Chapter Fifteen – 2009-2011

With my new purple Tomkins Custom Guitar tuned up and ready to twang, 2009 began with a series of shows as part of the Travis List Band. We began on January 7th with gigs at Hexham, Wyong, Bankstown and then a long day where we flew to Melbourne, played at the Red Hill Country Music Festival in Victoria, and then flew straight back to Sydney.

Suitably warmed up, we headed to the Tamworth Country Music Festival where we played a dozen shows, nearly all at West’s Legends Bar, most nights from midnight to 3am! Eventually the late-night snack-bar staff would anticipate my order and would deliver cups of tea to me at the side of the stage when I looked like I was fading away.

That wasn’t all though, because during the days I also: led the Country for Lifeline band at the Town Hall featuring Doug Gallacher on drums and Rod Coe on bass; played Allan Caswell’s album launch at the Longyard Hotel with Allan, Drew McAlister and Gary Brown; led Hillbilly Heaven for Bryen Willems’ Honky Tonk Nights band (Kirk Steele on piano, Gary Brown on steel, Terry Phillpot on drums, Allan Tomkins on bass, Jo Ellis on fiddle) for three evenings at the Family Hotel; and hosted the Tomkins Guitars Showcase in the Blazes auditorium at Wests. Whilst there was a great deal of fun and good music, I came to a realisation about the Festival. I had played 20 shows over 13 days but the rising cost of being there, particularly for accommodation, meant that I was only breaking even. Going forward, I would have to take this into serious consideration.

The same month, ABC Music released John Nutting’s Saturday Night Country – 15th Anniversary Edition. The 2-CD compilation contained 39 tracks by various artists including Iris Dement, Lee Kernaghan with Catherine Britt, Ralph Stanley, Reg Lindsay, Anne Kirkpatrick, Slim Dusty with Kasey Chambers, Fred Eaglesmith, Neil Murray, Alan Jackson, Gretchen Wilson, John Williamson and many more. The collection entered the ARIA Top 20 Australian Artist Country Albums Chart at #17. I was delighted to be included on there with my Diamondtina Yodel, which had now proved to be my most successful solo recording to date. It had previously also appeared on the Tomkins Showcase Volume One CD, my own debut album Go West, been a top ten finalist in the Golden Guitars, top five finalist in the TIARAs and Victorian & National Country Music Awards, and thanks to the good folk at The Country Music Store in Brisbane, it had made its way on to countless Nokia mobile phones back in 2006 as part of their ‘Music Recommenders’ service.

Meanwhile on the Saturday Night Country radio show, Tania Kernaghan (pictured right with myself and Johnno) co-hosted on March 14th, launching her new album Livin’ The Dream at the Sydney studios of ABC Radio 702. The following month it was the turn of Felicity Urquhart and her latest album Landing Lights.

In between times I was still making many ‘cabaret’ appearances, playing in the band at Petersham RSL, and cruising the Pacific Ocean. Around this time I was contacted by Hungry Man’s Army, an American ‘New Folk Revival’ band based in Southampton, Massachusetts. Over the internet, I was delighted to contribute harmonica and slide guitar to the recording of their song Land of Plenty. On March 17th it was featured as GarageBand.com’s Americana Track of the Day!

Canterbury Country was going at full steam and in March our very own Nicki Gillis had won the 2009 Frank Ifield International Spur Award which would be a catalyst for her career to expand in the UK and Europe. The May show was an all-star (no pun intended) line-up to celebrate our 9th birthday. Terry Phillpot designed this birthday card below and also took the photo of me with my old boss Lucky Starr with our Tomkins Guitars. Terry also created his own photo tribute to the night (at www.eyegraphics.net/cc)

During the end of May and the beginning of June, I was to witness some extraordinary performances at the Sydney Opera House. An arts festival was staged under the banner of Luminous (soon to be renamed Vivid Live) and curated by the legendary Brian Eno. Back in the mid-seventies, while working for Festival Records (who distributed the Island label) I had discovered Eno’s first few (post-Roxy Music) solo albums and instantly I became a huge fan. Radio station 2JJ were one of the few to give airtime to his music back then and their broadcaster Tom Zelinka conducted a comprehensive interview with Eno which was later extensively quoted in the Brian Eno & Russell Mills 1986 book More Dark Than Shark. Knowing I was a huge fan, Tom kindly made me a personal cassette copy of the interview. Now in 2009, I was in the audience for Eno’s opening lecture and later for one of three consecutive improvised performances (and his first live appearance in many years) onstage with The Necks, Jon Hopkins, Karl Hyde (Underworld) and Leo Abrahams. The day was named Pure Scenius and the performers were spread across the stage of the Concert Hall, relaxing and interacting at will – each of the concerts picking up where the previous one had ended – and the music ranged from sublime ambient soundscapes to frantic improvised explosions of delight.

Having now begun pre-production on my next album, I thought it would be nice to include a version of the duet that I had sung with Nicki Gillis at the previous year’s Roll of Renown concert in Tamworth. At the recording session, I asked Nicki to sing harmony on another track as well and before we knew it, we had five songs ‘in the can’. Nicki’s voice has a smooth low range and it blended so well with mine, that we decided to keep going and create a full album of duets. One more vocal session and a week of instrumental overdubs and we were done, in a flash of creativity.

