Shape Of The Day — Mangrove Jack – self-titled album
Rum and Coca-Cola from the new Seaman Dan album A Caribbean Songbook
Kick It from the new Kooii album Call Out
Two major events involving music this weekend – Australia Day and the 2014 Grammy Awards.
There’s plenty of good music to be had over the holiday long weekend around far north Queensland – with the enduringly popular Snake Gully playing at the Yorkey’s Knob family day in Cairns. And long term FNQ favourites Mangrove Jack are playing at Brothers Leagues Club Cairns on Australia Day afternoon after a Saturday night gig at the Lake Eacham hotel.
There are 82 separate award categories in the Grammys – one performer to watch in the folk category is the gifted US singer songwriter Guy Clark.
Music from all three acts on this week’s Tony Hillier’s World of Music – LISTEN here
PLAY LIST
Coyote Guy Clark 2013 album My Favourite Picture Of You
Dennis O’Reilly from the Snake Gully album Snakes Alive
Rebel Flag from the Mangrove Jack album Shape Of The Day
Tony Hillier is one of Australia’s leading music journalists and a musician of long standing here in far north Queensland. His informed and insightful coverage of music features in The Weekend Australian and Rhythms magazine http://rhythms.com.au/
Tony Hillier’s World of Music is also available as a podcast. Search for Tony Hillier on your podcast app or in the iTunes store. And you can stay in touch with the FNQ music scene with Tony at http://www.entertainmentcairns.com/hilliers-hotline-archive.php
You can hear Tony on ABC Far North each Friday at 445pm.
It’s hard to conjure during a stroll along the Cairns waterfront these days, but that stretch of this northern town was once a place seething with a potent mix of live music, rorty characters, smoky pubs – and a nightlife that routinely strayed well past sunrise.
The centre of the action was the wharf end of Abbott Street – a stretch that soon became known as the Barbary Coast, a name evoking wild north African coastal towns or the famous red light district of San Francisco. Pubs like the Great Barrier Reef, the Oceanic & the Royal did a roaring trade keeping sailors, cane-cutters, miners, bikies and assorted desperados well lubricated and entertained. The Cairns Barbary Coast hit its peak in the 1970s, which is when a young musician from country Victoria first played in Cairns. Andy Collins learned some valuable showbiz lessons playing the Barbary Coast when Cairns was a frontier sugar town at the end of the road up the Australian east coast.
Andy fell in love with the north and it’s been his home ever since. He’s written songs about the people and places of far north Queensland, and he’s explored his long and deep relationship with the blues on his most recent albums Way Down The River and Downunder The Blues.They’ve been successful here and have opened doors for Andy in the blues heartland of the southern USA, where he’s performed in recent years as Sugarcane Collins.
LISTEN to my interview with Andy and hear songs from Downunder The Blues here
One of the great feats of Australian musical longevity is the Tablelands Folk Festival – which gets underway tonight and runs through the coming weekend at Yungaburra, on the beautiful Atherton Tablelands, a comfortable drive west of Cairns.
The festival began in 1981 as a celebration of life in the Tablelands region – and was held that year in the historic village of Herberton. It moved to Yungaburra the following year and became the Yungaburra Folk Festival – with the current name adopted in 2010. Its roots are deep in the far north Queensland folk music scene but it has kept with the times and broadened the musical focus over the years. It’s always a great event, kept going by passionate volunteers and music lovers. It draws performers and audiences from all over the world, and owes its success and longevity to its ability to deliver a really strong line-up year in, year out. Intimate venues, and the beauty of the surrounding country add to its charm.
