Shirley Thoms May 12, 2008

 

Shirley Thoms was one of Australia’s most famous country singers. Yet, I had never heard of her and after asking several people my own age, neither had they. A woman who had achieved so much in the country music world needs some recognition among today’s society. The following is a summary of the ‘History of Country Music’s’ description of the performing life of Shirley Thoms.

  

   Shirley Thoms- Bystrynski was a pioneer of Australia’s country music industry. Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Shirley was the first female solo act to record country music in Australia, the first Queenslander to be featured on disc and the first female to be elevated to the Country Music Roll of Renown. Her singing and yodelling career started when she won a Bundaberg talent quest. A business man named Bill Cook saw Shirley performing and he took Shirley under his wing and encouraged her to write her own songs. He helped her build a professional singing career. In 1941 at 16 years of age Shirley recorder in Sydney for the Red and Green label Regal Zonophone under guidance of Arch Kerr. The song ‘Faithful old Dog’ was one of her first recordings.  After touring many times and recording several ‘sides’ for the Rodeo label, Shirley retired from show business to spend more time at home and with her family. After the early death of her husband she was encouraged to come out of retirement and appear at the historic Captain Cook Bicentenary Show at Tamworth. This began the re-emergence of Shirley’s career and she was signed to a recording contract with Hadley Records. Shirley recorded two albums with Hadley records, one in 1970 and the other in 1972. In 1980 she was placed in the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown, the fifth person to be recognized with Australian country music’s highest honour. Other country singers include Tex Morton, Slim Dusty, Buddy Williams and Smoky Dawson.

  Also in 1980 Shirley was inducted into the Country Music Hands of Fame. In her later years she spent her time writing poetry. Shirley was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and had a heart condition. Shirley passed away in 1999 at Lake Macquarie.

 

Shirley’s most memorable songs include “Where The Golden Wattle Blooms” and “Yodelling In The Moonlight”.

 

Click on the following link to listen to Shirley’s song ‘Mother’s Old Red Shaw’ 

 Shirley Thoms

 

 

Rachelle Fenning

Country Music As A Comfort May 12, 2008

I was reading through some different articles and an article from a March 29, 2008 edition of St. Petersburg Times title Southern Comfort for Hard Times by Sean Daly struck my attention.  I think it was because of the research I had done about the history of country music for my last blog.

Within this article, John Rumble, a senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville was quoted for saying “In times of stress, country music has always provided a refuge.  It’s a narrative genre that tells stories in realistic terms that people can understand.  Country tends to put the lyric up front.  That doesn’t always happen in rock.”  This was further backed up in the article because of the current war in Iraq.  The article leads readers to believe that country music presents a real-world comfort that gives support to people in times of struggle when a nation is at war and facing recession at home.

This made me think because in my research from my last blog, I learned that country music had some major progressions during wars (or right after wars) and during the Great Depression.  As I continued to read this article, it went on to talk about the Carter Family and the boom of the country radio coming about during the Great Depression.  The article names the songs, Keep on the Sunny Side, I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow, and That’s Why I’m Blue to support its argument.  Furthermore, the article points out that seventy years later the same thing is happening with songs like Shiftwork, All-American Girl, Gunpowder and Lead, Home, Country Man, Things A Mama Don’t Know, Trying to Stop You Leaving, and Small Town Southern Man. “Country artists have a tendency to not forget where they came from.  They give off a less pretentious vibe than other artists.  They’re real people singing about real things” states Veronica Young who is a popular night time jock on WQYK’s radio station.  When a question was proposed to the listeners of this radio station about why country fans are so loyal, some of the answers were “It’s about the real world”, “A friendly place”, “comfort food”, “from the heart”, “Tradition, family”, and “Today’s world is so confusing, but sometimes all I have to do is listen to country music.”

I am really glad I found this article because I think it is very interesting and I would have never made that connection by myself.  I like how you can see the connection with country music and the current war, as well as wars from the past and the Great Depression.  Furthermore, it is very interesting how country music has stayed with the connection to home, work, and hard times for so many years; it has never lost the patriotism aspect of this genre.  I would like to find out more and further research what connections country music in Australia has with events that are currently or have already happened in the world.  Are there any connections?  Were there connections in the past that no longer exist?  I plan to try to find more information out about this, but if any one else wants to as well that would be great!

