Chapter Seven – 1981-84 (The Melbourne Years)

Within days of the sudden closure of ELVIS – The Musical, fortune smiled on me in the form of a phone call from Wal Bishop, manager to Johnny Chester (‘Chess’ as he is known to all). When I was unable to accept the previous offer to join their show, they had hired an excellent guitarist named Graham Davidge. He had been the original lead guitarist for Little River Band back in 1975. Now, after just a few months with the Johnny Chester Country Roadshow, Graham had left to join the band Goanna. The following year you could hear his high guitar lines on their huge hit Solid Rock. Wal called to ask if I was available yet and would I consider replacing Graham and making the move to Melbourne? They would fly me down the next day to meet the band and see how I would fit in with their musical style.

So it was, that on Wednesday 20th May 1981, straight after an in-studio appearance at 5am (!) on Barbara Morison’s radio show on 2SER-FM, I caught the morning flight to Melbourne. Chess himself wasn’t in town as he was in Nashville securing a producer for his forthcoming album. So, I played just a handful of songs with Johnny’s group Hotspur, before bandleader Marshall Parker declared I was just what they were looking for. I caught the afternoon plane back to Sydney, played three gigs that weekend, bade a sad farewell to Laurel Lee, apologising for my sudden departure, then loaded my car and set off to Victoria.

I had been invited to stay in the basement rumpus room of Wal and his lovely wife Rosemary until I could find my own place, because the next few weeks would be a whirlwind. Finding the time to actually go flat-hunting was the problem. In one day alone the band started at the Aerolyte flight-case factory for instrument fittings, then on to the Tres-Bon fashion house for stretch-jeans fittings (the latest thing), then on to the Quarterback factory for our sponsored shirts. At 2.30 in the afternoon we were at the renowned Allan Eaton Studios to record the audio for our television commercial for the upcoming tour and finally at 6.30pm we began a long evening at Chelsea Studios filming the visuals for the commercial. In the coming days there were rehearsals, photo shoots, shows at the weekends, plus recording the new album in the studio on all the weekdays.

Johnny Chester was reaching a second peak in his musical career. The first had been in the sixties as a rock ‘n’ roller, a highlight being one of the support acts for The Beatles tour of Australia in 1964. Now he had successfully re-established himself as a country singer/songwriter and in January 1981, winning Male Vocalist of the Year at the Golden Guitar Awards in Tamworth. Chess would hold that title for three consecutive years. My first outing with the show would be at the Buchan Recreation Reserve in East Gippsland. The concerts always began with a set from Donna Fisk who had been the show’s opening act for the last year. To say she was surprised and delighted to see I was the new guitarist, would be an understatement! The following day we were all on the 9am Ansett flight to Sydney, a drive out to the Australiana Pioneer Village in Wilberforce for a 3pm show and then back to Melbourne on the 8pm flight. The next day we started the album at Allan Eaton Studios and the first week the sessions were booked for 8, 10, 12 or 13 hours each day! While that might seem like a gruelling schedule, it would be one of the most enduring educations I would ever enjoy.

The trend for Australian country music artists that was gaining a hold, was for them to visit Nashville, Tennessee and record with the American musicians in their studios. Johnny Chester admirably wanted to use his own band and so he struck a deal with U.S. record producer Brien Fisher, to bring him to Australia and produce the album on our home turf. Amongst Brien’s best-known productions is Heaven’s Just a Sin Away by The Kendalls which was named the CMA Single of the Year in 1978 and won them a Grammy Award. That year he also produced Joe Sun singing the original hit version of Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You. Brien had a quiet Southern nature as he sat behind the mixing desk making the magic happen. When relaxing, he could be found peeling a turnip with a pocket knife and eating it raw, just as we would an apple.

In those first four days we put down the rhythm section tracks for 13 songs. Afterwards, we took him out to some Victorian tourist attractions, including an old colonial gold mine. Somewhere on our travels, a local said “G’day old-timer” to him, even though Brien was only in his late-forties, so from that point on we gave him the nickname ‘O.T.’ which amused him.