Tony Hillier offers music from some of the visiting acts in this week’s World of Music. LISTEN here
PLAY LIST
Oh Jade from Sydney-based Scot Karl Broadie – his 2013 album A-Side B-Side Seaside
Last Minute Man from Broome legend Stephen Pigram‘s 2013 album Wanderer
Solid Rock – Shane Howard‘s land rights anthem, as recorded on his 2012 album Other Side Of The Rock
Vostochny-Zapednie from The Volatinsky Trio‘s 2009 album Troika
Tony Hillier is one of Australia’s leading music journalists and a musician of long standing here in far north Queensland. His informed and insightful coverage of music features in The Weekend Australian and Rhythms magazine http://rhythms.com.au/
Tony Hillier’s World of Music is also available as a podcast. Search for Tony Hillier on your podcast app or in the iTunes store. And you can stay in touch with the FNQ music scene with Tony at http://www.entertainmentcairns.com/hilliers-hotline-archive.php
You can hear Tony on ABC Far North each Friday at 445pm.
When I first arrived at ABC Far North in 2002, our breakfast host then was Jason Hagen – a man with a well-deserved reputation for encouraging emerging musicians. You’d see Jason at gigs around the Cairns area, and you’d hear lots of new music on his radio show. He’d put together a compilation CD which the ABC released – Music From the Far North. And he played me songs by a duo I’ve been hooked on ever since – Women In Docs
Roz Pappalardo and Chanel Lucas got together in the 90s, and while they’re not a far north Queensland band, they have roots here. Roz hails from FNQ, and they played some of their earliest gigs at one of our premier events – the Tablelands Folk Festival, held each October at Yungaburra, on the beautiful Atherton Tablelands. The 33rd festival gets underway tonight, and continues over the weekend.
I’m pleased to report Women in Docs are on the Tablelands Folk Festival bill this year and I encourage you to check them out. Roz and Chanel were born to sing together. Each has abundant talent as a singer, player and writer. It would be easy to write a lengthy list of the wonderful ingredients that combine to make a Docs show such a treat. But like a good recipe, the secret is not the list – it’s the combination. When these two women perform together, something magical happens – they make songs that take you to places both tangible and emotional, locations best visited with good friends. And you’ll be in good hands with Roz and Chanel – they’re great travelling companions and born entertainers.
Women In Docs have a new album due out early in 2014 – it’s called Carousel.You can listen to the title track and hear my interview with Roz & Chanel here
Just over six years ago, a song that took hold of radio audiences around the world. Australian listeners couldn’t get enough of it – I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) by Sandi Thom.
The success of that song was one of those “happy accidents” that happen from time to time in the music industry. Here in far north Queensland the song was everywhere, and no sooner would it finish playing than someone would ring and ask when it could next be heard. It was partly just a case of right song right time, but some very clever use of the Internet pushed the song along, prompting some snooty music critics to dismiss Sandi as the latest in a long line of online sensations whose fame would soon subside.
They were wrong. Sandi Thom’s musical career continues – and like so many performers who have early success with one big song, she’s had to work at taking audiences with her, to move past Punk Rocker and sample the work she’s done since. And it’s a diverse, deep, sometimes challenging but ultimately rewarding body of work. She has four original albums and a best-of out there, and has a new CD due for release before the end of the year. There are elements of many musical styles in her work, so she’s not easily labelled. That can confound music industry types, but only serves to make her more interesting to music lovers inclined to go with the flow.
Sandi performs on Friday night at Yungaburra on the Atherton Tablelands, in the 33rd Tablelands Folk Festival.
You can listen to my interview with Sandi and hear her perform a song from her forthcoming album here https://rdontheroad.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/blog-sandi-thom.mp3%20
One of the best aspects of presenting a radio program is the opportunity it gives me to put music lovers and musicians together. I get to hear performers at live gigs or on CD, and say to myself “I think our listeners will enjoy this”. So I take a punt on an artist, play them on radio – and there’s nothing quite so rewarding as the moment the phone rings at the station and someone says “I loved that song”.
I’ve had that experience many times since I started at ABC Far North in 2002, and especially when I’ve played the music of FNQ singer songwriter Leanne Tennant. I first heard of Leanne a few years back, around the time she won the Port Douglas Carnivale songwriters competition. Since then, she’s become a mainstay of the Cairns music scene – she’s one of those performers so at home in front of an audience that neither wants the show to end. She’s an engagingly original singer songwriter, with a very good ear for crowd pleasing covers – and she’s earned the respect and admiration of some big names in the music business – Colin Hay, Bill Chambers, Daryl Brathwaite, Jenny Morris, Jimi Hocking of The Screaming Jets, Ray Beadle, and the McMenamins.
