Each month guitar picker and Webmaster
Bob Howe brings you the latest Country Music happenings on the
Internet."I Want My Own dot Com"
 CAMILLE TE NAHU |
'Hello. My name's Audrey and I'm a dot com'. No, it's not the opening line at a WWW Anonymous meeting, but just the start of the announcement by AUDREY AULD, introducing her very own Web site, www.audreyauld.com. It seems like you're nobody in cyberspace unless your name ends with dot com! There are plenty of other artists joining the Web club this month: - |
South Australian singer ALISON HAMS tells us that she is seriously into the colour Pink. You'll spot that when you visit her Web site, but check out her music too.
The ever-popular ALBY POOL joins the dot com ranks. His site features not only samples from his latest album, but original lyrics as well.
BROOKE MCCLYMONT has been having lots of exciting adventures, both here and in Los Angeles. You can read all about it at her Website that also includes sections devoted to her talented siblings, Samantha and Mollie.
keithurbanFans.com is the name of yet another fan site dedicated to 'the most talented singer, songwriter, performer, and musician, keith urban'. A good place to catch up with the very latest ku news. Over at his official site, you can watch Keith accepting the Horizon Award at the 2001 CMA Awards.
BILLY BRIDGE graduated from the CMAA Country Music College this year and also launched his new EP, Lonely, Lonely Town at the Tamworth Festival. There is a track-by-track breakdown at his site.
CAMILLE TE NAHU relocated to Australia from New Zealand and was quickly hired to sing back-up for Kasey Chambers, Gina Jeffreys, Troy Cassar-Daley and many more top artists. As she deservedly moves into the spotlight herself, follow Camille's progress on the Web. As with Audrey's site, there are many lovely photos taken by Amy Cruickshank.
Speaking of photographers, there are several places to find pictures of your favourite stars on the Web: JUNE UNDERWOOD, who creates the Country Music Calendar each year, has a photo archive that includes the Tamworth Festival; ALLAN J. TOMPKINS, no relation to the guitar-maker, shares his lens-eye view of Tamworth at his Limberlost Services site, including pictures of the Denahy Family, Brian Howard's 'Bush Balladeers Show' and the action at the Oasis Hotel; TERRY PHILLPOT has a large selection of excellent photos from the Country Music Bushfire Appeal and also from the Felicity and Feral Swing Katz bash at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney and Brooke Leal's EP launch.
VIDEO REVIEW:
HEART OF COUNTRY
Various Artists
ABC Video
Watching this six-part television series on one videotape rather than in weekly instalments only emphasises the diversity of styles that can be loosely called Country Music these days. In reality, only at our music festivals, is this mixture of music and lifestyles quite as apparent. Through the video, we see Sara Storer, with her easy bush charm winning a Golden Guitar, then retracing her journey of success back to the Northern Territory that so inspired her. Across to Broome next to learn what makes the Pigram Brothers tick and why they choose to stay close to home and kin. Lee Kernaghan meanwhile had to travel to stay with his family! We follow Lee's career from his father Ray's travelling show through to his current hard-earned success.
It is en route to Joe McGuire's Pub and other venues that we see Johnny Green's Blues Cowboys, in all their 'rag taggle' glory. Along the way they seem intent on living the honky tonk life and infusing Hank William's music with every influence imaginable from Jimi Hendrix to Jack Daniels. A far cry from the next episode that sees Gina Jeffreys coercing boys into their glad rags for a cocktail party! While the girls of the Central Coast clan shop, we discover how their friendships carry them through the rough spots of their personal lives and how they cope with the seesaw of adulation versus domesticity. Finally, we see Graeme Connors revelling in family and homeland and his songwriting process that has produced so many wonderful compositions.
Much praise is due to writer/producer/director Lindsay Frazer who tackled a huge topic and uncovered some of the depths of the multi-faceted jewel that is our music.
ABC Video (180 Mins)
If you want to share the location of an interesting site you've seen or request a topic for discussion in future columns, why not E-mail me.
Don't forget to listen out for cyberBob each month on the radio waves with Belinda Miller of Murri Country, 4AAA (98.9 FM in Brisbane) and Barbara Morison on 2SER (107.3 FM in Sydney). Until next time, happy surfing.