After the weekend gigs were done, the following week was designated for instrumental overdubs which the band took in turns. If it wasn’t your time to be behind the microphone, there was always the cocktail-table style Space Invaders or Defender arcade games in the green room. A lot of twenty-cent pieces were deposited in those machines during the making of the album.

Chess had a brand new top-of-the-line ‘Messiah’ model Maton acoustic guitar and that was what I played in the sessions, along with my electric Fender Telecaster and mandolin. Robin Gray and Mike Wilson were the excellent and patient engineers for the studio. In that short time I learnt so much from Brien’s approach to recording music, that to this day, I never sit in front of a studio microphone without thinking of the methods I picked up from him.

Once the album was in the can, we then put down a track for Terri Heart who was also here from Nashville, and a single for Donna Fisk. Terri’s recording of Dark Side Of The Moon became the A-side of her debut single and was reviewed in Billboard magazine, who made reference to the Australian influence and to my lead guitar. It later appeared on her album Straight To The Heart.

 

Donna’s A-side was a remake of Little Things Mean A Lot in the style of Crystal Gayle, with myself on acoustic rhythm and Graham Davidge on nylon string lead, while the flip My Heart’s Not Broken was written by Chess and featuring my twin-harmony, electric lead guitar playing.

Eventually Brien would take the multi-track tapes of Johnny’s album back to Nashville where he added cameo overdubs by Terri, Margie & Marcy Cates, Curtis Young, Todd Cerney, Gregg Galbraith and Randy Scruggs. Before they left, Brien and Terri gave everyone in the band a state-of-the-art Toshiba ‘walkman’ that had an FM radio cartridge which slotted into the unit in the same place that a cassette would go. Brien had a tape with only ‘side one’ of Albert Lee’s first solo LP Hiding. I made a copy and nearly wore it out on the subsequent weeks on the road. It was years before I ever got to hear side two! From that tape, I would learn Albert’s classic song Country Boy and perform it as my featured number in every show we played that year.

Recording finished towards the end of June and then the touring continued in earnest! June 25th we started in Canberra and worked our way down the south coast, playing 15 towns in 16 days. A couple of days off to do laundry and regroup, and then it was off to South Australia and regional Victoria. It was there that I experienced the coldest gig of my life! We played for a gathering similar to a B&S Ball (Bachelor and Spinsters), in the Montague Packing Shed at the Dandenong Cold Stores. There were two small electric heaters on stands, one at each end of the stage. I had to hold my hands up to one in between songs to try and keep the circulation moving in my fingers.

Later in the year, it would be the opposite extreme. We were playing an outdoor festival and the afternoon sun was beaming directly on to the stage. As I played my guitar, I felt a strange sensation underneath my hand. As I looked down, I was alarmed to see that the black plastic pickguard on my Fender Telecaster was actually buckling in the heat and bending up towards the strings! I had to grab a screwdriver and remove the pickguard in-between songs before it reached the strings and stopped them from being able to vibrate. As I looked over at our steel player, Ray ‘The Hat’, I could see he also had a dilemma – trying to hold a hot metal bar and press it against a hot metal instrument.

In September we made the long drive from the Gold Coast to Cairns in North Queensland, playing at a dozen towns along the way. A memorable show on that trip was at the Daydream Island Resort. As you can see from this photo below, a couple of enterprising audience members have found themselves a prime position to watch Donna Fisk and Hotspur perform!

Touring continued, at first in two cars and a truck, but soon the cars were replaced by a 22-seat Mazda bus. Chess joked with Across Country magazine that “…we couldn’t afford a Silver Eagle so we’ve bought a Chrome Canary!”

In between trips, I somehow found time for a few outside projects. As a session player, I contributed to an album by Donna’s father, ‘outlaw’ singer Gene Bradley Fisk. The LP was titled Blood of a Rambler and produced by Graeme Howie and Don Fraser. I also played on another LP from the same team – Four Foot Ten And Country by the diminutive Debbie Parry.

Soon it would be time for the release of our own new album: Johnny Chester and Hotspur – Love In The Meantime. We had a cover photo and video shoot at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, Williamstown and had started on the promotional trail with television appearances on the Mike Walsh Show in Sydney, Hey, Hey It’s Saturday in Melbourne, BTV6 in Ballarat and NEN9 in Tamworth.

