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Go to any folk or country music festival and you’re bound to get embroiled in at least one discussion about what qualifies as ‘folk’ or as ‘country’ and what doesn’t.
Debbie Brand is the President of Redland’s Modern Country Music Club; her singer/songwriter husband Garth says that if a song moves the heart and tells a story, it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s worth singing. Debbie’s approach is musically diplomatic.
“Much of what makes country ‘country’ is the subject matter and the storytelling; there’s a lot of overlap with folk and some of our members also perform at the Redland Folk Club,” she says.
“The country way of life is a common theme; older writers tend to write about memories and outstanding characters while young writers focus more on love and loss – but it’s all material that everyone can relate to.
“Someone once argued with Garth that a certain song couldn’t be country because it didn’t have a blue dog or a horse in it.”
Debbie says that the Association embraces recently-penned modern country, as well as traditional country, country rock and Australian ballads, as long as they have that unmistakable country feel. It also embraces a wide range of instruments – acoustic and electric guitar, bass, saxophone, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica – instruments that Debbie says are generally easy to pick up and travel with. “Country musicians travel a lot; there are clubs and festivals scattered all across Australia, all family or community-based,” she says.
“That’s one of the benefits of country; the involvement of whole families, so you’ll have kids five or six years old starting to learn the songs from 80-year-olds and all ages in between. Our Association’s membership currently ranges from 14 to 90, and some of our young past performers are now making their mark on national stages.”
And the sense of family care doesn’t stop at the music. The Association has a record of stepping up with a benefit concert when they become aware of someone local in need of a helping hand. That’s the country way.
For more information, visit www.redlandscountry.asn.au.
