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This website brings you the latest Australian country music news. News releases can be sent to news@countrymusicbulletin.com.au |
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Col and Luke feature on film Aussie country stars Col Hardy and Luke O’Shea feature on a special film released by Sutherland Shire Council in Sydney in conjunction with Australia Day 2021.
Titled “Our People, Our Places, Our Shire” the short film “celebrates the Sutherland Shire, its amazing people, natural environment and First Nations heritage”. Together with local talent, iconic Sutherland Shire locations are highlighted, capturing “the heart and soul of the Sutherland Shire community,” according to a spokesman. As well as Col and Luke, the film features local artists Caravãna Sun, Kim Sheehy, Mark Vincent and a young trio comprising Amelia Heaven, Billie-Rose Brotherson and Gabrielle Daggar. Weblink – www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxIYJ7h1PAM. Barry goes Country Greenfields – the new album released by Bee Gee Barry Gibb has a distinct country flavour and feel.
The new album – full title Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol 1 – features a slew of well-known country acts including Aussies Tommy Emmanuel, Olivia Newton-John and Keith Urban. A number of US based country acts also feature with Barry in the album of collaborations, like Sheryl Crow, Alison Krauss, Little Big Town and Dolly Parton. Barry, who turns 75 this year, says he has personally held a not-so-secret passion for bluegrass and country music. On the album, Keith joins Barry on the classic I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You, Olivia features on Rest Your Love On Me while Tommy joins Little Big Town and Barry on the recording of How Deep Is Your Love. Barry is joined by Dolly Parton on Words, Sheryl Crow on How Can You Mend A Broken Heart and Alison Krauss on Too Much Heaven. Weblink – www.barrygibb.com. Vale – Colleen Trenwith Colleen Trenwith, the talented award-winning violinist who featured strongly in country music as a member of New Zealand’s Hamilton County Bluegrass Band in the 1960s and ‘70s, has lost a battle with pancreatic cancer.
In her role at the University, students considered their time in Colleen’s classes as a highlight of their studies and she was recognised as “a kind and giving teacher who went out of her way to work with and help those who were lucky enough to become her students”. Colleen originally trained as a classical violinist but switched to the bluegrass style when she joined the group that would become the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band in the late 1960s.
In 1973, the first year of the Golden Guitar Awards, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band (HCBB), signed to the EMI label, won the Instrumental Golden Guitar for Ring-A-Ding. In the following year, they had another wine, EP of the Year for their Live In Tamworth recording. With her husband Paul Colleen won a third Golden Guitar in 1976 for the duo’s cover of the American classic instrumental Orange Blossom Special. A visit to America in 1971 saw the band make appearances at several festivals and appear on the Grand Ole Opry where they were warmly received by fans and fellow musicians. Colleen moved to America in 2007 with the intent to study at East Tennessee University but quickly also became an instructor there. She eventually taught a wide range of courses including fiddle instruction, bluegrass and country student bands and artistic seminars. She earned an undergraduate degree from the university in 2015, which she then followed with a graduate certificate in Appalachian Studies in 2019. Fanny sweeps the Golden Guitars Fanny Lumsden dominated last night’s Golden Guitar Awards in Tamworth taking home five of the prestigious trophies.