We ended up with 10 cover versions of songs, half from the UK and half from the USA, some of which that had never been performed as duets until we rearranged them. We called the album collaboration and launched it at the June Canterbury Country show, where we performed seven of the songs and spent a long time meeting the audience and signing copies after the show.

We had time for one more promotional appearance, performing live in the ‘Star Chamber’ at the ABC 702 Sydney studio and then we were off on tour to the U.K. in July for a month of ‘Nicki Gillis’ shows. As part of her Frank Ifield International Spur Award, a track from Nicki’s current solo album, Lucy’s Daughter, had been released to UK and European country music radio stations. In the following years she would have considerable airplay chart success and hit the #1 spot twice. Nicki would tour there almost every year over the next decade, cementing her following and winning new fans each time.

This first tour in 2009 began on a sombre note for me personally, as my beloved Uncle Bob had just passed away and I landed at Heathrow on the day of his funeral. I jumped in a hire car and drove around London’s traffic-clogged M25 and up to Kings Lynn in East Anglia, arriving just in time for the service. I was glad that I was there to represent the family but after the wake, I had to drive across to Northampton and find my lodgings, as rehearsal was scheduled for the next day.

The tour had been booked by my old bandmate drummer Cozy Dixon and Northampton would be a central point to be picked up in ‘the van’ for each gig. I had been recommended the Grand Hotel right in the city centre, having been warned it was cut-price accommodation for a reason. There were still a few signs that the hotel may once indeed have been ‘Grand’ when it was originally built in 1897 for the Phipps Northampton Brewery Company. However it was now practically derelict and there was literally rubble in some corridors.

The following year it would be closed and completely refurbished to later be reopened under the Travelodge brand. On the bright-side it was dirt-cheap and was just adequate as a place to rest my head when the van would drop me back at 3am, which coincidentally was when the nightclubs opposite the hotel started to get really noisy.

We rehearsed at the Racehorse Inn in Northampton, were Nicki and her (then) manager Trace Dann met Cozy for the first time, and we met Dave Clemo who would be our bass player. Cozy had met Dave sometime previously when Dave had toured the Christian circuit with our mutual friend, Jerry Arhelger. The next day, the 1st of July, we were headed north for our first gig which was at Whitby Sports & Social Club in Cheshire. The first number of the night was fine, but during the second song a movie screen began to descend of its own accord, right in front of our heads. We played on as someone found the remote control, but the screen stubbornly refused to respond, retracting and descending once again. Eventually it had to be tied up, before the whole gig turned into a Mr Bean sketch.

The next day we called in at BBC Merseyside to promote that night’s gig in Liverpool. Nicki was interviewed by famed radio presenter and author Spencer Leigh and I accompanied her on acoustic guitar when she performed live on the air (a pattern that we would repeat at many BBC stations). One of Spencer’s many books about The Beatles – Let’s Go Down To The Cavern – has been in my collection for years. After the interview, we had time for a lemonade at a nearby pub, The Grapes, sitting at the same table where the young Beatles had once drunk their ale. At another table was a regular, Allan Williams, the original booking agent and first manager of The Beatles. His memoir was entitled The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away. He seemed to be ruminating on that very fact, so we didn’t disturb him.

The band outside BBC Merseyside…

….inside, meeting an old enemy.

The tour continued on, zig-zagging to Wales then to the North-East, by which time Nicki was experiencing the culture-shock of the UK country music clubs and their propensity for dressing up as ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and saloon girls. While the clubs, at this time, still offered a chance to work many nights a week if you were prepared to travel – the 2009 Cross Country magazine listed over 500 such clubs – they were very set in their ways. They liked bands that conformed to their expectations and were not open to any new experiences. Despite this, Nicki charmed the crowds wherever we went, and sowed the seeds that would eventually have them singing along to her original material and not just the well-worn favourites. Cozy and Dave were doing a great job and we worked up arrangements that brought an extra excitement to the music.

When we played the Great North Festival in Durham, Cozy and I did double duties, because our old band Barbary Coast were also on the bill. It had been 25 years since I had last played with them, but we took to the stage without a set-list or even a discussion about the songs, and it all fell into place like it was just yesterday. It was also my first proper chance to play alongside the fabulous pedal-steel guitarist John Roche, who was originally in the band before my time with them. The boys were very impressed by Nicki who by now, was receiving great reviews and creating a buzz.

When Nicki took to the stage at the Great North Festival – and for all of this weekend, which also included the Norfolk Country Music Festival in Norwich – we were joined by Mitch Hutchinson, guitarist from Nicki’s Australian band (and also Doc Neeson’s Angels), who was making a short visit to the UK.

We had one more weekend to go after this, ending the fifteen-date tour on August 1st at Fort San Antone, a fully-themed honky-tonk inside Gt Birchwood Country Park at Preston, Lancashire. A large group of family and friends came along that night and they gave us a rousing send off. In this video below from that gig, we are performing the Richard Thompson song Wall of Death, the lead track from our collaboration album, which had become a firm favourite at the shows.

