Frequent
visitors to the PBGB Blog will have noticed that we are very excited to
be working with Brett Ralph, an Eden based troubadour who has a quiver
of what we consider to be brilliant original songs. We are in fact
working on a cd of Brett’s songs, and along the way we will be posting,
right here, a few ‘demos’ or previews of the songs bound for the cd.
And
so it is that in the past couple of months we have posted LOVE AND LAUGHTER and MAN IN THE MIRROR, and established a Special PBGB Project page for Brett,
which you can access by clicking on the photo of Brett at the right of
your screen.
Now we are delighted to launch a third song by Brett. This one is called ANTARCTICA.
This
song is so Brett. Brett has a longstanding relationship / love affair
with Eden. Eden is a small town on the far South Coast of New South
Wales which has a rich history of whaling and fishing. The very fabric
of Eden is interwoven with the whaling industry. As is Brett – he has
been writing and singing songs about Eden for years, and is perhaps best
known for his involvement with lamentably defunct Eden Band ‘The
Killers Of Eden’, who were hugely popular in the region.
When
Brett sat down in The Shed and played this version of Antarctica we
were gobsmacked. It struck us that this is absolutely brilliant folk
music, and led us to wonder whether we needed to do anything at all to
‘enhance’ the song. We had been working on the notion that we would be
adding drums and bass and guitars and what-not to Brett’s songs. But in
this instance we sat back, slack- jawed, and thought ‘why mess with this
?’. We still feel the same, and may well go down the path of
absolutely minimal ‘dressing up’ of some of Brett’s songs.
In this instance, the only additions to Brett’s original take are the bass and slide guitar of Neil Porter
We
can’t tell you how thrilled we are by this song, and indeed by working
with Brett to bring his songs back to the attention of the public.
Those
who know Brett will know that he is a hugely talented singer/songwriter/poet /guitarist who is totally and genuinely humble about
his abilities. Brett is quite puzzled by our enthusiasm to do our very
best to capture and promote his work. He can’t understand the fuss, and
actually confounds us by his need to be almost dragged into The Shed to
work on his songs.
Well, you have a listen, and see if you agree that Brett is a local folk legend who deserves to be heard and appreciated.
We’re doing our absolute darndest !!