-Natalie Boyce

The dusty ARIA charts May 12, 2008

Thinking about whats been said in regards to us giving a voice so to speak about the country music genre, I wanted to look at what recognition it was currently getting, as well as the stereotypical country music festival that we have always known was out there and now of course thanks to previous blogs we have factual info about the festivals and what they do etc. After reading all the other recent blogs it does seem as though country is a pretty thriving genre with in itself. I then looked at the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Associastion) charts to see what i could find on country music. The late Slim Dusty, a prominant figure in the country music world, his family as a tribute to Slim, are soon to be embarking on a tour with the whole family who also are heavily involved with the country music world. They will be touring after the sucsess of their newly released #1 charting album “Reunion” which features three generations of the Dusty family on the one album. I thought it was quite interesting how a family has all gone in the same direction musically, which made me think about how the genre can become part of your genes to an extent! Looking at the success of this album with in the music industry itself as well as the other blogs on the genre shows how “Popular” music isnt just what is heard on “big city” if you will “mainstream” radio stations. Country music is a massive industry with in itself and although this page aims to “give a voice to country music” after reading recent blogs and looking in to ARIA charts, personally i dont feel we need to give country music a voice as they are heard loud and clearly, even looking at the success of the Dixi Chicks, Casey Chambers and Kieth Urban who are popular names with in their own genre and with in “mainstream” I feel however this page or blogs will be reitterating what success it has already had with in mainstream “popculture” and how it is already a “popculture” of its own!

From Sophie

So Country (2CD + Bonus DVD Set) May 12, 2008

Now that I have been getting into the whole country music genre, I thought that I’d broaden my country music knowledge. Not knowing what music I would like, I thought it would be safest to invest in a Complimation. So, I went out and picked up one that basically looked interesting (and I must have been right because a few weeks after I bought it, it actually made it into the top 30 CD’s). It’s a 2 CD set with a bonus DVD so I think it was a pretty good find!

Before I listened to the CD I viewed the DVD. It’s always better to put a face to the song. I actually found the songs on the DVD to be a little depressing. Even before I really listened to country music I envisioned it to be very positive and upbeat with a sunny disposition, however I really didn’t feel this in the DVD. Songs about growing old and missing your life as it flies by, and loved ones leaving you and wishing you knew what aeroplane they were flying away from your life on, well these don’t exactly scream a positive attitude to me. I could still hear the positive sort of dusty guitar sound that I now recognise with the country genre, but I just felt rather depressed and low after watching the DVD. Even the upbeat songs had a negative or bitter attitude, for example “Red High Heels” by Kellie Pickler caught my ears attention as soon as it started, and at first I thought it was happy and optimistic, but as it went on, it came across as a bit of a bitter revenge stab, about a woman who shows her man what he’s missing.

By this point I was sort of regretting my purchase and was dreading listening to the CD’s. I personally prefer to listen to more upbeat songs, and I thought that country music would provide this for me. To me, country music is 90% happy, sunny music with about 10% really sad songs, but then again I am only relatively new to this genre so I have absolutely nothing to back up my claims. They are just personal ideas from the little radio country music I have heard.

So, with reluctance, I put in CD number 1, and thankfully…happy music! As I went through the CD I heard some of the songs that were on the DVD, but now without the picture behind it the song was not nearly as depressing, plus it was now amongst more upbeat songs so I didn’t really have time to let the song impose a sense of doom onto me before the next song came on. This whole CD had a relatively fast and strong beat. Each song had one of those tempo’s that you really enjoy to bounce your head to. But then, as I put on CD number 2, all this changed. The first song started with the very same upbeat tempo of the previous CD, but then the entire CD slowed down and became more methodical. There were a few of those sunny beats, but the majority was back in that rather sad realm.

The CD was not what I expected, but after the second listen, not only did I respect all the songs, but I actually started to sing along. Not just with the happy ones but the sadder ones too. Sometimes when I personally listen to a CD, the songs with a good strong beat stand out to me, and the slower paced or sadder songs blend in and I find myself skipping them. With this CD though, I didn’t really do that. There were of course a few of those songs that you cant help but skip, but mostly I enjoyed the whole thing. Personally, I prefer CD number 1 mainly because of its attitude, but CD number 2 still has some of the best songs from the whole Complimation.

I was actually a little surprised though, that there was no Keith Urban on here. I know, I know, give up with the Keith Urban already, and I know he is not the only country music singer that exists, but when a CD says ‘38 country hits from the worlds top artists’ I would think that he would at least get a mention, so that was a little disappointing to me. There were a few other artists that I have recently heard of too that didn’t appear, and some of their songs, in my opinion anyway, were better than some of the songs showcased on the CD, so I do wonder who chose the songs and why. Not having and Country Music Radio in my area, I don’t know if these songs are on the top country countdown or anything like that thought.

The CD was definitely a good buy though and there were a few artists on the CD that I am interested in buying more of their CD’s, so that’s one good thing, but I also learnt more about the music that comes from the country genre. So far, to me there really seems like two strong ideas in the music. There is the incredibly upbeat (no matter what the song is about) or the incredibly depressing. Its like the ‘no-worries mate’ Australian attitude verse the farmers in hard times anguish. No matter the emotion of the song though, all country music I have listened to so far has an amazing story. The lyrics are often extremely funny and they are not nearly as repetitive as more of the songs on the typical top 30 countdown. It seems like these people are writing songs for fun rather than just for cash, like they would prefer to be playing them in a bar to a bunch of idiots trying to sing along, rather than in some arena of no-name faces for $300 a ticket. The singers could be your best mate, the kid next door or just a typical local. There are no splashy effects, just the simple voice and a few guitars here and there. Very minimalist and fun.

