With the likes of Diesel and Ash Grunwald already throwing their hats in the ring, September’s Wickham Park Blues & Roots Festival was always going to be huge.
Well, organisers Big Apachee spilled the tea on the final four artists added to the already stacked lineup over the weekend and all we can say is “Oo-mow-ma-mow-mow!”
That’s because absolute national musical treasure Russell Morris will be joining the festivities at Wickham Park on Saturday 4 September, alongside nimble-fingered roots and rockabilly wizard, Pat Capocci, the thick, funky grooves of seven-piece Sneaky Freakers, and the hot-as-Hades sonic flavours of Hell’s Kitchen.
When you add the already announced Diesel, Ash Grunwald, Justin Ngariki and the Dastardly Bastards, The Blues Bombers, Then Jolene, and Piper Butcher, you’ve got yourself one very tasty musical gumbo indeed!
With a career spanning an impressive 50 years, Russell Morris is responsible for such Australian musical cornerstones as the ’70s psych extravaganza The Real Thing and the ethereal Wings Of An Eagle.
More recently, Russell wowed audiences with his critically acclaimed trilogy of blues-tinged, platinum-selling, and ARIA award-winning records – Sharkmouth (2012), Van Diemen’s Land (2014) and Red Dirt – Red Heart (2015).
In 2019, he struck gold again with the Nick DiDia and Bernard Fanning-produced Black And Blue Heart.
With a career that has, no doubt, left an indelible mark in the Great Australian Songbook, lofty plaudits like ‘icon’ and ‘legend’ certainly apply, but as Russell told Newcastle Live in 2019, thinking of himself in those terms can be a tough ask.
“Musicians, artists, and performers are traditionally quite insecure creatures, and I was just talking about this with Ross Wilson the other day who said that even now he feels like someone is going to come up at a gig start pointing and saying: ‘you’re a fake, you’re a fraud,’” he said.
“And for me, there always does seem to be a feeling of: ‘am I getting away with this?’ So, it’s kind of hard to think about my career in those terms. It’s nice that people think that, though.”
