The 2012 Hallam Country Music Round Up on Good Friday, 6 April from 2pm. 

Admission prices are

Adults $25, Kids

8-17 years $15

Kids under 7 years Free.

 

Proceeds from the door will be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

The Prairie Oysters

Ruckus

The Blackhill Ramblers

Adam Toms

Brittany Pavlo

The Dalton Gang

Twyce Daily

The Bona Fide Travellers

Susan Lily

The Bay City Hostiles

Danielle Hogan

Jessica-Jade Bruce

Nia Robertson Trio

The 2012 Hallam Country Music Round Up was a great success with a over 200 people in attendance and while the crowd was slightly lower than last year, we still managed to raise over $5000-00 for the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal which was the same as last year.

Proceeds from door takings went to the appeal as well as the auction items, which were purchased by two very generous people. The CD box set consisting of albums by artists performing on the day went for $200-00 while the acoustic guitar signed by artists who performed at the Hallam over 2012 went for an amazing $890-00.

A Channel 7 crew crossed live into the Good Friday Appeal Telecast and spoke to Sharlene and Tony. It was great to get that kind of coverage as it acknowledges the event and did help to bring in a few people who saw the segment on TV too.

No event would be successful unless it is the sum of all its parts.

Our job was to find the talent, listen, watch and read their promotional material, establish the artist line up for the day, co-ordinate and communicate with the artists in the lead up to the day, help promote the event and stage-manage the event on the day. That has kept us pretty busy for the last few months and certainly kept us on our feet on the night too. 

We couldn’t do that without the help of the awesome team at the Hallam Hotel. Sharlene, Marion and Lee have been truly amazing in their support for showcasing independent country music and without the Hallam Hotel covering the operating costs of the event, providing the sound and lighting production, promoting the event, providing the staff and their hospitality on the day, the Round Up simply wouldn’t happen.

The fruits of the behind the scenes work all came together on the day when the focus of the attention was on centre stage. Anita Monk and Mick Pealing worked in tandem to host the event and it was great having them on board as our MC’s. They kept the show moving along revved up the audience to give each act a very warm welcome.

Anita is an old friend of ours who is a staunch advocate for independent artists and worked hard on the night to encourage people to support and purchase the albums of the artists who performed on the day. It was great having Mick on board and one of the highlights of the evening was Mick singing three hit songs performed by his old band Stars.  The real treat for us was that we got to back him on written by the late great Andy Durant; The Last Of The Riverboats, Look After Yourself and Mighty Rock. That was pretty cool!

Tammie, Claudia, Gemma and Leanne took photos, worked the merchandise table and spent the whole day selling products, getting artists to autograph CD’s for people who bought them and helped promote the talent who were performing on the day.

Once again the artists sounded and looked great thanks to the technical wizardry of Acky, Dan and Matt from Clearsound Productions who provided us with great sound and lighting production.

The big stars on the day of course were the artists who had the pleasure of being on the same bill with.

Nia Robertson Trio, Jessica-Jade Bruce, Danielle Hogan, The Bay City Hostiles, Susan Lily,

The Bona Fide Travellers, Twyce Daily, The Dalton Gang, Brittany Pavlo, Adam Toms,

Ruckus, The Blackhill Ramblers.

It was an eclectic mix of music that all falls under the Country Music umbrella. Even the Channel 7 reporter commented off-air that he was surprised that the music he was hearing was like the pop/rock music he hears on commercial radio to which we retorted, maybe the pop/rock music he hears is actually country! Tony 1 – Reporter 0 

We could go through and provide a critique on each of the acts but it’s not necessary. Each artist brought with them their own unique sound and personality and they all shined in their own way. Some were great to sit back and listen to while others were great to dance and rock out too. All of them were generous with their time and we have made a bunch of new friends who were a pleasure to work with. In the end, these guys and girls were the real stars on the day and they deserve all the support and success they get.

What is really interesting in all of this is that despite having released albums, won awards, have videos on TV and radio airplay and nearly all of them are unable to get gigs and are often rejected by venues and organisations who claim to support local independent country music. It was for this reason the Hallam Country Music Round Up idea was conceived and like last year, it was great to see a showcase of independent country musicians on the main stage at Melbourne’s Country Music HQ.

All in all it was a great success. We raised money for the Royal Children’s Hospital at a great venue and we were treated to a day of great music from a great bunch of people who really wanted to perform at their best. We think that all those goals were achieved.

As far as we’re concerned, we were delighted to be associated with the Hallam Hotel again and do our bit for the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal and hang out with a great bunch of musicians and friends.

Cheers

Tony, Rob Dave and Jamie

The Prairie Oysters