St Albans Festival

Hello Friends,

I had the pleasure recently of playing at St Albans Folk Festival, nestled in a very pretty valley at the back of the Hunter/Hawkesbury region, north west of Sydney. (The rainbow below was one of the first things I saw when I arrived just on dusk Friday night)

This is a small festival with a very big heart! The calibre of acts was outstanding, and included established performers such as Enda Kenny, Pat Drummond & Karen Lynne, Mothers of Intention, Marcus Sturrock, Ami Williamson and my personal favourite - Beez. There were also many newcomers and less well-known acts including Mark Jackson (pictured below with Jane) who is based in Newcastle and is a great entertainer. I was also very impressed with Ecopella, a vocal ensemble led by Miguel Heatwole, who focus on songs about the environment. Other excellent acts to look out for are Jane Harding, Phil Stormer, Racz 'n Waters, Beautiful Losers and Nerds & Music.

It was wonderful to catch up with Tas-based writer/performer David O'Connor - who's now on the Grey Nomad trail and looks very well and happy. David tells me he's now a "former performer" and despite having retired from the stage, still floored audiences at Saturday's Blackboard concert. While I agree with him that there are many wonderful young performers coming into the scene, I hope David reconsiders retirement as he obviously still has so much to offer audiences.

I also met Arch Bishop - story-teller, larrikin and all-round good bloke. Arch was MC at the main marquee when I played on Saturday and ran packed out Poet's Breakfast sessions on Saturday and Sunday. As you can see below, he made my purple hair look pretty tame!

Below is Kathy O'Hara, sound engineer and recycler extraordinaire! When she's not trying to make musicians like me sound good, Kathy makes art from found objects. In the pic Kathy's using a broken microphone clip to measure out the morning coffee - now that's recycling!

Despite patchy weather this year, this is a wonderful family-friendly camping festival that I'd recommend to anyone interested in folk & roots styles. It's held annually on the Anzac Day weekend and really does include something for everyone (including the kids!) and is surprisingly close to Sydney. I hope the organising group can keep up the momentum and great work while maintaining the necessary balance - small is very beautiful!

Hearty congrats to the organisers (all volunteers) who made it possible..... and personal thanks to Bilbo, Lainey, Mark, Alison and especially John & Kath for all your warmth & hospitality.