By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
THE spirit of Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson lives on in country music and a group of Geelong fans is doing its best to keep it at grassroots level.
Bellarine Country Music Group provides a way for both fans and artists to get together and keep country music alive.
The group puts on a show every Friday night at South Geelong’s Valley Inn, featuring the group’s own backing band and a variety of performers from among the club membership and further afield.
Musical director and club co-ordinator Alma Earl-Davis said country music offered tunes most people could easily pick up and words with whick most listeners coould identify.
“It’s a bit like the poetry and paintings depicting the Australian bush, it can all be interwoven with music,” Alma explained.
“It has its own tradition and we don’t want to lose it. The club plays a role in keeping the spirit of country music alive in the region.”
The club was born more than two decades ago when a few country music fans – read singers and musicians – wanted to find a way of performing regularly.
The club has grown and developed markedly since then but some of the original founders are still going strong.
Alma mans a whiteboard every Friday, listing available performers and matching them up with musos from a pool for the backing band.
The club usually has a featured artist and selects two member artists to support them.
“It great for our members,” Alma said.
“It’s something to put on the resume and the extra talent rubs off on the club and our members.
“The really talented ones spread their wings and go off and do other things but they always come back.”
The group had enjoyed a long association with the Valley Inn, Alma said, with the number of live music venues in Geelong diminishing rapidly.
“We have a lot of equipment and they let us keep it in a room there. They treat us very well and it’s a winning situation all round – the pub gets patrons, we have a venue and fans get to hear live country music every week.”
Geelong is part of a regional Victorian country music circuit, with performers from Ballarat, Colac, Warrnambool and Maryborough making regular visits to the club.
Many of the group’s members are also associated with country music organisations elsewhere.
A retiree, Alma doesn’t just use her time for the country music club – she also organises fund-raisers for the Bone Marrow Institute and golf days at her local St Leonards club.
The next Southern Victorian Country Music Bellarine Showcase begins 11.30am on Sunday 17 November at the Valley Inn, featuring Geelong artist and luthier Dan Robinson.
