forces Entertainment has attracted various Australian performers who have embraced the initiative including Beccy Cole, John Farnham, Hamish & Andy, Merrick & Rosso, Missy Higgins, Julie Kember, Kylie Minogue, the Screaming Jets, Something for Kate, Felicity Urquhart and the Wolverines, to name a few.
Weblinks – www.jasminerae.com.au, www.myspace.com/morganevans1.
Saturday Night Country ratings
To round out a year of strong performances in all the major radio markets in Australia, John Nutting's "Saturday Night Country" has had an impressive end to its on air year.
In the just released figures from Survey 8 that covers all capital cities, the continued dominance of SNC can be seen. Apart from the Brisbane figures, that John says are low because of the overall station performance, "the other cities have performed well yet again for ABC Radio's 'Saturday Night Country'."
And John says he believes 2009 will again prove the strength of "Saturday Night Country" as Australia’s premier country music radio program.
The program is broadcast nationally on 75 AM and FM stations, internationally on Radio Australia and streams live via the its own website and that of Radio Australia.
Ratings figures were... Adelaide 13.4 percent, Brisbane 4.3 percent, Melbourne 10.6 percent, Perth 7 percent and Sydney 4.4 percent
Weblink – www. abc.net.au/snc.
Donna appointed Outback Tourism Ambassador
Donna Boyd has been appointed as 2009 Ambassador for the Regional Outback Tourism Organisation (ORTO).
And ORTO has chosen a song off Donna's Luckiest Girl Alive album – Take Time – for their advertising campaign next year. Donna has been in the Outback filming footage for the new music video which will be released in March.
"I have just posted a short video of me being video-ed (you know what I mean! I took my handycam along and got someone to hit record for me!) on www.youtube.com/donnaboydmedia, so if you have a minute, take a look."
As well as ORTO licensing Take Time, the Royal Flying Doctor Service has also taken Donna's acoustic version of Amazing Grace for their advertising in 2009, "which means we have been filming for the music video for Amazing Grace also," Donna said. "It’s been a busy year!"
Duncan Toombs is now working on editing all the footage and putting together two music videos which are scheduled for release to coincide with the launch of the ORTO advertising campaign.
"There is also talk of me co-hosting an episode of Escape with ET on Channel 7 which would see us touring the Darling River Run!"
Weblink – www.donnaboyd.com.
Melbourne based Andre Camilleri & The Broken Hearts will play their last show for this year on tomorrow night (December 4) at Melbourne's Great Britain Hotel in Richmond.
Andre Camilleri moved from Malta to Australia in 2000 where he continues to follow his musical ambitions. Having served his apprenticeship playing the streets of Berlin and Malta’s capital Valletta, wearing his trademark cowboy hat, his world is described as one of "nostalgic reflections, acute and often intimate observations, tales of heartbreak and disaffection, with the occasional dash of youthful optimism".
The band plays a blend of blues and country flavoured tunes covering a diverse range of material.
Andre Camilleri & The Broken Hearts are currently receiving "ample" airplay on ABC Radio, RRR, PBS Radio and numerous international stations.
They have performed at the Melbourne Arts Festival and have one album – One Fine Day & Other Songs – under their belt with a second due to be released early next year.
In addition to singer/songwriter Andre, The Broken Hearts are Paul Thomas (ex Weddings, Parties, Anything) on steel guitar, James Stewart (Overnight Jones, T-Bones) on lead guitar, Big Dave (Susannah Espie, Chris Wilson) on drums and Clark Fisher on bass.
Weblink – www.andrecamilleri.com.
Bulletin subscriptions now on-line
Readers of the printed Country Music Bulletin magazine can now sign-up for, or renew, their subscriptions on-line.
Subs are $15 for one year (four issues), $26 for two years (eight issues) and $33 for three years (12 issues).
The Bulletin is Australia's only dedicated country music industry magazine and will celebrate its 10th year in 2009.
It was launched in June 1999 following comments by artists and musicians at the Tamworth Festival Musicians' Headquarters during the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival in January that year about how little information there was "out there" especially for independent Australian country music artists.
