Crooked Still (USA)

Purveyors of the nu-folk, bluegrass movement, Crooked Still are equal parts ambassador and innovators as evidenced on their newest release Some Strange Country available May 18th on Signature Sounds. The musical prowess of this defiantly non-traditional bluegrass quintet is on display as radically re-imagined traditional fare blends seamlessly alongside four original compositions and a surprising take on the Rolling Stones’ “You Got The Silver”.

For their fourth effort, Crooked Still were snowed into the studio with Grammy award winning producer and engineer Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss and Union Station, Tim O’Brien, Dolly Parton) in Charlottesville, Virginia. The isolation left little room for distraction and fueled more ambitious collaboration – quasi-orchestral string arrangements,  and unique vocal distortion techniques.  Special guest vocalists include Ricky Skaggs, Tim O’Brien, Sarah Jarosz, and Annalisa Tornfelt.

On Some Strange Country, Crooked Still has honed in on their unique refraction of roots music, recording their most personal, visionary album yet. “The music is not just ‘alternative bluegrass’ or whatever people used to call it,” Brittany Haas remarks. “It’s at another level now: artful, but still grounded in that funky, string band thing.”

Some Strange Country is expansive yet intimate – a powerful document of five distinct musical voices working in concert to explore and redefine their relationship to tradition. More info...

$24.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $25 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7pm Show 8pm

Swamp Thing (NZ)

Sorry folks, Swamp Thing have cancelled... hope you can make it along to another great show instead!

Hawksley Workman

Enigmatic Canadian singer songwriter Hawksley Workman is preparing for his second visit to Australian soil in January next year, leaving behind the depths of a bleak Ontario winter for our sunny summer shores.  Landing early in the New Year, his live dates commence in New South Wales on 4th January, and wind up in South Australia ten days later.  Delivered from the mythic Muskoka wilderness, the Juno Award winning Workman arrived on the scene just over a decade ago with a fearlessness rooted in an undeniable vocal panache.  Around the time of the release of his debut album ‘For Him and The Girls’, Hawksley published a string of letters in an Ontario newspaper to an imaginary love, Isadora, capturing the imagination of the public and encouraging a devoted fanbase.

Blessed with unbridled creativity, Hawksley has produced eighteen albums, including those for Juno Nominated artists such as Tegan and Sara, Great Big Sea and Justin Rutledge.  As a performer, he’s headlined prestigious venues like Massey Hall in Toronto and The Olympia in Paris, as well as opening for heroes Morrissey, David Bowie and The Cure. Without doubt one of the most intriguing artists to emerge from Canada, don’t miss the opportunity to catch Hawksley Workman live as he tours his new album, ‘Full Moon Eleven’ in January 2012. More info...

$22.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $23 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7pm Show 8pm

Passenger (UK) + Stu Larsen + Tim Hart (Boy & Bear)

The brainchild of 26-year-old Brighton born singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg, Passenger is redefining the troubadour for the 21st century. Formerly a five-piece band, Passenger has now pared back to basics, quite literally A classic journeyman musician, cut from the same mould as Van Morrison, Neil Young and John Prine, Passenger has the unique ability to move from the humorous to heartbreaking with every song.

After a year spent crisscrossing the UK and US with his debut album Wicked Man’s Rest, Passenger’s markedly stripped down and soulful second album Wide Eyes Blind Love was brought to the public as it was created: on the road. This is music as Passenger means it to be, unvarnished and honest, just pure talent and powerful tunes that tap straight into the heart of the crowd.

Passenger set about recording a series of collaborations with musical friends met along the way. Flight Of The Crow is the remarkable result of Passenger’s intrepid journey, with Australian artists Lior, Josh Pyke, Katie Noonan, Boy & Bear, Kate Miller Heidke, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Brian Campeau and Elana Stone, Matt Corby, Jess Chalker and Dead Letter Chorus all lending their voices to this serendipitous creative venture. Flight Of The Crow was recorded in Sydney’s famous BJB studios over February and March of 2010, and co-produced by Berkfinger (AKA Simon Berkleman from Philadelphia Grand Jury).

This is the stuff of legend, with Passenger clearly evoking the humble, hardworking creativity of the troubadours of old. More info...  