Although Johnny recorded for his own company Josalado Productions, he astutely released his albums via the major label WEA Records (the conglomerate formed by the joining of Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, now known as Warner Music). WEA arranged a launch party for the album and we all flew to Sydney to attend the gathering of record company executives and the press. It was staged in the Centrepoint Tower Function Centre, and was the first reception ever held in Sydney’s highest event space. The revelries continued later at the Lonestar Bar & Grill in Chinatown; my future wife was at that party, but I wouldn’t actually meet her for another ten years!

 

The remainder of November and December continued with a vast array of Victorian show dates, including the Bullengarook Festival headlined by American star Tom T. Hall and featuring Shirley Strachan (lead vocalist of Skyhooks) in his guise as a children’s entertainer (‘Shirl’s Neighbourhood’) giving away the prize of a live pony! After a flying visit to Sydney for Christmas, it was back to work on Boxing Day, for the start of an eight-night engagement, including New Years Eve, at the Lady Bay Hotel in Warrnambool. This time though, it was Hotspur with Donna Fisk performing every night and rocking it up a bit more than usual, to cater for the boisterous crowds. The very next day we were all back with Chess, performing at the financially ill-fated World Cup Rodeo at the Melbourne Showground. The following weekend I was Musical Director for Donna at the inaugural Snowy River Country Music Festival in Orbost, with The Hawks (ex-Hawking Brothers) as her backing band.

The next weekend I played three shows at the Myer Music Bowl, starting with Bowl Full of Country, a multi-artist show where I was happy to be reunited briefly with my old mate Lucky Starr and with Selection Records label-mate Reg Poole. This was followed by Lady In Blue, billed as the world’s first country music opera and answer to Jesus Christ Superstar. I was delighted to play in the orchestra (that’s me pictured below, sitting at the rear, just to the right of centre) directed by Doug Surman, backing a spectacular cast of seventy-five that included Cash Backman as The preacher, Alan Hawking as Joseph, Reg Poole as Zachariah, J.J. McLean (who I had worked with in Elvis – The Musical) and Graeme Howie as Archangels and Lenore Somerset as Elizabeth. It was produced, directed and written by Robert King Crawford, who as Superintendent of Arts for the City of Melbourne, oversaw the entire F.E.I.P. (Free Entertainment In the Parks) program.

The next day, Sunday 17th January 1982, would be a momentous day for me. It began with the 10th Famed Australian Grand Young Opry concert at noon. I played guitar for Johnny Ashcroft & Gay Kayler and also for Eddie Storm. When it came time for the presentation of the F.E.I.P. Southern Hemisphere Country Music Awards (in association with Across Country Magazine) things got really interesting.

Johnny Chester repeated his previous win for Most Popular Male Vocalist and Donna Fisk who had won the newcomer award the year before, stepped up to win Most Popular Female Vocalist, while her father, performer and 3GL broadcaster took out the Most Popular Personality category.

It was my turn next as Hotspur won Most Popular Group and our own Ray Hasler won Most Popular Pedal Steel Player. To my surprise, my name was called (an unprecedented) three more times as Most Popular Newcomer, Most Popular Guitarist and Most Popular Musician! I was over the moon to have been recognised in Victoria in such a short time – no doubt thanks to the company I was keeping. Outside of our immediate musical family (for now), John Faubel of The Hawks was voted as Most Popular Drummer and Dave Russell of the band Silverwater was Most Popular Bass-player.

Pictured above: Spokesmodel Nikki helps Bob pose with his three trophies! Pictured left – Team Chester. From the left: Bob Howe, (crouching) Norm Tyrell (Entertainment To Order Management), Noel Bennett (sound engineer), Donna Fisk, Ray Hasler and Marshall Parker (Hotspur).

