Phil Garland's News Blog

Phil's Latest News

2012-01-29T10:55:00.017+13:00

It's been far too long since my last posting and so much has happened in the last year not the least of which have been the damaging earthquakes felt throughout Canterbury. I was booked in to start recording a new album towards the end of February but as a result of the fallout from the big quake on 22 Feb I had to put everything on hold. It has taken some months to get the recording sessions back on track and I finally made a start in November. The new album Damper Duff and Doughboys is now finished and I'm expecting it to be released hopefully in time for a number of concerts planned around the country in March.

Another couple of albums from my back catalogue were re-released after being digitally remixed and mastered during the year so that I now have 9 albums available on CD. In some cases tracks were rescued, remixed and added to the original recordings. Those back albums, featuring new and improved covers, now available on CD are - the award winning Springtime in the Mountains from 1984 - Hunger in the Air, 1987 - Wind in the Tussock 1989, - How Are You Mate 1990. There are still 2 more albums in the pipeline and I'll keep everyone informed about them as and when they become available.

With so many entertainment venues unavailable it has become extremely difficult to find places to play, so much so that I've had to look further afield, taking my music to other centres on a more frequent basis. Immediately after appearing in Naseby again over Easter for the Bards, Ballads and Bulldust Festival I was invited to present a concert in Invercargill for the Southland Festival of Arts at the end of April - this was well attended and went off pretty well I thought. Unfortunately I couldn't fly out of Invercargill on the Sunday evening due to heavy fog and had to spend another cosy night in the deep south.

My band, Bush Telegraph, had only a couple of bookings to fulfil during the year - the highlight of which was a barn dance for Larcomb's Winery and it was just like old times for us, having spent some 4 years in residency for them a few years ago.

I flew to Auckland in October to give a concert for some corporate overseas visitors to the Rugby World Cup. The organiser of this event was an expat Kiwi living and working in London and this was a grand opportunity for some rugby fans from Ireland, England, Scotland, Dubai and Australia to hear some of our Kiwi songs, yarns and poetry. I must admit to feeling some trepidation approaching this sort of event, but it turned out to be a really great night with a large number of my books and CDs managing to find new homes around the globe!

After considerable delay and four years in the pipeline, my new songbook was finally published by Kiwi Pacific Records in early December (just in time for Christmas) and quite a few copies were sold in that initial burst. The songbook will give me something else to promote once my promotional touring gets under way in March. Speaking of books, the sequel to Faces in the Firelight has been with the publisher since March last year and I'm living in hope that it will see the light of day sometime in the next few months. Its title has yet to be settled but there are still a couple of options to consider.

I know this year will be much better than the last so it's onwards and upwards until next time.

Latest News

2010-12-30T12:54:00.003+13:00

It's been quite a while since I last delivered any news from my world of Kiwi folk music, so here's what's been happening this year.

In May I was invited to perform at the opening of the newly revamped Brunner Mine site on the West Coast. I was specifically asked to sing Down in the Brunner Mine in memory of all those miners lost in that tragic disaster of 1896. The very real dangers associated with coal mining on the West Coast have been highlighted once again with the recent tragic events unfolding at the Pike River Mine.

August finally saw the re-release of my 1987 Hunger in the Air album remixed and remastered for CD. Surprisingly this album is still the only recording of Kiwi traditional song in captivity. I would have expected more artists showing an interest and delving into our rich store of Kiwi folksongs. This still leaves a couple of albums from my Kiwi Pacific back catalogue to be re-released in company with those already completed.

The huge demand for barn and woolshed dances seems to have declined somewhat in recent times, so Bush Telegraph haven't found themselves quite so busy this year - only performing about every 4 - 6 weeks or so. However this has meant that I have been asked more frequently to present dances on my tod, teaching and calling to the music on CD. Perhaps the economic down turn had a hand to play with people not able to afford the full band. However it's not quite the same doing these gigs without the usuual band accompaniment.

With live performances being a little quieter than usual, I was able to sit down and write a sequel to Faces in the Firelight. The new book is similar in approach and format to the first publication highlighting a lot of collected folklore material not used in the first book. I managed to put the finishing touches to the new book in September, however it probably won't see the light of day until around the middle of next year. Stay tuned and I'll try to keep you all posted on developments as and when they occur.

I was honoured by a visit from Australian folklorist Rob Willis in early October and he interviewed me for the Australian folklore archive domiciled at the National Library in Canberra. It made a bit of a change to be on the other side of the microphone for a field collecting exercise. We had a good chat about Kiwi folklore and the similarities / connections with Australia and the results will eventually be deposited in Canberra, where hopefully they'll become available to any interested folk in due course.

I have spent the last couple of months sorting out material for a new album. I expect to start work recording this project within the next month or so - tentatively entitled Damper, Duff and Doughboys it will mainly feature folksong and music pertaining to rural New Zealand.
Finally The Phil Garland Songbook is slowly progressing towards publication, so all going well 2011 should see a result after a couple of years in the pipeline. I will endeavour to keep you all posted on the progress of the new CD and songbook in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, my best wishes for the forthcoming New Year.