$17.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $18 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7.30pm Show 8.30pm

1927 - 20TH ANNIVERSARY…’ISH’ CELEBRATION

Breakthrough smash hit album digitally remastered and repackaged!

September 18th, 2009 sees the long awaited, digitally remastered, re-issue of1927's …ISH album. It's been 20 years since the Australian band burst on to the scene with their debut album, selling half a million copies in Australia. 
Featuring the hit singles “That’s When I Think Of You”, “If I Could”, You’ll Never Know” and “Compulsory Hero” the album’s success was also attributed to well crafted music videos and a relentless touring schedule. Starting out playing pubs and bars around Sydney’s northern beaches, the band soon performed to arena-sized crowds, even crossing the shores to the UK. 
A number of Awards were collected along the way including ARIA Awards in 1989 for Breakthrough Artist album (…ISH) and single (“That’s When I Think Of You”). The video for “Compulsory Hero” won an ARIA award for Best Video, the following year. 
Fronted by singer, Eric Weideman, it was founding member and guitarist, Garry Frost who contributed his writing talents to much of the album. Prior to 1927, Garry had a proven track record for penning a hit song or two. As guitarist with 80's Australian rock band Moving Pictures, he wrote “What About Me” which topped the Australian charts (twice!). 
The long overdue reissue of the ..ISH album will be hot news for fans having not been able to access the album previously digitally, nor physical in form, for over a decade. The special new package will include lyrics, photos and sleeve notes by the band, and producer, Charles Fisher. The album has been digitally remastered and contains two previously unreleased live tracks. 
..ISH is one of the highest selling debut albums ever by an Australian band with their songs, to this day, remaining a radio favorite. 

$35.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $38 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7.30pm Show 8.30pm

Bonnie Prince Billy (USA)

Six years, six albums and countless singles, eps and collaborations later, and finally this February - March, we are blessed with a return visit from our favourite royal, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.

It's no mere whistle-stop tour either - the last tour, in 2006, only taking in Sydney & Melbourne - as this time the royal tour takes in both sides of the continent and includes regional areas Margaret River, Eumundi & Byron Bay alongside festival appearances for the Perth International Arts Festival, Adelaide Fringe and Meredith's Golden Plains Festival. The 2012 tour also sees the Bonnie Prince make his Sydney Opera House Concert Hall debut.

Born Will Oldham in Kentucky USA some 40 years ago, Oldham christened the Bonnie mantle after the dissolution of his previous outfit(s), the hugely influential alt-country outfits Palace Brothers and Palace Music. Since then Bonnie 'Prince' Billy has amassed a catalogue of some twelve studio-albums, all weirdly inventive takes on the roots genre: western, bluegrass, Appalachian folk, and which has seen cover versions from the likes of Johnny Cash, Cat Power and Mark Lanegan while the list of renowned public admirers would fill a press release on its own.His most recent release, Wolfroy Goes to Town, continues in his own unique tradition but in true maverick style moves ever sideways from expectation, this time with the addition of vocalist Angel Olsen - a solo performer in her own right - and guitarist Emmett Kelly; Billy's most recent consistent collaborator and the one-man band known as the Cairo Gang. It is these performers plus drummer Van Campbell who will be joining the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on this Australian tour.  Live one can never know what to expect from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy other than to hugely entertained. More info...

$42.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $45 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7pm Show 8pm

Saturday Night Blues Party
with Geoff Achison, Doc Spann & Friends

Recently named on the ‘100+ Gifted Guitarists You Should Know’ list in the American press and preparing for a busy touring schedule that will take him soaring to many national and international locations, Geoff Achison is finally making his way back to Joes for another jaw dropping night of electric and acoustic blues.
Joined by a powerhouse rhythm section and sharing the bill with the perennial Doc Spann this is going to be a Saturday night Blues Party to remember.  A venue like Joes displays Geoff at his best as he’ll burn through a mix of blues, ballads, original songs and inspired arrangements of classics such as ‘Superstition’, ‘Whipping Post’ and his own epic ‘Train Ride’.