During a few rare days off in Sydney, I caught a marvellous jazz performance at the Musicians’ Club by Monty Alexander, Ray Brown and one of my favourite guitarists, Herb Ellis. They had just released a fine LP entitled Trio. The concert also featured and excellent opening set from the local Ken James Reunion Band. Soon I was back on the road with the Johnny Chester Country Roadshow, playing six shows in Queensland’s Darling Downs region and then down to the Sydney Showground for two afternoon appearances at the Daily Telegraph Holiday and Travel Show. While in Sydney, we stayed at the Chateau hotel in Potts Point. Little did I know that one of the hotel receptionists would later become my wife (but not for another ten years)!!

On the evening after the first show, it was a quick flight to Tamworth for Chess. Donna and myself – all three of us nominated in the 10th Australasian Country Music Awards. Under the 2TM Big Top, Chess won the Golden Guitar for Male Vocal with Rough Around The Edges (it would be the second of three consecutive wins for him in that category). Donna missed out on New Talent and Female Vocal (but no mean feat to be nominated in a major category at the tender age of 21), while my version of The Bushman’s Rodeo was pipped at the post in the Instrumental category by Selection Records label-mate Barry Thornton of Slim Dusty band fame.

No time to celebrate or commiserate though, it was back to Sydney in the morning for the second appearance at the Showground, then back on the road for 18 shows down through NSW and Victoria, arriving in Melbourne in time for a concert at the Myer Music Bowl on February 28th as part of the 1982 Moomba Festival, alongside Redgum, Goanna and The Rock Doctors.

March 6th & 7th were the dates for Wandong ’82 and this highly successful country music festival was being held at a new site in Wallan East after bushfires had destroyed the permanent stage and surrounding area of the previous venue. Billed as ‘Ladies Year’, acts with their own band included Jean Stafford, Judy Stone and Deniese Morrison. The Wandong All-Stars Band for this year consisted of Norm Tyrell (bass, bandleader), yours truly (guitar, musical director), Dave Williams (drums), Don Lucas (pedal steel guitar) and Jan Wagner (keyboards).

We were set-up on one stage, backing artists who on the first day were Joy & Allan, Rocky Page, Leanne Douglas, and Donna Fisk. Donna and I then made a speedy retreat to play the Ballarat Memorial Theatre that night with the Johnny Chester Country Roadshow. The next morning it was back to Wandong where the All-Stars accompanied Dave Pincombe, Gay Kayler & Johnny Ashcroft, young Melinda Johnstone, John Williams, Jewel & Arthur Blanch and Allan Caswell. I remember esteemed broadcaster Nick Erby interviewing me backstage and asking where I thought my career was headed. Caught off-guard, I think I replied that I was too busy to ponder such an idea and was just racing from day to day!

Norm Tyrell, DONNA FISK, Bob Howe – Wandong ’82

Bob Howe, JEWEL & ARTHUR BLANCH – Wandong ’82

A lot of hours were spent on the ‘Chrome Canary’ travelling from town to town with much of the time passed by listening to music on my Walkman. Many of the places became a blur due to the brevity of our visits, but if I had time before soundcheck each day, I would walk the streets looking for a music shop, many of which carried the same stock, supplied by a retail chain then known as Brashs. In 1980, brilliant American jazz pianist Dave Grusin had released his classic LP entitled Mountain Dance. There was one constant that amused me. In many a small rural town I would find a copy of this ‘Jazz’ LP filed under ‘Country’, sitting alongside the latest Slim Dusty record! The combination of the title Mountain Dance, and the fact that he sports a cowboy hat on the cover, must have led the chief buyer at Brashs to imagine that it was in fact a country album.  

One day reading on the bus, I saw that my old mate Terry Gordon was planning a new album for Selection Records. I had the idea to write an ‘autobiographical’ song for him to sing, so I started jotting down facts about his life and career and forcing them in to verses that rhymed. Arriving at that day’s motel and still full of inspiration, I borrowed an acoustic guitar from Chess and took a cassette recorder into the bathroom (for classic echo effect) and put down a demo version of the song. A quick trip to the local post office and it was on its way to Terry. He loved the song and recorded it for his A Load of Bull LP. The boss of Selection Records, Eric Watson, later told me he thought I had deliberately used the opening line “G’day…I’m Terry, I’ll sing you a country song…” in order to secure the song’s placement as Track One on the LP, but it was just a stroke of luck that it was the logical position for the song.

