Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival

This was our seventh year and we had a very solid line-up of Bluegrass, Old Timey and Folk performers attending.

Friday started early for Tonchi and Jaezed who performed for our local primary school children and then continued up to the high school to perform there and touch base with some of the kids with whom they had met at an earlier date. A highlight for the local band was the chance to join with Tonchi and Jaezed during their Saturday night concert.

The Festival proper began with an old time Appalachian square dance, held in the main pavilion. The syncopated rhythms of the fiddle (Rod Jones and Maurie Llambias), banjo (Lindsay Mar), bass (Dot Newland) and guest Alex Sommers on guitar Judy Jones (playing??) wove a magic of traditional dances that gradually taught all the necessary dance figures as the evening progressed. The MY-T-Fine Stringband had everyone on their heels and tapping their toes.

With the help of some keen festival goers we quickly set out the seats to enjoy the rest of the evening in a more relaxed mode. Our concert began with Bluegrass Parkway, a favourite with our festival goers, returning to perform for us this year and sharing their wonderful new cd with us all. Pat Drummond and Karen Lynne put the crowd in a more relaxed and thoughtful mood before we were all taken on a wonderful journey by the Miles to Go Trio from Western Australia with their inspiring tunes and songs of places close to the heart.

Early morning on Saturday saw plenty of music in the various cafes in the town, a short walk from the festival site. The ever popular Black Train entertained early morning shoppers as they roved through the town, and the top pub hosted a poets' breakfast with Sam Smythe from Kempsey holding the fort.

Mid morning and it was time to head back up to the showgrounds where Pirate Brides from Brisbane started off the concerts in the main pavilion, followed by popular local group Headland with their original and toe tapping songs from Ireland. Black Train won many hearts throughout the festival especially those volunteers in the ticket box who were serenaded on both afternoons by the band; they looked great in their old timey dress and have a raw sound that hits the backbone!

The audience were taken across the seas to West Clare when Shanaway took to the stage and treated us to some lovely interpretations of traditional tunes. Early after noon had everyone toe tapping along to George Jackson and Davydd McDonald with some blistering originals on the fiddle and guitar.

The Johnny Cash competition was a popular event as some of our local youth interpreted his songs in their own style, we hope that we can continue to involve our local aspiring musos in the Festival. The afternoon wound up with the sweet voice of Karen Lynne and the inspiring lyrics from Pat Drummond.

Saturday night saw the main pavilion concert take place with a grand Ol' Opry flavour starting with The Miles To Go Trio. The evening saw Acoustic Shock, MY-T-Fine String Band and Bluegrass Parkway take to the stage, winding up with Twisted Oak - a hot new band to hit Australia and New Zealand. The hall was full and everyone had a great evening.

Over at the high school Tonchi McIntosh and Jaezed performed followed by Charlie McMahon and Peter Carolan as they reformed the original duo that recorded the first contemporary didgeridoo based music in 1983. There were some great jam sessions after the concerts in the luncheon pavilion, the workshop tents and around the fire bins.

Sunday saw Festival patrons once more listening to music as they breakfasted in the town cafes. Kell Stoner was popular, Gary and Sam Shepherd showcased some of the great styles they presented in their workshops and Black Train once more found a few verandahs to play under.

The early morning church service gave the participants an opportunity to join in some great gospel songs before the main gospel sing-along in the pavilion hosted by a mix of festival performers who changed band members as often as song! As the morning passed there were still many workshops to attend, plenty of performers to catch in both pavilions and lots of impromptu jam sessions to get involved in.

Ange Tackets began our final concert - a beautiful voice and fine lyrics from this rambling gypsy girl. Bluegrass Parkway packed the hall and asked when they can return, Tonchi and Jaezed stole hearts with their lyrics and infectious rhythms. We wound up the festival with Twisted Oak a great young band that I'm sure we will see a lot more of on the festival scene.

Throughout the weekend delicious meals were served in the luncheon pavilion and this was the venue for many an intimate performance, lots of jamming and time to catch up with friends over a meal.

One of the main attractions of our Festival are the workshops that take place in the Myrtle and Currajong tents, these cover many areas and our visiting performers are very generous with their time and there is plenty of time to catch up with them if you didn't quite get that chord or little bit of advice. Over the weekend we had twin fiddle, cello, old time banjo, finger style guitar, tin whistle, bluegrass banjo, vocal harmony, mandolin and song writing to name a few.