Congratulations to
TROY CASSAR-DALEY on wining the 2009 ARIA award for Best Country Album…
‘I Love This Place’.
Troy is pictured right, performing at the media launch for the 2010 Golden Guitars where he received a massive SEVEN nominations.
The 2010 Tamworth Country Music Festival was launched in Sydney’s Darlinghurst today in conjunction with the announcement of finalists in the 38th CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia, presented by Jayco.
Full list of finalists …CLICK HERE…
Over the past 12 years of this column we’ve seen a lot of changes in and around the Internet. Back in 1997, a country music fan would have been happy enough just to find a website devoted to their favourite artist. These days it is taken for granted that every performer will have an official site, a YouTube video channel, plus a presence in various so-called social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Add to that a record-label connection and perhaps a fan-site or two and the possibilities are immense.
Not all has been rosy though, for the consumer or the creators. First the junk-mail came in dribs and drabs and now we are suffocating under the deluge. However sophisticated we might think we have become, it is surprising to learn how many people still think they will inherit a fortune from a total stranger or a Nigerian bank! Also, think twice about any email that asks you to “log-in” with your password, even if it looks genuine.
With record companies initially one-step behind the demand for digital music, piracy was inevitable, yet the scale it reached made the “home-taping” controversy of the seventies seem like small change. Things are hopefully evening out now, but no thanks to the heavy-handed approach of some of the major conglomerates. Even your own Cowboys In Cyberspace fell afoul of “their” web-bot (a software search robot) when some perfectly legal video footage of local CMAA award winners was incorrectly identified as American CMA content.
It seems we are on an endless upgrade path now and even if we are not looking for the next faster, better-featured computer or device, market trends will attempt to drive us there. Until we finally get true broadband speeds to equal the USA and UK, frustration will continue and the World Wide Web will remain the World Wide Wait. That said, the advances of the last decade have been amazing, but still we demand more.
Music itself is always trying to expand and, as promised last month, we look in more depth at the new double set from Sugarland – LIVE On The Inside (Mercury Records through Universal Music Australia). The 10 audio tracks on the CD cleverly provide a great blend of a few their hits mixed with many concert favourites that were hits for Beyonce, the B-52’s, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and others. It is however, the 15 filmed performances on the accompanying DVD that truly bring the experience to life. The band’s own hits are here, Baby Girl, Something More, All I Want to Do, It Happens and the heart-wrenching Stay. Filmed in high-definition in Lexington, Kentucky by director Shaun Silva with 20 cameras, the fabulously produced concert is captured with perfect next-best-thing-to-being-there clarity and atmosphere. Don’t miss the duo crowd-surfing with a twist near the end. With Kristian Bush as her perfect foil, Jennifer Nettles is seriously one of the most engaging performers ever, rivalling Dolly and Reba, but with less feathers and sequins!
L to R: Helen Zerefos, JIMMY LITTLE, Nicki Gillis, Frank Ifield
(photo by Bob Howe)
The web is also a great platform for many good causes to promote their intentions and gather support from the community. For instance, The Jimmy Little Foundation was established to help improve kidney health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across regional and remote Australia. At the Foundation’s website you can learn more about JLF programs including ‘Uncle Jimmy Thumbs Up’, a nutrition education program to make healthy food choices much easier for children, find out how to become a sponsor or make donations, and of course, more about Dr Jimmy Little AO. Jimmy is pictured here at a recent charity lunch with fellow entertainers Helen Zerefos, Nicki Gillis and Frank Ifield, celebrating his new recording of Royal Telephone which also raises money for the Foundation.
www.jlf.org.au
And so dear reader, after 146 articles and with misty eyes, we come to the end of the last regular Cowboys In Cyberspace column “As Seen In Capital News” for the time being. Fear not, I will still see you elsewhere amongst the pages of Capital News and will continue to expand on-line with new exciting features so keep visiting the website!
www.cowboysincyberspace.com
So as always, until next time, happy surfing!