Eventually the endless miles and the repetition of what was a very successful show, began to take its toll. In just under a year, I had played the Johnny Chester Country Roadshow 144 times! I realised that now I was preferring the variation of other gigs, in particular those where I acted as M.D. for Donna. I told Chess that I would be leaving at the end of the forthcoming Tasmanian tour and he respected my decision. We remained firm friends and we would work together again in years to come.

 

Certain stars were aligning however: Donna Fisk had been with the show for two years and now needed to make her own mark, Norm Tyrell decided to branch out and become Donna’s manager full-time, drummer John Faubel had left The Hawks and needed a gig, and Frank Ifield needed a band for his forthcoming Victorian shows, but wait – I’m getting ahead of myself…

For some time I had been renting a tiny flat in Thornbury, which back then was not nearly the trendy Melbourne suburb that it is these days. It resembled a motel room with parking outside each flat, which made the transition from the road to home quite easy. A muso’s bachelor pad, complete with a road case doubling as a coffee table. Now I had more time to explore Melbourne and discover more about the local music scene. First up were a number of shows with Donna using different bands (Evelyn County, 1901, Stoney Creek) while plans were afoot to create a permanent band of her own.

In June, I was invited to be part of the house band for George Xanthos’ Fifth Annual Pedal Steel Guitar Convention at the Reservoir Hotel. I was delighted to play with many steelers – George himself, Ben E. Joyner, John Bertram, Tom Lo Piccolo, Jerry Van Den Acker, Bill Knox, Dooley MacDonnell and, for the first time, DeWitt Scott. Visiting from St Louis, Missouri, ‘Scotty’ was the originator of the International Steel Guitar Convention and a world-renowned educator and advocate of the instrument. Around the same time I also sat in with bands like Cripple Creek, Gene Bradley Fisk’s Outlaws and Warwick Dean’s Country Jam.

A new venue appeared, as if on cue: the Spurs Western Bar & Restaurant, initially in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, but later also in Campbellfield and the cities of Geelong and Canberra. Inspired by Gilley’s, the Texas cowboy bar featured in the movie Urban Cowboy, Spurs was decked out with Western paraphernalia, ranch-style food and a mechanical bull. It was founded by Barry Coburn who had been a successful concert promoter in New Zealand and the original manager of the band Split Enz. He would later become a publishing mogul in Nashville, kick-starting the careers of Alan Jackson and Keith Urban, amongst others. Barry hired me to run a Monday night jam session which became known as Spurs Superpickers. It began with a regular rhythm section, augmented each week by different guest musicians and singers which included George Xanthos, Barry Roy, Alan Bowles, Pete Hayes, Bruce Green, Charlie Gauld, Mike Burke, Ray Hasler, and many more. After a few months, Barry Coburn introduced me to Sam See (ex-Stockley, See & Mason) who was keen to sit in with us. On a return visit, he in turn, brought Chris Stockley (ex-The Dingoes) to join in and before long, Sam and Chris became regular members of our line-up. On occasion we were also joined by singing drummer Gary Young (ex-Daddy Cool) and we always had a lot of fun, indulging these rockers in their passion for country music.

Meanwhile, musicians were being gathered for Donna Fisk’s new band which would be dubbed The Hot Diggity Band. I would be joined by John Faubel on drums, Ed Bettoso on bass and Mark Edmonds on keyboards. We began rehearsing for an official launch show on 7th August at the Aberdeen Chateau function centre in Geelong. Before that happened though, we were asked if we could perform three shows with Sixties superstar Frank Ifield. He was travelling to Victoria with just an M.D. (bassist Steve O’Connell) and needed a backing band and an opening act. So it was that on 25th June 1982, The Hot Diggity Band accompanied Frank Ifield and Donna at the Ballarat Civic Centre and, on the following two days, at the Aberdeen Chateau and the Geelong Performing Arts Centre. It was a great thrill for me and Frank was delightful to work with. We would see him again in two years time and my story would take yet another turn!

 

 

During a quiet moment after one of those performances at the Aberdeen Chateau, I interviewed Frank about his career, showbiz in general and country music in Australia, the U.K. and America.