Phil Garland

Southern Concerts

2010-04-11T09:52:00.000+12:00

Bush Telegraph on stage at Totara Estate

I set off on a mini southern tour during late March early April, beginning with a couple of appearances with my band Bush Telegraph at Totara Estate, Harvest Home, Open Day on Sunday 28 March. We shared the billing with the amazing Topp Twins before a huge crowd - larger than any I had seen there previously. It was a great day despite the bitterly cold wind and as soon as we had finished and packed up I was heading down to Dunedin for a solo spot at the New Edinburgh Folk Club that same evening. There were two guests performing that night, myself and another visitor Alistair Brown from Scotland. The smallish audience seemed to enjoy what I had to offer, which was primarily a few songs from my award winning Southern Odyssey album and a bit of a promotion for my book Faces in the Firelight.

Jan and I stayed a couple of nights in Dunedin with my brother Mike and his wife Margaret, who have recently moved down south. Margaret is curently undergoing a couple of years internship at Knox Church preparing herself for the Presbyterian ministry. Once she has finished there, they could end up being posted anywhere in the country. However it was good to see their little house and find them happy in these southern climes.

After our stay in Dunedin we set off for Gore, where I was to give a concert in the Eastern Southland Gallery. I have played this venue a few times before and the curator, Jim Geddes, always looks after me well. It was advertised that I would be promoting the award winning Southern Odyssey Project and associated heritage trails, so I felt obliged to sing a few more Southland songs from the album. There was a good turnout, but what really surprised me was how few of them knew anything about the project - they certainly loved the songs and the history behind them. Jim told me that the heritage trails were only just being finalised so the big promotional push is yet to come. Looks like I could well be returning south for a giant launching ceremony sometime in the near future. Jim took us out to lunch at Croydon airfield in Mandeville, where we saw Bert Pither's self designed and self built metal framed aircraft, which he first flew back in 1910 - an amazing feat and an amazing machine - I will have to write a song about his wonderful achievement. Apparently it is to be flown again in a couple of months for the centenary of that very first flight.

After a couple of nights stay in Gore we headed off to Naseby for the 5th Bards Ballads & Bulldust Festival over Easter. It doesn't seem like 5 years since I first started this festival in conjunction with Roch Sullivan of the Ancient Briton Hotel. The festival is coming along nicely and our daytime audience numbers were definitely up on last year. A real highlight is the popularity of the High Country Musterer's Breakfast - (not just with festival goers, but also with the Rail Trail visitors) so much so that we may have to repeat it each morning of the weekend. We certainly don't want to let the weekend grow too big - the venue is relatively small and we want to keep proceedings as relaxed and informal as we possibly can. This inherent informality is part of the festival's charm and seems to be what both guests and audience like most about the event. All in all another good time was had by all. The real icing on the cake was selling quite a few books (and CDs) in both Gore and Naseby and still the orders keep coming in. No complaints from me on that score!

I always enjoy my visits to Naseby, so it was with some sadness we said goodbye to all our fellow performers and mates before heading home to North Canterbury on Easter Monday. Thanks to all the performers and audience who made it such a memorable weekend and hopefully we'll see you all again next year.

Australian Tour 2009

2009-11-01T09:21:00.000+13:00

My book launch for Faces in the Firelight at the Madras St Cafe Bookshop was a roaring success - it was great to see so many familiar faces at this important (certainly for me) occasion. To date it has received some excellent reviews, which is very pleasing as I never really knew what sort of market there might be for such a book. Thanks to everyone concerned.

Hard on the heels of the launch I was off to Australia for yet another concert tour - this time to promote the book and my recently re-released albums, which haven't been available over there until now. I really feel right at home over there these days and can normally expect a good reception despite my trying to instill some sort of cultural appreciation of Kiwiana into the local audiences.

I started the tour off with a preview at The Bunker in Devonport, which is always a good night, although the audience was slightly down on normal - however the warmth of their reception more than made up for any
diminished numbers. I sold nearly all my copies of the book in Auckland, which augured well for the upcoming tour. Because I had found a suitcase full of books too heavy to lift, I had to start rationing any copies I was carrying. It meant I would have to start taking (paid) upfront orders much earlier than I would normally have expected.

I left Auckland at 'sparrows' the following day due to the airline (Pacific Blue) having decided to change their original schedule from a civilised departure time to first thing in the morning - the middle of the night for any self respecting musician. To cap it off they then decided to charge me $130 to carry my guitar, which I found pretty unfriendly and unecessary in the extreme! Other airlines seem to have a much better policy with regard to a second bag, especially when it fits the tools of the trade description. However they had me over a barrel as I had to take this flight so I could start the tour as planned in Brisbane the following day.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Brisbane to a glorious sunny day was when going through customs (in readiness for the new 'domestic' policy due to come into force soon) all Kiwi and Aust passport holders now go through the same lanes! We are certainly getting closer in many regards these days. Bring it on!

