Other folkie beginnings - Home

I came to Dunedin in 1965, and started playing in a Rock 'n Roll band or two, as a guitar player.

Somewhere about 1966, I went to a University of Otago Folk Club concert, and was fascinated to find out that there were people playing guitars that weren't plugged in. That was the beginning of 40 something years of being around the edges, in the middle, and generally a small part of Folk music.

In the late 60's, I began to become involved with Old Time Country music, and from there, a life long involvement in Bluegrass music. Since then, there's been a lot of music, mostly Bluegrass, with side trips to all manner of other music.

My brothers and I had a Folk/Rock band called Hudson in Dunedin that had several moments of fame during its short but dizzy life...there's a few wonderful stories in there waiting to be let out. For instance, we used to do a regular gig in a Dunedin pub called the Vic (Victoria Tavern), where the cliental was fairly right wing, drunk and generally red neck. They all used to sing along with a song called Feel like I'm fixing to die Rag, until someone, less drunk than the rest, listened to the words.

The same night, memorable because of the general rioting going on, an older bloke asked us where we got off using a wonderful old Scottish name Hudson for our band. We told him that we were all Hudsons. He told us he was too. Good old Uncle Charlie, who the rest of the clan had written off as a hopeless drunk years before.

There followed the Pine Ridge Bluegrass Boys, where I learned to play resonator guitar, with a flat pick. When the next Bluegrass band came along - the Bluegrass Expedition - its leader and general boss George Bailey, was unimpressed and I had to learn to use fingerpicks. He was once heard to observe that he suspected I probably played the piano with a flat pick.

Then there was my dearest friend at the time, Mike Pelvin. Mike and I were the Expedtions bad lads, and we got into trouble with our leader on a regular basis. About two years back, Mike and I re-established contact, and, together with our respective wives, play in a band called Long Time Gone.

There was a long excursion into Country music, which kept me musically occupied for many years, and included a move to Auckland as guitar/pedal steel/Dobro player for Gentle Annie. That led to a number of well known Auckland Country bands, but I still got along to Devonport Folk Club from time to time - and once took one of my many bands along, where I played pedal steel at the Bunker. I still don't know if went down well or not, but Devonport always were great listeners, and we didn't get thrown out.

There's been about a hundred festivals, and I even remember some of them. I always found the Auckland festivals memorable, especially in company with such wonderful characters as Al Young, Terry Twohill, Al & Barb Lewis, the Christiansons, the Hollises, and so many, many more who used to come and stand/play/drink around the Auckland Bluegrass Club's tent.

Nowadays, we're back home on the West Coast, where I started in 1963 in my first band. I have my very best mate, who was my faithful audience for 40 odd years, and who now plays guitar, bass, strum stick, and writes the most wonderful songs about people, and places here on the Coast. We have a couple of bands, one called the Jones Brothers, and another duo called the Battery Boys. The fact that we are neither brothers, or boys, matters not one bit.

There were other bands - I recall one short lived outfit called Colonel Underwoods Northern something or other, with at least 21 members, put together for a religious music thing in Dunedin in 1971. We played just the once, understandably. There were a number of solos during the spot, and there was supposed to be a solo on a motor mower, but it didn't start, or the Town Hall staff got to the player before he went on.

And I remember when Marcus turned up at the NEFC....and Moroney.... and Sue (both Sues) and Home Made Jam, who went on to became the Topp Twins.