8.00 pm
Tickets $35 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
JANUARY
» Sunday 29th January
JOSH PYKE
8.00 pm
Tickets $35 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
Josh Pyke is one of Australia’s premier singer/songwriters. Known for his ability to weave intelligent lyrics with warm melodies and quirky song structures, Pyke is a modern-day storyteller whose unique and evocative use of both words and music places him in a league of his own.
Pyke’s breakthrough single was Middle of the Hill, a paean to suburban childhood that struck a chord and catapulted him into the limelight. The track made it to #19 on triple j’s 2005 Hottest 100 countdown and appeared on his debut release, a mini album entitled Feeding The Wolves.
Pyke followed up Feeding The Wolves with the 2007 release of his debut album Memories & Dust which hit the ARIA chart at #4. The Gold record, hailed a “classic” by The Daily Telegraph and “world-class” by The Age, was acclaimed by critics and fans alike. It took out three ARIA Awards, was nominated for a J Award and yielded the singles Memories & Dust, Lines On Palms, Fed And Watered, Sew My Name and Forever Song.
Its 2008 follow-up was Chimney’s Afire, an album that equaled the success of its predecessor and firmly established Pyke at the forefront of music in Australia. Chimney’s Afire debuted at #3 on the ARIA chart, won an ARIA Award and has also achieved Gold sales. Its singles received airplay across the country, and the guitar boat created for Pyke’s Make You Happy video was broadcast all over the world. After co-producing his debut album with renowned producer Wayne Connolly, Pyke went it alone on Chimney’s Afire, recording and producing the bulk of the album himself.
Following the release of Chimney’s Afire, a lot of changes took place in his life – he started playing in a band again after eight years as a solo artist and he became a father for the first time. Much of the material for ONLY SPARROWS was written before either of these major changes took place, so by the time it came to really thinking about his third record, he felt a little removed from his solo career, and an element of self-doubt began to creep in to his craft. It was then he decided to head to New York to clear his head do some "writing and walking and thinking".
That renewed enthusiasm for songwriting manifests itself on ONLY SPARROWS, an album full to bursting with the sound of an artist who has adopted a new approach to not only his music, but life in general. The notion that we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves colours the record, from the lyrics and music right through to the album title and artwork by James Hancock.
FEBRUARY
» Saturday 4th February
BACKSLIDERS
8.00 pm
Tickets $38 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
BACKSLIDERS NOD TO MISSISSIPPI GREATS WITH BRAND NEW ALBUM AND TOUR
Fans of blistering live blues music take note: Australia’s favourite blues group bring their ‘delta blues wall of sound’ to the Milton Theatre with their new album: Starvation Box
Named by Doug Mulray in 2003 as “the best acoustic blues band in the country”, and with an abundance of career awards including ‘Band of the Year’ (Rolling Stone), ‘Best Live Australian Blues Act’ (Blues on Air Magazine) and ‘Blues Album of the Year’ (Rhythms Magazine), Backsliders are leaders and virtual pioneers in their own genre: the ‘delta-blues wall of sound’.
Live in concert, the band are a force to be reckoned with, fiercely blending an amped up authentic, original blues style, along with their evocative, unplugged ‘deep south’ acoustic delta blues mode. Backsliders feature guitarist/ vocalist, founding member and key songwriter Dom Turner plus drum and percussion virtuoso Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil, Ghostwriters etc). The band have notched up 25 years experience serving up the finest, meanest acoustic-based blues, starting out before “blues and roots” was a well-known term in the Australian music industry.
The new 2011 Backsliders album, Starvation Box, was released via Fuse Records on August 12, available in all good record stores and online. Recorded in another former Midnight Oil member Jim Moginie’s studio, Oceanic Studios on Sydney’s northern beaches, Starvation Box is an affectionate nod the band’s past heroes containing five covers of past greats including Lead Belly, Robert Johnson and blues mandolin elder statesman and another key Backsliders influence, Yank Rachell.
The album title itself is based on the story that Lead Belly’s father Wes used to call his son’s guitar a starvation box, “coz you ain’t gonna make no money outta that thing!” After Lead Belly’s death, The Weavers went on to make a good income from his song “Goodnight, Irene”, so his father was partly right.
Many of the album’s original tracks follow the theme of paying tribute to musical heroes: “Failed Preacher Blues” is about the ‘Father of the Delta Blues’ Charlie Patton, for example, and “Bowie County” also mentions Lead Belly and the famous jail where he served time and escaped under an alias ‘Walter Boyd’!