Here at Cowboys In Cyberspace we’ve always championed the ‘enhanced’ CD. That is, the audio album that also contains extra content to fill up that otherwise spare area on the shiny disc, helping it to fulfil its true potential. After all, while the disc itself may well be ‘compact’, as long as it comes in a regular plastic jewel case, it takes up as much cubic space than the vinyl LP format it replaced. It also takes longer to say “WWW” than it does to say “World Wide Web
”, but I’m getting off the topic now! Back to the Enhanced-CD and three cheers for REBA who has included two video clips on her excellent new album Keep On Loving You. Pop the disc in your computer and watch the official music video for the opening song Strange, plus a live version of Consider Me Gone from a CMT Invitation Only concert special. Follow the link to Reba’s site and you’ll find a lot more to see. Marvel at the range of Reba merchandise on offer; clothing, luggage, footwear and home wares. Bath towels anyone?
www.reba.com
When the self-titled LP by The Blue Ridge Rangers was released in 1973 it was a wonderful collection of country and gospel standards, apparently performed by a five piece group, depicted only in silhouette on the cover photo. In about the same amount of time it took to figure out that Wings was Paul McCartney’s new band, we learnt that The Blue Ridge Rangers was actually the first solo album from John Fogerty, following the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fogerty played every instrument on the album and sang all the vocal parts with his distinctive growly twang and the album spawned 
two hits, Jambalaya and Hearts Of Stone. It was an affirmation of the influence of country on his music (“…Dinosaur Victrola, listenin’ to Buck Owens…”) and you’d be hard-pressed to find a country bar band anywhere that doesn’t include one or more Creedence songs in its repertoire. 36 years on, after an extensive solo career under his own name, we have a follow up album, John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again. This time he’s not alone, utilising a great bunch of musicians throughout and a couple of celebrity guest duets; When Will I Be Loved with Bruce Springsteen and Garden Party with Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit from The Eagles. It is mostly a seventies era selection of songs and on the bonus DVD that comes with the album, Fogerty explains why he chose many of the songs. There is also footage of him rehearsing two of the songs on acoustic guitar and a tantalising teaser of his soon to be released Albert Hall concert DVD.
www.johnfogerty.com
More recent ‘Deluxe Editions’ of the two disc-set variety include Pop Country Girls – 20 tracks plus 16 videos (including many Australian artists), Steve Forde’s Guns & Guitars – 12 tracks, 5 videos and a ‘Behind The Scenes’, and a double set from Sugarland – LIVE On The Inside - 11 audio tracks and 15 filmed performances (which we will look at in more depth next month).
We leave you this month with a forecast by talk show host Conan O’Brien who predicts that “YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will merge to become form one super time wasting website called …YouTwitFace!”
Until next time, happy surfing!
While I’m still reeling from last month’s revelation that I’ve been contributing to Capital News for almost a quarter of a century, the Cowboys In Cyberspace column is still a mere youngster, this month celebrating twelve years in that very magazine and here, online.
As the years pass we commemorate joyful milestones, but also with some sadness the lives of many who have gone on ahead. Last month we lost the legendary guitarist LES PAUL who, apart from being a musical giant and entertainer, was a pioneer of the electric guitar and inventor of multi-track recording and overdubbing. Not to mention an inspiration in terms of longevity, still playing right until the end at the age of 94. I saw him play in 2004 at The First World Guitar Congress held at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland as he celebrated his 89th birthday and he was also honorary chairman of the event. As you can see from this photo I took at his concert, he was still blazing away on the fretboard.
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While many people know of his connection with country music via his wonderful duet albums with CHET ATKINS, not everyone knows that at an early age he performed and recorded as a hillbilly act under the name of Rhubarb Red! Find out more about this giant of the music world at www.lespaulonline.com |
The internet has many uses for musical artists these days:
2009 Toyota Star Maker LIAM BREW launches his debut clip ‘Girls With Girlfriends’ to the world at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uip8F6QHHhI
SINEAD BURGESS shares personal video from her very first USA trip, writing songs and visiting the Grand Ole Opry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_N3CnqJSJA
BROOKS & DUNN agreeing to call it a day, announcing the end of the line via their website. I suppose a letter would have been more personal, but hey, when you have that many fans, it sure would take a lot of stamps!
www.brooks-dunn.com
The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is to be applauded for their advances in the judging process for the forthcoming 2010 Golden Guitar awards. Artists can submit their entries by uploading MP3 songs (Independent acts especially will be thankful to not have to mail in 29 copies of their CD) and YouTube URLs for videos. The majority of the voting will also be done online, including that by CMAA Professional Members in the Second Round of judging.
When the Cowboys In Cyberspace column began a dozen years ago, the main reason to visit the online version of this article would have been merely to have the website addresses (URLs) already ‘hyperlinked’, ready for you to click on. Things have come a long way and I hope many of you enjoyed the media-rich online version of last month’s page (still available, like all of the last twelve years) which included additional photos, plus video and audio pertaining to the column and also a copy of the 1985 article that inspired the story.