The magazine is a valuable information source for Australian artists, musicians, recording studios, booking agents, festival organisers, radio presenters and all other areas of the country music industry
This website – countrymusicbulletin.com.au – is a broader offshoot of the magazine and has become the leading and most up-to-date source of Australian country music news in any medium.
Those wanting to subscribe to the printed magazine can click on the link in the left panel of this page, or go directly to www.countrymusicbulletin.com.au/subscribeonline.html.
CMC Top 50 – Steve hangs on to number one
Steve Forde retains the number one position on this week's CMC (Country Music Channel) Top 50 playlist with the clip of his song Life's Got Something Good For Me.
Jonah's Road edge up one place to number four with Giddy Up while Jasmine Rae jumps two places to number five with Look It Up and The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling enters the top 10 at number nine.
Adam Harvey's Genie In A Bottle is at 11, John Williamson's Hillbilly Road is up three to 12 as is Sinead Burgess to 15 with You Get Me.
Amber Lawrence jumps five places with The Mile to be at 16, Sara Storer's Sitting Here With Fay is up two to 17 and Markus Meier's In My Boots slips two to 18.
Bullet performers for the week include Kane Harrison (pictured) with The Moment (24 to 21), James Blundell's Good Wood (25 to 22) and Chuck's Wagon with Black Road (44 to 40).
This week's CMC Country Pick is Jetty Road with Good Times, a video shot in Nashville during their recent US tour.
The playlist can be viewed at www.countrymusicchannel.com.au.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008
2009 Toyota Star Maker grand finalists announced
Grand finalists for Toyota Star Maker 2009 have been announced.
They are 8 Ball Aitken, Kaylah Anne, Liam Brew, Michelle Cashman, Tori Darke, Bec Hance, Dean Johnston, Briana Lee, Amber Joy Poulton and Todd Stewart.
The traditional two tier judging system of 10 grand finalists being chosen from 20 finalists performing live to the judges earlier in the day, a system employed over most of Star Maker’s 30 year history, has been replaced for 2009 only with just one performance of the 10 grand finalists.
Organisers say this was to make way for "Star Trek – Star Maker’s Spectacular 30 Year Journey" being staged on the Sunday night of the event and has meant that a pre-judging committee had to select the grand finalists this year directly from all entries.
The selection process was held over a two day period in Country Music Capital and involved several leading industry figures. Chairman of the committee, and Compass Brothers chief, Graham Thompson said that choosing only 10 from more than 100 hopefuls was always going to be a daunting task and proved to be even more difficult than even he had imagined.
"Once again we have unearthed a group of very talented emerging artists," he said, "and selecting 20 was difficult enough but having to narrow the number to just 10 was very hard and meant some long discussions among the judging group. Everything from vocal ability, musicianship, professional experience and presentation of application was taken into account in the selection process.
"Our judging group was eventually unanimous in their selection and we are very excited that the final 10 represent a great cross section of the country music industry and we have certainly got a super competition in January 2009. The 90 plus that didn’t make the final 10 shouldn’t despair and in a lot of cases should try again next year. The level of talent was so high that I’m sure there are many that will achieve great things anyway."
Expanded details of the grand finalists will appear in the January issue of "Country Music Capital News" and also in the "Official Guide to The Tamworth Festival" program publication.
Toyota Star Maker 2009 will be held Sunday January 18 from 12.30pm at Toyota Country Theatre at TRECC (Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre). The grand final will include a performance by reigning Toyota Star Maker Talia Wittmann and other winners.
Tickets for the Toyota Star Maker Grand Final can be purchased on-line here, or by telephoning Tourism Tamworth on 02 6767 5300.
Weblink – www.capitalnews.com.au.
More Tamworth Festival tickets on sale
More tickets for shows during the upcoming Tamworth Country Music Festival are on sale from today (Monday, December 1).
These include a third wave of tickets available from Tourism Tamworth and tickets for shows at two of the Festival's major venues, West Tamworth League Club and Wests Diggers.
During the Festival, Wests will be featuring concerts by stars including Adam Brand (pictured top left) Catherine Britt, Beccy Cole (pictured top right), Dianna Corcoran, Steve Forde, Adam Harvey, Jim Haynes (pictured bottom right), Amber Lawrence, The McClymonts, Sara Storer (pictured bottom left, Melinda Schneider, The Sunny Cowgirls, The Topp Twins and many more.