On this run of concerts, Dom Turner and Rob Hirst will play as a 3-piece, alternately joined by two of Australia’s supreme and most creative harmonica players; the legendary Brod Smith (Dingoes, Brod Smith’s Big Combo) and ARIA award-winning harmonica guru Ian Collard (Collard, Greens & Gravy). Each of these blues-harp masters colour the Backsliders sound with a fiery display of guts and melody – you never know who will play on each night – but you can be sure that both pack a punch.
Fans can expect to hear a mixture of classic favourites from the band’s healthy back catalogue as well as the sublime cuts from Starvation Box. Make sure you come to a show and find out why the Sydney Morning Herald says “the Backsliders are the rarest of blues bands” and why Drum Media proclaims they deliver “contemporary roots music at its best!”
MARCH
» Friday 16th March
EUGENE 'HIDEAWAY' BRIDGES
8.00 pm
Tickets $38 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
www.bluearmadillo.com/artistpage.php?artist=6
www.myspace.com/eugenehideawaybridges
Nomadic blues troubadour Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges’ home is wherever the next performance takes him, and every year this is from America through Europe, to Australia with many other stops on the way. A man of abundant talent & charm, Eugene delivers a celebration of American Blues Music that is a joy to behold.
If you’ve seen him, you know the love he brings to his shows, and what a superb entertainer in the style of BB King and Robert Cray. If you haven’t seen him before, take the opportunity now and enjoy one of the finest American blues talents on offer.
The new CD ‘ROCK AND A HARD PLACE’ is Eugene and his big band. The horns again led and arranged by long time collaborator and maestro Seth Kibel. Joining Eugene are David Webb on Keyboards, Hammond B3, Piano & Wurlitzer; Lloyd Maines on Pedal Steel; Eric ‘Lollipop’ King on Bass Guitar; Calep Emphrey on Drums, Seth Kibel on Alto, Tenor, Baritone Saxophones & Flute; Shane Pitsch on Trumpet And Mark V Gonzales on Trombone.
Blues, Soul, Jump, Funk, Gospel, Rock and Beach music make Eugene’s latest CD an upbeat journey through all the musical influences that have made Eugene the seasoned and versatile performer we have today.
‘ROCK AND A HARD PLACE’ charted at No 4 in The Living Blues Radio Chart for July 2011.
The Blues Foundation has announced the nominations for the 2012 Blues Music Awards. The Blues Music Awards are universally recognized as the highest accolade afforded to musicians and songwriters in Blues music. Eugene Hideaway Bridges is a triple 2012 Blues Music Award nominee in the following categories:
ALBUM OF THE YEAR - ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
SOUL BLUES ALBUM - ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
SOUL BLUES MALE ARTIST - EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
He’s one of the finest soul/blues/gospel singer/ songwriting guitarists you’ll come across. Eugene is a man blessed with a level of talent and craftsmanship far beyond his years and is the man who “really could be God’s gift to the future of the blues.” – Juke Blues.
» Friday 23rd March
DEBORAH CONWAY & WILLY ZYGIER
8.00 pm
Tickets $40 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
www.deborahconway.com/
www.myspace.com/conwayzygier
Deborah Conway is recognised as one of the country’s most articulate and individual voices, with a career that has encompassed recording, performing and writing songs for over 20 years.
Her resonance as a serious contributor in the musical community has remained undiminished since her band Do Re Mi topped the charts in 1985 with their song Man Overboard. And with each successive project she continues to attract a large and fiercely loyal following and critical acclaim for both her live performances and recorded work.
Deborah is one of those rare artists who are constantly reinventing themselves. The new album Half Man Half Woman is no exception, with long-term partner and collaborator, Willy Zygier they have written their most seductive offering of songs yet, rendered with warmth and charm.
A record half full of acoustic instruments and half full of the space that's left in between the notes, H a l f M a n H a l f W o m a n chronicles love in the middle ages, life in the 21st century and the human condition of now, then and what will be. It's an album that gives equal weight to an eight minute rant, a 90 second instrumental miniature and a song sung by their three young daughters.
Ever since Conway and Zygier joined forces they have pursued a career of musical unpredictability. From the folk rock, platinum selling String of Pearls to the critically acclaimed electronica of My Third Husband, to the woody warmth, country tinged Summertown, there have been roads less travelled and many musics explored in between.
Don't miss your chance to see the always surprising and supremely talented Conway and Zygier doing what they do best.