| UPCOMING HIGHLIGHT |
What do Loudon Wainwright III, Richard Thompson, Janis Ian, Bruce Cockburn, Eddi Reader, Luka Bloom, Eric Bibb, Paul Kelly, Ralph McTell, Sarah Blasko, The Whitlams, Kate Miller-Heidke, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, Jeff Lang, Bert Jansch, Harry Manx and Martin Carthy all have in common? Over the past few years they’ve all travelled to Katoomba to play at the Blue Mountains Music Festival, Folk, Roots and Blues. They and a long roll call of some of Australia’s and the world’s best acoustic performers have helped to establish this upper mountains gig as one of the country’s essential festival experiences. March 12, 13, 14 2010 will see the Blue Mountains celebrate this internationally respected event for the fifteenth time. The years have been a huge parade of exceptional music. And now there’s a lot more to come. In 2010 you will see Chris Smither, Uncle Earl, Josh White Jr., John McCutcheon, The Pigram Brothers, Dougie McLean, Truckstop Honeymoon, Gregory Page, The White Top Mountaineers, Eleanor McEvoy, Grace Barbé, Kerrianne Cox, The Kransky Sisters, Jeff Lang and Djan Djan, Bruce Mathiske, Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, Bob Malone, Kim Richey, Brian Kennedy, Genticorum, The Vince Jones Band, Glenn Cardier, The Little Stevies, Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants, Chris Wilson, The Blues Preachers, Gail Page Trio, Pat Drummond, Circus Solarus, Tom Richardson, The James Valentine Quartet, The Crooked Fiddle Band, Noriko Tadano, Nikki Madden, Kate Rowe, Sime Nugent, The Snaketown Rattlers, Claude Hay, Andrea Soler, Gregg Borschmann’s Conversations and more to be confirmed.
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Call for information Booking line: 02 4782 1322 |
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| February | ||
with special guests
Fri 12th Feb Dinner at 7pm Music at 8:30 |
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY! THE MAPLE TRAIL WITH EXTRA SPECIAL GUESTS; GENEVIEVE MAYNARD & THE TALLBOYS.
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Show only: $12 (+ bf) Booking line: 02 4782 1322 |
Ray Beadle is an established Sydney based blues musician. Considered among some of the best in Australian Blues, this talented young musician had been noticed world wide. |
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Cass Eager’s sound travels the gamut from soul to blues, folk to funk and roots to reggae. Her distinctive pipes and guitar playing have drawn comparisons to everyone from Bonnie Raitt to Jack Johnson, Nina Simone and Ben Harper . . . with a hint of Janis Joplin always thrown in. Despite these comparisons, ‘soul sister Cass is no pale imitation’ (NDL). She’s been described as ‘one of Sydney’s most gifted singer songwriters, whose refreshingly honest, raspy, almost Joplin-esque like voice is hers alone, and whose eclectic songwriting will spellbind the listener.’ (Drum Media). On stage, Cass is armed with an acoustic and lap steel guitar, electric ukulele and stompbox. It was Cass's older sister who introduced her to song writing on a beat-up nylon-string guitar, penning songs from an early age. "We had a room in the house totally dedicated to music called 'the little room' which was filled with shelves of records, books and a great stereo. My sister and I would put on shows for our folks, harmonising together and dancing around." Cass took up the guitar at age 7, and piano in her early teens, singing her way through school and university, all the while performing in bands around Sydney. Back in 2003, Cass finally decided to go solo, playing for a year until she came upon the perfect mix of musicians who would make up her band. Now, as well as band shows, Cass said she still loves the simplicity of getting on stage solo with her guitar, telling stories and singing songs. "I like to both wail out and whisper, that's a nice thing to do." |
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They're back... The Beez play lots of well-known, sometimes obscure, often kitschy and occasionally self-penned songs. Their repertoire includes German and Eastern European tunes in languages that not even they understand. But The Beez don’t just play covers - they rearrange them, much in the same way as Al Capone might in bygone days have rearranged the face of a luckless business associate. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, Emir Kosturica’s Bubamara; from pop to punk, from klezmer to classic, they all get that Beez facelift and, by God, it’s beautiful. Soaring four-part harmonies, cunning instrumental arrangements and onstage patter that leaves audiences reaching for the German-English phrasebook. |
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JAYWALKER is a new Australian band who's music is based around the writing of singer songwriter Jason Hicks and his collaboration with Bob Allan (guitars, harmonies) James Dennett (Drums) and Luke Davies (Bass) The last two years have seen the guys perform to many appreciative and supportive crowds, including a tour with Xavier Rudd, supports with Kate Miller Heidke, Diesel, Killing Heidi and Sarah McCleod as well as a sold out show at The Vanguard, Sydney releasing their well received debut single "You Live You Learn". JAYWALKER were nominated as finalists in three categories in the 2008 Newcastle Music Awards and were runners up in the 2007 Peoples Choice category of the Australia wide Music Oz Awards. A
tribute to the support of their dedicated fan base. The past |
Show only: $15 (+ bf) Booking line: 02 4782 1322 |
