I started
playing the 12-string acoustic guitar in Sydney in
the late 1960s, appearing with lineups that included the likes of
Doug Ashdown, Mike McLellan, Marion
Henderson, Al
Head, Buddy Wilson and Phil
Cuneen. As a kid just starting out, these exceptional musicians were my
heroes and my inspiration. To appear on the bill with them at PACT Folk,
Sydney's premier folk club run by the remarkable Frank French, was a
wonderful and inspiring thing.
I went on
to join Pat Drummond's Toot
Whistle
Plunk
and
Boom
Band,
regulars in the Sydney music scene at the time and headlining at many
of the university and protest movement concerts in aid of the
anti-Viet Nam war movement. Pat's
web
site
retrospective refers to
me as a “12-string guitar whiz kid”. (Your cheque's
in the mail, Pat.)
Since
moving to Canberra in the mid-1970s I've been privileged to play with
many of
Canberra's folk, rock and bluegrass luminaries in bands such as The
Jerrabatgulla Boys, The Black Mountain Band, Sprunter, the Grogan
Brothers and The Grogan
Family*, Free Beer and Grassfire. I played with iconic
Canberra musicians
including the late Mike
Hayes (the Pricklefarmer), Donal
Baylor, Dave
O'Neill,
brothers Bernie and Frank Nizynski, Bruce Packard, Mal Bennett, Ros
Hales, John Butler (the
Canadian one), Kevin Abbey, John van
Buuren, Rick
Hay, John Taylor, Ian Bull, and appeared on Eric Bogle's
2000 CD, Endangered
Species.
I've appeared on a variety of ads
and soundtracks and was a regular, with a variety of bands and
performers, at the National Folk Festival for many years. Along with a
group of friends (including the Drummond Clan), I travelled to and
played
at one of the first National Folk Festivals in Adelaide in 1971.
When
my last band, Grassfire, went our separate ways in the late
90s I decided that it was time to retire from the music business. But
you know what they say - "once a junkie, always a junkie". Why I hadn't
thought of going back to solo performing earlier, I'll never know. Just
before Christmas 2009 I went and bought myself a Martin 12-string
guitar, re-introduced my fingers to that once-familiar medium and to
some once-familiar songs, and went looking for some places to get back
into playing.
It was at a gig at Bungendore that I met musician, journalist, author, guitar aficionado and gentleman Chris Johnson, who introduced me to Beyond Q in Curtin, which has become one of my all-time favourite venues--the combination of an intimate space with with a friendly and supportive atmosphere makes it really special. A recent interview on ABC 666 radio was an unexpected pleasure.
Recently I've taken up laying bass guitar, primarily for my three-piece rock and roll outfit, Old Bones and Blisters, but I've been delighted to be asked to fill in on bass and vocals for a variety of acoustic lineups including Humbug, and for brilliant LA-based performer Daniel McFeeley.