This month we have a short video preview of Twang, the new album by GEORGE STRAIT. The clip includes a few words of rare interview footage with the quiet megastar who has sold more than 67 million albums and has achieved 57 No. 1 singles. He wears a Stetson, has a son named Bubba, and an album called Twang. Now that’s country!
Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM about this month’s column and more…
Until next time, happy surfing!
"The ABC Book of Australian Country Music is a comprehensive list of all Australian country music artists who are active and successful in country music or have made an indelible impression on the Australian country music scene."
The ABC Book of Australian Country Music is written by Jim Haynes with a foreword by ABC’s Saturday Night Country’s John Nutting. More about the book…
In 1985, Capital News published my article on British Country Music, ‘WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE?’ and last month, touring the UK once more, I decided to update on the story, 24 years on!
Firstly, as this is the Cowboys In Cyberspace column, let’s look at the way technology has advanced. Back then, I lived in the town of Wellingborough and wrote on a Dragon 32 machine – yes 32kb of memory, probably less than a modern day toothbrush – plugged in to an old television set. The word processor program had to be loaded in via a standard audio cassette at the start of every session and the article stored to another tape. Printers were rare, so I would catch a train, cassette in hand, to the neighbouring town of Kettering where a computer shop would make a dot-matrix printout for me, for 5 pence a page. I would then place the pages in a stamped envelope and send it by air mail to Tamworth to arrive a few days later. This time around, I can email my contribution directly from my laptop to the Capital News office in the blink of an eye. You can read the original article, at www.bobhowe.com/writer/uk85.html
Featured then was
SARAH JORY, a young lady who had already represented Britain at Scotty’s International Steel Guitar Convention in St Louis. Barely sixteen at the time, Sarah, ‘Britain’s Princess of the Pedal-Steel Guitar’ was about to become the youngest musician to appear on the main stage of the prestigious Wembley Festival. She went on to become Britain’s premier country act, winning Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year countless times! 
Fast-forward to the present, and for over three years now, Sarah has been touring the world as steel player for Van Morrison, a gig she describes as “amazing”.
The Wembley Festival is sadly no more, but a number of smaller regional festivals continue, along with the major ‘Americana’ festival that, like many similar European festivals, celebrates not only the music, but also other aspects of American culture, particularly automobiles. Some magazines have disappeared, but the mainstream Country Music People, Cross Country for the clubs and the alternative Maverick, report on the country and roots music scene. Radio coverage has diminished and CM television is almost non-existent, save for the cable station Rural TV which includes old American country music shows in between its mainstay of farming and tractor programs. Line dancing became a huge phenomenon in the UK, taking on a life of its own, outside and larger than the country music scene. Dancers still inhabit the country music clubs, catered for by DJs in the breaks and during the bands they happily recognise which dances fit the beat, even for songs they haven’t previously heard.
In the 1985 article I was pictured as a member of Barbary Coast, the band that also backed Frank Ifield for many years…
The BARBARY COAST Band in 1984
L to R: Bob, Bugsy, Robbo, Basil, Cozy
The BARBARY COAST Band 25-year reunion at the
Great North Country Music Festival near Castle Barnard, County Durham.
Watch a song from the reunion here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c6jnuyIZ48
L to R: Bob, Bugsy, Robbo, John, Cozy
This time I’m seen (below) in the NICKI GILLIS UK Band which also featured Barbary Coast drummer Cozy Dixon (front right) and Dave Clemo on bass (far left). Barbary Coast (the line-up that included me) enjoyed a 25th anniversary performance at the Great North Festival in Durham, prior to Nicki’s concert set.
Here’s a song from the last night of the tour…
Nicki was touring the UK country circuit as the current Frank Ifield International Spur Award winner and taking the audiences by storm! Her daily blog reveals more and you can find it via www.nickigillis.com.au
Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM about this month’s column and more…
Until next time, happy surfing!