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| March | ||
Since 2001,Mairtin O’Connor ,Cathal Hayden,and Seamie O’Dowd have been building a formidable musical relationship under the guise of the Mairtin O’Connor Band. Their rapport with each other and the audience is immediate and the band have successfully toured Ireland, Britain, Europe, and Australia, where they played as part of the Masters of Tradition concert at the Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall in January 2010. Individually they have built solid reputations as master musicians with astounding skill, diversity and virtuosity. Together they produce a vibrant and musically charged experience that redefines one’s concept of brilliance, verging on perfection. MAIRTIN O'CONNOR(accordion) was one of the main musical forces behind the now legendary “Riverdance” phenomenon. Mairtin is one of the most respected and well loved musicians of our times. His infectious and irresistible style, his outstanding technique, imagination and compositional talent, has formed the basis of a remarkable career that has seen him as a revered solo accordionist and as a member of De Dannan, Midnight Well and Skylark. His solo albums and many collaborations with artists such as the Chieftains, Elvis Costello, The Waterboys, Mark Knopfler, display his astounding skill, dexterity and versatility to the full. "Technical brilliance, a flamboyant style and a versatility that seems to encompass every form of traditional music of countless countries, as well as classical music, mark out Máirtín O'Connor as a squeeze box player in the very top echelon." CATHAL HAYDEN (fiddle,banjo) has gained worldwide recognition as one of the founding members of Irish Traditional band Four Men and A Dog. His solo recordings almost inevitably become standard bearers for how to record Irish traditional music. He is one of Ireland’s top fiddlers and his solo banjo performances are quite simply show stopping. His 2006 solo album ‘Live In Belfast’ is described as ‘a Masterclass in Irish music’. Cathal has been a guest of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington. He has also contributed scores for the film “Hear My Song” and the Marie Jones drama ‘The Blind Fiddler’ With his solo CD Handed Down, the broadcaster Tony McAuley concludes that this “is one of the finest collections of traditional fiddle music I’ve ever heard”. Flying is an appropriate word to describe Cathal’s playing - that lightness of touch, the soars and swoops and delicate little harmonies which characterise his playing. He’s as fast as greased lightning too, but there’s never a sense of him about to lose either control or the thread he’s playing. SEAMIE O'DOWD (guitar,vocals) began playing the fiddle at the age of eight and by the age of eighteen was a multi-instrumentalist, having mastered the guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, bodhran and fiddle and gaining a reputation as a singer. He has toured the world with Irish Traditional band “Dervish” and has collaborated with renowned musicians, Matt Molloy, Liam O’Flynn, Steve Wickham and Thom Moore. His musical abilities have become increasingly familiar at international level. He has played in many genres of acoustic and electric music. “Headful of Echoes” his first solo album has received critical acclaim in Ireland, UK, Europe and USA. |
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Eilen Jewell -Sea Of Tears Ragged Company, Shock Entertainment, ABC Dig Music and Rhythms Magazine are proud to announce the very first Australian tour by Boise-born and Boston based alt folk roots superstar on the rise, Eilen Jewell. Over the course of three albums, including her latest Sea Of Tears, Eilen has won a legion of fans across the globe with critics falling over themselves to announce a new leading light on the musical horizon. Defining herself from a sea of genre bound contemporaries, Eilen mines the rich veins of folk, alt country, country, western swing, rockabilly, jazz and early rock ‘n’ roll, to extract music that is both inspired and inspiring. Joining Eilen will be her longtime band of Jason Beek (drums, harmony vocals), Jerry Miller (electric, acoustic, and steel guitars), and Johnny Sciascia (upright bass). Together for almost four years now, Jewell’s basic band has been variously augmented on their previous albums, and formed the heart of the American gospel super group the Sacred Shakers. Sea of Tears was rapturously received especially in Australia, where the push for a tour has been building. Eilen graced the cover of esteemed roots publication Rhythms and has been the subject of strong ABC and community radio support, recieving great reviews from some of Australia’s top writers. The following examples are typical of the overwhelming good will Eilen has been the subject of here. “There is a buzz in the US roots scene for Eilen Jewell and it’s not hard to see why” **** Noel Mengal, Courier Mail “Jewell’s voice is earthy and seductive. Already a contender for my best of 2009 list.” ***** Jason Walker, Music Australia Guide “She comes on like a melancholic mid-western Holly Golightly - she sings with the sensual detached drawl of latter-day Lucinda Williams.” Patrick Donovan, The Age