The article would eventually appear in the June 1983 edition of J.A.M.M. (Journal of Australian Music and Musicians).

To read the text, click on the image to the left.

Eventually, we would get to officially launch the Donna Fisk Country Spectacular Show as planned in Geelong. As well as Donna and the band, the show included comedian Roy Tyrell (Norm’s brother), although the band also featured comedy in the classic showband style. From there it was off to tour south-west NSW and back in to Victoria, making our Melbourne debut at the Melbourne Town Hall in a show that also included Reg Poole and was compered by Bob King Crawford for the F.E.I.P. program. A few city dates and then back to the bush for more concerts centred around one state or another would be the ongoing pattern, making it a less intense schedule than the Johnny Chester tours. As the summer approached we played more and more festivals; West Wyalong, Warrandyte, Cootamundra, Albury, Springvale, Yackandandah, Bonnie Doon, Snowy River, Yarra Glen, Wallace, Cranbourne, Charters Towers, Yea, Broadford, Wandong, Moomba, Daylesford, and the list goes on!

Somehow in August, I also found time to produce a single for Gene Bradley Fisk‘s Outlaws (He’s On The Run/lt’s Only Just A Song) at Allan Eaton Studios, and an E.P. for myself (Rags to Riches) at Rake Studios, engineered by Ray ‘Screamy’ Eames of The Blue Echoes showband and with Ed and John as my studio band. My song If You Don’t Like Slim Dusty attracted interest from gonzo journalist Dave Dawson in Juke magazine while broadcaster Nick Erby on his National Country Music Jamboree Radio Show described it as “…a good song, but weird.”

 

Also at Rake Studios, Donna joined me and we created a jingle for ‘Soundair’, a local electronics retail store (“Soundair…sounds good to me!”). Somewhere around this time I was back at Allan Eaton’s again for Johnny Chester’s production of Donna’s next single You Could Have Heard A Pin Drop.

We would see Nick Erby a month after our launch when he hosted a show at Queanbeyan Leagues Club, that also included Allan Caswell. Our keyboard/vocalist Mark was delighted to find the club had a well-appointed stage with a full-size grand piano. As he had invested in a tailored three-piece suit with matching grey cowboy hat, boots and spurs, he made quite an entrance as he jangled across the stage at the start of the show. Positioning himself at the grand piano and with a flick of his coat-tails he sat down. Unfortunately the piano stool collapsed underneath him and the audience gasped, partly in shock and partly wondering if it was part of the performance. It wasn’t, but fortunately he was unhurt and only his dignity was bruised!

Touring continued to be varied: one day we might play St Joseph’s School Hall in Benalla, Victoria and then we’d be off to Queensland for a six-night engagement at Wanderers Paradise in Proserpine on the Whitsunday Coast. In between, Superpickers continued at Spurs with Ed and John and guests, plus Donna and The Hot Diggity Band would alternate between the Moorabbin venue and the new Spurs at Campbellfield. I would also play those venues as part of the Country Hotshots featuring Warwick Dean out-front, then I would fill in for Barry Roy for a night in the Deniese Morrison band, and when Mick Hamilton came to town, I played bass in his band for seven nights.

Hot Diggity bass-player Ed Bettoso also played guitar and sang like an angel. He invited me along to Bogarts – self-styled as “Melbourne’s Only Adult B.Y.O. Disco/Restaurant”. Early in the evening, we would literally sing for our supper, while having a lot of fun. It was there that I first worked with Sharon Bassett (performer and graphic artist – Sharon designed my Bob Howe logo!) who would on occasion sing with the Spurs Superpickers. Bogarts was also where I first met Leslie Avril, then a piano bar chanteuse, later to be a force to be reckoned with in Australian country music.

At the Sydenham Hotel in Richmond I sat in with a band called Ex-Saltbush (the name says it all – it included Paul Pyle, Harold Frith and Noel Watson), the Billy Jack band, and another time with members of the legendary Dead Livers, while at the Frankston Yacht Club I played a date with a group named Dog’s Dinner.

