By MICHELLE HERBISON
INNOVATIVE entertainer Steve Cummins has one question to ask purists who believe song covers should sound identical to their originals.
“Do you drive a T-model Ford?”
“Because the car was invented but everyone keeps putting their spin on it to make it better and faster,” he explained.
One-half of The Rustic Sons, Cummins will join dual golden guitarist Rob Bostock to perform their Country Rock Superhits Show at Geelong RSL on 23 November.
“What we try to do as artists is to make sure we respectfully cover but at the same time express ourselves as musicians. We’ve made sure we respectfully treat the music and way the original artist would,” Cummins said.
“All the songs are recognisable. However, you’ll feel it in the room that these guys are doing their own version of it.”
Playing songs they really loved was the secret to creating a magic for the audience, Cummins revealed.
The Country Rock Superhits Show would play tribute to legends including Johnny Cash, The Eagles, Creedence Clearwater, Allan Jackson, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Band, Garth Brooks, Steve Earl and Aussies Slim Dusty and Keith Urban.
“Robbie and I put this concept together to play tribute to the greats of country rock and those who’ve been innovative over the years and changed the style of music. We tell a little story about each artist as we go along and how the music changed,” Cummins said.
He promised that fans of country rock music would be in for a treat as the pair delivered a string of well-known and loved songs hand-picked from the genre.
“The criterion to each song that we’ve chosen is that it had to be number-one in the world for more than 10 weeks somewhere.”
The Rustic Sons would also throw in a couple of songs from their original album, showcasing their unique and innovative style inspired by the greats of the music.
When asked which performer he would most like to meet for dinner, Cummins laughed and responded with Neil Diamond – from a different style of music.
“I’ve never been asked that question and I always hoped someone would.”
Cummins said he found Diamond’s melodies, poetry and longevity inspiring before concluding: “I’m quite happy to have dinner with my wife every night.”