Tickets $22.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $25 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7.30pm Show 8.30pm

Chris Hillman & Herb Pederson (USA)

On the verge of leaving music for a while and enrolling for university when Chris Hillman was introduced to three guys playing acoustic guitars and singing Beatles songs and a few originals. The three guys were Roger McGuinn, Gene Clarke and David Crosby and when Chris was invited to join in he jumped at the opportunity. With drummer Michael Clarke in tow Chris was recruited to play electric bass, an instrument he had no familiarity with. But he was a keen student and soon mastered it. The Beefeaters as they were then known quickly became The Byrds and they went into a recording studio in 1965 to record a Bob Dylan song and the rest, as they say, is history. When a new kid called Gram Parsons joined The Byrds in 1968 the outcome was the classic Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album, generally recognised as the birth of Country Rock, the merging of country heart and sentiment with rock ‘n roll energy and drive.

Hillman and Parsons then moved on to form The Flying Burrito Brothers, the band that was the very essence of both Country Rock and Outlaw Country, and had a distinguished cult following that included both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, whose song Wild Horses was written in honour of them.

Meanwhile Herb Pedersen had advanced from a bluegrass career that had seen him at the age of 20 as a member of the hugely influential and progressive Bluegrass band The Dillards to become one of the most in demand session players in the Los Angeles music and movies recording scene, on banjo, guitar and vocals. You’ll find him on such historically significant albums as Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like A Wheel, Emmylou Harris’s Pieces Of The Sky and Elite Hotel and playing with a hundred others including Dan Fogelberg, Vince Gill, Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, Jennifer Warnes, John Prine, Jesse Winchester, John Denver, Johnny Rivers, and on soundtracks for many TV series and movies like The Rockford Files, Smokey and The Bandit, and Maverick. By the early 1980s Chris Hillman, having travelled through The Byrds, The Burritos, and Manassas with Stephen Stills, was yearning to return to his bluegrass and country roots, and teamed up with Herb to record two mostly acoustic albums for Sugar Hill Records, and soon after that the duo expanded the line-up to form The Desert Rose Band, which proved to be Hillman’s most commercially successful post-Byrds project, with seven albums and many country charts hits.

Today Chris and Herb each have their own musical projects and bands on the go as well as regularly touring as a duo, which they have been doing for nearly two decades. In 2009 they recorded a bunch of their greatest hits on a live CD called Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen At Edwards Barn, a wonderful collection of famous songs, many written or co written by Hillman, that is an acoustic stroll through the history of Country Rock.

$35.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $38 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7.30pm Show 8.30pm

Canned Heat (USA)

Featuring original Woodstock era members Larry ‘The Mole’ Taylor, Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra and Harvey ‘The Snake’ Mandel!

Some say they invented the genre Blues n Boogie, that made them a global phenomenon 40+ years ago. Now into their 6th decade of their seemingly endless WORLD BOOGIE TOUR, the HEAT have turned it up again ... and are bringing their unique blend of roadhouse electric blues, rock and boogie back our stages.

CANNED HEAT gained international attention and secured their niche in the pages of rock ‘n roll history with their performances at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (along with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who) and the headlining slot at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. CANNED HEAT’s unique blend of modern electric blues, rock and boogie has earned them a loyal following and influenced many aspiring guitarists and bands during the past four decades. Their Top-40 country-blues-rock songs, “On The Road Again,” “Let’s Work Together,” and “Going Up The Country,” became rock anthems throughout the world with the latter being adopted as the unofficial theme song for the film Woodstock. Their cover version of Wilbert Harrison’s “Let’s Work Together” was actually their biggest hit as it rose to #1 in 31 different countries around the world.  And they followed that – touring endlessly – appearing at all the major Festivals and venues – even London’s Royal Albert Hall, and playing more biker festivals and charity events than any other band in the world. Anchored throughout by the steady hand of drummer/band leader Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra (a member since 1967) and reunited with longtime manager/producer, Skip Taylor, Canned Heat is well on track to carry the boogie-blues it made famous, well into the 21st century with reunion concerts throughout the world featuring original members Larry ‘The Mole’ Taylor and Harvey ‘The Snake’ Mandel.

This will sell out fast.

$46.50 inc GST and booking fees
or $48 @ door if not sold out
Doors open 7pm Show 8pm