The McClymonts and Luke O’Shea (both pictured at right) were successful in two categories each… The McClymonts in Contemporary Album of the Year for Mayhem To Madness and Vocal Group of the Year; Luke with Traditional Album of the Year for his self-produced There In The Ochre and Heritage Song of the Year with Kevin Bennett for Happy Australia Day. Male Artist of the Year went to Travis Collins with Wreck Me and New Talent of the Year was won by Melody Moko with Like Hank Would. Shane Nicholson & Leyon Millner took home Song of the Year with The High Price Of Surviving (recorded by Shane) while Bush Ballad of the Year went to Six Decks To Darwin by Dean Perrett (written by Dean with Kelly & Marion Dixon & Ryan Garland). The Instrumental Golden Guitar was won by The Weeping Willows for Prelude and Bluegrass Recording of the Year went to Finger Picking Good by Kristy Cox with Tommy Emmanuel. Amber Lawrence, Aleyce Simmonds, Kirsty Lee Akers & Dianna Corcoran won Vocal Collaboration of the Year for their cover of the John Williamson classic True Blue. John was celebrated during the night for his 50 year career milestone reached during 2020. Keith Urban had previously been announced as winner of the Top Selling Album Golden Guitar for The Speed Of Now Part 1. A major highlight of the night was the elevation of The Bushwackers to the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown. The band is currently celebrating 50 years after being founded in Melbourne in 1971 by Dave Isom, Bert Kahanoff, Mick Slocum and Jan Wositzky and gaining international recognition when their folk/rock sound became prominent in the world-wide revival of traditional song and dance. Later, Dobe Newton (vocalist from 1973) and Roger Corbett (1980) took up The Bushwackers mantle and the band started evolving with a strong country music flavour while still retaining their passionate focus on being Australian. Dobe and Roger accepted the accolade last night (pictured above) paying tribute to the numerous instrumentalists and musicians who have been part of the band through the decades. The Bushwackers plaque will be unveiled at the Roll of Renown in front of Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre at 11 o’clock this morning. The plaque concludes with the words: “A household name, The Bushwackers hold a unique place in the hearts of so many proud Australians”. Last night’s Awards were one of a number of events held during the period that would have been the 49th annual Tamworth Country Music Festival and were a slightly subdued affair with lower audience numbers due to Covid-19 restrictions. Finalists came together with members of the Australian music industry and some fans to celebrate Australian country music and to mark this year’s "unofficial" Tamworth country music festival. Weblink – country.com.au. Beccy to host Saturday Night Country ABC Radio has announced that multi Golden Guitar and ARIA award winner Beccy Cole will be the new host of its flagship country music program “Saturday Night Country” in 2021.
Beccy has been performing for more than 25 years and has multiple ARIA Top 10 Country and Top 40 mainstream albums to her name as well as 11 Golden Guitars, three gold-certified releases and more than a dozen number one Australian country singles. She started touring Australia when the program began nearly three decades ago and says she felt she had “never been without company” after a Saturday gig, no matter where she was in the country, listening to the show in that time. “As with the two previous hosts, I share an absolute passion for our genre as well as great enthusiasm for sharing new music from Aussie artists old and new. I am absolutely thrilled to be the new host of ‘Saturday Night Country’ on the ABC and to join the great team behind the show.” Beccy said. Beccy paid tribute to Felicity… “Felicity has left incredible country boots to fill, her level of warmth and dedication to entertaining the listening audience will be a hard act to follow but I’m ready to jump in and take on the role,” she said. “Saturday Night Country" from this year will go to air on ABC Regional Radio Saturdays from 10pm to 1am. It can also be heard via the ABC Listen app and on ABC Country (on digital radio and TV). Weblink – www.abc.net.au/snc. People's Choice winners The 2021 Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards were presented online from Tamworth, Australia's Country Music Capital, last night. Della H Brothers3 were successful again as Best Group and Graham Rodger took home Best Album for Knights Of The Saddle. Voters determined that The Silverline song Box Of Wood, written by Michael Lehnen, was Best Song while Benny Allen was presented with the Bush Ballad award for The Battle Of Nepean Point. Best Video went to Souly Us for Fighter and Tony Smith was announced winner of Most Promising Future Star. In the broadcast categories, Ray McCoy of Country Music Capital's 88.9 FM was named Most Popular Country Music DJ while Alan Gilmour's "Australian Country Songwriters Show" on todayscountry94one won Most Popular Country Music Radio Program. The event was live-streamed via facebook. A permanent video record of the show will be uploaded to Award sponsor Capital Country Radio's Youtube channel. Weblin – www.peopleschoiceawards.com.au. People's Choice Awards tonight The 2021 Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards will be presented online via facebook tonight. This year marks the 21st year of the Awards which were inaugurated in their current form in the year 2000 by the Australian Country Music Listeners Association.
