Sure enough, Frank (The Chookman) Turton was on board his boat, the Willitsinkorwontit, on the mighty Murray in Renmark, so they went for a trip along the river.

My good friend Flash (Robyn McIntosh) went along with her trusty camera and captured some of the moments for Country Music Notes readers.

Originally from South Australia, the tall hugger was back home visiting family members, but couldn’t resist the urge to get a little chook in his life once he saw the DVD.

If you haven’t already got your copy, I’d suggest you give my mate Flash a call on 0428 839 829 to find out where you can buy it.

The DVD shows another side to The Chookman, who most people think only lives on Peel St in January.

There’s so much more to this wandering minstrel than you might think.

NASHVILLE-based entertainment marketing company The AristoMedia Group celebrates its 35th anniversary this month.

Founded in April 1980 by its expat Australian president/CEO Jeff Walker as a public relations firm, the Aristo-Media Group has grown into a multi-faceted media, marketing and promotion company.

The company includes specialised departments, including Aristo P.R. (publicity and PR), AristoVideo (video promotion and marketing), AristoWorks (digital development and marketing), Marco Promotions (secondary and tertiary radio promotion) and Marco Club Connection (dance venue marketing).

The company offers project management and music consulting through Jeff Walker and Associates, and digital music delivery for streaming outlets through StreamTrack, launched in 2014.

Throughout the years, AristoMedia and Walker have been recognised for their activism for the globalisation of Nashville-based music.  

AristoMedia issues a quarterly global newsletter that highlights international country music news .

Walker has received the CMA President’s Award, the CMA Jo Walker Meador International Award, Country Music Association of Australia’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the BCMA International Services Award (UK), and the Canadian Country Music Association’s Leonard T Rambeau International Support Award.

Located on Nashville’s Music Row, The AristoMedia Group employs 15 full-time and part-time employees.

“When I started the company, the compact disc was still in development, the internet was over a decade away from major acceptance, and digital downloads and streaming were not even in the music business vocabulary,” Mr Walker said.

“The times have driven the company to continuously re-invent our service offerings and expand into new areas I could not have imagined 35 years ago.

“We strive to stay ahead of our industry’s needs and I’m proud of the company AristoMedia has become.”

You can find out more about AristoMedia’s activities by visiting www.AristoMedia.com

While you’re there, download the group’s international report so you can read about some of the activities covered by AristoMedia from its base at 1620 16th Ave S, Nashville, TN, 37212.

The innovative Walker, who lives in Brentwood, an upmarket suburb of Nash- ville, has managed to amass a team of people around him to help his organisation survive, thrive and prosper in an ever-changing music industry.

In June during the CMA Fest, which attracts the biggest gathering of country fans from across the world to Nashville, Walker will open up his home and welcome artists, friends and supporters (among them quite a few Aussies) in a Down Under-style barbecue.

I’ve been fortunate to have attended one of those functions and it sure makes you feel welcome such a long way from home.

Australia should be proud of Jeff Walker’s achievements in his adopted homeland.

 He’s still forging ties and creating opportunities for artists from the land of his birth and for others from right across the globe.

IN FIVE weeks and one day I’ll be leaving Tamworth to meet up with a group of 18 good friends, some I’ve yet to meet, for the trip of a lifetime.

We’re flying out of Sydney bound for Memphis, Tennessee, where we’ll visit Graceland, Elvis’s grand home, captured forever in the décor of the ’70s, stand behind the microphone at Sun Studios used by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and so many other musical legends, and hopefully a few more other interesting places before we begin the next leg of the journey.

We then board the American Queen Steamboat, the world’s most luxurious paddle steamer, to take a lazy trip along the Lower Mississippi to New Orleans, arriving a week later.

Visit www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com and you can see how we’ll be living for a week of our trip.

Each day the boat will pull in to a different port so we can experience the sights, sounds and culture of the American south, visit some historic Civil War sites, take a guided tour of a grand southern plantation house and other exciting activities along the way. 

After four days in New Orleans, which I’ve never visited before and can’t wait to see, we fly to Nashville, arriving the day before the huge CMA Fest begins.

It’s going to be a heap of fun, travelling with some of my oldest and dearest friends, and experiencing a country I’ve grown to love over the past few years.

The countdown is well and truly on now.

Better start getting my packing organised.

I know the rules – pack lightly – but it’s always difficult. I think I’ll probably pack and repack many times over before I do the final cull.

Judging from previous episodes over there, the retail therapy we do on the side will more than fill my bulging suitcase.

Last time when I was collected from the airport by my dear friend Robyn Northey (who’s coming with me this time), I had THREE suitcases, having left with one. Oh dear.

What a lovely dilemma to contemplate.

I’ll keep you in touch with our activities while I’m away if the Wi-Fi gods are kind and allow me to send through regular reports.

You should all be coming with me. That would be some kind of Aussie invasion, now, wouldn’t it?