Tourism Tamworth says demand for Festival tickets has been consistent since the on-line only presale from October 1 followed by over the phone and counter sales from November 3. More than 10,000 tickets have already been sold to the 45 shows on sale, they say, and a continual flow of enquiries and sales continue as early bird buyers get in to secure "the best seats" available.
The most popular concerts with the highest amount of tickets sold have been Troy Cassar-Daley and Friends, ABCRA (Australian Bushman's Carnival Rodeo Association) Finals Rodeo, the Songbirds in Concert (Beccy Cole, Gina Jeffreys & Sara Storer) and the Golden Guitar Awards. "A smaller event which is also proving a strong interest is the Country Music Festival Charity Ball," a Tourism Tamworth spokesman said.
Some of the shows on sale from today include Felicity Urquhart and Friends, the CMAA Bluegrass Party, the Australian Bluegrass Championships, TIARAs (Tamworth Independent Artist Recognition Awards), "Have A Chuckle with Champs" and the Shaylee Wilde Celtic Country Show.
"Its great to see the strong numbers of early ticket sales for the 2009 Festival" said Rebel Thomson, Tourism Tamworth’s General Manager. "It’s a clear indication that the... Festival is gearing up to be another big and successful event with high visitation."
On sale are many of the favourites of country music who return alongside many bright new artists. The star unearthing talent quests of Toyota Star Maker and Telstra Road to Tamworth, Star Trek – 30 Years of Star Maker concert, Australian Bush Laureate Awards and the annual Roll of Renown Concert.
"The variety of venues and the huge array of concerts and artists confirmed ensures there is something for everyone to experience," Rebel said.
Tourism Tamworth tickets can be accessed on-line at www.visittamworth.com or telephone 02 6767 5300. Wests and Wests Diggers tickets can be accessed at www.wtlc.com.au or telephone 02 6765 7588.
Australian album chart update – Kasey & Shane still at number one
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson hang on to the number one spot on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Top 20 Australian Artist Country Albums Chart this week with Rattlin' Bones.
Debuting at number two this week is The Best Of CMC 2008 compilation while Keith Urban is down one to three with Greatest Hits: 18 Kids and John Williamson's Hillbilly Road is down to four.
Shane Nicholson's Familiar Ghosts is at five, Steve Forde's Guns & Guitars is down one to six as is John Williamson's Platinum Collection to seven.
Adam Brand's Greatest Hits 1998 - 2008 at is down to eight, The Very Best Of Slim Dusty is steady at nine and The Sunny Cowgirls re-enter the top 10 at 10 with Dust Will Settle.
The compilation album Hit Country: Summer Party is at 11, Lee Kernaghan's Big Ones Greatest Hits is steady at 12, Adam Harvey's I'm Doin' Alright is also steady at 13 and Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs of Kev Carmody is at 14.
The Slim Dusty family's Reunion is up one to 15, The McClymonts' Chaos & Bright Lights is at 16 and Troy Cassar-Daley (pictured) is at 17 with Born To Survive: The Best Of....
John Williamson's True Blue – The Very Best Of... is at 18, Slim Dusty's Pubs, Trucks & Plains is at 19 and Jasmine Rae's Look It Up is at 20.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2008
New Zealand's Topp Twins have announced details of an extensive Australian tour through NSW and Queensland in January and February.
The tour will kick off on January 22 and conclude on February 7 (click here for details).
The twins, Lynda and Jools Topp, will launch the tour with four shows at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, "delighting audiences with their infectious comedy, traditional yodels and trademark soaring harmonies, armed with guitar, mouth harp, spoons, a cocktail of classic characters and songs from their latest Country Album of the Year Flowergirls And Cowgirls," according to a spokesman for the duo.
"The set list includes a rollicking version of Untouchable Girls, 2007's New Zealand Country Music Awards Country Song of the Year Tamworth and swampy ballads, rockabilly and howlin' blues."
Inducted into New Zealand's Music Hall of Fame, The Topps grew up singing to the cows and are now a global institution with accolades for albums, concerts and their prime time television series The Topp Twins and Kens' Hunting & Fishing Show.