 

Back in Australia, ABC Music released another compilation album, Saturday Night Country presents Tracks of Tragedy. From the liner notes by John Nutting – Saturday Night Country, ABC Local Radio: “Tracks Of Tragedy has been part of ABC Radios long running Country Music show Saturday Night Country since the beginning, over 16 years ago. Each week I play a Track Of Tragedy from my library of these songs of misery. They are part of Country Music, as important as love songs, leaving songs, and cheating songs … these are songs about dying. Now, the best of Saturday Night Country’s Tracks of Tragedy have been compiled on this CD so you can enjoy the misery whenever you want!!!” Amongst the classic tracks by the likes of Ferlin Husky, Gordon Parsons, Red Sovine, Buddy Williams and the Louvin Brothers, was my new recording of I See Your Face, a ‘ghostly’ ballad that I had written in Nashville with Jerry Arhelger some twenty years earlier.

John Nutting had also written the foreword for the latest book by writer, entertainer, broadcaster, humourist, songwriter and historian Jim Haynes. The ABC Book of Australian Country Music was described at the time as “the Ultimate Guide To Country Music In Australia” and I was delighted to have assisted Jim with research and a few of my photographs.

At the same time I could be heard on new CDs by Deniese Morrison (No Charge, a compilation) and BlackHatz (Too Pretty For Pop). On the live front I was sharing shows with Nicki, Judy Stone, Emma Hannah, Donna Boyd, Stacey Morris, Karen Beckett, and the Hillbilly Heaven band ventured out to St Marys Band Club for a night with a guest singer –  ‘Deadly’ award-winning Sharnee Fenwick. There were a variety of temperature changes too; one day I would be cruising and bathing in the tropical climes of Tahiti and Hawaii, the next I would be wearing a scarf and shivering on an outdoor stage at night with Nicki at the Canberra Country Music Festival (until the local police politely closed us down when the show ran late).

By now, the collaboration album was gathering great reviews. Susan Jarvis in Country Music Capital News wrote “The project is an absolute delight…a little gem of a recording.” Russell Hill, in the November issue of Maverick Magazine (U.K), went slightly over the top: “Superb and remarkably beautiful material from our Commonwealth and expatriate neighbours….throughout the ten tracks of this album you cannot stop your head from nodding and the toes tapping along to the sublime instrumentals that find themselves accompanying Nicki and Bob’s heavenly vocals. If the Gods of Olympus could play one particular album, I’m pretty sure this would be it.”

Our track Chasing Cars, a cover of the Snow Patrol hit, was released in the UK went on to spend two weeks at #3 on the HotDisc chart, five weeks in the top ten and reached #2 in Denmark. Later, our version of Buddy Holly’s It Doesn’t Matter Anymore would make #6 on the European CMA report.

Closer to home, The Debonairs was founded in Melbourne by Aussie rock legend Brian Cadd as a monthly music industry get-together/fundraiser, and had now expanded to include Sydney. I attended a few of the early sessions and one of them was extra-special. Dr James O Little AO, better known as Jimmy Little, was celebrating a new recording of his classic hit Royal Telephone, raising funds for The Jimmy Little Foundation, to help improve kidney health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across regional and remote Australia. Jimmy was tracked by a film crew from ABC TV’s Stateline program. Friends watching Jimmy sing in the photo here include (back) Buzz Bidstrup, Wayne Rowley, John Coker, Bob Howe, Donny Sutherland, (front) Marienne Shepherd, Martin Erdman, Frank Ifield, Warren Barnett, and Wayne Horsburgh. (Photo courtesy of Barry Crocker)

The A.C.E.  (Australian Club Entertainment) Awards always put on a great night and pictured above are Karen and myself with fellow nominee, Wayne Horsburgh. The Trojans and Hillbilly Heaven were both nominated in different categories, Hillbilly Heaven for the first time. This marking the start of a run of Hillbilly Heaven being beaten by The McClymonts year after year. A wonderful night was had by all, with our many showbiz friends.

In November, the Hillbilly Heaven band with Nicki Gillis were the featured entertainment for the afternoon at the exciting 2009 Brisbane Water Oyster Festival. Thousands of people enjoyed the festival staged alongside Ettalong Beach on the Woy Woy Peninsula of NSW. Pictured above, L to R: Gary Brown, Allan Tomkins, Terry Phillpot, Nicki Gillis, Bob Howe. We would happily return there in various years to come.

At the 2010 Tamworth Country Music Festival, I began at the Town Hall, leading the bands for two shows on 16th January. In the afternoon was the Australian Country Music Hall Of Fame Tribute To The Pioneering Ladies Concert with Anne Kirkpatrick (pictured left), Dianne Lindsay (Reg’s daughter), Wayne Horsburgh, Clelia Adams, Jodie Crosby and Steve Newton, Peter Pratt, Tracy Killeen, Lou Bradley, Paul Wilson and special quest appearances by Geoff Mack and Sue Archer. It was lovely to work with Anne again – we did our first gig together way back in 1976. Now, she was wearing one of her Mum’s (Joy McKean) vintage stage outfits and paying tribute to her in the show.

In the evening it was the Country For Lifeline concert backing The Crosby Sisters, Tracy Killeen, Ronni Rae Rivers, Wayne Horsburgh, Deniese Morrison, Allan Caswell and more. I would be back at the Town Hall again on the Wednesday for a Frank Ifield International Spur Award concert with Nicki, Mike Carr, Donna Boyd, Johanna Hemara and Frank himself.