So, even though at first listen, this CD leaves much to be desired, if you give it a second or third try you might find yourself bouncing away and enjoying the tunes. I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel like having a BBQ and a party around a big bomb fire with tequila shots all round. I can tell you, this country attitude definitely starts to rub off after a while.

By Jacki Tipton

 

 

History of Tamworth May 12, 2008

After reading Jacki’s blog on her Tamworth experience I decided to research the history of the festival and the title given to Tamworth as Australia’s Country Music Capital. 

    Although Tamworth’s country music festival did not begin until 1973, the town of Tamworth created links to country music well before. During the 1950’s and 60’s Tamworth developed a country music radio show and had local venues that presented touring artists. Country music made its way into the area that was normally covered on the radio by other more popular styles of music such as rock and roll. However, by the mid 1960’s audience numbers dropped as television was introduced. As a result of this Tamworth radio station 2TM began to run a series of special interest programs during the evening. ‘Hoedown’ with John Minson, was one such show and it was first broadcasted in 1965. Hoedown proved to be successful and eventually dominated the evening timeslots. One of the reasons for this success was that there were few other stations that played country music at this time. Executives at 2TM were impressed by the popularity of the country music and its potential to influence a large rural population, and in 1969 employed for the very first time the now famous tag, Tamworth- the country music capital. Around this time the establishment of several recording studios empahasised the country music industry in Tamworth.

   The modern country music association, that later became known as CCMA Capital country music association started a talent show in 1965 and a Jamboree the following year. The Jamboree still continues to this day! These CCMA events were held on the Australia Day long weekend.

   Eventually in 1973 the Tamworth Country Music Festival became official and was a widely publicized event on the country music calendar, with 2TM announcing the winners of the first Australian Country Music awards.

   The festival continued to be held on the Australia Day weekend. There are a number of reasons for this;

 

• The talent quest and Jamboree could be expanded into a festival
• It was normally a quieter time for businesses in the area and for 2TM
• It was an ideal time for travelers
• The media was short on hard news at this time of year and therefore the festival was likely to generate national news coverage, which meant free publication!

The festival grew and incorporated many separate events, the idea being that the program was so busy people would have a reason to return the following year, to see the parts they missed out on.

   The peak growth of the festival was during the 1980’s when there was increased promotion to fill larger venues for the Australian Country music ‘Golden Guitar’ awards night.

   In 1993 Tamworth City council took up the role of organising the event and as a result the festival was given formal coordination. They took up the role as there was increasing pressure on infrastructure and promotional needs.

   Today, according to City Council’s staff, the festival is ‘sophisticated, comfortable with itself and provides a wonderful platform for people to celebrate being Aussie’.

 

  The notion of Tamworth as a ‘country music capital’ was created initially by 2TM and managed by BAL Marketing. Today a number of rival music festivals are held throughout Australia. Such as Gympie, in Queensland who hold a competing music festival.

    Tamworth’s status as ‘country music capital’ derives not just from the festival and the presence of a local country music industry, but from the metropolitan fascination with the town and with the images of rurality of Australian country it embodies.

 

Ellis, M. (n.d.), ‘Origins of the Tamworth Country Music Festival’, History of Country Music in Australia, Tamworth.

Aboriginal Country Music May 12, 2008

The purpose of Country Kid’s blog site is to make sure that the genre of Country Music receives the coverage that it is worthy of. Along the path of my personal research into country music I came across the fascinating country music that is written and sung by Aboriginal people. I wanted to bring this form of country music to your attention because if you are like me you may never have heard much about it.

   Walk (2000) realizes that to many people country music and an Aboriginal person seem an unlikely combination. This however is not so, Aboriginal country music is a very real phenomenon that gives Aboriginal people a voice in a modern Australia. This sub genre of country music is not well known, especially on the coastal areas of Australia. Country music offers a common ground between black and white Australia. The tradition of Aboriginal country music is swamped by mainstream music and a myriad of multicultural styles.

   According to Walk (2000) Aboriginal people took to country music for quite a number of very good reasons. Firstly, most Aboriginal people live in-land Australia, outside city areas and country music was about all they ever heard. Apart from their own making the only live performances they would be subject to would be the likes of Slim Dusty and Buddy Williams. 

   Secondly, they could relate to it. In traditional Aboriginal society their songs were story songs, as is country music.

    The final reason is that country music is guitar based and relatively easy to play the basics for a song.

   Walk (2000) continues, until only very recently the record business’s rarely supported Aboriginal music. The most well-known country singers today include, Gus Williams, Isaac Yama, Roger Knox and Troy Cassar- Daley. Out of all of these singers the one I was most familiar with was Troy Cassar-Daley and I hadn’t realized he had Aboriginal heritage! Hopefully in the years to come Aboriginal country music will be well known to all Australians.    

 

 

 

 

Walk, C. (2000), Buried Country, Pluto Press, Annandale NSW.