[video]http://youtu.be/TGtdSIeFQTY[/video] Our version of a classic Merle Haggard tune. From our last release, "Blue Sky Avenue"

Again, thanks to Michael from Pro Seasons Entertainment.

A last minute reminder about tomorrow's show at Pascoe Vale RSL...THE SPEEDSTERS - FRIDAY 24 AUGUST

You may have heard about Dave Grantham’s accident while horsing around. According to my information, he broke a leg in two places and needed a couple of stitches in his head.

But he is a tough nut and with the help of a roadie, plaster cast and a stool he will continue playing bass with The Speedsters as normal (or as normal as Dave can be).

While The Speedsters usually play to a rock ‘n’ roll audience, they have always included a heap of songs recorded by country artists, that you can rock ‘n’ roll to. Artists such as The Mavericks, Marty Stuart, Patsy Cline, The Tractors, Lee Roy Parnell and many more…..

When they play for us, they concentrate on their country side. If you have heard them before you will recognise most of the songs. If you haven’t heard them at Pascoe Vale because you think they are ONLY rock ‘n’ roll, then think again and come along on the 24th.

As always, keep up to date through our webpage - www.northwestfm.org/countrymusicguild

98.9 FM - NORTH WEST FM BACK ON AIR AGAIN

Regular listeners of my program (That’s Country, Sundays 12 noon - 3 pm) and Colin’s program (Texas Time Travelin, Saturdays 6 pm - 8 pm) please note that we are back on the radio again with an improved signal.

Last weekend we were not on the radio due to problems installing our new antenna. We were still streaming live on the internet at www.northwestfm.org and our figures for our streaming increased amazingly.

Our signal will improve again once upgrades are done to the cabling (theirs, not ours).

Cheers,

Frank

************************************************** *

Frank McHugh

Public Relations

Country Music Guild of Australasia (CMGA)

www.northwestfm.org/countrymusicguild

0417 336 562

PO Box 53

BORONIA VIC 3155

Radio Program: “That's Country”

Sundays 12 noon - 3 pm

98.9 North West FM, Hadfield 3046

Also streaming live on www.northwestfm.org

www.northwestfm.org/thats-country

Andrew Clermont. Although they are essentially the same kind of musical instrument, image-wise no two are as diametrically opposed as the fiddle and the violin. Mention the word “violin” and you see a well-groomed performer, dressed in a formal tuxedo in a brightly lit concert hall playing before a hushed audience also dressed in tuxedos or gowns. But, blurt out the word “fiddle” and you see a barn filled with overalls and colorful plaids, stomping their feet, clapping their hands and jumping all over the place in a riotous dance. As an old cliché goes, “The violin sings, the fiddle dances”.

Because of its down-to-earth function, the fiddle has become a generic term for any bow stringed musical instrument. It can refer to anything from the violin to the cello or the double bass. It can even refer to lesser known instruments like the Chinese erhu or the Welsh crwth.

George Jackson. In country music, the fiddle was there ahead of the banjo and the guitar. The instrument goes all the way to the 10th century and the origin of the word “fiddle” is vague. Some say it is Germanic or Icelandic but no one can be certain. Throughout history the fiddle has been linked with dance, so a fiddler who needed to keep the dance beat would push his instrument to much louder volumes than would a violinist.

Fiddle playing spans a wide variety of ethnic or folk styles. In American fiddling, you have distinctive fiddling sounds for blues, bluegrass, Cajun, country, rock, jazz, Western swing and Zydeco. The latter is a form of folk music that came out of Louisiana, inspired by Creole music. Because Creoles were mostly Catholic, Zydeco fiddling found its way to Catholic community centers, then to rural dance halls and nightclubs. The fiddle figures in Forro in Brazil; Gypsy music in the Balkans; Metis, Acadian and Cape Breton in Canada; Clare, Donegal and Sliab Luachra in Ireland; Mariachi in Mexico; Hardanger in Norway and other countries you care to name.

Clare O'Meara. As often happens in music, styles tend to encroach on each other's turf. Young country fiddlers borrowed some styles from classical violinists like Fritz Kreisler, and bluegrass fiddling cribbed from French swing. In the pre-WW II years, Roy Acuff and Bob Wills, two of the best-known band leaders, were fiddlers, who yielded, nevertheless, to the more accomplished fiddlers in their bands. Western swing fiddlers improvised with sounds from jazz fiddlers and honky tonk country sounds blended with other styles in the post-war years. The fiddle continues to be a mainstay in country music, especially in the most popular American fiddling styles of Texas, bluegrass, Cajun and old time, but well-known fiddlers today still draw on influences from blues, jazz and rock.

Incidentally, the exclamation “fiddlesticks” comes from the practice of the fiddler's partner drumming on the neck of the fiddle with a pair of thin sticks. The percussive sound harmonizing with the melody gives the fiddle an extra dimension.

Charlie Daniels.

The album “34 Number Ones” about sums up the stellar career of Alan Jackson, except for the fact that it just became 35. Born on October 17, 1958 in Newnan, Georgia, USA, Jackson was the youngest of five children. Not exactly a fan of music in his youth, he listened mostly to his mother's favorite gospel music, even singing in the church choir. The Jacksons were simple folk, living in a small home which his mother still lives in today. A friend awakened his interest in music by introducing him to the work of Gene Watson, John Anderson and Hank Williams, Jr., prompting Alan to start a band after high school. In 1979, he married his childhood sweetheart, Denise, and they decided to move to Nashville so Alan could concentrate on a career in music.

In Tennessee, Denise introduced him to Glenn Campbell who helped him get a start on his music career. Their marriage went through a rocky period but finally got back on track, an experience Denise wrote about in her book “It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life” that topped the Best Seller list of The New York Times.

In the course of his career, Jackson has won 13 awards from the Country Music Association, 14 from the Academy of Country Music, 2 from the American Music Awards and 2 Grammies. In 2002, he won the Grammy for Best Country Song with “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” and in 2011 for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “As She's Walking Away”. In 1991, Alan became a member of Grand Ole Opry, in 2001, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and in 2010 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Over the years, he has sold more than 50 million albums.

What puts Alan Jackson apart from other music stars is that he is a singer/songwriter in the true sense, writing most of his materials. His music talks of and speaks for every man. After 9/11, he released “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” to pay homage to those who died in the terrorist attacks. He celebrates the common man in songs like “Little Bitty”, and sings of the passing generations in “Drive (for Daddy Gene)”. He can be warm and tender as in “Remember When” and fun and carefree in “It's Five O'clock Somewhere”.

Jackson's popularity as a musician led Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. to launch a line of Jackson merchandise like cowboy-style shirts, toys, spices, barbecue sauces, a replica of his cowboy hat and even an old-fashioned rocking chair with his autograph. In 1995, his Fruit of the Loom Comfort Tour lasted a hundred dates and earned him $40 million. In 1997, the Ford Motor Company signed Jackson up to a multi-million, multi-year contract to endorse its trucks. In 2011, he headlined the Saturday night act at the CMC Rocks the Hunter Festival at the Hunter Valley in Australia.