THE Re-mains’ frontman Mick Daley has taken a turn for the verse ... with the release of his solo album, Tiny Violins.
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Tomorrow night he’ll stand and deliver his new seven-track album at The Loft, Tamworth’s coolest occasional nightspot, located upstairs behind CH on Peel.
Nundle’s shearing singer-songwriter Jeff “Gibbo” Gibson will open the show for Mick, offering a selection of songs from his new album, Tin Dog Road, which will have its official launch on January 16 at The DAG Sheep Station.
As songwriter for country rock-and-roll giants The Re-mains, and after 20 years on the road through Australia, Canada and Europe, Mick Daley is alone again – as a solo troubadour.
Recorded with Melbourne singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Matt Walker (Liz Stringer, Broderick Smith, Jimmy Dowling,) Walker’s distinctive stringed instruments and pump organ are featured throughout.
The unmistakeable allure of Melbourne’s Suzannah Espie is all over the seven tracks, after her brief visit to the studio yielded a feast of smouldering vocals.
Tiny Violins comes hot on the heels of Mick’s 2014 album, Courage and Shuffle the Cards, recorded at Sydney’s Megaphon studios with his band, The Corporate Raiders.
With these ballads and dirges, he delivers a rich history as a genuine Australian folk singer.
Coming on top of the eight albums of original material released by The Re-Mains and played on national radio and television and in Europe and Canada, this represents a significant body of work.
Jeff Glorfeld of The Age called The Re-mains “arguably Australia’s best country rock band” and, as that band’s songwriter, Mick has a broad back catalogue from which to draw.
With a launch pad of the Dashville Skyline Americana festival in the Hunter Valley in October, the Tiny Violins tour will snake its way across the nation over the next six months.
In the Echonet Daily, S Sorrenson writes: “Mick Daley’s words are starting to smash like bullets. His music is cracking the wall of noise. He expresses a reality that is greater than any fabricated national narrative. Like Ned Kelly, Mick’s armour is thick, and his guns are loaded. The stories are of a real Australia, of long drives, of long working hours, of love of land, of mining company ripoffs, of government betrayal, of women won and lost. In a world where compliance and consumption is the goal, where myth and jingoism is the language, Mick’s words sparkle with clarity, bounce with melody.”
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CHRISTMAS carols, dancing and a distinctive country flavour are behind a fundraising event tomorrow night.
Two local mums, keen to see Tamworth hospital with its own MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner, have organised their own Community Carols by Candlelight.
The three-hour program will entail 39 carols, plus dancing and entertainment from 5pm, when gates open at Tamworth Jockey Club.
Family admission is $10 (two adults and up to four children), adults $5 and children $3.
There will be boutique markets, a jumping castle, fairy floss, face-painting and more fun for young and old alike.
On the program you’ll find some of the best local country acts around, including Allison Forbes, Shelley and Lawrie Minson, Aleyce Simmonds, Kyle Cartner, Marie Hodson, Carly Robinson, Ethan Crosby-Wolfe and The Crosby Sisters, singing all your favourite Christmas carols.
Students from Dance Dynamics, Tamworth, will tap, step and shuffle their way through several performances in between carols, showing the skills they’ve learnt through the past year.
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WHO’S counting the sleeps? And I don’t mean until Santa comes.
You’ll only have to hit the hay another 29 times until day one of the 2016 Tamworth Country Music Festival.
The Official Guide should soon be on the shelves of your favourite newsagent, or at the Tamworth Visitor Information Centre at The Big Golden Guitar.
It’s a huge publication and is arguably one of the largest festival programs in the world.
It’s the first chance you’ll get to plan your way through the 10 (or 17 for the extra-keen) days of the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
For the cover price of $10, having all that information in the one, easy-to-read publication, is so much easier than having to navigate your way through hundreds of websites and Google searches.
Some things do change, but the key information remains the same.
In recent years publishers Fairfax Rural Events have also developed a smartphone app for iPhone and Android users with the official program and exclusive A-Z artist guide.
The Northern Daily Leader and Tamworth Times will both produce festival magazines, which should be available from mid-January.
If you haven’t already bought something for the country fan in your life, why not subscribe them to the Official Guide, so they don’t have to chase all over town looking for their festival information?
Or how about tickets to their favourite shows?
Wests and the Tamworth Visitor Information Centre have a heap of concerts on sale right now.
Visit www.entertainmentvenues.com.au or www.wtlc.com.au and see what concerts are out there.
A little planning is a wonderful thing.
