by JOHN LOW

How did you become involved with the Bush Music Club?

Living in a number of units in Sydney's eastern suburbs, playing at home had its limitations, so I decided to check out a few venues where I could get together with some folk musos and have a few jam sessions.

I visited a number of known folk venue pubs in the first part of 1977. One of the best was in Harris Street, Ultimo, where quite a few musicians gathered every week. I remember seeing Keith Snell, Len Neary and Declan Affley all jamming there before I knew who they were. One night they had Morris dancers performing in the street outside, in a little dead-end cul-de-sac next to the pub. Some time later this pub became a French restaurant. By mid-year, word-of-mouth led me to the Bush Music Club where anyone was invited to join up for a small annual fee and, as members, come along on a week night to jam in their weekly meeting place, the Community Hall in Burwood. I was particularly keen to join this organisation rather than the other clubs that were also operating because the BMC was the only one that promoted and played strictly Australian traditional music. That was important in my quest, whatever that quest was. The others seemed to be influenced largely by Irish/Scottish/English folk and there were also American bluegrass and blues organisations.

The Rocks Festival, Sydney 1978 L to R: Bob Bolton, John Poleson, Keith Snell, Dave Johnson, Ray Grieve

However, the Chieftains were becoming popular worldwide and a huge interest was growing in Irish folk music generally. And, of course, there was no escaping the Irish influence because it played such a big role in the original development of Australian traditional music.

Perhaps because of this new popular folk movement, the BMC was undergoing a resurgence at the very time I joined up. After its formation by the cast of “Reedy River” and the Bushwhackers in 1954, the Club had had its ups and downs over the years. But now they were in the process, mainly through Dave Johnson, of forming a new Concert Party Bush Band to take on professional engagements and a quarterly newsletter, the “Mulga Wire” edited by Bob Bolton, had just been introduced. Within a week or two, I joined the band and Raema was asked to contribute illustrations and artwork for the newsletter.

So, as a tin whistle, bones and spoons player and rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist, I was ready for my first professional engagement in around six years.

What sort of gigs did the Concert Party Band play?

The first gig for the BMC Concert Party Band was about mid year at a Saturday morning markets/festival in Foley Park, Glebe. We played there again a few weeks later as well as about ten or so other engagements around Sydney before the end of the year. We also played at Lawson in the Blue Mountains and ended with a late night jam session evening in the Leura holiday home of some Club members.

The most interesting engagement was for the International Day Concert, a sort of precursor to Carnivale. It featured a line-up of bands and acts from many countries around the world with us representing Australia, naturally enough. The Federal Minister, Al Grasby, was the main official guest, along with Franca Arena and others. They gave us a special 'finale' spot and a huge applause as the host or home country and Al Grasby asked us a lot of questions about traditional Australian music. It seemed that everyone wanted to learn more about it.

How did it feel to be playing professionally again?

It was all a complete learning experience for me and I didn't mind at all that the money we earned went to the BMC. A learning experience for me too was playing in an acoustic band. After my former years in bands of incredibly loud volume, I found this situation very different and rewarding. For instance, to be able to play a whistle or flute solo softly over an acoustic guitar was totally new to me and probably convinced me I was now back in the music business to stay if it was at all possible.

The quality of the Concert Party Band, however, depended on just who was playing at the time, as the member line-up changed frequently. There were usually a few experienced core players, but generally it was made up of amateurs who came and went. I was never sure where I fitted in. I was certainly experienced but not necessarily in folk music. I recall seeing a few people who recognised me from my rock days and who looked totally amazed at my new place in the world of music.

By the end of the year I hadn't made any plans to change things much because I kept discovering that there was always a new jig, hornpipe or reel to learn and that was enough to keep me going along quite happily for the foreseeable future.