Either side of that, Honky Tonk Nights with Bryen Willems & the Hillbilly Heaven band returned to the Family Hotel for four nights with guests including Ronnie Rae Rivers, Dave Prior, Trev Warner, The Harmonators and Sandra Humphries. I played the Allan Caswell 30th Anniversary Concert downstairs in the Dungeon Bar at the Services Club on Thursday. Later that night, Nicki co-hosted the Tomkins Guitars Showcase with me in the Blazes auditorium at Wests, collecting her new custom made electric guitar with her name inlaid on the fretboard. 

On Saturday 27 February 2010, John Nutting stepped behind the microphone for the last time to present a special edition of Saturday Night Country, with new host Felicity Urquhart. They looked back at program highlights since 1993 and played tributes from the characters and guests who have contributed to the show. The program was heard from 10pm Saturday to 2am Sunday AEST on ABC Local Radio and on ABC Country through Digital Radio in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

I am proud to have been a small part of John’s show, relayed across 60 stations nationally, plus the world via the Web and Radio Australia, presenting the ‘Gig Guide’ live every Saturday night for 7 years (and becoming known as ‘Big Bob from Bondi’ in the process). I had also co-hosted on numerous occasions from the Sydney, Tamworth and Mildura studios, reported in from the USA in 2004 and 2008, and performed live music on the air. Johnno’s larger than life presence filled the airwaves and I know particularly that his live chat with the audience in the last hour of each show was sorely missed by listeners who I talked to in the following years. Johnno would return in 2012 with his own online station Australian Country Radio (www.auscountry.com.au).

In April I was on tour with singer Wayne Horsburgh and pianist Greg Hooper. We now had a condensed version of Wayne’s Love That Country Music show, that was ideal for touring smaller regional areas and festivals.

After playing in Goulburn and Wagga Wagga, this trip included a show in Wayne’s hometown of Benalla in Victoria. He told me that on a previous visit, his Dad had joked how Wayne was the only person who could sell tickets to a family reunion! Indeed, the club was packed with his relatives, and that inspired me when, in a few months, I would organise a ‘hometown’ show of my own in the UK.

 

On the recording front it was back to Alberts Studios for another Allan Caswell album, Behind Bars, and this time I would play acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonica, bass and banjo. Pictured here are (L to R:) myself, Allan, Dave Skinner, Al Craig (seated) and Mark Marriott. Next it was over to Al Craig’s own studio Black Inc Recorders to play guitar and mandolin on Wonderland, an E.P. by  Nick Green, a singer-songwriter from the Northern beaches of Sydney. Later still, I would be at Gary Brown’s Propaganda Studios for the next Bryen Willems album, No Band Here Till Friday.

On the 29th of April, a brand new recording of I Remember You by ‘Nicki Gillis with Frank Ifield’ was launched worldwide on Radio 2UE’s Afternoons with Tim Webster. I had produced and recorded the track at my Kenilworth Studios, fusing a rockier arrangement of the song for Nicki, with some vintage audio of Frank singing in the sixties.

We also included the seldom heard ‘verse’ from the original version (written by Victor Schertzinger with lyrics by Johnny Mercer) as introduced in the 1942 film The Fleet’s In and sung by Dorothy Lamour. Nicki released her version on an enhanced-CD that also included the excellent video clip produced by Ross Wood. It included footage of Nicki singing and listening to the mix with Frank and myself, plus archive black and white footage of Frank performing. Nicki’s version would later reach #3 on the Swedish airplay chart and #7 in France. Watch it here…

Later that same day, Canterbury Country presented a ‘Concert for Barbara’ at Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club in Sydney. This all-star benefit show filled the auditorium with a huge wave of support for Barbara Tomkins (pictured left) to help her through a time of serious illness. The concert featured a huge line-up including Beccy Cole, Lucky Starr, Darren Carr, Chris E Thomas, Luke O’Shea, Urban Stone, Alby & Melody Pool, Camille Te Nahu & Stuie French and many, many more. Video messages from Gary Allan, Dale Watson and Troy Cassar-Daley were shown on the big screens.

The 11th May 2010 was the presentation night for the 34th Australian Entertainment ‘MO’ Awards at Bankstown Sports Club, where I was nominated in the Best Instrumental or Vocal Instrumental Performer category along with Danny Elliott, Joey Fimmano, Mary Schneider, Ross Maio and Ziggy Zapata. I was astounded when my name was called and I was presented the award by Noel Scanlon of Bankstown Trotting Recreational Club, who sponsored that category. The trophy had now reverted to its original design of a silver metallic statue of comic entertainer ‘MO’ McCackie. At the close of the night the video clip of I Remember You by fellow (country category) nominee Nicki Gillis, received rapturous applause, just prior to the announcement that this year’s Hall of Fame recipient was Frank Ifield.

Two days later, Canterbury Country celebrated its 10th Birthday. To help celebrate this milestone, the ever popular duo of Camille Te Nahu & Stuie French returned, Keith Glass dropped in from the USA (Keith and Stuie were also on the very first Canterbury Country show), country gold-record winner Roland Storm rocked the piano and as always, there was a big surprise. Making a very special appearance was the legendary Australian songstress Diana Trask (pictured right), whose amazing career included topping the American country charts in the seventies and had now returned briefly to launch her autobiography, ‘Whatever Happened to Diana Trask’. We had last worked together thirty years earlier in 1980 when I toured in her band and earlier still in 1976 in the studios of Festival Records. It was a huge thrill to be onstage with her again and to hear Diana sing Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In) once more.