In April, KEITH URBAN gave a rare glimpse into the creation of his animated music video for his latest radio hit Kiss A Girl via his own website and the CMT.com site. It showed Keith and his band in front of a green screen performing the song - the first step in the creation of any visual that combines live action and animation. The full clip is now released and you can view it online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfuHFnUv1o
Here’s hoping that the servers didn’t crash from the demand last week as tickets went on sale for Keith’s Australian shows in December. If you missed the story On The Road with Keith Urban from Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program showing him at the "happiest place he’s ever been" life-wise, you can watch the replay at
au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/13970308/
Back in February we alerted you to Intune @ Tamworth, who brought us online festival footage, vodcasts, gossip and what was happening at the Tamworth Festival. Now the best of their second year of broadcasts has been compiled and begins airing on NITV (National Indigenous Television) from Wednesday 15th July at 9:30pm.
www.nitv.org.au/intune
RASCAL FLATTS recently used the US People’s Choice website to host its album-design contest. First, the band provided optional photos and design elements to aspiring designers, who then submitted potential covers. Then, the group chose a handful of favourites and let fans decide a winner. Chris Kubik, a senior graphic designer for Schumacher Electric Corp. and long-time Rascal Flatts fan, made the leap from managing artwork of battery chargers and jump starters to the cover of the superstar country trio’s new album. His design, which features the musicians sitting in high-back chairs with picture frames representing the group’s six albums behind them, won out from over 2,000 other submissions to become the cover of the album Unstoppable. Three other finalists had thumbnails of their designs inside the CD booklet. Expect to see a lot more fan interaction with musicians of all styles in the near future.
www.rascalflatts.com
NEW TECHNOLOGY AT CMA MUSIC FEST!
That was the publicity headline coming from Nashville last month. Amongst the featured technology available to country music fans this year was;
‘HotShots’, allowing fans at the CMA Music Fest to share all their photos with the world by emailing them to the website. www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/hotshots/
‘TAGs’, which meant fans could download info straight to their Blackberry, iPhone or other Smartphone to get the nightly line-up, shuttle routes, and other event schedules right on their mobile phone!
At the Microsoft booth inside the Exhibit Hall they could try out CMA Music Fest’s new Be This Close game. It was a virtual scavenger hunt with prizes and although the contest is over, you can still play the game online. You may need to download Microsoft’s new Silverlight add-on to your browser, but it is fairly small and quick.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/bethisclose/
And, bringing us back to where we started this month, check out the Desktop Wallpaper available from the festival, especially a great photo of KEITH URBAN and his guitar amongst the crowd.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/wallpaperIcons.aspx
Until next time, happy surfing!
Rare videos on DVD - lost and found…
A collection of DVDs under the banner of Legends of the famous ‘Lippman + Rau Festivals’ may not ring any bells for the casual country music fan, but for those with a eye to the historic, a rough gem awaits! Horst Lippman and Fritz Rau were German club owners turned concert promoters in the sixties and as is the European way, 
they celebrated and revered not only American music, but the entire art and culture that went with it. Their ventures included Jazz, Folk, Blues and Country. DVD 2 in the series, LEGENDS OF SPIRITUAL & GOSPEL AND FOLK & COUNTRY contains, three monochrome television specials made during various tours. The first two contain not just Gospel songs, but entire Church services, imported lock, stock and hallelujah, as they would have been performed in the African-American churches of the USA. The third program is the Festival of American Folk & Country Music 1966 with very rare recordings of the Stanley Brothers & Clinch Mountain Boys, New Lost City Ramblers, Roscoe Holcomb, Cousin Emmy and Cyp Landreneau. Tracy Schwarz of the New Lost City Ramblers hosts the show, apparently because he spoke some German, and although the set-design is quite elaborate for the era, the presentation is somewhat stilted. The music however is exceptional in its honesty and rawness, particularly Roscoe Holcomb who was the inspiration for the term ‘high, lonesome sound’. An Appalachian coal miner and farmer, he is to old-timey country, what Blind Willie Johnson is to the Blues. The Stanley Brothers numbers are poignant to watch when you realise that Carter Stanley would pass away later that year. Cyp Landreneau and his band perform unadulterated Cajun music with the older school line-up of accordion, fiddle and triangle! Cousin Emmy was known as the ‘the first hillbilly to own a Cadillac’ and her outrageous musical abilities and singing style endeared her to the folk-revival festivals and Hollywood alike. These videos have never been released before and are lovingly presented with a 56 page booklet that includes all the historical information and reminiscences from some of the participants.