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is also the title of their first feature film due for release in Australia and New Zealand early next year. "Lynda and Jools share their life experiences with honesty, wisdom and humour on the big screen, in an engaging performance/bio-pic from 'coming out' in the '70s to 'coming off' in 2006 when Jools was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Jools is an inspiration to others and credits her full recovery to the medicinal power of Lynda's yodelling of My Pinto Pony and I, her horses and the overwhelming support of fans."
Previous Topp Twins tours have sold out.
Weblink – www.topptwins.co.nz.
Chart update – The McClymonts hit the top
The McClymonts' (pictured) Favourite Boyfriend Of The Year takes over the top spot on the coming week's national Top 30 Country Tracks chart.
America's Kenny Chesney is at two with Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven while Catherine Britt's number one from the last two weeks – Little Wildflower – is at three and Adam Brand's Blame It On Eve jumps two places to number four.
The duet between Keith Urban & Brad Paisley – Start A Band – is up to fifth position, Markus Meier's In My Boots is at six while Ronni Rae Rivers' I Would Want To is down to seven.
Carter & Carter's Open Road is up another one to eight while America's Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood are at nine and 10 respectively with Let It Go and Just A Dream.
Bullet performers for the coming week include Lianna Rose with Jack (New Strings) (17 to 14), Tracey Killeen with Good Friends & Good Times (19 to 16), Jasmine Rae's Look It Up (21 to 17), James Blundell's Good Win (27 to 22), The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling (29 to 23), Travis Collins' Brand New Day (28 to 24), Steve Forde's Life's Got Something Good For Me (30 to 25) and Jetty Road's Good Times (new at 26).
Other new entries to the chart for the coming week include Amber Lawrence with The Mile (in at 28) and Graham Rodger's A Saddle For A Throne (at 29).
The full chart can be viewed at www.countrymusicradio.com.au.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2008
The South Australian Stampede will be staged at Gawler this weekend.
Starplex Gawler will host a dinner from 6pm on Saturday with the SA Showcase and Awards to follow at 8pm.
Sunday night sees the staging from 9am at the Gawler Racecourse of the Music 'n' Muster "non stop family entertainment". The day's activities will include "breakfast with the stars", ute muster, rides, stalls and headline act Travis List (pictured).
Local and national acts appearing through the weekend will include the The Beggars, the Davidson Brothers, Kristal Collins, Kristy Cox, Mahalia Fox, Heartland, Danny Hooper, John O'Dea, The Sherrahs, Anthony Stewart, the Wolverines and Talia Wittmann.
Also on the Sunday, the Davidson Brothers and Wolverines will be conducting a workshop.
Tickets can be obtained by telephoning 08 8351 1063.
sponsors for the day include the SA Government, APRA/AMCOS, Gawler Mitre 10, Allington's Outpost and Australian Audio & Lighting Technology.
Weblink – www.saccm.com.
Urban Country Music Festival "early bird" tickets on sale
"Early bird" tickets for the main concert of the 2009 QUT Urban Coun try Music Festival at Caboolture, Queensland, go on sale this Monday (December 1).
Headliners on the concert, to be staged Saturday May 2, will include Adam Harvey, Lee Kernaghan (pictured) and John Williamson.
Also featuring on the main concert line-up will be Travis Collins and Jonah's Road.
Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland said he had thoroughly enjoyed the main concert this year and was already looking forward to next year’s event.
"This is one you don’t want to miss," he said. "It’s a great night and Council is really proud to be behind organising this event."
The 2009 Urban Country Music Festival, to be held over the May long weekend, will feature more than 500 country music artists on 11 stages throughout Caboolture. There will be free concerts, events, markets, workshops and more.
Main concert "early bird" tickets will be available from any Moreton Bay Regional Council customer service centre or from the Festival’s website, www.urbancountry.com.au.
The Top five finalists for this year's Musicoz Awards have been announced.
In the Country category, the top five finalists are Col Finley, Jetty Road (pictured), Jonah's Road, Drew McAlister and Markus Meier.
Country acts featuring in other categories include Bob Corbett in World/Folk and Steve Passfield in Instrumental.
