 Eric Bogle's Small Pot
One of Australia’s eminent singer-songwriters to undertake his final tour!?
Eric Bogle is probably best known for his song ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’, which confirmed its iconic status by appearing as a question in the Australian version of Trivial Pursuit! But he is far from being a one-hit wonder. Some of his other songs: ‘No Man's Land (The Green Fields of France)’, ‘Leaving Nancy’, ‘Now I'm Easy’, ‘Shelter’, ‘My Youngest Son Came Home Toady’ and ‘If Wishes were Fishes’ are now beginning to rival “Matilda” in the icon stakes.
After years of non-stop touring, which has included no less than eight tours of North America, 10 times round Europe and multiple Australian shows, Eric has decided that it is time to take it easy. Eric’s Bogle’s Small POT (Pension Optimisation Tour) will be his last extensive tour in Australia.
With 15 albums to his credit, appearances at every major Folk & Country Music Festival in Australia and overseas including Port Fairy, Woodford, Tamworth, Gympie Muster, Philadelphia Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Toronto, New Orleans, Vancouver, Edinburgh. You name it, he's done them all, and many times as well. A recipient of an Order of Australia medal for services to the entertainment industry Eric was also awarded a United Nations Peace Medal for his efforts, through music, to promote peace and racial harmony.
His songs have been recorded by artists as varied as Joan Baez, Mary Black, Donovan, Slim Dusty, John Williamson, The Dubliners, Peter Paul & Mary, Billy Bragg, The Pogues and The Dropkick Murphy’s just to name a few. The Fureys’ rendition of ‘No Man's Land’ (Green Fields of France) spent 26 weeks on the Irish music charts, including ten weeks at the #1 position.
Country Music Capital News correspondent Jon Wolfe said recently, “I recommend that if you haven’t seen him live, put it on your to-do list and immerse yourself in the majesty of Eric Bogle and his music.” Editor Mike Smith also comments “Bogle’s songs are what so strongly define this master songsmith. His latest (and 15th album) The Dreamer is again testament to this consummate communicator – incisive, eloquent and masterful. It’s what stands him apart from the crowd, yet brings him close to his audience” (Capital News feature article, April 2010 incl. Front Cover Image)
Eric Small Pot tour is proudly presented by Laing Entertainment in association with Square One Entertainment.
Eric will be a special guest on ABC Sydney’s Drive Program with Richard Glover on Tuesday April 27th.
Look and listen out for Eric Bogle in Capital News, Messenger Community News, The Murray Pioneer, The Sunday Mail, JB Hi-Fi Mag, Country Update, Rhythms Magazine, Trad & Now, WA’s Irish Scene, The Border Mail, Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, Blarney Bulletin, Tsunami Magazine, 2010 NFF Program, Simply Australia, ACMLA News and on 2GB, ABC Local Radio, Radio National and community radio nationwide especially 2BAY, 2OCN, 6NR, 3RRR, 2BLU, 3PVR, 2REM, 2BAB, 3INR, 4BAY, 3WYN, 2SEA, 2LVR, 2BAR, 2WET, 3SCB, 2EAR, 2RDJ, 6MKA, 1VFM, 1XXR, 2BAR, 7LTN, 4TTT, 4NSA, 4NAG, 4BCR, 3RPC, 3PBS, 3MBR, 3CH, 2CCC & 2MBS.
Both The Dreamer (RRR47) and Live at Stonyfell Winery (RRR48) are available at retail through MGM Distribution as well as Folk Trax, Trad & Now and directly from Undercover Music via mail order. Fans can also now download the best of Bogle’s back catalogue Singing The Spirit Home which has been released online through MGM.
Tour Dates: See the Gig Guide for dates and venues (top right).
More Information: Artist Page
 Gary Shearston
Gary Shearston returned to the stage in February with two shows in Sydney as well as an amazing house concert hosted by Greg & Lynne Hudson in the Blue Mountains, staged to the backdrop of one of the most torrential downpours in the area in living memory. That didn’t stop a healthy turn out of adoring fans that were treated to a spell binding show of Shearston’s repertoire spanning a wonderful five decade career.
Gary then appeared at the Museum of Sydney as part of the Martin Sharp Artist exhibition before returning to the Harp Hotel in Tempe.
Whilst his guitar picking fingers aren’t as nimble as they once were and by his own admission his hair is a little thinner and belly a little thicker, all three shows were a resounding success and testament that there is plenty of life in him yet.
Gary debuted brand new material at the gigs and in an interview and live performance on 702 ABC Sydney’s afternoon ‘Drive’ program hosted by Richard Glover which led to a host of listener calls including ‘Monica’ who exclaimed “Gary Shearston was to folk what Johnny O’Keefe was to rock!”
Moves are now afoot for a new album and national tour in the first half of 2011.
In the meantime, if you haven’t heard Gary Shearston’s latest double album The Best Of All Trades then you are missing out on what Capital News’ Keith Glass describes as‘a document that should finally place Shearston in the pantheon of our greatest song commentators.’
Look and listen out for Gary Shearston in Blarney Bulletin & the 2010 NFF Program.