When the Listeners Association wasn’t able to continue presenting the Awards after 2006, the Country Music Bulletin group stepped in and has been presenting them ever since, building vote numbers into the tens of thousands. Up until this year, building the quality and position of the annual Awards presentation event was also a major objective of organisers. Subject to the ever-present vagaries of technical bugs, this year’s presentation is expected to continue that growth, albeit in the on-line environment. Tonight’s presentation will be hosted by long-running Awards compere Steve Passfield and will feature a number of performances by finalists including Benny Allen, Ian Burns, The Souly Us and The Silverline (pictured above from left). The show gets underway at 7. The presentation will go to air on facebook. A link for the live-streaming event can be found on the Awards website. Weblink – www.peopleschoiceawards.com.au. TSA winners announced Winners in the annual Tamworth Songwriters’ Association (TSA) Songwriter Salute Awards have been announced. The scheduled Awards event last night was delayed due to technical difficulties but eventually went to air via Youtube and can now be viewed on-line at any time (visit the TSA website for link).
Local Heroes Song of the Year was won by Ian Burns, Mary Harrison & David Carter with Think Again. The songwriting team of Cass Hopetoun & Blake Dantier were announced as winners of the New Songwriter of the Year title with Typical Bride and also took home the Country Ballad Award for Room Full Of Strangers. Felicity Dowd was a double winner taking home the Novice Song Writing Award with Kevin Pye won the Lyrics Only Writer Award with The Sepia Soldier, Stan Lenz was successful in Gospel/Spiritual Song with That Little Church On The Hill and Tony Smith won the Bluegrass Song Award with Dirt Kids. Lucie Tiger took home the Country Blues Song Award with Gasoline while John Howie won Peter Coad won Bush Ballad of the Year with Two Old Bushmen and Traditional Song of the Year went to Wendy Wood with Do It All Over Again. Rodney Walker and Lynnette Guest were honoured with the TSA’s Tex Morton Award and Brian Letton was presented with the Song Maker title (Brian is pictured above receiving his accolade from the TSA's Lorraine Pfitzner). During the presentation, long-serving TSA member and committee member Athol Latham was presented with Life Membership. Weblink – www.tsaonline.com.au. The Winners 2021 The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) has released its annual Golden Guitar Awards compilation album.
Released on behalf of the CMAA by ABC Music, the album contains a total of 39 tracks. This year's Golden Guitar Awards are being staged under strict Covid-19 guidelines, including reduced audience numbers, but is still being designed as a gala showcase with live performances as well as awards. Announced performers are Kirsty Lee-Akers, Casey Barnes, Travis Collins, Dianna Corcoran (on-line), Amber Lawrence, Fanny Lumsden, The McClymonts, Melody Moko, Shane Nicholson, Luke O'Shea, Dean Perrett and Aleyce Simmonds. Kristy Cox and Tommy Emmanuel will join the Awards show via video link from Nashville, The Bushwackers will take the stage while a special tribute will celebrate John Williamson's landmark career. Both The Bushwackers and John are celebrating 50 years in the music business. Awards hosts will be Catherine Britt and Andrew Swift. The ABC is the official broadcast partner of the 2021 Awards show and fans can tune into their coverage via the live stream at www.facebook.com/LandlineABC or the live radio broadcast at https://www.abc.net.au/country. A 90-minute edited highlights program will air on ABCTV +iview at 12.30pm on Sunday January 24. The show will also be live streamed via www.tcmf.com.au/live and broadcast by KIX Country Radio. Weblink – country.com.au. Top selling Aussie country albums of 2020 ARIA – the Australian Recording Industry Association – has announced its 2020 top selling tallies and it’s no surprise that Keith Urban has taken out top spot with his most recent studio album The Speed Of Now Part 1.