In June 2010, I joined Nicki Gillis on her second UK tour, that this time extended to six weeks and included more prestigious festivals than her first outing. Unfortunately for me, the Grand Hotel had now closed down and at short notice I had no accommodation. After a brief attempt at travelling by train and finding local digs, which proved unwieldly and cost-prohibitive, Nicki and Trace came to the rescue. I would travel for most of the tour in their back-seat, listening to them argue with a GPS/SatNav unit that repeatedly took us so close to, and yet so far from each venue. Cozy and Dave completed the band once more, and we began shows on June 18th at at Rosedale Abbey in North Yorkshire at the Pickering Country Music Festival. It was a surprisingly chilly night inside a big marquee tent and as well as Nicki’s set, I also played guitar for Robbo (Barbary Coast‘s frontman).

The next night we were at the Dumbleton Village Hall in Worcestershire, where we received a warm reception and I had the added delight of meeting my Uncle John and his wife Trish for the very first time. After a day off with my ‘new’ family members, including a visit with my long-lost Aunt Sheila, I arrived in Widnes (Cheshire) by rail. It was there that I noted that years earlier, Paul Simon had sat on the platform at this very station and composed Homeward Bound while waiting for his train.

During our show, we introduced a medley, Australian Trilogy, that Nicki and I had recorded especially for the tour and released online. The songs it contained were Botany Bay and Along the Road to Gundagai, finishing with Waltzing Matilda, which became a crowd favourite as the tour progressed. It proved to be a great singalong number for the audiences and well-known wherever we went. Listen to it here…

On the 2nd July, we played at Earls Barton WMC along with Barbary Coast, who this time also had Barrie Fletcher on keyboards, reuniting the line-up from 26 years earlier, as well as John Roche on steel. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so we attempted to recreate our press photo from days gone by. Can you tell the difference?

In my younger days I would enjoy many a glass of lime & lemonade with a packet of salt & vinegar crisps at our local, Hillmorton Ex-Services Club in Rugby. My late father, Jon Howe, was the social secretary of the club in the sixties. Now, with a gap in our schedule, I organised a gig for us there, were I had seen so many acts as a child. There was something of a hint of ‘the circle of life’ in the air. It was a fun night with a large number of my family in attendance including Uncles, Aunts, cousins, my brother Mark and his family, and our sister Joanne. Prior to the event, Nicki and I performed at BBC Northampton radio, live on the John Griff show and at BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on the Mark Powlett show to promote the night.

The next day we played at Little Harrowden Cricket Ground in aid of Help for Heroes (with Dave’s son Chris on drums) and later in the week, a poignant private acoustic performance on the Isle of Wight for the residents of St Vincent’s Home for Veterans, organised by SSAFA (Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association). Earlier that day we had been with Katie Martin on BBC Solent and the next night we played at Cowes Community Club, still on the Isle.

The following day we had to hot-foot it back to the mainland and up to The County Showground at Winthorpe near Newark for Nicki’s biggest UK performance to date, the Americana International Festival. We were on the mainstage at 7.30pm on the Saturday, a good timeslot. Also on the bill that day were George Hamilton(s) IV and V, and one of my favourites, Gail Davies.

For the first time since recording Richard Thompson’s Wall Of Death song for the collaboration album, here in amongst the stalls and the rides of the festival, was the real thing! We performed the song during our set, and Dave and Pete of the Demon Drome Wall of Death were kind enough to give a guided tour of their vintage attraction.
Pictured here, with the Wall of Death behind us, we are acting out two of the characters from the song; “beware of the bearded lady..” “…maybe you’re strong but what’s the good of ringing a bell…” (– Richard Thompson) 

After three days in the North-East, the next festival would be the Welshpool Country Music Festival held at the Powis Castle Showground with spectacular views across the Severn Valley. Here we witnessed the traditions of the British country & western fan writ large, including the Welshpool Westerners (pictured below) charging down the bank in traditional costume with (replica) guns blazing, to the tune of The South Will Rise Again. There would also be a quick-draw contest, mass line-dancing, and the inevitable finale of the American Trilogy. All good clean fun to raise money for the fine charity work of the Heulwen Trust.

We enjoyed the occasional day off, including one at Scarborough, invoking memories of my childhood holidays, ice creams and penny arcades. At Bridlington, another seaside town a little further down the east coast, Nicki and I utilised our spare time by trying our hand at co-writing songs together. We ended up with four songs that we were proud of and one of them, In The Daylight, would be a #1 hit for Nicki when we eventually produced a recording of it some seven years later!

On another day off, in London, I went to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club to watch “Soulgrass Meets Blues” – a double bill of Bill Evans (tenor sax) and Robben Ford (guitar), both of whom had previously been members of the Miles Davis group. They were joined by banjo virtuoso Ryan Cavanaugh, plus Etienne Mbappé on bass and Toss Panos on drums. An amazing night of bluesy country fusion funk.

As the tour continued we played more country music clubs that used various halls or borrowed rooms in antiquated (in both the structural sense and in attitude) workingmen’s’ clubs, plus more festivals. The shows were getting crammed in now. On Thursday 22nd we played Billingham Constitutional Club in Cleveland (in the North-East) then the next night 165 miles north-west in Falkirk, Scotland. The next day it was 300 miles south to Wolverhampton. There, the quaintly named Wolvestock Country Music Festival was a very well organised free event and we were quite surprised to see two of our Canterbury Country regulars, Ian and Margaret in the crowd that day. That night we played the strangest gig of the tour. Chris Clemo had been playing drums for an Iggy Pop tribute band and they were booked to play at a private garden party. Nicki was invited along to do a short set, so we rocked out for half an hour, paving the way for the energetic iZiggy band.