My first Brisbane concert was at the Kookabura folk club the next evening and the small venue was chocker as per usual. It's always an interesting venue to play and well run by Anne Infante , who was my organiser, guide and driver for much of my Queensland stay. I ran into an old mate (ex Chch folkie) John Stafford there and he turned up for a couple of performances during my stay. Two nights later I was presenting a house concert locally and the audience were again warm and receptive - I'm continually amazed by the number of expat Kiwis who turn up to my concerts in Oz and tonight proved no exception. Saturday night saw me performing at The Upfront Club in Maleny, a lovely little town high above the hustle and bustle of Brisbane. It's fast becoming a real alternative getaway for folkies, townies and lifestylers and one can see it's attraction immediately on arrival. The views of the surrounding countryside are fantastic. However the concert numbers were smallish - but apparently not as bad as some well known performers have experienced in the past. I caught up with a few supporters from earlier visits, among them Jacko & Karen Jackson, well known to Kiwi audiences for their Fiddlesticks combination. Anne and I set off mid morning heading to the next gig a few hours south at Redlands Bay, where another house concert had been organised instead of the normal club day. Unfortunately the club's usual venue had been double booked so it had been arranged as an outdoors afternooon gig complete with barbie, which always works well over there - in fact the whole time I was in Brisbane the temperature remained around 29 - 31 degrees. It's the one of the best times of the year to be in Queensland and I was loving it. The concert was well received with CD sales and book orders starting to mount up. No complaints from me! Afterwards it was back to my home base at Bridgeman Downs in Brisbane, where I was being wonderfully hosted by John & June Groom, a delightful couple and my gratitude to them knows no bounds.

I made a concscious decision to take the train from Brisbane down to Canberra via Sydney a few days later, because having flown the route previously I wanted to take a gander at the countryside for a change. This decision proved quite disastrous - about an hour or so into the journey we ran into the huge dust storm (the worst one in 70 years) that was sweeping the country - I couldn't see more than 50 metres either side of the train and it remained like that for the rest of the journey to Sydney. After overnighting with Margaret Walters in Sydney, I caught the train to Canberra for a concert at the Merry Muse on Friday night. Crowd numbers were extremely small here and no-one could really explain why - if it hadn't been for the support act and their followers there would have been hardly anyone there. However the show must go on and those that did come proved very welcoming indeed. Earlier in the evening I had watched a punter come through the door and go straight to my merchandise display, where he selected and purchased five CDs! I spoke to him later, asking if he was by any chance a Kiwi and he replied no, but he'd taken a look at my website before he came - liked it so much that he had to have some of my CDs. If only more people thought likewise!

I was off at first light on Saturday morning heading back to Sydney for my appearance at the Loaded Dog folk club in Sydney. Sandra Nixon runs this wonderful club and the audiences are great - they sing beautifully
without having to be asked or cajoled. Because of it's friendly and welcoming atmosphere I always find it a lovely place to play and tonight was no exception. The touring pressure was starting to build up with yet another earlyish start heading to Kiama (a couple of hours south of Sydney) for an afternoon house concert. I love Kiama, which is a beautiful seaside town and home to the O'Grady bunch headed by Yvonne O'Grady an expat Kiwi from the West Coast. Yvonne plays accordion in a bush band called No Such Thing, who specialise in playing the old bush tunes of Australia and I got to sit in with them at their rehearsal on Monday night. My concert was on Sunday 'arvo and despite many folk signifying their intention to be there - the cancellations started mounting up during the day mainly because of a huge wind storm that sprang up damaging houses, power lines and uprooting trees - Authorities were advising people to stay home so my audience numbers were halved as a result. Nonetheless the concert went ahead as planned and we all had a great time - I caught up with local folk legends John Broomhall and Phyl Lobyl at the concert. Afterwards I was able to relax for a few days and catch my breath before heading off to the 39th Uranquinty folk festival organised by the Wagga Wagga Folk Society.

I caught a bus to Canberra on Thursday in order to get a lift down to Uranquinty on Friday. The festival is held at the Uranquinty Domain, just 20 minutes drive south of Wagga Wagga - it is one of the longest running and most friendly festivals in the country. Alan Hunter is the organiser with a little help from just a few volunteers and he's finally realising the need for some sort of committee to help him run future events. The opening concert was held in the local pub and before an excellent turn out. There was a mixed bag of performers here and my performance drew some interesting comments from festival goers in the form of "The most Australian act of the night was a Kiwi!" Amazing, but a real compliment in many ways - there are so many singer songwriters on the Oz scene, who do not perform anything remotely Australian in content these days - it seems to be all navel gazing interspersed with considerable anxst! Is it any wonder some festival committees are trying to limit their participation by keeping only a few spots open for modern singer / songwriters? I had three performances scheduled at the festival over the weekend - a mini spot at the town's Bakery under their large verandah and again at Jacks Hut on the Domain itself. I also managed a spot in the main blackboard concert. Acts to impress me over the weekend were the Stiff Gins, one of whom hailed from the immediate area and was making her first visit home since taking up singing, a Scottish group Braemar (one of the festival highlights & very remiscent of the Corries) and a new group called the Baja River Quartet - comprising Guitar, Keyboards /concertina, Flutes and whistles - they were musically delightful and I reckon they have a great future ahead of them if they can stay together. A couple of other musicians told me how much they loved the Henry Lawson song (The Old Station Gate) I sang during the festival. They were most surprised to learn that it was my own composition - so I take that as real compliment indeed. By now sleep deprivation was kicking in as the festival drew to a close and I was looking ahead to getting my head down and making my way to Melbourne for the last segment of the tour.