LISTEN here to my interview with Leanne from today’s radio show – she talks about being a new mum, making music, preparing to make a new album and her decision to try crowd sourcing to fund its production.
If you’d like to help Leanne reach her financial target to help the new CD visit her page at Pozible
This week on Tony Hillier’s World of Music we feature bands appearing this weekend at the annual Cairns Festival
The festival has been going, in one form or another, since it was known as Fun in the Sun in the early 60s. There’s plenty of music on offer at the Festival this year, including Tony’s band Kamerunga, the Hot & Wet Swing Set and The Hillbilly Goats.
LISTEN here
PLAY LIST
Mr Rabbit from The Hot and Wet Swing Set’s 2013 EP Speak Easy
Run Mountain from The Hillbilly Goats’ 2013 album Still In The Mountains Show
Queensland Whalers from Kamerunga’s 2012 album Worlds Kaleid
Tony Hillier is one of Australia’s leading music journalists and a musician of long standing here in far north Queensland. His informed and insightful coverage of music features in The Weekend Australian and Rhythms magazine http://rhythms.com.au/
Tony Hillier’s World of Music is also available as a podcast. Search for Tony Hillier on your podcast app or in the iTunes store. And you can stay in touch with the FNQ music scene with Tony at http://www.entertainmentcairns.com/hilliers-hotline-archive.php
You can hear Tony on ABC Far North each Friday at 445pm.
Tony Hillier is one of Australia’s leading music journalists and a musician of long standing here in far north Queensland. His informed and insightful coverage of music features in The Weekend Australian and Rhythms magazine http://rhythms.com.au/
Tony Hillier’s World of Music is also available as a podcast. Search for Tony Hillier on your podcast app or in the iTunes store. And you can stay in touch with the FNQ music scene with Tony at http://www.entertainmentcairns.com/hilliers-hotline-archive.php
You can hear Tony on ABC Far North each Friday at 445pm.
This week we feature bands appearing at the annual Cairns Festival
The festival has been going, in one form or another, since it was known as Fun in the Sun in the early 60s. There’s plenty of music on offer ath Festival this year, including Tony’s band Snake Gully, Reggae Bliss and Sounds of Austranesia
LISTEN
All three bands are playing at the Pro Gig venue on the Cairns Esplanade this weekend. Details of Cairns Festival events and times here
PLAYLIST
The Woolloomooloo Lair from Snake Gully’s 1999 album Home Among The Gumtrees
Natural Flair from the Reggae Bliss 2011 album Part Of Life
Grateful from the Sounds Of AustraNesia self-titled 2013 debut album
It’s just been announced that the great Leonard Cohen 2013 tour of Australia will include a concert at the Cairns Convention Centre on Tuesday November 26th. Ticket sales begin next Tuesday. The great poet & songsmith is now 78, much admired by music lovers and his fellow musicians, who have rendered many cover versions of his songs.
LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear some of those covers in this week’s Tony Hillier’s World of Music.
TRACK LIST
Bird on a Wire – Johnny Cash from the 1994 album American Recordings
Stranger Song – Martin Simpson from the recently released Vagrant Stanzas
I’m Your Man – Monsieur Camembert from the 2007 live album Famous Blue Cheese
Tony Hillier is one of Australia’s leading music journalists and a musician of long standing here in far north Queensland. His informed and insightful coverage of music features in The Weekend Australian and Rhythms magazine http://rhythms.com.au/
Tony Hillier’s World of Music is also available as a podcast. Search for Tony Hillier on your podcast app or in the iTunes store. And you can stay in touch with the FNQ music scene with Tony at http://www.entertainmentcairns.com/hilliers-hotline-archive.php
You can hear Tony on ABC Far North each Friday at 445pm.
The Mojowire 