This year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival will be singer/songwriter Matt Henry’s fifth in a row. And, just to make it clear, he has played at each one. “I’m getting quite used to Tamworth in summer,” he tells me in our interview in the lead up to the festival. He explains that he has learned to pack lots of T-shirts “because …

Popular Scottish dance music band, Shooglenifty, will be celebrating their twenty fifth anniversary in 2015, having played their official debut gig at the Orkney Folk Festival in 1990. “Most of us played together in a different outfit beforehand,” explains founding member Malcolm Crosbie in our recent interview, on the eve of their Australian tour. “And when it became defunct, we …

Indie folk/pop duo, Women in Docs, will be heading to Tamworth this month for a bunch of performances at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.  Chanel Lucas took time out to chat to Rock Club 40 recently about the girls’ first visit to Tamworth in five years, including a show at the curiously named Dag Sheep Station, on 18th January. “I haven’t …

One of the best debut albums I have heard in a long time and, in my opinion, one of the finest releases of 2014, is singer/songwriter Ray Sorenson’s first album, ‘Silent Writer’. The album is a collection of original material written over a period of about forty years. However, it was not until recently that Ray felt that the time …

It was 1971 and Irene Thornton was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her and trying to adjust to life in Adelaide again after a year overseas. Ronald Belford ‘Bon’ Scott was singing in a band called Fraternity and completely unaware of the fame that lay in store for him.  Fate brought the pair together and eventually …

“The word’s out that it’s fantastic,” Bob “Bongo” Starkie excitedly announced about his Skyhooks show, in a recent phone interview. He is still enjoying performing the music of the band that brought him fame and fortune and has announced a string of dates in January and February for NSW and Victoria where he and his band will play some classic …

With a baby due around Christmas, Kristy Cox will be heading to Tamworth with a four week old baby in her arms, hoping to win at least one Golden Guitar Award. Kristy has been nominated in three categories; Female Artist of the Year, Bluegrass Recording of the year for ‘One Heartbreak Away’ and  Alternate Country Album of the Year. Kristy said …

At the end of my chat with Jess Holland, I felt energized and proud to be Australian. Her enthusiasm and Aussie Pride was contagious. I was first scheduled to chat with Jess in October but unfortunately she had to cancel the interview and Southern Tour due to a bout of laryngitis. “It was absolutely devastating,” she told me.  “I had …

To be honest, I don’t really like using the word ‘icon’ when describing someone. I think the term is way overused but then, when it comes to Russell Morris… well, it fits. Indeed, he is a true icon of Australian rock, and one of this country’s most enduring and gifted singer/songwriters. From the psychedelic pop of his first major hit single, ‘The Real Thing’(written by Johnny Young and …

  South Australian Country singer, Travis List, is looking forward to returning to Tamworth in January 2015 for his twenty sixth festival. “I’ve got heaps and heaps going on at the Tamworth Festival; about fifteen things so far. I’m going to be really busy.” Travis moved to Nashville in 2008 to concentrate on song writing. “It’s different. Nashville is kind …