I managed to get a lift from Uranquinty to Melbourne with Dave, a festival goer, who lived in Southern Victoria. It wasn't more than a five hour drive to Melbourne and we made pretty good time - as we approached Melbourne, I could see some of the damage caused by the devastating bush fires earlier in the year. The bush is already starting to regenerate so there won't be too much damage to see by the end of this year. My first gig was at the Melbourne Folk Club, which is now held on a Saturday 'arvo to mixed audience numbers. I gather there have been some small turnouts in recent times - once again there weren't many folk here, perhaps due to a Sat afternoon schedule or the lovely sunny day outside. It certainly wasn't a good start to my visit. I stayed with the Darby-O'Leary's for a few days, where I was well looked after. On Tuesday John took me sightseeing out to Marysville (seat of that terrible bush fire) which is a pretty isolated spot - here I saw the remains of many homes, while the owners are temporarily housed in cabins on the camping ground as their lives are being rebuilt. We then spent much of the afternoon at the Healesville animal sanctuary looking at the many and varied species of native Australian wildlife. I was most impressed with the Tasmanian Tigers, Lyrebirds, Brolgas, and especially the platypus. I do love hearing Kookaburras, 'cos then I always know I really am in Oz.

The next concert was for the Victorian Folk Music Club at Ringwood - despite the heavy rainfall on the night the place was full and the audience very attentive and responsive. They really seemed to enjoy my performance. My support act was an old timey duo Pigeonwings, who are due to tour NZ early next year - so keep an eye out for them. I was picked up after the show by my next host Phil Young, who is an expat Kiwi rocker turned folkie. Phil & Elaine have billetted me a couple of times in Melbourne and they do a great job looking after me. While staying with them I got to see the 2004 Planxty reunion concert on DVD. What a wonderful show - the first chance I'd had to see these great folkies perform even if it was some 20 years late!

My final concert in Melbourne was once again at the BAD folk club (Berwick and Districts) and we had a good turnout rather reminiscent of my last appearance (but not quite as surreal) there in 2007. I caught up with some of my rellies here and one of them, Claire surprised me by getting up to sing, which she did very well - even her mother didn't know she was going to do so. Claire has already made her mark in acting circles with a part in Australian Outback House, which was also shown back home a couple of years back.

I had sold out of some CDs (especially Southern Odyssey) earlier in the tour and with book sales going well I was able to do a few deals at Berwick, which would help lighten the load for my flight home a few days later. I was more than pleasantly surprised when Air NZ only charged me $30 for my guitar - Which I felt was far more acceptable than what I had experienced with their opposition on the journey over to Oz.

Now that yet another tour is over, I'm seriously considering limiting my touring to home and maybe just the occasional festival in Oz - it's proving to be too long away from Jan and besides I'm not getting any younger!

Take care
Phil Garland.

Faces in the Firelight

2009-08-07T15:22:00.001+12:00

It's exciting times ahead with my book having been finally published. I must admit it's a totally different feeling from having a CD released and I'm pleased to see much of my life's work in print.

It may not be widely known, but New Zealand has a rich heritage of song, folklore, poetry, stories and yarns crying out to be told or sung. My new book

Faces in the Firelight presents a swag of songs about sealers, whalers, pioneers, goldminers, drifters, swaggers, rogues and scoundrels, shearers,

bushmen, gumdiggers, hard drinkers and moonshiners in company with a colourful collection of oral history, bush verse, tall stories, toasts and ditties culled from my field collecting and the New Zealand Folklore Society archives.

I am especially looking forward to promoting my latest work around the country and in Australia over the next few months.

My sincere thanks to all those folk who believed in me and have supported my work over the years, most notably my informants, Kiwi Pacific Records and Roger Steele of Steele Roberts Publishing.

See you somewere around the traps

Phil

Phil Garland

Latest News

2009-04-26T15:42:00.000+12:00

It was great to finally see the re-release of How Are You Mate and Springtime in the Mountains on CD as programmed, after all the work done on remixing and remastering the albums last year. They seem like brand new products with additional tracks and new covers. There are still a couple more to come in the very near future.

Work is continuing on the Phil Garland songbook with all likelihood of something eventuating in the next couple of months. It's a little bit like the well known cheese advt that says - "good things take time!"