Donna and Hot Diggity would often return to the Aberdeen Chateau in Geelong, either on our own, or sharing the bill with stars such as Diana Trask (who lured me to the front of the stage for an impromptu vocal duet of Crying Time), Allan Caswell, Frankie Davidson and Dennis Knight. When January 1983 rolled around it was time for more F.E.I.P. concerts – their 11th Country Music Jamboree. First we played at Flagstaff Gardens (the oldest park in Melbourne) in a show called the History of Country Music Part 3 (Modern Sounds of Country) Next it was back to the Myer Music Bowl for a repeat performance of Lady In Blue which this time also included Donna. Finally it was the Grand Young Opry concert where the All-Stars backed Donna, BJ Mackay, Gene Bradley Fisk and Reg Poole. Only Donna repeated her award success, being voted Most Popular Female Vocalist once again.

Early in April we played the Cranbourne Country Music Festival and also backed Lucky Starr and a local chap named Phil Gibson. The following month he would hire the Superpickers band to do a show with him at the Cranbourne Public Hall. Later in the year he asked me to produce an E.P. for him which was released on his own P.G. Records label. I assembled the members of Hotspur for the studio band and they played their hearts out. Warwick Thomas engineered at Sound Concepts studio and I remember Dingoes singer Broderick Smith dropped in one day and we had a nice chat about harmonica playing. At the same sessions we cut a single for steel player Ray Hasler which also came out on the PG label.

Soon after that, the Hot Diggity band would have a change of line-up; a new keyboard player, Adrian Mazzeni and a lead singer, Russell Beggs. It was a case of squeezing in rehearsals while the gigs just kept coming! Pictured left is one of my favourite photos from that time – a double-exposure that shows myself, Donna, Ed and Adrian onstage at Spurs.

 

Ed is in trouble again! Fun at the Sovereign Hill Museum.

Ed, Bob, Donna, Norm, Dennis Knight, Russell, coach driver

At the end of April we set off on a marathon road trip to the Charters Towers Country Music Festival. First stop was Brisbane to play the Glen Hotel, then Toowoomba at the White Horse Hotel. As we got closer to Charters Towers, the weather became decidedly more unsettled and by the time we got there, the festival site was turning to mud. Even with an operating budget of over $60,000, the organisers could do little to combat nature. The fans were not deterred though and as Nick Erby reported in Capital News magazine “…It was quite amazing…there we were, at times over 1,500 of us; out in the rain, enjoying ourselves.” Nick is pictured in this article, onstage with Donna.

After three days, we set off on the road again. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere we got caught between two creeks that had risen, effectively cutting off the road in both directions. Along with other marooned travellers, we spent the night in a local hall, sleeping on rubber exercise mats. It brought to mind the famous catchphrase of the legendary Hank Williams – If the Good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we’ll see you in the mornin’. We were living the life! On the way back we played at the Coolum Hotel on the Sunshine Coast and then a Mother’s Day afternoon show at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, staged by the City Council and also featuring Normie Rowe, Bill & Boyd and Bullamakanka. Our crew was all road-weary by now and decided we would keep heading south and drive all the way back to Melbourne, non-stop, switching drivers along the way.

The Donna Fisk equipment truck making it’s way through the big wet…

A rainbow finally appeared after we slept the night on the floor of this hall in North Qld

In June I was delighted once again to be in the house band for George Xanthos’ Sixth Annual Pedal Steel Guitar Convention. As well as playing with several steelers (Tom Lo Piccolo, Peter Cocker, Kenny Kitching, Benny Joyner, Ray Hasler, Everett Horch, Lou Devon)  I also the had the pleasure of being in the audience to watch the masterful Jerry Byrd who had flown over from Hawaii. Backed by local jazz guitarist Bruce Clarke and Bradley Clarke on bass, Jerry played a sublime set of Hawaiian favourites and standards on his Jerry Byrd ‘Frypan’ lap steel. His delicate touch and musical taste was inspiring.