The 2008 Awards will be staged at the Home Super Club in Sydney's Darling Harbour on Tuesday, December 9.
Weblink – www.musicoz.org.
First artists announced for 2009 Golden Guitar Awards
Adam Brand, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, The McClymonts, The Slim Dusty Family and John Williamson (pictured) are the first artists announced as performers at the 2009 Country Music Awards of Australia (Golden Guitar Awards) presented by Jayco in January.
John is a finalist in six categories of next year's Awards while Kasey & Shane are finalists in five categories, The McClymonts are finalists in four while Adam has three finalist placings and The Slim Dusty Family one.
Over coming weeks, more artist and presenter details will be announced for the Awards which will be staged on Saturday January 24 at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre.
Weblink – www.country.com.au.
One of the foundation events of the famous Tamworth Country Music Festival – Buttercup Open Houses – will return in January 2009.
The 32nd anniversary Buttercup Open House concerts – recognised as the most popular free events of the festival by fans and artists – will be held on Wednesday and Thursday January 21 and 22 in the famous Tamworth Town Hall.
"These special concerts boast a variety of performers," say organisers Rural Press Events, "ranging from the superstars of county to rising stars and young talent including the Toyota Star Maker 2009 winner (to be determined on January 18), the Gore (NZ) Gold Guitar winner, Gore Junior Gold Guitar winner, the Queensland Champion of Champions winner, Victorian Champion of Champions winner and Toyota National Country Music Muster Maton Talent Search winner.
"Buttercup is one of the longest serving sponsors of the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Since 1979, Buttercup Open House concerts have provided Tamworth Festival fans with exceptional free entertainment."
Over the years, many stars, including Golden Guitar winners James Blundell, Carter & Carter and Troy Cassar-Daley have appeared on the stage of the Buttercup Open House concerts.
Due to the popularity of the event, Occupational Health & Safety now requires patrons to the event to be ticketed. Organisers have announced they will be issuing free tickets next year in various ways. A limited number will be offered to readers of "Country Music Capital News".
More free tickets, again limited numbers, will be made available to fans during the Festival, on Wednesday January 21. They will be available from various outlets. Further information will be released closer to the event.
Weblink – www.capitalnews.com.au.
Leading blues/roots and alt country exponents Kevin Bennett and Bill Chambers will combine their talents in an exclusive double-header at The Vanguard on Thursday January 8 in Sydney.
"The intimacy of the harbour city’s premier jazz, blues and roots venue and restaurant is the ideal setting for this rare and much lauded combination to bare their musical souls," a spokesman said.
"Chambers and Bennett bounce off each other easily, swapping song for song, line for line, as they’ve done on the few select times they’ve performed in this unique format."
Weblinks – www.myspace.com/chambersbill, www.myspace.com/kbandtheflood, www.thevanguard.com.au.
Morgan to join Taylor on tour down under
Morgan evans will join America's Taylor Swift for her first Australian tour.
Morgan first came to prominence as the 2007 Telstra Road to Tamworth winner. Since then, he has released a single and video – Big Skies – which became a chart hit and scored two Golden Guitar finalist nominations.
He has also performed with US superstars Brooks & Dunn playing to sold-out concerts nationally.
Taylor Swift’s new album Fearless debuted at number one on the Billboard Album Chart this week, the highest first-week total for any female artist this year. It was released last weekend in Australia and debuted at number one on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Country Chart.
While in Australia, she will perform at the CMC (Country Music Channel) Rocks The Snowys Festival (as will Morgan) in March.
Weblinks – www.myspace.com/taylorswift, www.myspace.com/morganevans1.
Australian album chart update – Kasey & Shane continue to dominate
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson continue to dominate the ARIA Top 20 Australian Artist Country Albums Chart this week with Rattlin' Bones at number one and Shane's album Familiar Ghosts debuting at number four.
Keith Urban and John Williamson retain the second and third positions with, respectively, Greatest Hits: 18 Kids and Hillbilly Road.
Steve Forde's Guns & Guitars slips one place to number five while John Williamson's Platinum Collection is steady at six and Adam Brand's Greatest Hits 1998 - 2008 at seven.