The day after we played a hot set on a very warm day at the Norfolk Country Music Festival in Norwich, repeating Nicki’s successful appearance there the previous year. My ‘new’ Uncle John and Trish made the journey across from Redditch and they got to meet my Aunty Ann, who lived much closer in Lowestoft. I had a pleasant stay there that included a visit to another nearby Uncle and Aunt who had relocated from my hometown of Rugby.

Our next show was in Stevenage and our London friends Evie and Pam came to the show – the only one in their neck of the woods. We had one more official show which was another return engagement at the Great North Festival, held again at Barnard Castle in County Durham. As I did the year before, I played with Nicki’s band in the evening and also earlier in the afternoon with Barbary Coast, both bands firing on all cylinders. Below, the Nicki Gillis Band perform The Price of Love from collaboration which had become a crowd favourite with Cozy’s exciting tom-tom work and Dave’s throbbing bass. While perusing the stalls around the festival site, I found an excellent 3/4 length jacket which I purchased just in time to wear for Nicki’s set.

We had one last engagement, with Barbary Coast the next day at the Harrowden WMC in their home base of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire (where I had lived in 1985). They were doing a show there and invited me to play with them and for Nicki and I to do an acoustic opening set. Cozy and Dave then joined us and we rocked out for one last time. The clip below of Nicki’s song Leavin’ You For Myself, was filmed by my brother Mark and his family who came over from Rugby. Ray & Ann Brett (who I last worked with at Blackpool in 1987) came across from Corby to cheer us on. It was a great end to the tour.

Dave Clemo had been a real trouper, having been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia after the previous tour, but never let us down, playing like a legend and keeping us sane on the road with tea and biscuits. In his tour blog, Dave worked out that the band had done twenty five shows in six and a half weeks, and driven more than five thousand miles (for Australian readers, imagine driving 8,000km with roadworks every 100 metres). Chris had kept the band rolling and played some handy drums when needed. Cozy, always the worker had, on top of that, also played some shows in Europe on our days off with other bands. The rest of us would have another 10,000 miles to get home, but luckily, we weren’t driving.

The following week, back in Australia, Nicki and I performed five shows together; Canterbury Country, Classic Twang! and three ‘Variety’ shows. If they had two acts on the bill, I would always recommend Nicki as the other guest. Audiences liked the fact that our spots overlapped and included duets and interaction that they would not normally get from two separate artists. I also made other appearances either in Sydney, up in Newcastle, or down in Wollongong. On Melbourne Cup Day (the biggest horse race in Australia each year) I played guitar for Lucky Starr and a few weeks later I was with him again when he did a show in Ettalong, opening for Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. They were sharing bands, so effectively it was me & the Union Gap backing Lucky onstage.

The studio recording of the full Waltzing Matilda song by Nicki and I, was released on a compilation CD, Australia My Country. Martin Erdman, who produced my first session at Festival Studios in 1976, compiled this collection of Australian Music for his own Du Monde Records label. It also featured Ian (Macca) McNamara, Frank Ifield, John Waters, Jimmy Little and many more. Around the same time, my latest production for Wayne Horsburgh, A Salute to Marty Robbins, was released by Rotation Records.

I managed to fit in a couple of cruises before the end of the year (luckily dodging a tsunami in Suva!) and the inevitable Christmas gigs, which this year included a wonderful show at South Maroubra, starring Little Pattie, back at her old stompin’ ground! Finally, there was a moment to unwind and watch someone else entertain, when Karen and I, along with Carole and Frank Ifield (pictured below) enjoyed the show at The Major Oak Theatre Restaurant in St Marys.

For a change, I only attended the first half of the 2011 Tamworth Country Music Festival, starting with the Country for Lifeline concert at the Town Hall and finishing with the Tomkins Guitars Showcase. In between, I played for the Son of a Gun show that featured Lucky Starr and his son Craig Morrison who was forging his own career based in Nashville.

I had been expecting that during the festival there might have been some fuss made for the release of CMAA Independents’ Day, a 2-CD set released on EMI Records, featuring 32 tracks by artists that included Felicity Urquhart, Jetty Road, Dianna Corcoran, Kevin Bennett, Tracy Killeen and many more. It also included a new recording of Nicki and I singing Speak To The Sky, the Rick Springfield hit. The album was organised by The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) and the record company initially proposed to spend $20,000 on promotion and expected to sell 10,000 copies. The album was eventually released on some unknown date with absolutely no fanfare, and not a penny of royalties were ever paid to us. Such are the ways of the record industry.

While in Tamworth, in my guise as a mild-mannered reporter, I attended the fabulous Tommy and Phil Emmanuel 50th Anniversary Tour concert. Having started out in their family band as child prodigies, the brothers had carved out amazing careers as guitar players. Tommy was by now a world-renowned acoustic guitar player, but I especially enjoyed the numbers he played on his old electric Telecaster on this night. Phil of course lived up to his nickname of ‘The Wiz’ and the family connection continued when daughter Jesse joined her dad Phil and Uncle Tommy onstage to wind up the concert. Issue 60 of Country Update magazine ran a full page with my review and photos.