Journalist and instrumental enthusiast Geoff Jermy, Bob Howe, George Xanthos – 1983

Kenny Kitching, Jerry Byrd, Bruce Clarke – 1983

The sun was out in December when we played Broadford ’83. a three day Rock ‘n’ Roll festival presented by the Hell’s Angels. We felt slightly out of place on a bill that included Rose Tattoo, Choirboys and Canned Heat, but they looked after us well. On arrival, four burly bikies hung off each corner of our truck and made sure we got safely to the backstage area. The Tony Catz band were on just before us, and the red-blooded males in our band were amused to watch several girls from the audience take to the stage and remove their tops or even all of their clothes while that band was still playing. It was a moment before we realised…we had to follow that! When Donna appeared before the 5,000 plus crowd, there were inevitable lewd calls from the audience but she took it in her stride and won them over with her music. Venerable broadsheet The Age reported this with the comment that “…women’s liberation in not big among the outlaw gangs…” while scandal rag The Truth countered with a pictorial spread of the naked girls.

 

We started 1984 a little differently; Donna, her father and myself, flew to Esperance in Western Australia to appear at their country music festival on New Year’s Day. One of the most memorable moments of the trip was when the pilot of the light plane that took us from Perth to Esperance, handed the controls over to Outlaw Gene. Being ex-RAAF, Gene was in his element, although we weren’t as excited as he was!

More Free Entertainment in the Parks was next on the schedule, this time a concert in the Melbourne City Square and also the Southern Hemisphere Country Music Awards where Donna held on to her title as Most Popular Female Vocalist.

Ed (obscured), Russell, Marshall Parker on piano, Bob and Donna at the Myer Music Bowl, Jan. 1984

Bob under the F.E.I.P. ‘Eye in the Tree’ logo at the Myer Music Bowl, Jan. 1984

After that, we were off to Kangaroo Island to play the Kingscote Town Hall and the Visanger Football Oval (and to do some excellent sight-seeing), then in February working our way back through South Australia to New South Wales and finally Victoria, doing shows with singer Dennis Knight. Around this time I was delighted to win Best Country Song (1984) in the Radio 3CCC-FM songwriting contest.

At the beginning of March, Frank Ifield returned to Victoria for six shows and asked for us to back him again and for me to be Musical Director. We started with the Wallace Recreation Reserve 5th Annual Music Festival, followed by clubs in Wentworth, Tooleybuc, Moama and then back to the Aberdeen Chateau. It was there I mentioned to Frank that soon I would be heading off on a round-the-world trip.

For the last date of this run, 11th March 1984, we were due to play the Moomba Festival along with Frank, but first Donna and the band had to perform at the Wandong Festival on a bill that included Johnny Chester, Dennis Walter, Alan Hawking and more. From there we dashed back to the Yarra River in the heart of Melbourne. Frank, Donna and Hot Diggity performed that evening on the Carlton United Breweries Showboat. Our sound was sent wireless to PA stacks located at various points along the riverbank. Frank himself tells of the beginnings of our time together:

“In 1982 I came on one of my many tours of Australia and finished in Victoria. I rehearsed in Melbourne with a very impressive local Country band called “Hot Diggity” and their lead singer was a dynamic young teenager named Donna Fisk. She is the daughter of well-known Australian Country Singer Gene Bradley Fisk and she had me captivated by the uniqueness of her voice from the very first time I saw her perform. Again in 1984 I returned to tour ‘Down Under’ and found myself working again with the Hot Diggity Band at the Moomba Festival. I was to sing from a moving boat as it made its way down along the Yarra River. Trouble was, I could only hear myself sing intermittently as we passed the speakers on the shore line. The band leader was a young guitarist called Bob Howe who not only impressed me by his musicianship, but also his prowess as being totally unflappable in any crisis. I said, ‘If ever you come to England give me a call and I will get you to work with me’. No sooner had I got back to the UK, Bob turned up and gave me a call. This was a moment that turned into not only a decade of touring together but also forged a lifelong friendship.” – Frank Ifield

Frank sings out towards the river bank…

…and Donna sings with the lights of Melbourne in the distance.

And so it was the on 17th May 1984 at the Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, I played my last show with the Hot Diggity band. In just under two years we had played 211 shows together. It certainly wouldn’t be my last performance with Donna or Frank, but right now the United States of America beckoned me…

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