The McClymonts' Chaos & Bright Lights re-enters the top 10 at eight, The Very Best Of Slim Dusty is at nine while the compilation album Hit Country: Summer Party is new at 10.
Chasing Bailey's Long Story Short re-enters the top 20 at 11, Lee Kernaghan's Big Ones Greatest Hits is at 12 and Adam Harvey's I'm Doin' Alright is up to 13.
Troy Cassar-Daley's Born To Survive: Best Of is at 14, John Williamson's True Blue – The Very Best Of... is at 15, The Slim Dusty family's Reunion album is at 16 and Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs of Kev Carmody is at 17.
The Sunny Cowgirls' Dust Will Settle is at 18, Jasmine Rae's Look It Up is at 19 and Slim Dusty's Pubs, Trucks & Plains is at 20.
CMC Top 50 – Steve hits the top
Steve Forde (pictured) takes over the top spot on this week's CMC (Country Music Channel) Top 50 playlist with the clip of his song Life's Got Something Good For Me.
Jonah's Road is up three more places to number five with Giddy Up while Jasmine Rae's Look It Up is up two to eight and Adam Harvey's Genie In A Bottle – is at 10.
The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling is up another three places to 13, John Williamson's Hillbilly Road is up to 15 and Markus Meier's In My Boots is at 16.
The Road Hammers are up two places with Girl On The Billboard, Sinead Burgess is up to 18 with You Get Me, Sara Storer enters the top 20 with Sitting Here With Fay and The Davidson Brothers Long Distance Love Affair is at 20.
Bullet performers for the week include Amber Lawrence with The Mile (new at 21), James Blundell's Good Wood (29 to 25) and Victoria McGee with I Can't Wait (40 to 37).
The playlist can be viewed at www.countrymusicchannel.com.au.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2008
Entries for 2009 APRA Professional Development Awards close December 1
Eight talented Australian songwriters and composers will win cash and prizes to the value of $16,000 as part of the 2009 APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Professional Development Awards (PDAs).
The Awards are presented by APRA in conjunction with music organisations and institutions involved in the representation or education of Australian music writers. They offer cash, travel and recognition to music writers in the early stages of their careers.
Australian winners of the 2009 PDAs will receive $12,000 cash to advance their careers through study or travel plus a Gibson guitar, studio time at Trackdown Recording Studio and access to an on-line course provided by the award-winning Berklee College of Music. Each prize package will total more than $16,000.
The Awards were first awarded in 2001 to mark APRA's 75th Anniversary and were received so enthusiastically by the music industry that the APRA board decided to make them a permanent fixture on the cultural calendar.
In association with the PDAs, APRA also administers the Jessica Michalik Contemporary Music Endowment established by The Big Day Out producers. The Endowment gives a $10,000 development grant to a promising Australian songwriter or band, nominated by the producers of The Big Day Out.
Entries for the Awards close on Monday December 1, 2008. Winners will be announced in March.
Weblink – www.apra.com.au.
With the entry last week of their current single – Open Road – into the top 10 of the national Country Tracks Top 30 Singles chart, award-winning Victorian based duo have scored their 16th hit.
And, the video clip of Open Road is currently sitting at number 32 on the Country Music Channel (CMC) Top 50 playlist.
Meanwhile, Carter & Carter have announced they will stage "two big shows" during the upcoming Tamworth Country Music Festival in January, both at the city's new Capitol Theatre.
The first will be the "Carter & Carter Country Gospel Show" on Sunday January 18 from 2pm, with special guests Donna Boyd and Brendon Walmsley.
The second will be the "Carter & Carter 'welcome To Our Place' Concert" from 2pm on Tuesday January 20 with special guest, Golden Guitar winning Drew McAlister and other award winning surprise guests Mike Carr, Jordy McMillan and Talia Wittmann.
The duo is planning "a unique experience" at their Tuesday concert in Tamworth for the official launch of their DVD Carter & Carter – Unchained with a replication of a lounge room concert at their farm.
The show will feature some audio visual material interspersed with Carter & Carter singing their hits live "and will be just like sitting in Carter & Carter's lounge room, up close and personal," said a spokesman for the duo.
Weblink – www.carterncarter.com.