Coming in at number two is The McClymonts Mayhem To Madness with Morgan Evans’ Things That We Drink To at number three. The Very Best Of Slim Dusty continued its incredible run of 1,130 weeks (or 21 years) in the chart to come in at number four, closely followed in fifth position by the soundtrack to the Slim & I documentary which was only released last year but this coming week will reach 20 weeks in the Australian Country Albums Chart. Keith Urban holds down sixth and seventh places with, respectively, Graffiti U and Ripcord. The CMAA (Country Music Association of Australia) Winners 2020 album, featuring finalists and winners from last year’s Golden Guitar Awards, is at number eight. Lee Kernaghan’s latest studio album Backroad Nation comes in at number nine while Adam Brand’s current album – Speed Of Life – rounded out the top 10 at number 10. Footnote: the Country Music Association of Australia has confirmed The Speed Of Now Part 1 will receive the Golden Guitar for Top Selling Album of the Year as part of the upcoming Country Music Awards of Australia. The other four finalists for the Award (in order of sales) were: Mayhem To Madness (The McClymonts), Speed Of Life (Adam Brand), Christmas For Cowboys (Troy Cassar-Daley) and My Mind’s Projection (Brad Cox). 2TM plays Aussie country for festival timeRadio 2TM – the company responsible for the creation and early growth of the Tamworth Country Music Festival – will celebrate Australian country music for 10 days this month, the period that would have been the 49th festival.
General Manager Nikki Kenwrick said: “We are extremely proud that we can still celebrate Australian country music with our listeners as usual and in a prolific way over the 10 days of what would have been the 49th festival. “With some of the biggest names in country music chatting to us over the 10 days, we will be keeping our audiences entertained with interviews and live performances both on air, and through our social media platforms,” Nikki said. The station will broadcast live the 49th Golden Guitar Awards from the Tamwortb Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre. Weblink – www.2tm.com.au. Catherine's Home Truths – an independent approach Catherine Britt’s latest studio album – Home Truths – will be released on Friday. After 20 years of being a major label artist this album is also a new beginning for the country star as it’s her first release as a completely independent artist.
“That’s something that – now as a parent of two young children – she believes is important – and something to pass on to them. “The independence was possibly largely due to the loyalty and passion of Catherine’s fans who have been with her on this ongoing journey of music and song. “A crowd funding campaign more than exceeded expectations and was a massive statement of the belief Catherine’s fans have in her, her songs and music.” Home Truths is significant also in that it was produced by Catherine and all songs were self written or co-written. It was mixed by Ted Howard and mastered by Jim DeMain. Three singles have so far been released from the album – I Am A Country Song, Fav'Rit Song (both of which have received widespread airplay) and the latest, Me. Catherine’s recording career commenced in 1999 when, at the age of 14, she released her first EP followed in 2001 by her debut album release. Since then she has released six more studio albums as well as a Best Of album. Over the course of her career, Catherine has collected a host of awards and accolades including the country industry’s highest honours, Golden Guitars for 2009 Female Artist of the Year, 2012 Single of the Year, 2013 Female Artist of the Year Award, 2016 Female Artist of the Year and 2017 Vocal Collaboration of The Year for her celebrated single F U Cancer. Six of Catherine’s albums released to date have been nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Country Album, a first for any Australian country artist. In 2010, she was presented with the the CMA (Country Music Association America) Global Artist of the Year award. Catherine has two album launch events scheduled, the first in Newcastle on Friday night, the second in Tamworth on Thursday January 21. Weblinl – catherinebritt.com.New festival to debut at RomaA new Australian country music festival has been announced for the Maranoa region of Queensland.