The Christchurch folk club held its 40th birthday celebrations on Sunday 23 November and it was a great day for all concerned. It's hard to believe that something I started all those years ago back in 1968 would have survived for so long let alone still be going strong. In my capacity as founding father I presented a mini concert as part of the celebrations while ex president Chris Lee put together a radio documentary on the club's history for airing on National Radio at Easter this year.

Roger Steele of Steele Roberts has advised that my book 'Faces in the Firelight' will be published this coming June and I for one can't wait for this to finally happen. Really looking forward to what promises to be exciting times ahead.

My daughter Fiona came home from England to marry Simon Couldstone at French Farm Winery near Akaroa on Sat 28 Feb and everything went off well despite the terrible weather that threatened to disrupt proceedings. I sang Kate Woolf's "Give Yourself to Love" while the happy couple signed the register and after the wedding breakfast everyone had a taste of good old barn dancing with Pete & Chris Murray assisted by our old mate Charlie Jemmett. I have it on good authority a few folk were nursing sore muscles the next day.

I've also been keept busy in recent times with a special guest appearance at Totara Farm Estate's Harvest Home open day just south of Oamaru, quickly followed by the Bards Ballads & Bulldust Festival in Naseby over Easter. We had larger cowds than usual at the afternoon sessions on both Saturday and Sunday and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Our special Australian guests aquitted themselves well and won lots of new friends - they couldn't stop talking about all the wonderful scenery they'd encountered on their travels around the Mainland. They're threatening to come back again next year - makes me wonder where are we going to put everyone if the numbers keep growing at current rates?

I'm off to Oz this coming September / October for a month long concert tour of folk clubs in Queensland, NSW,
Canberra and Victoria with a weekend appearance at the Uranquiny festival in Wagga Wagga. I always look forward to my Australian visits and the audiences make me feel right at home. This will be my first visit after winning the 2007 Folk album of the year award for Southern Odyssey and I should have the new book available in time for my travels.

Meanwhile take care everybody and we'll catch up soon.
Phil

Back Catalogue

2008-08-22T10:22:00.000+12:00

I am currently in the process of digitising my back catalogue of records and tapes for re-release on CD. This has naturally necessitated returning to the studio to remix and re-master the original recordings. The first release will be How Are You, Mate? for Kiwi Pacific Records - this is an album that in all likelihood slipped under the New Zealand radar, because it was recorded while I was living in Perth. The accompaniments come from several fine local Oz musicians augmented by old mates Paul Hutchings on Flute and Mike Stanley on harmoncia and backing vocals. A few Kiwis might well remember these two blokes for their contributions to the New Zealand folk scene a few years ago. The CD will include two lost tracks Better Prospects and The Shepherd's Dream, which were left off the final release back in 1990. This album was originally recorded for release to coincide with New Zealand's 150th birthday celebrations and featured material drawn mainly from my collecting travels during the 1960s and 70s.

The second release will be the ever popular Springtime in the Mountains - the inaugural winner of the best folk album award back in 1984. Next on the list will be Wind in the Tussock including another forgotten track Faded Pictures, which first appeared on the City Folk award winning peace album Send the Boats Away back in 1986. Other albums will eventually follow - Hunger in the Air, an album of mainly traditional Kiwi songs which was a dual release with Larrikin Records in Australia. Last but not least will be the classic Down a Country Road album from 1970.

With all these re-releases in the pipeline along with the publication of two books Faces in the Firelight and my new Phil Garland Songbook, this year is shaping up to be a most exciting one indeed.

If you would like to obtain any of these forthcoming books and CDs just drop me a line at pgarland@xtra.co.nz

Australian Tour

2008-07-09T12:03:00.000+12:00

I have decided to write about my recent Australian tour in response to numerous requests for some details of what turned out to be one of my most interesting and successful tours to date.
I flew into Melbourne on the first Tuesday in September, where I was met by Phil Young (expat Kiwi rocker turned folkie) who looked after me for the first couple of days I was to spend in Victoria. Phil also hosts a folk radio show on Wed nights in Melbourne and I was featured as his special guest on air - talking about and playing some examples of Kiwi folk song. The following day I was taken across the city during rush hour, something which made me fully appreciate the traffic situation or lack of it here in North Canterbury. I was to stay with John & Sue O'Leary for a couple of days. Sue might be familiar to Kiwis as a member of the Oz Scottish fiddle orchestra that toured here earlier in the year. Thursday night we all went off to a folkie pub in Nth Melbourne to hear local group 'Trouble in the Kitchen' perform and they certainly didn't disappoint one little bit.

My first gig was at the Melbourne folk club hosted by Jeanette Gillespie the following night and although there wasn't quite a full house it came very close to it - Here I caught up with a couple of old Kiwi mates - old timey muso Ken McMaster, who I hadn't seen for a few years and to my surprise Geoff & Judy Wright, last heard of in Queensland, but now recent arrivals in Melbourne. Geoff's brother Doug still lives and plays in Dunedin and helped out on my recent Southern Odyssey album. To all intents the gig went well and got the tour off to a good start. On Saturday John took me back across town to rejoin Phil & Elaine Young for the next few nights, but this time travelling on the freeway at a decent hour on Saturday and the return journey took only a fraction of the time we'd spent there a couple of days earlier.