Chart update – Catherine's second week at number one
Catherine Britt retains the top spot on the coming week's national Top 30 Country Tracks chart with her song Lucky Girl.
The McClymonts' Favourite Boyfriend Of The Year is up another three to number two with Ronni Rae Rivers' I Would Want To steady at three and America's Kenny Chesney at four with Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven.
Markus Meier's In My Boots is steady at five while Adam Brand's Blame It On Eve is up three to six and Adam Harvey's Genie In The Bottle is at seven.
Keith Urban & Brad Paisley enter the top 10 at eight with Start A Band, Carter & Carter's Open Road is up one to nine and America's Tim McGraw is at 10 with Let It Go.
Bullet performers for the coming week include Lianna Rose with Jack (New Strings) (22 to 17), Tracey Killeen with Good Friends & Good Times (23 to 19), Jasmine Rae's Look It Up (25 to 21) and James Blundell's Good Win (30 to 27).
New entries to the chart for the coming week include Travis Collins (pictured) with Brand New Day (in at 28), The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling (at 29) and Steve Forde with Life's Got Something Good For Me (at 30).
The full chart can be viewed at www.countrymusicradio.com.au.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
New duet album for Karen and Pat
Karen Lynne has released her seventh album, "the long awaited follow up duet album with Pat Drummond", titled Long Journey Home.
"Unlike our first collaborative album," Karen says, "which was a selection of country flavoured 'love story' songs recorded in a very traditional country style, this project is a completely acoustic effort and a collection of true stories and their characters as well as some social comment songs of the type that Pat is well known for.
"It's a special album as it's kind of a celebration of our 10 years singing and touring together and everything – from the title; the stories collected on our travels; the CD artwork – containing tour photos and maps of places we’ve been, right down to our dedication of it to all the gig organisers, billets, community groups and venues, is a celebration of that time.
"The sensitivity of the stories is reinforced by wonderful acoustic arrangements of guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, even tin whistle and accordian! which gives the album a feel that’s much more on the 'folkier' side of Australian country music," Karen said, "and the real scary thing is that it's produced entirely and totally… by me.
"The song selection is quite vast, from Pat's wonderful character portraits in song, to a few very gentle and extremely personal efforts that reflect the very hearts and spirits of us both (and even a couple of songs that left us both feeling a tad naked)... but we think worth every cent.
"It contains some real gems including the duet versions of many of the songs we sing in the show that I've been getting requests for in the last few years, including David's Watch, Spirit Of The Southern Shore, Dreams, and a most beautiful Christmas Carol from the hand of Pat's brother Geoff, Carol Lights."
Weblink – www.karenlynne.com.
CMC Top 50 – Kid Rock at number one
America's Kid Rock (pictured) is at number one on this week's CMC (Country Music Channel) Top 50 playlist with the clip of his song All Summer Long.
Steve Forde's Life's Got Something Good For Me is steady at number two while Adam Harvey's number one from last week – Genie In A Bottle – is at six, Jonah's Road is up two places to eight with Giddy Up and Jasmine Rae's Look It Up enters the top 10 at 10.
The Davidson Brothers Long Distance Love Affair is at 13, Markus Meier edges up one to 14 with In My Boots, The Sunny Cowgirls' Dancing On The Darling is up three to 16, John Williamson's Hillbilly Road is at 17, Ronni Rae Rivers' I Would Want To is at 18 and Sinead Burgess is up two to 20 with You Get Me.
Bullet performers for the week include Kane Harrison with The Moment (new at 25), Kimber Sparks' Strait & Jackson (38 to 35), Victoria McGee with I Can't Wait (43 to 40), Simply Bushed with The Great Australian Love Song (45 to 41), 8 Ball Aitken with Hands On Top Of The Wheel (new at 44), The Flood's Come Tomorrow (28 to 24), The Distance with Comin' On Fast (30 to 27), James Blundell's Good Wood (34 to 31), Travis Collins with Brand New Day (new at 33), Carter & Carter's Open Road (37 to 34) and Chuck's Wagon with Black Road (new at 46).
This week's CMC Country Pick is The Mile by Amber Lawrence.
The playlist can be viewed at www.countrymusicchannel.com.au.
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