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What do Loudon Wainwright III, Richard Thompson, Janis Ian, Bruce Cockburn, Eddi Reader, Luka Bloom, Eric Bibb, Paul Kelly, Ralph McTell, Sarah Blasko, The Whitlams, Kate Miller-Heidke, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, Jeff Lang, Bert Jansch, Harry Manx and Martin Carthy all have in common? Over the past few years they’ve all travelled to Katoomba to play at the Blue Mountains Music Festival, Folk, Roots and Blues. They and a long roll call of some of Australia’s and the world’s best acoustic performers have helped to establish this upper mountains gig as one of the country’s essential festival experiences. March 12, 13, 14 2010 will see the Blue Mountains celebrate this internationally respected event for the fifteenth time. The years have been a huge parade of exceptional music. And now there’s a lot more to come. In 2010 you will see Chris Smither, Uncle Earl, Josh White Jr., John McCutcheon, The Pigram Brothers, Dougie McLean, Truckstop Honeymoon, Gregory Page, The White Top Mountaineers, Eleanor McEvoy, Grace Barbé, Kerrianne Cox, The Kransky Sisters, Jeff Lang and Djan Djan, Bruce Mathiske, Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, Bob Malone, Kim Richey, Brian Kennedy, Genticorum, The Vince Jones Band, Glenn Cardier, The Little Stevies, Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants, Chris Wilson, The Blues Preachers, Gail Page Trio, Pat Drummond, Circus Solarus, Tom Richardson, The James Valentine Quartet, The Crooked Fiddle Band, Noriko Tadano, Nikki Madden, Kate Rowe, Sime Nugent, The Snaketown Rattlers, Claude Hay, Andrea Soler, Gregg Borschmann’s Conversations and more to be confirmed.
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Call for information Booking line: 02 4782 1322 |
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One of Australia's hardest working and talented guitarists is finally heading our way. We look forward to these two great shows, where he will be featuring tracks from his new album. In the tradition of 'Short Cool Ones', the 1996 blues release from diesel and Chris Wilson (under the Wilson diesel moniker), diesel returns once again to his blues roots, and to the studio to produce a raw blues album. Book soon for one of these great, intimate shows.
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WINNER of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Best Live Act" Award 2001 Powerful, hugely moving, warm, humane, inspired, funny and gut wrenchingly honest. These are just some of the superlatives used to describe Vin's performance this year. This international, award winning, singer songwriter is completing his 40th year on the road. He is for ever in demand and his shows are continually sell outs, so get your tickets early! BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Nominee for "Best Folk Singer" and "Best Live Act" Awards 2001 Winner of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Best Live Act" Award 2001 Honorary Degree of Master of Arts awarded to Vin by Teesside University in 2001 for his music and his services to the arts and culture of the area of the North East of England.
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| APRIL | ||
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Back in Australia for a pile of dates, Chris is coming to Katoomba twice. You can see Chris play at the Blue Mountains Music Festival, or, only a fortnight later, intimately here at The Clarendon. He will just as expected, while also playing tracks from his new album. Recorded in only three days, Time Stands Still is just the eleventh studio album of a career that now spans over four decades. Time Stands Still (Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert) is both pensive and visceral – an album whose songs alternately ponder life’s mysteries in some moments, and let them lie undisturbed in others. Featuring eight new original compositions and a song apiece from Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, and 1920s country-blues songster Frank Hutchison, Time Stands Still’s immediate, intimate sound is the direct result of one gig, and the challenge it presented. The songs on Time Stands Still are somehow both vivid and mysterious, evoking contemporary culture and circumstance while remaining touchingly timeless. Smither’s concerns – personal and political – are wed to music that, while stripped down in terms of arrangement and presentation, is among his most intricate, melodic, and challenging. The stark settings only serve to throw the album’s themes into higher relief. “I’m still talking about what I think of as nitty-gritty questions…” Smither says, “…essential questions, existential questions.” "With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate". New York Times |
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Geoff Achison is a musician of remarkable ability who has He is a capable vocalist too with a gritty, soulful quality to his voice. Inspired
by the great Blues and R&B music of yesteryear, Geoff’s live set features an
infectious mix of gutsy original tunes, improvised jams and dynamic new |
