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Website by Pat Adams. pat@tennesseeconcerts.com
G’day from beautiful Bright in north eastern Victoria, Australia.
It is the middle of Winter here and it is snowing on the peaks. We live below Mount Hotham which is the highest Ski Resort in Victoria. Bright is a lovely tourist town nestled in the Ovens Valley and surrounded by spectacular mountainous countryside. Bright is a town for all seasons and is renowned for the magnificent Autumn colours which attracts visitors from all over Australia and around the world in May each year. We have a mob of Kangaroos with their Joey’s outside our windows every morning and we hand feed the Kookaburras in the afternoon.
The title of my album and the song “The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band” is made up from typically Aussie expressions with Bonza meaning excellent (or little ripper) and Bobby Dazzler meaning someone who is an “expert” at dancing for example (she’ s a real Bobby Dazzler). The bush band is the story of animals coming from various parts of Australia playing musical instruments and forming a band. The song has lots of Aussie sayings in it too and a Koala plays a Gum leaf which is actually done by people in Australia the leaf is held against the lips and blown onto producing a fantastic sound.
Australia is a wonderful place to live and to write songs about, my forbears and in particular Captain W. Randell was amongst the early settlers in this magnificent country and Captain Randell was the first man to build and launch a Paddle Steamer into our mighty Murray river in 1853 hence, navigating the river and opening up the river trade in those early times. I am currently working on a song about the Murray River. I felt a remarkable historic parallel with Nashville when I was there this year, learning about the riverboat Captain Thomas Ryman (Ryman auditorium) and travelling along the Cumberland River was fabulous it was just prior to the terrible floods in May. I am not a performing artist due to my demanding family responsibilities my husband is a T.P.I. (totally permanently incapacitated) war veteran.
We have raised our gorgeous little grandson from a tiny baby he is now eight and he is my inspiration, every cloud had a silver lining and life has a funny way of balancing things out sometimes. To write, I steal moments in the middle of the night when it is quiet and I creep around like a little mouse at all strange hours. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the ability to change negatives into positives by turning the hardships of day to day living into something creative especially at this stage of my life.
I am overwhelmed having my songs so highly regarded especially in America, by people I consider to be not only consummate professionals with a wealth of knowledge and experience but friendly, supportive, communicative and fantastic guys. I refer in particular to Eugene Foley, Gary Allen and Pat Adams in Nashville. Only two years ago as a first time entrant into any contest I had three songs on the shortlist and one at number ten in the ASA Australian Songwriters Association Contest Lyrics. Gary Allen gave me a Very Honourable Mention within weeks of the music being written and submitted to his contest, once that happened I thought we must be on the right track especially being judged by Gary who has performed with some of the best in the business, therefore the recognition I have received over a very short space of time absolutely blows me away.
My greatest achievement in my life is to have two wonderful children and now I am so lucky to have four beautiful grandchildren three boys and one girl therefore, I am not bothered by media labels such as “Grandma” in fact I am quite proud of it however, grandmothers can be anything from about forty or so through to a much older age, so I do like to keep people guessing!
My purpose when writing the lyrics on my album was to keep them relatively short to engage young children with interesting stories and humour the same thing applies to the music. I try to include some aspect of learning in most of the songs, which may be animals, habitats, nutrition, countries etc. Chris and I both feel that it is a bit challenging creatively to relate to young kids so therefore it is like having to look inside and make contact with the inner child. Recently in Melbourne I felt privileged to participate in a master class with Professor Pat Pattison from Berklee on lyric writing. I learnt so much from Pat which I hope shows in my latest work. Pat will be back in Australia in January 2011. I enthusiastically look forward to attending Pats next seminar and learning so much more.
Interestingly, when I have had radio airplay some of the feedback came from grandparents who like myself would rather buy a book or CD for their grandkids people scratch their heads trying to figure out what to buy the kids today. Music like books is a wonderful way to relate to and interact with kids, I dance around the kitchen with my little boy although the older he gets the less frequent it is becoming, so I cherish those moments.
Short response to this question Miles Davis is my absolute favourite who I listen to at every opportunity and also Stevie Wonder.
Music has always been a passion but the last two years have been full on particularly writing lyrics, I do not expect I will ever become rich or famous and I do not really want to be as there is much more to life.
