Sat 21st June 2014 – FREE ENTRY!
CHRIS GILLESPIE DUO + HOBO GRACE
KATOOMBA RSL CLUB
86 Lurline St, Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia
Earthy and Bohemian flavoured acoustic folk rock with a nod to country, blues and soul!
Chris Gillespie is an independent artist from the Blue Mountains of NSW. His songs are beautiful, bursting with observational yearning. “A fingerpickin’, harmonica playing troubadour…
‘Sydney’s answer to Bob Dylan” (Dave Regos – FBi Radio). Gillespie is renowned by his audience and peers for his songwriting craft, especially his lyrics – “Chris Gillespie is definitely one of those timeless songsmiths” – Joe Gould, (The Crooked Fiddle Band).
You can expect beautiful instrumentation coupled with meaningful and thought provoking words and “…harmonies [that] are downright gorgeous” (Tom Ballard Triple J).
The music is very Australian, highly original and delivered with refreshing honesty and integrity.
Chris Gillespie enjoyed a very busy and abundantly successful 2012 with the release of his debut album ‘Unnatural Light’. The title track spent months in the top 20 of the Triple J Unearthed charts. The song was used as the soundtrack to a short film, which was aired on Channel 9. Chris also performed live on Foxtel and was the opening act for Triple J favourite and Australian Idol finalist Lisa Mitchell.
“It’s difficult for any independent acoustic artist to make a name for themselves in the shadow of the likes of Josh Pyke and John Butler. Yet somehow Chris Gillespie pulls this off with an earthy, unadorned and folksy panache… [He] creates an intoxicatingly addictive blend of country-infused folk rock that is at once familiar and unique” (Peter Walsh Rave Magazine, Brisbane).
Chris will be accompanied on the night by Cameron Henderson (on bass) Cameron is also the guitar player from Dubious Blues Trio and Vanessa Raspa and the Zombie Cats.
From the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney Australia, Linda Mizzi and Cletis Carr blend folk, blues and country to create Hobo Grace.
Linda Mizzi has a warm and familiar voice that defies simple categorisation. Touchstone artists such as Eva Cassidy, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin inform her love of contemporaries like Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch. A highlight for Linda was leading her children’s choir in a rendition of Cold Chisel’s classic Flame Trees for the Australian hit film Little Fish starring Cate Blanchett.
Cletis Carr was Americana long before the term was coined. He was part of the seminal Los Angeles 1980’s cowpunk scene, alongside the likes of Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakum before moving to Australia to found the critically acclaimed bands Big Whiskey and Hillbilly Moon and touring with the Bondi Cigars and Stevie Wright. He was a fixture on the late 90’s Nashville in-the-round circuit and spent the better part of the 00’s in Sydney running acoustic music venues and songwriter nights for young and emerging artists.
The band is augmented by Simon Crosbie, on harmonica, percussion and backing vocals.
Hobo Grace’s recent performances at festivals such as Sydney Blues & Roots and Gulgong Folk have seen a groundswell of support for their unpretentious and fun performances. Their debut album, Beautifully Crazy, has just been released.
FREE ENTRY!
Music from 8:30pm-Late