A live celebration the American folk icon and the “most real songwriter of the 20th century”. With special guests MARGRET ROADKNIGHT, ERIC BOGLE, MIC CONWAY (co-founder and frontman of the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band), JAN ‘YARN’ WOSITZKY (co-founder of the Bushwackers), KERRI SIMPSON and THE VICTORIAN TRADE UNION CHOIR, the double album is also a celebration of the Australian folk scene, and a return to the folk tradition for an unsung hero of Australian roots music, BRUCE HEARN, of pioneering and politically-charged Melbourne Ska pioneers STRANGE TENANTS. A former student activist (once charge with ‘kidnapping’ PM Malcolm Fraser!) and union rep, and now a Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations, Bruce came to prominence as a musician in the ‘80s as a singer/song writer for pioneering and politically charged Melbourne ska band, Strange Tenants, who were hugely popular live and on record, and who toured with the likes of U2, UB40 and Jimmy Cliff. A fan of folk music since his parents took him to see Pete Seeger play in 1968, and more recently the leader of Blues Awards-nominated Hurricane Hearn, Bruce cut his teeth on the folk scene of the early ‘70s, performing at coffee houses and protests. Bruce is at heart a singer/songwriter, as well as a guitarist, banjo and harmonica player, and 2017 saw him step back into folk music and leading a series of sell-out ‘Songs of Freedom: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie’ concerts. It is from one of these concerts that this album is drawn. The double-vinyl and double-CD set will be released October 2 and will be followed in 2020 by Bruce’s first solo studio album “The Word Is The Music The People Are The Song”. The album will be launched with a live-streamed performance from Memo in December.
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Bruce Hearn & The Machinists
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