Tropical Music, catalogue number 68.363, available in Australia via Planet Distribution. For more information and visit www.legends-of.com
Back in the early sixties, BOB DYLAN had a ‘message’ and he shouted it with a passion. By the release of his landmark country album Nashville Skyline in the late sixties, his unorthodox singing voice was often thought of, in commercial terms, as a shortcoming. His new album from, Together Through Life (Sony Music Entertainment Australia), continues on the flow of his most recent releases with a melodic style that suits his now more aged than ravaged voice. Parallels can be drawn with the final albums of another elder statesman, the late Johnny Cash or the latest from fellow troubadour Willie Nelson, who will be a guest artist on the forthcoming US tour of The Bob Dylan Show. The deluxe version of Together Through Life includes a DVD of ‘The Lost Interview’ with former manager Roy Silver, filmed for, but not used in the 2005 No Direction Home documentary. Fans are still hoping for rarer treasures to surface such as more of the footage of Dylan and Cash in the studio that was just hinted at in the documentary or the full album of duets the pair recorded in 1969. Still, on the new album country blues influences abound, banjo, steel and mandolins ring and the accordion of David Hidalgo from Los Lobos adds a distinct Tex-Mex flavour to the song This Dream Of You. Although Dylan quoted the lyrics of Dolly Parton’s Jolene in a recent interview, he claims the character in his song of the same name is “a different lady”. The album has been well received critically and while it may not attract legions of new converts, as Dylan himself has said, “I know my fans will like it. Other than that, I have no idea.”
Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM about this month’s column and more…
Until next time, happy surfing!
This month SHEA FISHER shares her favourite websites…
As a young rising star of the music scene and a busy world traveller,
SHEA FISHER has to get her information and fun on the run these days. Currently on a two month promotional tour across the USA, you can follow her exploits as she blogs at her own site (www.sheafisher.com) with chatty news about the many towns along her trail, plus personal insights such as why her band will probably not let her choose the next movie they go to see.
Shea favours many of the well-established and most useful sites such as iTunes (www.itunes.com); “I love iTunes. You can find any song you are looking for it doesn’t matter what genre or era the song you are looking for is from. I like the fact that you can listen to 30 seconds of each song before you decide whether you want to buy it or not.”
Like most of us, Shea thinks “Google (www.google.com) is one of the best inventions. It allows you to find ANYTHING you want. If you need information on an artist, movie, town, celebrity etc you can find it all by just typing what you are looking for into Google search box. I spent many hours when I was at school on Google and it was so helpful for assignments and projects. I now love it because it keeps me up to date with the world around me and also lets me find some cool images of my favourite artists.”
Understandably, Shea is enjoying the benefits of Skype (www.skype.com). “It allows me to talk to my family and friends back home in Australia for free when I am travelling overseas. All I have to do is go online and ring their number and it connects me straight through. I love that I am able to see the person I am talking to as well as hear them. It is great when I am travelling.”
From her personal angle, as a rodeo champion herself it is no surprise that Shea visits the website of the Australian Professional Rodeo Association (www.prorodeo.asn.au). “This is one of my favourite website to look up during the rodeo season. It is so helpful to see where you draw out in each event you are competing in. You can also keep up to date with where you at sitting in the Australian standing. Even when I am on the road singing, I like to look up the results of who places at each rodeo that I can’t attend in person.”
Shea is plugged in to all the latest trends including Twitter and Facebook but especially likes MySpace (www.myspace.com/sheafishermusic). “It is such a great way for me to be able keep in touch with friends and fans. I love looking at other artist’s MySpace pages as well. Music MySpace allows you to check on the latest songs released, latest shows coming up and learn more about your favourite artist. I personally love being able to write blogs to my fans, update my photos and reply to messages people send me.”
They say a tree can wither if nobody tends its roots, so now we leave the young aspiring artist and look back at the superstar who was known as The First Lady of Country Music. From the Archive Series of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum comes another DVD, this one entitled LEGENDARY PERFORMANCES - TAMMY WYNETTE (via Shock in Australia). Fifteen rare television performances are included which span from 1967-1981, beginning with Tammy singing a Loretta Lynn hit, but quickly progressing to a succession of her own chart-toppers. Highlights include I Don’t Wanna Play House, D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Stand By Your Man and four fabulous duets with George Jones. Today’s video generation, accustomed to scene changes every few seconds and multiple costumes, will marvel at the stationary camera work and bouffant hair styles, but even today the magic of Tammy Wynette still fills the air with wonder.
Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM about this month’s column and more…
Until next time, happy surfing!
Above L to R: Felicity Urquhart, John Nutting, Bob Howe - photo by Dan Driscoll
19 April 2009: FELICITY URQUHART co-hosted John Nutting’s SATURDAY NIGHT COUNTRY to launch her new album Landing Lights at the Sydney studios of ABC Radio 702.
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