Back in Sydney, Karen and I couldn’t resist putting on our tropical shirts and heading to the Hordern Pavilion to watch U.S. singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett in concert on Australia Day. We enjoyed his fabulous show with great seats looking across the stage, but when it came to the bows at the end, Jimmy sadly misjudged the edge of the stage and horrifically took a head-first dive and was knocked unconscious. The venue was emptied, anticipating the arrival of an ambulance, but we had to leave not knowing his condition. Thankfully the next day the news reported that he was in hospital and had survived the fall and happily, he went on to make a full recovery.

In April I saw Bob Dylan again at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and that show was most memorable mostly for a crowd-pleasing encore of some of his classic hits, performed with real vigour. Standing in front of the stage, I was less than impressed by the number of people watching the entire show through the screens of their phones. 

Although a sequel to collaboration had been recorded, it wasn’t completed so pressing on, Nicki released her next full album, Woman of Substance, which we had produced at my Kenilworth Studios. It contained a set of cover versions of songs by women that had inspired her from an early age. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of recreating the instrumental parts for classics such as Son of a Preacher Man, You’re So Vain (with the Jimmy Ryan guitar solo) and Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves. Also included was our revamp of The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, adding a new guitar solo to the original production by Roger Corbett, from Nicki’s previous solo album, Lucy’s Daughter. That track would be another top ten hit for her and the video would rack up several hundred thousand views on YouTube.

The 35th Australian Entertainment ‘Mo’ Awards was held on the 24th May 2011 at Bankstown Sports Club in Sydney and it was night of surprises. I was nominated for Best Instrumental or Vocal Instrumental Performer alongside Danny Elliott, Joey Fimmano, Chris Gable and Amber Jade. I was shocked and delighted to be the winner. TV personality Susie Elelman presented the award to me on stage. By complete coincidence, that year the category was sponsored by Twin Towns Services Club, so in my acceptance speech I made reference to the fact that 18 years earlier, Karen and I had our wedding party at the Twin Towns Club. In the audience, Twin Towns Director Peter Yaxley, Promotions Manager Nerida Cooper, Chairman Michael Fraser and CEO Rob Smith were cheering me on.

Later in the evening, Nicki Gillis was overjoyed to be named Slim Dusty Country Performer of the Year, so our table appeared to be on a winning streak.
The biggest surprise was yet to come…

I have mentioned in an earlier chapter that when I joined The Trojans band in 1994, they had won the ‘Mo’ Award for Best Accompanying Band for eight years in a row. Well, despite continued nominations, they had not won a trophy since that very year. The boys light-heartedly pushed the blame for that in my direction. At last the drought was broken and they won the award once again, albeit in a tie with the Vince Lombardo Band. The Trojans bandleader/drummer Graham Simpson and pianist Peter Kenny would now have to admit that the curse was finally lifted. 

In June 2011 it was off to Nashville again, travelling with Nicki & Trace, for another Tomkins Guitars Showcase. Augmenting the band were Barry Kelly (piano), Rusty Cochrane (bass), Darren Carr (drums) and Mike Fried (baritone guitar). This time the singers were Kimberley Bowden, Craig Morrison, Sandra Humphries, Doug Bruce & The Tailgaters, Dan Murphy & Murphy’s Law, Chuck Vandenbelt and, pictured below at one of our seven gigs at the Sheraton Hotel, (L to R:) Victoria & Barbara Baillie, myself (guitar), Briana Lee, Peter Figures (drums), Travis List, Allan Tomkins (obscured, on bass), Darren Carr and Warren Neilsen (pedal steel). Photo thanks to Ron Newcomer.

Whilst shopping in Nashville, I bought myself a new digital wireless unit for my guitar. While someone was singing Johnny B. Goode, I decided to give it a run….literally! Here I go, playing my way to the top…of the hotel lobby. Photos by Trace Dann.

It was great to see Brother Jerry Arhelger, who dropped in to have breakfast with me at the Sheraton (biscuits & gravy with two eggs over-easy please) and I was lucky enough to attend another Marty Stuart Late Night Jam concert. This time it featured Dolly Parton, Mel Tillis and Connie Smith, along with the Quebe Sisters Band,  Cajun great Doug Kershaw and surprise guests Ricky Skaggs and Duane Eddy.

The absolute highlight for me though was Lorrie Frances Carter, daughter of Anita Carter of the legendary Carter Sisters, singing (Love’s) Ring of Fire in the style of her momma, who was the first person to record it. It was written by her aunt June Carter with Merle Kilgore and when Johnny Cash heard Anita’s recording of it in 1962, he decided to record it and it became one of his biggest #1 hits. For me, hearing one of Mother Maybelle Carter’s granddaughters singing at the Ryman Auditorium was country music heaven.

The Tomkins Guitars Showcase also played at the Full Moon Saloon on Broadway and on our final night, the Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar in Printer’s Alley. That was another crazy late night show and during a break, in the early hours of the morning, Darren Carr told me that Steve Cropper, legendary Stax Records guitarist, had been watching from the bar. Darren didn’t tell me until afterwards, as he thought I might have found it intimidating! Pictured below is myself and Nicki on that very night.

