THEY are two of Tamworth’s brightest country stars and next month Lawrie and Shelley Minson will share their music with another nation.
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The dynamic duo will travel to India in early April, where they will perform in a series of shows with Indian country music singer Bobby Cash.
Mr Cash has visited and performed in Tamworth in the past.
The trip to India will be Lawrie Minson’s fifth and Shelley’s first.
But they’re not just jetting over there to share their unique sound and music either.
They’ll be performing at a charity event to raise money to help people with HIV and drug addiction Mumbai.
They’ll also be performing at Dehli’s only country music bar.
Mr and Mrs Minson are no strangers to travelling abroad to share their love of country genres, having traveled to Las Vegas last year to perform at the world’s largest Rockabilly festival.
But the trip to India will see them have the cultural experiences of a life time.
“I did the first trip in 2003 when I first met Bobby,” Lawrie told The Leader.
“He came over here for the January festival and then I went over to India. We did a whole bunch of writing and from there, there have been ties ever since. We have kept in touch with Bobby and the opportunity came up for us to go over.”
For her first trip to the Indian nation, Shelley said she was pleased to see another country and perform.
“I’m really excited, a lot of artists go to Nashville or Europe, but we feel like this is something a bit different,” she said.
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“It’s great to have that connection with Bobby and he’s got a lot of people that he knows over there.
“We’ll have to do some of our original songs, but I don’t think they know a lot of the modern country music. So we’ll sing some more traditional country like Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.”
Lawrie said it was exciting to see India embrace the country music market.
On a special note, he will have the opportunity to play India’s only Pedal Steel guitar.
“It’s early days as far as awareness of country music over there is concerned,” he said.
“They’re curious about it and there is an enormous amount of potential to be able to build a market.
“On a broader scale I’d also like to get involved with the sister city partnership in Nashville and see what we can do collectively over there.”
The duo said you never know what opportunities might just “pop up” on their in Indian journey and they’re looking to embrace the experience whole heartedly.
“When I first started dating Shelley, she wasn’t a singer, she was a belly dancer – there could be a Bollywood connection there too,” he said.