Organisers have announced an impressive line-up for the event featuring some of well known names in Australian country music plus a few “hot” rising stars… Darlinghurst, Pete Denahy, Jayne Denham, Angus Gill, Paul Greene, Bec Lavelle, Ingrid Mae, Melody Moko, Ben Ransom, Hudson Rose with James Jackson, Andrew Swift, Teak and Kaitlyn Thomas. Event organisers Bec Lavelle and Mathew Reynolds say: “It’s with big thanks to the generosity of Barry and Felicity Waldron of the Club Hotel in Roma that we are able to bring a two day festival of incredibly talented country music artists to town and we can’t wait to help celebrate the community’s resilience. “It’s our time to give back to the incredibly hard-working people of Roma and its surrounding communities. We want to start 2021 strongly by bringing some of the hottest music talent to the town to celebrate the hard work that everyone’s been putting in throughout the last year”, she said. Weblink – www.roadtoroma.com.au. People's Choice finalistsFinalists have been announced today for the 2021 Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards.
The hundreds of nominations received have been publicised during the last month and have now been reduced to the top five finalists in each of the 10 categories. And they are… For Best Female Vocal… Vanessa Bourne, Della Harris, Cass Hopetoun, Dianne Lindsay and Becci Nethery. For Best Make Vocal… Benny Allen, Ian Burns, Justin Landers, Graham Rodger and Tony Smith. For Best Group or Duo… Brothers3, Carter & Carter, The Long & Short Of It, Souly Us and The Silverline. For Best Album… Alive by Souly Us, Erosion by Emma Jene, Knights Of The Saddle by Graham Rodger, Wreck Me by Travis Collins and Young At Heart by Vanessa Bourne. For Best Song… Box Of Wood by The Silverline (written by Michael Lehnen), Fighter by Souly Us (written by Ben Mawdsley & Kate Appleyard), Lyin’ Cheatin’ Heart by Vanessa Bourne (written by Vanessa Bourne & John Castleberry), Saturday Night At The Local written and recorded by Graham Rodger and We’ll Never Part by Brothers3 (written by Alita Fahey, Makirum Fahey-Leigh & Ray McCoy). For Best Bush Ballad… A Campfire Waltz written and recorded by Justin Landers, The Battle Of Point Nepean written and recorded by Benny Allen, Fire Gazer written and recorded by Tony Smith, Running On Empty written and recorded by Graham Rodger and Six Decks To Darwin written by Dean Perrett, Marion Dixon & R Garland. For Best Video… Dirt Kids by Tony Smith, Drive Him Crazy by Gayle O'Neil, Fighter by Souly Us, Home Sweet Homeless by The Silverline and Shots by Cass Hopetoun. For Most Promising Future Star… Cass Hopetoun, Andy Penkow, The Silverline, Tony Smith and Trinity Woodhouse. For Most Popular Country Music DJ… Rhonda Francis (2SSR FM Sydney), Mark Eckel (Oz CMR Mildura), Allan Gilmour (todayscountry94one Central Coast), Ray McCoy (88.9 FM Tamworth) and Ron Montague (2RRR FM Sydney). For Most Popular Country Music Radio Station or Program… 88.9FM Tamworth, The Australian Country Songwriters Show (todayscountry94one), My Kinda Country (2SSRFM Sydney), OZ CMR Mildura and todayscountry94one Central Coast. Due to pandemic restrictions and cancellation of the Tamworth Country Music Festival as an event, this year’s People’s Choice Awards will be presented on-line during the same evening they would normally have been held face to face… Thursday January 21.. from 7pm. Details of the Awards presentation will be announced as details are finalised. Weblink – www.peopleschoiceawards.com.au. Vale – Marlon HoldenWidely respected Australian musician Marlon Holden – a member of the band SaltbushSix – has died following an almost year-long battle with cancer.
