Cowboys in Cyberspace

2010 Hands of Fame recipients announced:
L to R: Clelia Adams, Nick Erby, Tom Maxwell,
“Slim” Jim Pike, Rodney Walker.
Not pictured, Rod Coe and Susan Jarvis

Here’s wishing a fabulous 2010 to all our readers!

Cowboys In Cyberspace is taking a short break to prepare for our annual pilgrimage to the Tamworth Country Music Festival -10 days of excitement, commencing on 15th January, 2010.

If you’re attending, come and say “G’day”. You’ll find me here…

We’ll be posting up photos from the Festival as it happens, so watch this space!

Meanwhile, you can read my December 2009 Capital News magazine feature story on KRIS KRISTOFFERSON by clicking HERE…

plus album reviews of:
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON – CLOSER TO THE BONE
GUY CLARK – SOMEDAYS THE SONG WRITES YOU
THE WAILIN’ JENNYS – LIVE AT THE MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE
JOHN FOGERTY – THE BLUE RIDGE RANGERS RIDES AGAIN

All the best,
Big Bob from Bondi

A welcome return to the studio following the completion of his duties as Australian Of The Year, Planet Country is LEE KERNAGHAN at his best. He approaches the country from the inside and writes with the authority of someone who knows and lives the life. Lee is joined by the best of Australian musicians and a few Nashville cameos, including a vocal contribution by Dierks Bentley on Scars. Timely and relevant sounds and lyrics. (ABC/Universal 8000288)

You can take the girl out of Australia, but you can’t take Australia out of the girl! Now residing in Nashville and constantly flying the flag on tour across the States, AUDREY AULD has released Billabong Song, an E.P. of unashamed Australiana. With fellow ex-pat Mark Moffatt and visitors Stuie French and Camille Te Nahu to lend a hand, Audrey sings Waltzing Matilda, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Pub With No Beer, Camooweal, and her own delightful tribute to ‘home’, Australia (Paint You A Picture). To complete the journey, she recites My Country. Heart-warming and heart-felt. (Reckless Records RECK0010) www.audreyauld.com

Fifteen years have passed since TODD SNIDER first hit our airwaves with Alright Guy. He’s seen a lot of life since then and his latest album The Excitement Plan is full of, as he puts it himself, “the best… most open hearted … well-thought-out lyrics I could come up with. I wanted every song to be sad and funny at the same time, vulnerable and entertaining at the same time, personal and universal at the same time”. He succeeds and with the help of producer Don Was, this is one of the most engaging albums of the year. (through Shock Records in Australia CTX495CD)

Equal parts sugar and spice, MIRANDA LAMBERT moves with ease from tender self-penned introspective songs, to letting it all hang out on a raucous take on Julie Miller’s Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go. The 15 tracks on Revolution are just like life. Some days are sweet and other times, well you just have to rock out. Just nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards and riding high on the U.S. album and singles charts. (Sony Music Entertainment 88697-46854-2)

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.

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 had 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 25^th 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!