Sunday afternoon had me playing semi-outdoors for the Selby folk club up in the Dandenong Ranges and the weather was simply glorious - I spotted one of my many Australian cousins in the audience and we managed to have a chat after the concert. The tour was originally intended to promote my new Southern Odyssey album, but with its release delayed until a week after my return home, I decided to perform only a couple of songs from the CD. After only two concerts it was becoming quite obvious that the 'Ballad of Minnie Dean' was creating a bit of a stir as audiences reacted strongly to the background story of this evocative song. I now had a couple of relaxing days before heading north to Sydney.

I could have flown from Melbourne to Sydney, but decided to travel by train on Tuesday, which is a long journey of nearly 12 hours - something not to be taken lightly, but I wanted to see the countryside and this seemed a good way to do it. After arriving in Sydney around 8pm, I booked into some budget accommodation near the station for the night before heading off the next morning to stay with Margaret Bradford in Engadine. Margaret used to run the Sutherland folk club, where I was booked to play on Thursday night. However as luck would have it, Margaret was playing a lunchtime concert for some old folks and asked me to join her, which I duly did and we had a ball - the oldies loved hearing some Kiwi songs and I even sold them a few memories on CD as well! I played the Sutherland club on Thursday night - it's now run by another expat, Jenny Watson and she had organised some Kiwi kai to help set the mood for the evening. Everyone got to taste some 'fair dinkum' pavlova covered with strawberries and kiwifruit. I have played this venue a couple of times before and generally have a good response here - the only sour note was when I discovered the sound man was recording the performance without permission and was offering to sell it to audience members once I'd gone. Needless to say I tried to put the stoppers on this idea - but who knows what transpired after I left!

My next gig was at the Illawarra Folk Club in Woollongong on Sat night, so I had to undertake some more train travel to get there. I eventually arrived in Kiama, where I was staying with another expat Kiwi Coaster and musician, Yvonne O'Grady. I've knownYvonne for some time and have stayed with her on previous occasions, when we always have a catch up about the trans-Tasman music scene. The Illawarra concert was held in the 'Wongawilli' Hall due to a mix up in bookings - but this didn't affect things too much as it turned out. There was a meal associated with this concert and first course consisted of lamb sausages with mashed potato, followed by Pavlova again. It seems some Australians have finally accepted our claim to have invented this iconic dessert. I had a great night with much Kiwi/Oz banter taking place throughout the night. Having played the Illawarra festival on a few occasions, there were a number of familiar friendly faces in the audience, which really does help set the atmosphere.

I had to be in Newcastle for Sunday afternoon, which necessitated an early start to my train travel once again -I had two seperate journeys ahead of me so I could arrive in Newcastle ready to start playing at 4pm. I duly arrived at 2.30 to be greeted and informed the concert had been advertised for that evening and I didn't need to rush - if only I'd known sooner my early morning start could have been delayed to give me a little bit of a sleep in. The Newcastle gig was an outdoor house concert and it was a chilly evening to say the least - however the audience response was a warm one, which was truly appreciated. Once again I caught up with another kiwi relation, who had offered to look after me for the next couple of days. Annie & her husband David were house sitting a million dollar mansion on the water's edge for a month and despite protesting strongly, I was taken there for some reaxing R & R. This touring business can be very difficult to cope with at times, but I suppose someone has to do it!

The inevitable train journeys were back on the agenda to get me to the next gig in Bowral - a couple of hours south of Sydney. Here I had been invited to stay with my niece Wendy and her husband Kevin (yet another expat Kiwi from Chch) During my stay Wendy also took me across to Mittagong, where her mother (my sister Joan) lives and it was great to catch up again albeit too briefly. The Bowral folk & acoustic music club is run by John & Jennifer Hall and this proved to be one of the highlights of the tour. Situated on the top floor of the local pub, the venue was full to overflwoing and the atmosphere was tremendous. The audience was very receptive and seemed to love hearing Kiwi songs. I spotted an old fiddling mate - Bob McInnes - in the audience - our paths have crossed on a number occasions through the years and he certainly understood what I was talking about during my intro to 'The Boys in the Band' when I mentioned the Kokatahi band and how they once used a 'stroviol' in the band. Bob owns one of these distinctive instruments and he is a great fiddler to boot. The organisers have invited me back to the club anytime I'm touring in the future -so I figure the night was an overall success.

A final train journey lay ahead of me as I was to be playing at the BAD folk club in Melbourne the following night. The train was due to arrive at 7pm with the folk club underway at 8pm. I was picked up by Phil Young once again and rushed off to the venue, where fortunately they had scheduled me to play in the second half. BAD stands for 'Berwick and Districts' folk club and is run by Edward Nass. This concert proved to be a truly amazing and surreal occasion. When I was introduced, there were a number of expat Kiwis at the back of the audience waving 'All Black' flags throughout the performance and cheering me on at every opportunity. Everyone of these wonderful people purchased a full set of my CDs - unbelievable!!!! if only more gigs were like this. Edward loved my performance and told me I was the best act they'd ever had and I was welcome back any time, which made me feel pretty special. To cap this off Edward organised a Sunday BBQ in my honour - something I was told he'd never done for any artist before. I don't know if this was totally true, but I really apreciated the sentiment.