Joining as a young guitar player and singer in 1988, Keith still pays homage to the band that Marlon was an integral part of. When Keith decided to try his luck with a solo career, key members of the band, including Marlon, went with him to become his backing band. In addition to his many years working in a range of bands, Marlon worked in the building and construction industry and also dabbled in acting (he played Danny in David Williamson’s “The Club” in 1985). Together with fellow band members Allan Cameron, Peter Clarke, Darcy Crawford and Brad Hooper, Marlon came out of a number of years of hiatus from the original music scene and years of backing other artists in 2018 to record the first SalthbushSix album. “It’s with incredible sadness that we announce that our beloved bass player, brother at arms and the heart and soul of SaltbushSix, Marlon Holden (has) passed away…” band members said on their facebook page. “He has battled all year to fight his illness but finally succumbed to it… He was surrounded by love with his family by his side when he left us. A truly remarkable man who touched so many. We love you Marlon and your memory will live in our hearts forever. RIP mate.” The unofficial Tamworth country music festivalAn unofficial Tamworth 2021 country music festival is coming together. A relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions for regional NSW has led to a number of venues and organisations running events during the traditional festival period.
That means most of the larger events and activities, like concerts in the park and the Cavalcade street procession, will not be happening. But as pandemic restrictions continued to be relaxed, local venues saw an opportunity to reinstate some of their previous festival programming. And there will be a number of larger events at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Convention Centre including the Golden Guitar Awards, with limited availability of public tickets, on Saturday January 23. An unofficial festival program is being maintained by the Country Music Bulletin here which has just exceeded 100 individual events and activities with more to be announced. This number doesn’t not include the opening times of year-round country music attractions the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Wax Museum and National, Guitar Museum. Regular leading Tamworth Country Music Festival venues like Tamworth Services Club, Wests, Wests Diggers, North Tamworth Bowling Club, The Longyard Hotel, The Pub Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar at The Family Hotel and Joe Maguires Pub all have entertainment programs running. Three of the cities caravan and camping parks – Austin, City Lights and Paradies – have also organised a number of events. It is understood the usual larger Council owned special caravan and camping areas will not be available. In addition to the Golden Guitar Awards, the Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards and Tamworth Songwriters Association Songwriter Salute Awards will also be announced from Country Music Capital during the festival period but only as live-streamed events. Activities are running under the banner January Country Music Month, an on-again off-again promotion revived several years ago by Capital Country Radio for the month of January. The original January Country Music Month promotion ran in January 1977, organised by a dedicated committee which ultimatelyt formed into an organisation known as Coutry Music Australia, an early forerunner to the Country Music Association of Australia which wasn't established until 1992. |
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Although the Bee Gees are more associated with pop, dance and disco, Barry has explained in various interviews he has had a strong affinity with country music for many years.
Colleen, who more recently taught bluegrass, old time and country music studies at the East Tennessee State University, died on Sunday at her home in New Zealand.
From her Album and Alt Country Album of the Year winning Fallow (produced by Matt Fell), Fanny (pictured, top) also scored Single of the Year for the song Fierce, Video of the Year for Mountain Song/This Too Shall Pass and the major Female Artist of the Year accolade.
Beccy will step behind the mic from Saturday February 13, replacing long-time host Felicity Urquhart who took over from program originator John Nutting who held the reins for the program’s first 20 years.
arris was named winner of Best Female Vocal while Ian Burns won the Male Vocal category.
Country Song of the Year went to Ben Ransom with Night After Night which also won him the Alt Country Song Award. Ben also won the Country Rock Song award with Mamma Said.
The Winners 2021 features finalists (and ultimately also winners) from the Country Music Awards of Australia being staged in Tamworth on Saturday night.
Up to this week, the album had spent 16 weeks at or near the top of the Australian Country Albums chart.
The station will also conduct artist interviews, both in station and over the phone, for those artists who won’t be in the Country Music Capital this January.
It was a decision based on Catherine wanting complete control of her career, according to a spokesman, and having ownership of her own recording masters and copyrights.
Road To Roma will take place over two days, March 6 and 7, at the Club Hotel, Roma.
A number of new names are among this year’s list joining a few perennial favourites and a broad range of artists, writers and broadcasters. 
Recently revived as a working group, SaltbushSix played originally through the late 1980s and early 1990s as self-described “party band” The Ayers Rockettes with Keith Urban.
Tamworth Regional Council had no option but to cancel the festival proper last year over uncertainty surrounding on-going venue and crowd restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