Dr Peter Mills, Senior Lecturer in Media and Popular Culture at Leeds Metropolitan University in England is also doing an essay on Gary's work later this year.
The Best Of All Trades (RRR46), Here & There, Now & Then – An Anthology of Gary Shearston (RRR41) and Only Love Survives (RRR3) are available at retail through MGM Distribution as well as Folk Trax, Trad & Now and directly from Undercover Music via mail order.
More Information: Artist Page
Warren Fahey
A larrikin honoured with Australia’s top music prize (MEDIA RELEASE from the Australia Council for the Arts)
The nation’s most valuable individual music prize – the Australia Council Don Banks Music Award 2010 – goes to Australian folk icon Warren Fahey.
Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett, will present the $60,000 Australia Council for the Arts award in Canberra tonight at the opening concert of the National Folk Festival in front of Warren’s friends, family, peers and an audience of 2,000 people.
Warren’s humour, endless curiosity, irreverence and bottomless swag of songs, poems and stories have been acknowledged for bringing our collective history alive. His pioneering record company, Larrikin Records, and legendary retail outlet, Folkways Music, changed the face of music in Australia.
Chair of the Australia Council Music Board, composer Matthew Hindson says, ‘Warren’s passion for music and storytelling is contagious; he enthuses everyone around him. Something that stands out about Warren’s career is his ability to find different ways to share that passion.’
‘He is a highly respected writer, broadcaster, music publisher and performer. He has written more than a dozen books on music, folklore and history, and spent countless hours on the road collecting material – all with the aim of sharing this vibrant history with others. Warren has made an immeasurable contribution to the preservation of our folk heritage.’
In 1971, Warren hit the road in a Kombi Van with the slogan ‘Australian Folklore Unit’ emblazoned on the side, on a mission to tape record old bush songs, stories and oral histories. Over the past 40 years, he has gathered a collection of extraordinary material including songs that he still sings today.
Back in Sydney, Warren opened the doors of Folkways music in 1973. The store became internationally recognised as the destination for Australian music and specialist music from around the world, complete with a major mail order business and internationally popular annual catalogues.
Warren Fahey then established Larrikin Records in 1974, a label that has released over 500 recordings of Australian artists, including Eric Bogle, The Bushwackers Band, Redgum and Robyn Archer. Larrikin pioneered the release of Indigenous music with nearly 90 recordings and was the first record company to pay royalties to Indigenous communities.
Warren sold Larrikin Records in 1995 and took on the role of Deputy Managing Director at the Festival Mushroom Group for four years. In 2001, he established Undercover Music and Rouseabout Records.
He has also served as a Governor on the ARIA Awards Board and a Director at the Australian Recording Industry Association. In 2008/9 he was Chair of Folk Alliance Australia.
He has received the Order of Australia, the Centennial Medal and the Advance Australia Award and the Republican of the Year Award.
And Warren isn’t slowing down. He continues to spend his considerable energy furthering his collecting and research work and performing with his group, The Larrikins. In 2009, he released an ARIA nominated 10 disc collection of Australian folk songs and this year releases a further two CDs and a new music book.
As he receives this top Australia Council award, Warren’s passion finds yet another outlet with an extensive installation marrying Australian folk song with archival film, photographs and illustrations to create an immersive journey through the convict and industrial history of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. Damned Souls & Turning Wheels opens in May as a highlight of the 2010 Biennale of Sydney.
Warren was recently featured on ABC TV’s Collectors, ABC Radio National’s The Music Show and in The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald.
For more information about Warren and The Australian Folklore unit check out www.warrenfahey.com
Warren Fahey’s Diggers (RRH42), songs of the Australians at war is available at retail through MGM Distribution and directly from Undercover Music via mail order.
More Information: Artist Page
The Celebrated Knackers + Knockers Band
In May 2010 Rouseabout will be releasing two restricted triple-R CDs of bawdy songs by The Celebrated Knackers and Knockers Band.
Titled Sing Us Anothery, Dirty As Buggery and Rooted in the Country, the songs on the albums are very politically incorrect - racist, homophobic, sexist and every other taboo - and all collected from Australia’s rugby, bushwalking and rabblerousing past, and an important record of our disappearing colloquial language. These albums are sure to offend, shock (and entertain) whilst saluting our musical past as they represent the first comprehensive collection of Australian bawdy songs and verse.
The CDs are accompanied by scholarly (and hilarious) booklet notes and feature sensational cover art by James P. Gilmour who has also produced two flash cartoons that will be used as part of a viral email campaign.
It has been confirmed that The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers front man Major Bumsore (who bares a striking resemblance to our favourite larrikin Warren Fahey) made a brief cameo at the opening concert of the National Folk Festival in front of 3000 people including the Minister for Arts to rapturous applause!
Major Bumsore also appeared on ABC Radio National’s The Music Show on Saturday April 10.
More Information: Artist Page
Russell Morris
Check our gig guide for where you can catch Russell Morris live along with either Brian Cadd or Daryl Cotton and Jim Keays in April through to June.
Tour Dates: See the Gig Guide for dates and venues (top right). More Information: Artist Page
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