The last segment of my tour would be in Queensland, which meant flying north a few days later. I have always found Queensland audiences to be great on my previous visits and hopefully this time would prove no exception. I was met at the airport by Jan Nary, who's looked after me previously. In addition to being the publicity officer for the Oz National Folk Festival, Jan also hosts a local radio show 'Harvest Folk' and once again offered to put me on air to help generate extra publicity. I played at the Kookaburra folk club on the Wed and this proved to be another great night. Anne Infante is the organiser here and I remembered meeting her back in the 1960s and then again when she came to Enzed during the early 1970s. I really had a good night here with people coming from all over the state to see me perform. I caught up with Bob Eden, who I had known as a shanty singer during my time in Perth and John Stafford, yet another expat Kiwi from the days of the Chch Folk Centre in the early 1970s. John used to sing only British ballads in Enzed and has started performing them again in Brisbane - however he really surprised me this time by singing only Kiwi songs for this special occasion at the Kookaburra. Great to hear! I also played the next night at the Madass folk club in Brisbane - this one is held in a proper pub and I have to say it was the most disappointing evening of the tour. Performers have to compete with a noisy drinking audience and scores of poker machines at the back of the venue. I truly did not enjoy playing here - although I did manage to sell some CDs to the noisy punters.

My last gig in Australia was to be a music festival at Mungindi some 7 hours drive from Brisbane. The town is located inland on the banks of the Barwon River, which doubles as the border to NSW & Queensland. The festival covers many styles of music from orchestras - brass bands - choirs to rock - country and folk. I was the only folk artist booked for this occasion, which was started to help offset the worries and conditions caused by the ongoing drought in this area. Friday night saw a giant concert highlighting the main guests, held in the local town hall - I was one of these and received a great reception. I was billetted just out of town on a large station called "Barwon Downs' and it was a lovely spot to be. I loved waking up to the bird life and seeming isolation of the property totally surrounded by bush. The whole of Saturday's peformances were held at the local showgrounds and started with a parade of guest musicians....I found myself second in the parade just behind one of Australia's greatest Jazz musicians - 'Don Burrows.' It was something different and folk turned out in their thousands to watch and cheer us by. I performed three times on Saturday - in a huge marquee - on a slightly smaller stage in front of the bar and then again in the woolshed. There were large appreciative crowds at all venues and so many were truly appreciative of my coming from NZ to be there in support of drought relief. All the Sunday performances were held at a giant marquee in the middle of a wheat field - the wheat stretched for miles around into the horizon - it was absolutely huge. The millionaire owner of the property said to me -"I bet you haven't got anything like this back home in New Zealand?" I had to agree with him, but not to be outdone I said "And we don't have as many flies as you like this back home either!" The flies were shocking - they were everywhere - in your eyes - up your nose - in your mouth, if you gave them half a chance! It was becoming increasingly difficult to perform on stage, that I finally relented and joined the rush to purchase a net to keep the little varmints at bay. I sang a couple of sets with a net covering my face - as did numerous other performers. I managed to raise a good laugh from the audience when I complimented them on their friendliness and constant waving. The final concert was held that evening at a specially constructed stage on the banks of the Barwon River. It proved to be a magical setting with the gumtrees all lit up around the site. The people were so friendly and responsive throughout the weekend that I wouldn't hesitate to return if given the opportunity. As a festival, it is so different from the norm and full of positive vibes - maybe the fact that I sold numerous product has clouded my opinion.

It took nearly all day Monday to drive back to Brisbane, sometimes along roads so narrow and broken up they had to be seen to be believed and experienced. After making contact with yet another nephew in Brissie, it was time to return home and I duly flew out to NZ on Tuesday morning.

Southern Odyssey Tour

2008-05-24T15:49:00.000+12:00

I've just returned from a hugely successful North Island tour promoting my award winning album Southern Odyssey. Audience numbers were good at most concerts and more than a few encores came my way. Probably the most interesting happening was in Hastings, where Roger Stonehouse sat down at the piano during the afternoon sound check and promptly found himelf press-ganged into accompanying me on Becalmed at the Bluff for the evening concert. His piano playing was an absolute delight and really helped make the occasion one of the highlights of the tour for me.

I had a great first up concert night in Carterton, where I caught up with a few old friends such as Miles Reay and also met up with some Garland family relations I'd never been aware of before. Many thanks to my old mate Barrie Saunders for allowing me the use of his PA system for the evening.
I performed outdoors at Cavan & Penelope Hayes lovely property in Otaki, but the night turned rather chilly halfway through the concert despite the patio heaters working overtime to keep us all warm - however the audience response was pretty warming, which certainly helped me overcome the rigors of a wintry evening.