Back in Australia the gigs kept on a-comin’: Nicki and I played at the Bulldogs League Club where I debuted my new store-bought 3-piece suit from Sam’s Clothing in Nashville – lilac with matching shirt, tie and shoes (still regretting not paying extra for the matching hat with a feather), followed by a great night at Canterbury Country featuring Kim Cheshire, Darren Colston, Donna Boys and up from Victoria, my dearest friend Donna Fisk. Here we are, pictured right, singing a song we had recorded thirty years earlier…how time flies! (Photo by Allen Moore of Big Dog Bites).

In August, Nicki and I and Darren Carr were all part of a sold-out Queensland run of Back To The Tivoli shows. Back in Sydney, I opened two shows at The Juniors club for ‘The Love of Dolly’, a tribute to Dolly Parton performed by the wonderful Donna Campbell. At Canterbury Country we continued the annual tradition of various theme shows that packed the room each time. For the By Special Request night we would solicit requests and dedications from the audience for a few months leading up to the night, when myself and Nicki, Bryen Willems and Stacey Morris (and this year, also Wayne Horsburgh) would endeavour to sing and play as may of those requests as we could, adding new songs to our repertoires as we went.

The Tomkins night would have a stage that was almost as crowded as the auditorium, and the Hank Williams night, now expanded to include the music of Patsy Cline, was the biggest show of the year. This particular Hank & Patsy Birthday Bash had a huge cast including, pictured below,

L to R:
Doug Boyd, Bryen Willems, Karen Willems, (obscured, Tomi Graso), John Lee, Chris Mearns, Mark Lucas, Wayne Horsburgh, Michael White, Amber Lawrence, Terry Phillpot, Dwayne Elix, Jack Pledge, Ami Williamson, Steve Passfield, Nicki Gillis, Allan Tomkins, Rob Wilson, Christie Lamb, Cletis Carr, Georgia White, Johanna Hemara, Bob Howe.

Released in July, was another track I had recorded, destined for a Du Monde Records label compilation called The Australian Spirit that included 19 tracks from artists such as Steve Passfield, Graeme Connors, and John Waters. In 1957, Frank Ifield had written the song Yerranderie and it was released as a 78rpm disc on the Regal Zonophone label. Now, Martin Erdman (pictured between Frank and myself) had commissioned me to create a new version of the song, so I recorded a new instrumental backing with Nicki and myself singing the chorus. To that, Martin added Frank’s new recitation of the lyric to retell the real-life story of the former silver mining town of Yerranderie in NSW and how it became a ghost town.

Still on the recording front, I played on some recording sessions for ‘Australia’s King of Country Rock’ Jade Hurley, and also found time to record my third solo album, entitled Colour My World. It was another mostly instrumental collection, based around the idea of tunes with colours in their titles. As well as the title track, the Petula Clark hit, there were more songs from my formative years including Jimmy Shand’s The Bluebell Polka, James Bond’s Goldfinger and the retitled Whiter Shade of Bach, where I combined Air on the G String with the obviously baroque-influenced Procol Harum hit.

I included a couple of locally inspired tunes as well; the theme from the Australian TV cop show Blue Heelers and the huge hit instrumental The White Rabbit by New Zealand guitar legend Peter Posa. What proved to be one of the most popular tracks on the album, was my vocal rendition of Purple Heather, also known as Wild Mountain Thyme or Will You Go Lassie, Go. Often thought to be traditional, this beautiful song was actually written by Francis McPeake of Belfast, Northern Ireland in the early 1950’s. I dusted off my tin whistle for that track.

After my ‘Mo’ Award win earlier in the year, the category sponsors Twin Towns Services Club booked me to headline my own 90-minute morning show at their venue. Karen and I flew to the Gold Coast on what was coincidentally our 19th wedding anniversary.

From our hotel across the road you could see my name in lights…tick that one off the list! I had hand-picked a band of brilliant musicians, flying John Coker (bass), Leon Isackson (drums, vocals) and Clare O’Meara (fiddle, vocals) up from Sydney, and recruiting Dr Rick Best (keyboards) who was now based in the local area. The production crew did their usual fantastic job and we all had a great time. Many of my in-laws came to see the show, including our young grandson Ben and also our niece Emma who sat front-row centre cheering me on. As I write, Ben may one day realise my younger dream of being an astronaut, while granddaughter Millie might be either a pianist or a ballerina…or both!

We finished the year in style, cruising on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas. Being Christmas, Karen was on holiday so we flew to Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island a few days early, ready to join the ship on my birthday. I had sailed on the Radiance the previous month and really enjoyed working with their 9-piece band behind me (2 trumpets, 3 saxes, piano, bass, drums, guitar), as land-based gigs had all but retired their horn sections by now. Saxophonist Lauren Evans was bandleader for the cruise and when I decided to substitute a tune at the last minute, I asked her if she would duet with me on the Dave Stewart/Candy Dulfer hit Lily Was Here. Although I had the complicated part written out for her, she quickly memorised it so that she could freely ‘duel’ with me. Lauren did a mighty job and the audience went wild. Check it out in this video clip…

Fellow entertainers Jenifer Green and Amber Jade were also on the trip, so we enjoyed Christmas dinner onboard with them. We sailed up the east coast, arriving in Auckland eight days later and from there, Karen and I flew home to Sydney to celebrate the New Year.

 

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