Poolies ponderings

G'day there folks, hope all is well where you are and that the floods and the fires have not hindered you too much...i must admit that down here in the Goulburn valley we are pretty blessed with our position on the map and disasters dont affect us as much ............... Whilst we do have them, they are not as ferocious as in some places. Well Christmas, new year and Tamworth have been and gone, and i hope you enjoyed them all. Tamworth seemed a bit lack-lustre this year with a noticeable decline in attendance numbers and various changes in various areas.......... A couple of extremely hot days, then turned into a week of cooler weather. Dot and i would like to say a big thankyou to Nat and Dex for their hospitality and friendship over the 10 days and we look forward to spending next year with them.....god willing. Our shows in Tamworth were reasonably successful with some good and some reasonable crowds . Top marks to keith Jemison for his fore site in putting on a legends show in his new venue............. It was a packed house and what could you expect with legends like Chad Morgan, rex Dallas, Trevor day, Johnny Greenwood, slim newton ,Lynette guest all in attendance and all performing like we know they can. Jammo and myself also organised a "rally for Dunalley " to raise money for our friends in Tassie who have suffered heartbreak lately with the fires............ 25 of our artist mates joined us on the night and a great night was had by all . I would like to say a big thankyou to Cole-Clark guitars from Melbourne who stepped up in the last day to donate a beautiful acoustic guitar as first prize for our raffle and to tt lines for their contribution and to Dave and Val Johnson for their gifts too. Interesting to note that Val was the lucky winner of the guitar, and both she and Dave are exceptional supporters of Australian bush ballads and our music in general. Personal news to tell you at the moment is that my new cd is not too far away from being released........... We are recording it at Redback studios in Leeton with Mark Hillier and Sharon Benjamin in control ( so they think ) there is an interesting balance of songs on it ......won’t be all bush ballads but Jammo has written one, I’ve written a new rodeo song and Bec Hance has put the melody to it, Neville Anderson and Alan Lavender each have one ,and Keith Dixon and i have combined on one and i have also reworked a 40 year old road safety song up into a more modern rendition, there’s a song for the darling little granddaughter, there is a song that i sang at our daughter’s wedding, add that to 3 or 4 songs that I’ve picked up round the traps and i think we will have an interesting little concept .... Could be a couple of surprises too. I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed over the last year, like to congratulate Dean Perrett on his version of one of my early songs on his new cd, like to congratulate Tamara Stewart on her gold guitar and graham roger on his, and to all the TSA songwriting winners, and a big thanks to all my mates for being just that , also look forward to quite a few trips up to Queensland and Australia for various festivals and also catching up to new and old fans through the year around this wonderful country.

If any radio presenter would like a copy of the new cd please send me down your details....... You’ve gotta wanna play it tho...................... Just joking i think....................cheers for now .....

Reg