As a rank amateur coming in at number ten in the ASA Contest Lyrics 2008 which is a very large annual contest for professional writers too, I decided to find myself a co-writer and on the net I stumbled across Chris Wilson of Chris Wilson Recordings Melbourne. Chris agreed to work with me I am in awe of his versatility he is an extremely talented musician who plays many instruments and writes the music to my lyrics and melodies. Chris sings many of the songs, arranges, produces and masters them. We work very well together and listen to and respect each other. Last year I changed direction and wrote an Ode about the catastrophic Victorian Bushfires in which many people lost their lives, hundreds were injured and there was an unimaginable loss of property it is thought that millions of animals may have perished. The song is “Wrap your arms around our Mates” Chris and I sing the song, it was thrilling to be named a Semi Finalist with this song in the U.S.A. by the legendary Mike Pinder (Moody Blues).
This year brought a change of style and direction writing a country song “Spin my heart” with fantastic vocals by Bec Hance. I was trying to win Gary and Pats contests in Nashville so I wrote one about their neck of the woods Tennessee , which I guess was a bit like trying to sell ice to the Eskimos. I was a runner up in both contests so I was very happy with that result my goal is to eventually win one with the boys in Nashville. Chris and I have recently completed some new songs with very different styles, a blues ballad “When did you know?” another “Seasons of love” is one of my favourites. For the kids a little bit of rock with “Rock and rolling Nana” and a geography lesson in “Santa’s dream flight”. If possible I hope to visit America again in the very near future I have been there eight times now I love the place and particularly the people who are always so warm and welcoming, we Aussies love to travel!
Children’s music has to go on the list of genres I have not done much with. Not having children of my own makes tackling an album from this genre a difficult task at best. But when it comes to Australian artist Glen Naylor, she makes a rather difficult genre easy to write about with her latest album, The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band.
The album opens to the title track and features strum acoustic and banjo. Lyrically, the track is homage to all things Australia with indigenous animals coming together to play in an all-wildlife band. As the album plays out, Australian phrases are incorporated within the verses in what is an upbeat toe-tapper. “Rock and Rolling Nana” is set to a swing tempo with backing piano tinkles and saxophone honks. Again, the ethos of this rack is just a continuation of good, fun musicality with humor-spiked lyrics. “Alf the Zebra” is a down tempo number with slight brush snare, backing piano and acoustic notes. This track bops along with more child-friendly lyrical matter. “Dancing On A Toadstool” is a loungy Jazz number with more acoustic and piano. Again, the lyrical matter paints a picture of a myriad of flora and fauna, not only entertaining through the music but also teaching through verse.
Purchase the music of Naylor / Wilson!
Glen Naylor, The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band August 15, 2012By Skope Children’s music has to go on the list of genres I have not done much with. Not having children of my own makes tackling an album from this genre a difficult task at best. But when it comes to Australian artist Glen Naylor, she makes a rather difficult genre easy to write about with her latest album, The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band.
The album opens to the title track and features strum acoustic and banjo. Lyrically, the track is homage to all things Australia with indigenous animals coming together to play in an all-wildlife band. As the album plays out, Australian phrases are incorporated within the verses in what is an upbeat toe-tapper. “Rock and Rolling Nana” is set to a swing tempo with backing piano tinkles and saxophone honks. Again, the ethos of this track is just a continuation of good, fun musicality with humor- spiked lyrics. “Alf the Zebra” is a down tempo number with slight brush snare, backing piano and acoustic notes. This track bops along with more child-friendly lyrical matter. “Dancing On A Toadstool” is a loungy Jazz number with more acoustic and piano. Again, the lyrical matter paints a picture of a myriad of flora and fauna, not only entertaining through the music but also teaching through verse.
Purchase the music of Naylor / Wilson!
The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band – Children/Family- www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebonzabobbydazzlerbush Wrap Your Arms Around Our Mates – Victorian Bushfire Tribute- www.cdbaby.com/cd/glennaylor Where the Willows Weep – Mix/Jazz Ballads R&B Country – www.cdbaby.com/cd/wherethewillowsweep
Again, I don’t know much about children’s music, but I do know when I hear an artist with their intentions in the right place. Not only is this good, clean entertainment for child listeners, but it is also a celebration of Naylor’s Australian heritage. Hats off to someone like her who does what she does out of love and the interest in helping shape our future.