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The voice of Ian Moss has modestly purred beneath his searing guitar playing for more than 30 years – but no longer. For his sixth solo album, Soul on West 53rd, Ian’s sweet, soaring vocal is the pivot around which famed American producer Danny Kortchmar has built a rich, soulful sound, drawing on classic songs from the likes of Sam Cooke, Al Green, Otis Redding and Bill Withers. Unleashing this surge of soul power has unlocked a whole new chapter in Mossy’s performing career, which ironically was triggered by his appearances on the television series It Takes Two that highlighted vocal duets. Taking such experienced players with esteemed soul pedigree into the studio ensured that sessions were highly proficient: main backing tracks were completed in four days, followed by five days of vocal, guitar and horn overdubs. Within two weeks, the album was completed. “I’m always knocked out by American efficiency,” says Ian. “I didn’t even get the chance to have extended conversations with the players Danny had gathered. They were all ready to go by the time I arrived in the studio. We’d played two songs before we even said hello to each other.” Almost by telepathy, this assembly of musicians had an instinctive feel for the arrangements and the quality of Ian’s voice, producing a silken bed that captured the essence of the vintage soul sound, with lean groove and sumptuous embellishment for lead vocals. “Yeah, it’s definitely a singer’s album,” says Ian. “With a band that good, you focus intently on the song – and this time it was all about interpreting the lyrics, capturing sincerity and the ring of truth in my performances.” With such a hot band in the studio, Mossy admits it took some discipline for his guitar work to take a back seat while he concentrated on singing. “There’s still a few nice moments on the guitar from me,” he adds, pointing to his raucous workout on a vintage Gretsch to close out Shake, “but this time the voice is the key. When I listen now to the finished work, I know that being so deliberate has paid dividends.” It’s a bold venture that will certainly draw attention to Soul on West 53rd – mainly for projecting the power and excitement of Ian Moss as a vocalist of repute. |
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"Once every generation... a singer-songwriter emerges with "When it comes to women with pianos, there are endless comparrisons to make, but Vriend stands out from the crowd" Other than this, AV’s vulnerable yet exquisite voice is often the first thing which turns heads—it has been described as an enchanting cross between Dolly Parton and the young Aretha Franklin-- while her songs maintain a natural knack for melody, garnering her local hits on the radio and drawing comparisons to Regina Spektor, Kate Bush, and Katie Melua. AV’s imagistic but often cryptic lyrics reveal a literary depth which stand as poetry on their own, and her stage presence, balanced perfectly between breathtaking, heartbreaking songs and charming, witty humor, make for a completely engaging show.
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Described as “Australia’s PJ Harvey… possessing the punch of Cat Power and the wise words of Joni Mitchell” (Courier Mail), Lucie Thorne has earned her place as one of the most striking lyricists and voices of Australian contemporary song. Her latest release – Black Across The Field – has garnered extraordinary attention from the country's leading critics, being awarded 'Best Roots Album of 2009' by The Sydney Morning Herald, and hailed as “diverse, profound, breath-taking” (Rhythms), “intelligent… gorgeous” (****The Australian), and “spellbinding” (J-Mag). Black Across the Field combines Thorne’s spacious, gritty rock n roll with startlingly original dark-folk, with that signature warmth and intimacy for which her live shows have become so renowned. “Without exaggeration Black Across The Field is as good as anything I’ve heard this year. Growling with warm tube overdrive, stinging like Neil Young… this is a diverse, profound album, with nuances subtle and breathtaking” [Martin Jones, Rhythms Magazine] "This is one of the finest female vocal albums released by an Australian in the last few years. The whole album - from her band, to production, to the songs - is first-rate...make the effort to seek this fine album out". [Readings Monthly] "This gentle chanteuse has delivered quiet perfection. There is such an intensity of feeling here ...moody folk, country noir... a collection of stories that speaks small but resonates much bigger. One of the finer albums of the year... Thorne marks out her space with some fabulous sensuality." [Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald] |
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Monique Brumby has just completed her 4th studio album SKELETONS’ POLKA co-produced with renowned producer Mark Opitz (Paul Kelly, Divinyls, Cold Chisel, INXS). SKELETONS’ POLKA was recorded by Colin Wynne (Living End, Jeff Lang, Bic Runga) @ Thirty Mill Studios Melbourne and is due for release March 1st 2010. Monique will be touring nationally in March & April 2010 to promote the release of the album & the first single from it titled ‘They’re Still Alive’. THE SONGS that make up SKELETONS’ POLKA express the underlying pulses of society and tap into universal themes that everyone can relate to. Monique’s powerful storytelling is emotive and lyrically insightful. The first unique offering from the album is the rollicking rockabilly/pop/rock tune ‘They’re Still Alive’, a song about coping with losing a loved one to dementia. With Mark McEntee (Divinyls) guitar riffs coupled with Monique’s hypnotising vocal delivery, this song elevates the listener to a higher state of being. Other guest artists include David Bridie on piano and vocals, guitarist Shannon Bourne, Bruce Haymes on keys and Candice Monique on vocals. The album fluctuates from what has become Monique’s signature style – brooding rock ballads to punchy lyrical pop/rock, revealing emotive and distinct melodies and hooks. |
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COMING SOON..... Keep an eye on the website |
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