COWBOYS IN CYBERSPACE - January 2007

Each month guitar picker and Webmaster Bob Howe brings you the latest Country Music happenings on the Internet.
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Cowboys In Cyberspace - January 2007

"TAKE ME BACK TO TAMWORTH"

...via the high-bandwidth information super highway!

As the Tamworth Festival is happily upon us once more, let us look at what can found on-line this year.

The Tourism Tamworth website is a great place to start, especially as they have on-line ticket sales for many events and concerts plus lots of tourist information including the all-important weather report. The site links in nicely with the Tamworth Regional Community site which features more details and a program of major events.

Several of the venues are also listing their individual line-ups again. The Wests Entertainment Group that encompasses West Tamworth League Club and Wests Diggers have an extensive programme and on-line ticket sales. The Pub Group includes The Pub, The Family Hotel and Southgate Inn and their site features the day-by-day schedule, information on the artists they also manage, a menu (yummm...) and Country Music Notes, a regular news feature by leading CM journalist Anna Rose.

At Telstra Country Music you can watch on-demand the monthly heats so far of the 2007 Telstra Road To Tamworth competition. There also highlights of the 2006 finals and they will have live webcasts from Tamworth again this year.

The major awards can be previewed on-line including the Golden Guitars, the independent TIARAs (it's an honour to be nominated), the TSAs for Songwriting and the People's Choice Awards (which included on-line voting, now closed).

Mike Kerin (The Fettler) with Sophie and Celeste, The Sunny Cowgirls

Other places to catch the news and photos: Several sites post a huge array of press releases from artists and record companies. Helen's Tamworth Rage Page is distinguished by the speed of the updates and the number of photos available after the event. Country Music Bulletin will no doubt be a great site for breaking news and NfS Publicity maintain a thorough archive of award winners. Here at Cowboys In Cyberspace you can expect some exclusive photos like this one (above) of Golden Guitar finalists the Sunny Cowgirls and Mike Kerin at the festival media launch in Sydney, plus on-line, some candid video shot at Tamworth.

Until next time, happy surfing!

Bob talked to Barbara Morison on 2SER 107.3 FM
about this month's column, the best of 2006 and more...
LISTEN HERE - MP3

DVD REVIEW

DVD cover

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
featuring the TEXAS PLAYBOYS
- LIVE FROM AUSTIN TX

Western Swing - it's Country, it's Western, jazz, swing, blues and boogie all rolled into one and ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL are arguably the pre-eminent western swing band of this era. They were also the stars of the very first edition of Austin City Limits in 1976 (although Willie Nelson did the pilot show). For the first seven songs of this performance, filmed in 1992 when Cindy Cashdollar was still on steel guitar, we see them in full-flight with leader Ray Benson at the helm putting his own slant on Hot Rod Lincoln, Boogie Back To Texas, Black And White Rag and the Eddy Arnold/Cindy Walker classic You Don't Know Me, that was also popularised by his namesake, Ray Charles.

For the second half of the show they are joined by four original members of arguably the most popular Western Swing band of all time - Bob Wills Texas Playboys: Eldon Shamblin (guitar), Johnny Gimble (fiddle and mandolin), Herb Remington (pedal steel) and Leon Rausch (vocals). These legends add an extra authenticity to the night and together they make a sublime sound that harks back to the Texas dance halls of the forties and fifties. Historic, entertaining and highly recommended.

New West NW8034 (via Shock in Australia)
65 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
Barbara Morison on 2SER (107.3 FM in Sydney and on the Web)
and listen for Big Bob from Bondi every Saturday night with
John Nutting on Saturday Night Country (your Local ABC Radio and the Web).

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