Expect some bawdy foot-stomping to take place at the Wingham Akoostik Music Festival on Saturday evening as the Backsliders will be back in town.
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The Australian band are blues and roots royalty with a pedigree that goes back 30 years and has garnered them many national awards.
Dom Turner is the founding member of the group and is a slide-guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist for the band.
He is joined by one of the world’s greatest drummers, percussion virtuoso and songwriter Rob Hirst, who has been with the band 16 years, and a stable of dynamic harmonica players variously labelled as “legendary”, “genius”, and “prodigy”. You never know which of them will join the band on stage.
The Backsliders are gracing us with their presence at Akoostik as part of their ‘Heathen Songbook’ Album Release Tour 2016.
Their new album is their fourteenth to date and contains a varied and eclectic mix of 21st century original blues, as well as a number of versions of songs by blues, hillbilly, and swamp-rock artists.
Although used to the much larger major festivals, Dom and Rob also enjoy smaller festivals.
“Festivals that are located in country areas have a particular feel, and as a band we enjoy that,” Dom said. “They’re quite unique in that they tend to be very community focused. And that’s a real positive – it makes it a real lovely family environment.”
The band’s visit to Wingham last year was their first foray into the Manning Valley. Dom has friends on a property in the valley and he saw the Akoostik gig as a chance to visit with them.
“I haven’t been there before, so it was new experience. We stayed out on the property, and we loved the country vibe. All the band members are from the city so that was really lovely to get out to the country area,” he said.
What he particularly liked about the Akoostik experience last year, he said, was the way the event was organised.
“It was very welcoming. It was brilliantly organised in terms of the treatment of the musicians. As well as that, it’s a really varied line up. It’s not just one genre, basically it’s a variety of genres.
“And it’s good to catch up with some other bands,” he said. “We’re looking forward to hanging out – Ash Grunwald’s on [this year] and it’s a good chance to catch up with him.”
And what about Wingham?
Although the band spend the bulk of their time at Dom’s friends’ property, they did manage to visit a few cafes in town.
“It’s a beautiful town, very picturesque,” Dom said.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