The following day saw me heading off to Palmerston North for a concert in the Theosophical Hall - which serves as headquarters for the local folk club. It was a small but friendly audience (as always) followed by a bit of a session. Next morning I was backtracking to Upper Hutt for a Mainly Acoustic club concert and hosted wonderfully (yet again) by Kevin & Sue Meehan. I stayed a couple of days with them and managed to visit David Dell at his N.Z. Sheet Music Archive in search of some early Kiwi music. I came away with close to 30 interesting lesser known pieces from our musical past and looking forward to incorporating some of these on future albums. After a couple of days rest in Upper Hutt, it was back to the business at hand and I hit the road once again for Hastings.

The Hastings concert was held in the Hall at the local Steiner school before a wonderful turnout - I thoroughly enjoyed this evening especially with some musical assistance from Roger Stonehouse (as mentioned earlier). I managed to catch up with Trevor Ruffell of Kiwi Pacific records the next day and took delivery of more Southern Odyssey CDs to augment my rapidly depleting stock. I bade farewell to Hastings the next day and boarded the bus for Tauranga en route to the next gig at Katikati.

Katikati folk club meets in an old Packhouse right by the water's edge and I was delighted to share the billing here with the Penman family. Once again the audience gave both the Penmans and I a warm reception - it's a great venue and I can thoroughly reccommend it to anyone else touring in that part of the country.

The Bunker at Devonport is always a great venue and as usual lived up to its reputation, despite the lousy Auckland weather on the Sunday night - there were a few new faces present, but I was delighted to catch up with my old mates Alan Young and Peter Gross - great hospitality as always from Roger and Hilary. I stayed over an extra night in Devonport so that I could catch up with David Calder performing his Kiwi songs the following night at the Bunker. It was well worth staying for and always great to see and hear another of our fine musicians presenting an evening of great New Zealand songs.

Thanks to everyone involved for their warm hospitality in looking after me during the tour. It was greatly appreciated.

Folklore-Research

2008-04-03T15:52:00.001+13:00

I have just taken delivery of a folk publication - the Journal of Folklore Research, an international journal of folklore and ethnomusicology, published by Indiana University Press in USA. This latest issue should be of particular interest to New Zealanders for it features a number of papers presented by such people as John Archer, Michael Brown and myself at the first symposium of New Zealand folklore at Victoria University back in 2006. That symposium was an unqualified success, with the Stout Centre for New Zealand studies packed to overflowing and all present voting to keep the project going. This decision led to a second highly successful symposium at the National Library in early December 2007.

I was pleased to see my paper Chasing a Dream included and in print for the very first time. This should help prepare me for the forthcoming publication of my major book Faces in the Firelight around June this year. The book is based upon the workshops, teach-ins and presentations I have given at various folk festivals and universities over the past forty years. It takes a look at New Zealand history through the eyes of collected folklore, songs, stories, yarns and bush poetry.

Although negotiations for volume 44 (numbers 2/3 May-December 2007) of the Journal to be made available locally are still continuing, anyone who wishes to order a copy may do so through http://www.iuorder@indiana.edu/
Individual copies of articles are also available.

April Tour of North Island

2008-03-27T10:53:00.000+13:00

A number of people suggested that it was time for another tour of the North Island and the release of Southern Odyssey has provided the perfect reason for this to occur. The selected dates for this tour are listed below as follows:-

April

Wed 23 Carterton

Thurs 24 Otaki

Fri 25 Palmerston North

Sat 26 Upper Hutt

Tues 29 Hastings

May

Thurs 1 Kati Kati

Fri 2 Whangarei

Sun 4 Devonport - Auckland

If you get a chance - come along and say G'day - I look forward to seeing you there.

Folk Music Award

2008-03-27T10:39:00.000+13:00

I was honoured and thrilled when my latest album Southern Odyssey won the Tui award for best folk album of 2007. It's been a long time between drinks (as they say) since my last success in the N.Z. Music Awards.

My album Springtime in the Mountains took out the inaugural award way back in 1984, followed by my contribution to Send the Boats Away in 1985. Since then there have been a further 10 albums released, 3 of which were shortlisted finalists and 2 were ineligible, because they were recorded in Oz.

It was extremely gratifying to receive this unexpected award at the Auckland Folk Festival in January where I dedicated it to the recently deceased Murray Vincent of Kiwi Pacific Records, who had a big hand in helping to release the album and I'm sure would have enjoyed the moment.

Southern Odyssey was a project commissioned by Creative Southland to higlight tourism and heritage trails in that province and as such was never intended for widespread commercial release.

The project was put together by Jim Geddes of Gore and were it not for his vision and foresight may never have seen the light of day - however in his wisdom Jim decided the songs needed a wider audience and contacted Murray Vincent of Kiwi Pacific Records to ensure this happened.

Winning this award added to an already impressive track record for the project had earlier won a creative communities award.