Australia's largest regionally-dedicated music tour, Festival of Small Halls, has announced its 2020 Summer Tour, featuring critically-acclaimed Bellingen-born songwriter Jack Carty and one of Scotland's foremost singers Siobhan Miller.
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Produced by Woodfordia Inc, the wide-ranging regional music tour rekindles the time-old tradition of gathering in the local small hall for a special night of live music, storytelling and community connection.
The Summer Tour 2020 departs from the Woodford Folk Festival with one of the first concerts of the ground-breaking Year of Scotland in Australia, before crossing country to the deep south of Tasmania on January 4.
The tour circles the island state over two weeks then heads to the Illawarra Folk Festival to kick off two weeks of ambitious touring across coastal, central and northern New South Wales.
Executive Producer, Eleanor Rigden said what had struck her most in the towns visited by this popular tour, was the diversity of the histories held in the halls.
"We hear stories of convicts and bushrangers, artistic pioneers of the early settler years, of secret cake recipes that go back generations and of local legends whose stories are meticulously preserved," Eleanor said.
Excited to create their inaugural musical pairing, Siobhan Miller and Jack Carty are preparing for this unique tour.
"I spent most of the last three years travelling and making music in the UK and Europe," Jack said.
"It was amazing, but by the end of it I definitely missed home. To be starting 2020 with such a special tour here in Australia, playing such eclectic and beautiful venues in so many places I've never been before is beyond exciting, it's a dream."
He and Siobhan have been chosen to headline the tour, according to Eleanor, because "they have the ability to connect with people through storytelling, they're up for a laugh, and have a wonderful warmth and real interest in visiting places a little off the beaten track".
The Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour 2020 starts January 1, 2020 at Woodford Folk Festival. Tickets on sale now at www.festivalofsmallhalls.com.
And if you really can't wait: The Spring Tour will be dropping into the Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival next weekend with special guests Ash Bell & Sara Tindley and The Jellyman's Daughter.
To find out more about this fabulous local event: dorrigofolkbluegrassfestival.com.au. Tickets are on sale now.
