LAWRIE Minson’s mantlepiece must be groaning under a big weight as the end of the year nears – and, last weekend, he won another award to add to his “2012 collection”.
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Lawrie’s tune, The Warrumbungle Mare, from his latest album Milestones, won the Instrumental section of the Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards on the weekend.
The Tamworth musician, a four-time Golden Guitar winner, is stoked to have won another award this year.
“I recorded the instrumental with Lindsay Waddington of Kross Kut Records on the Gold Coast,” Lawrie said.
“The track is also in the finals of the Country Music Association of Australia’s Country Music Awards of Australia – and I’ve just had word that we’re also in the finals of the Bungendore Country Muster in February.
“This year has been the year of awards for me: in January I won the Kookaburra Komedy Kup at West League, the Block Award (Sue and Les Coutman’s humorous awards sponsored by their shop, Globe Butchers) and the mayor’s award for services to the Tamworth country music community.
“I’ve never won so many awards in my life as I have this year!”
It’s the seventh time the Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards, in Pittsworth, Queensland, have been held – and Lawrie is not only proud to be associated with them, but learnt a bit about the history of The Warrumbungle Mare song.
“I was talking to Reg Poole who was there and he told me he won a Golden Guitar Heritage Award in 1981 for the same song, so it was intersting to find out a bit more about the song,” Lawrie said.
“Warrumbungle Mare was a poem written by George Shaw.”
He said the song was first put to music by Coral Dasey.
“This competition (Gidgee) is reasonably new – it’s only been going for seven years and their focus is promoting traditional Australian country music,” he said.
“Pittsworth is near Toowoomba. Its claim to fame is it’s where Stan Coster wrote his famous song, By a Fire of Gidgee Coal.
“The good thing about winning this award, too, is that I’m here talking about it and helping to raise the profile of these people such as Keith Jamieson who runs the Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards and is, therefore, promoting Australian music.”
Milestones, Lawrie’s fifth album, was released in December 2011, and is about to have another album of instrumentals snapping at its heels.
“I’m doing a whole new album of instrumentals with Lindsay Waddington and that’s going to be released in 2013, probably at the 2013 festival,” Lawrie said.