FRED SMITH ‘Great’ CD Launch Tour

Concert and stories at the Kindlehill School Performance Space

Sat 17th February 2018
Venue: Kindlehill School Performance Space, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW 2782.

Renowned Australian singer-songwriter Fred Smith’s new album ‘Great’ is a rollicking hayride through American history, politics and pathologies.

One of the few Australian songwriters who has both a US Marine Corps medal and a US merchant mariner’s license, Smith’s musical musings come with a lot of knowledge and experience. He spent four years in America, working cruise ships and touring the Eisenhower interstate system, and worked alongside American soldiers in southern Afghanistan. Now with the USA deeply divided, Fred Smith returns from the dust of Uruzgan to revisit his fascination for all things American.

The new double album features his brilliant balladry balanced with some raucous piss taking, and brings to the fore his reverence and comprehension of American music and mythology. Great is a remarkably eclectic double album collection of songs. The first disc includes 12 songs written and recorded in the classic American folk/country style – story songs, some funny, some sad, bringing to the fore Fred’s gift for melody and lyric, and his talent for inhabiting other people’s worlds.

On the second disc, Fred lets the band off the leash – drums, bass, electric guitars and horns. It’s a riot and a romp through songs and stories with American settings – mostly wry but sympathetic accounts of characters fictional and otherwise. The lead single, What Could Go Wrong, lampoons the contradictions in the Trump platform while celebrating the mix of ebullience and bald faced egotism that makes it impossible to take one’s eyes off Donald J Trump.

So what’s an Australian songwriter doing writing American stories? “Fair question” says Fred. “Like most of us, I grew up steeped in American culture: writers from O’Henry to Steinbeck, television from CHiPS to the A-Team, and 20th Century America produced musical stylings so sublime they have become universal mediums of musical expression.”  

In performance, Fred will be accompanied by Matt Nightingale on double bass, and one other eminent sideman.

“Great is a wonderful album…insightful, poetic and often personal…beautifully drawn vignettes of the human experience”… “outstanding and a must have. ‘Great’ is his best yet.” – CD review By Ian Phillips; psnews.com.au

“…one of our finest lyricists…he shows true mastery of crafting melodies and marrying them to the words without recourse to a shotgun. Add his natural wit, keen powers of observation, unassuming delivery and understated accompaniment and he effortlessly draws you into the world of each of these character-driven songs.” – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

www.fredsmith.com.au
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Venue: KINDLEHILL SCHOOL Performance Space
8 Lake Street, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW 2782.
The performance space has disabled access and disabled facilities.

Kindlehill Auditorium is a family friendly venue!
*Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and supervised.
Children do require a ticket for entry.

There will be light meals, sweets and refreshments available on the night from Bliss Beat Curries before the show and during intermission located at the main entrance to the performance space.

Doors Open 6:45pm. Show Starts 7:30pm.
General Admission. Theatre Style circular seating with cushions in this unique performance space.

Tickets $25 Adult / $5 Minors under 18 pre-sale available from KATOOMBA MUSIC 140 Katoomba St, Katoomba, NSW 2780 (Tues-Sat. Cash Only)

Or + b/f Online $26.50 Adult (Including booking fees) / $6.50 Minors under 18 (Including booking fees): www.trybooking.com/TJUC

Or on the Door from 6:45pm (Unless Sold Out)

This is an intimate seating venue and tickets are strictly limited!

CONTACT DETAILS:

FRED SMITH ‘The Dust Of Uruzgan’ Book Tour

Concert and stories from his memoir accompanied by visual projections
to be held at the Kindlehill School Performance Space.

Fri 19th May 2017
Venue: Kindlehill School Performance Space, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW 2782.

Fred Smith returned from two years working alongside Australian troops in southern Afghanistan to release the remarkable Dust of Uruzgan album. Now he has written a book revealing the back stories to the songs from the album and in so doing offers a humorous, sympathetic and comprehensive account of what was going on in this obscure little province in the middle of a difficult war.

Described as “a triumph of poetic journalism” and “finely observed snapshots of a harsh, sad and funny reality”, he weaves song and story to offer what 15 years of news reports failed to convey: an understanding of what 20,000 soldiers and a handful of our diplomats were doing over there in the dust of Uruzgan.

Fred’s songs and stories will be accompanied by projections of some stunning photos from Afghanistan.

‘I think a real strength of Fred’s music and the way he writes his songs is that he’s actually experienced a lot of what he’s writing about. He’s actually walked in the same footsteps of those soldiers he’s writing about . . . He ate, he slept, he bathed, he worked, he lived with them and when soldiers died, he mourned with them.’ – Colonel Jason Blain for Australian Story

“Fred Smith draws as convincing a picture as we will ever have of the tragedy, hope, oddness and courage of Australia’s Uruzgan enterprise… an astonishingly vibrant piece of reportage from the heart of our longest war.” – Hugh Riminton, Political Editor, Channel 10

Fred Smith has emerged as one of Australia’s most fascinating artists. He has spent the last twenty years all over the joint: working on Australian stabilisation missions in Afghanistan and the South Pacific, touring in America and travelling the Australian festival circuit. He is the subject of the film Bougainville Sky about his time in the war-torn islands of the South Pacific where his work as a musician, peace monitor and radio broadcaster contributed to the success of the world’s first unarmed peace keeping force.
Fred was the first Australian diplomat to be posted to Uruzgan in July of 2009, and the last to leave in 2013. His job was to comprehend the complex web of tribal and patronage networks that made things tick. He came to see the province through Afghan eyes, as well as those of the soldiers he worked with. He wrote a powerful collection of songs about the realities of life for soldiers and civilians, recently released on a highly acclaimed album called Dust of Uruzgan. The title track was recently covered by Lee Kernaghan on his top selling Spirit of the ANZAC’s album.
Fred has put out about eight CD’s, including collaborations with Liz Frenchman and the Spooky Men’s Chorale. Two of these won National Film and Sound Archives Awards. At the 2015 Australian Political Studies Association Annual Awards, he won the Conference Organisers Award for his unusual grassroots approach to explaining Australia’s involvement in stabilisation operations in Afghanistan and the South Pacific to the public.

www.fredsmith.com.au
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Venue: KINDLEHILL SCHOOL Performance Space
8 Lake Street, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW 2782.
The performance space has disabled access and disabled facilities.

Kindlehill Auditorium is a family friendly venue!
*Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and supervised.
Children do require a ticket for entry.

There will be light meals, sweets and refreshments available on the night from Bliss Beat Curries before the show and during intermission located at the main entrance to the performance space.

Doors Open 6:45pm. Show Starts 7:30pm.
General Admission. Theatre Style circular seating with cushions in this unique performance space.

Tickets $25 Adult / $5 Minors under 18 pre-sale available from MEGALONG BOOKS 183 The Mall, Leura, Blue Mountains NSW 2780 (During business hours 7 days a week) or KATOOMBA MUSIC 140 Katoomba St, Katoomba, NSW 2780 (Tues-Sat. Cash Only)

Or + b/f Online $26.50 Adult (Including booking fees) / $6.50 Minors under 18 (Including booking fees): www.trybooking.com/PNGH

Or on the Door from 6:45pm Friday 19th May 2017 (Unless Sold Out)

This is an intimate seating venue and tickets are strictly limited!

CONTACT DETAILS: