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BLUES FESTIVAL E-GUIDE JAN 21, 2021 VOL 16 / ISSUE 4
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 | The Tendrils of Australian Blues Roots
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In honor of Australia Day Jan 26, I decided to pull together some fun facts about their blues roots.
“Australia has a long history with blues music… it’s important to cast an eye back across our history in the genre to see how deeply its tendrils have snaked through our musical landscape throughout the years,” wrote Brandon John for Tone Deaf.
“People have been singing the blues in Australia for a long time and we've produced some great acts. Dutch Tilders, Margaret Roadnight, Chain, Dave Hole, Collard Greens and Gravy, Fiona Boyes, Ash Grunwald and the Foreday Riders are just a few that spring to mind,” writes ABC Radio National. We’ll add Paul Marks, Carson, Hat Fitz & Cara and The Teskey Brothers to that list.
“Pioneers include Molly Byron who started at the Tivoli as a teenager and in the early '30s. She was touring the country billed as 'Australia's Premiere Blues Singer' and performing numbers like “Roll On Mississippi Roll On” and “River Stay Away From My Door.” A 1945 newspaper profile described her as the first singer of 'hot and sweet numbers and blues to be done in Australia.' In that same article she describes herself as a 'scat and blues' singer who prefers 'negro spirituals that suit the low deep tones of her voice.’” In the '40s and '50s there was Georgia Lee. “Her 1962 LP Sings The Blues Down Under is probably the first Australian blues LP and has haunting tunes with very Australian themes like the title track, where she sings of wailing dingoes and crying crows. In the same period Les Welch cut many blues discs. The story goes that he sounded so authentic that American singer Helen Humes gave him the nickname 'Spade.'”
Then in the late 50s early 60s “…there’s the booming blues voice of Paul Marks,” continues Radio National. “His 1963 LP Sings Blues and Spirituals was recorded at the Little Reata restaurant and captures Marks in full voice and playing his own distinctive brand of Piedmont blues.”
Formed in 1968, Chain was one of the most influential, defining bands. “…the band brought blues music to Australia’s working class, fostering a dedicated underground following before breaking into the charts in the early seventies.”
Carson, formed in Melbourne in 1970, was a tight blues rock and boogie rock band influenced by American band Canned Heat. These "Kings of Boogie" built a reputation as a powerful live act, and were one of the most popular Australian blues bands of the early 70s.
The legendary Foreday Riders, the longest-serving outfit in current Australian blues, will celebrate their 54th year as a working band in August 2021.
Fast forward to some more current Aussie Blues… Aussie-based husband and wife, roots ’n’ blues duo Hat Fitz & Cara deliver the raw, libidinal groove of the blues and the spiritual dedication of gospel.
The multi award-winning Teskey Brothers’ old school Motown blues and soul sound originated in Melbourne in 2008. They recorded their first album, Half Mile Harvest, in 2017.
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