People the world over have been stunned and shocked by the ferocity, sheer size and power of the fires that recently swept through East Gippsland as they marched North across the Victorian border into Southern New South Wales, and right up to the doorstep of the town of Eden.
Amazingly, Eden township survived. Unfortunately many neighbouring communities, most notably Mallacoota, were not so lucky.
Our hearts go out to everybody who has been affected by the fires.
Our own community of Pambula Beach, along with Pambula Village, dodged the fiery bullet - this time.
It's not over. A spark in the wrong place, a lightning strike, a change of winds and temperature is all it will take to very quickly turn the terror and trauma back in our direction.
Brett Ralph is an amazing character. He is a gifted artist, a fantastic songwriter, and a spirited performer. He suffers for his art. He loves his home town of Eden and genuinely feels pain when the town takes a hit. Brett has written and sung songs about Eden for decades.
It came as no surprise to us that Brett, in the immediate aftermath of the narrow survival of his beloved home town, penned a song about the fiery holocaust that came so close to razing Eden to ash.
Brett brought his new song to the PBGB Shed yesterday, hoping to record it and get it out to the local community radio stations, in the hope they will play it in support of all those who are suffering.
You can hear Brett's tribute - 'So Good To See You' , by clicking HERE
Brett rambled into The Shed, plugged in his guitar, and sang this in one take. In an effort to get the song out there as quickly as possible, we decided that it is the message that counts and that we wouldn't fuss over fiddly details. What you hear is what came out, as is.
As it happened Manny Aigner was in The Shed at the time, and he sat to the side with his guitar, adding licks totally off the cuff. This was the first time Manny had heard the song - he made up and played his accompaniment on the spot.
Raw, compelling, from the heart, straight out of the box.
Thanks Brett. We hope your heartfelt song resonates with our neighbouring communities.
And welcome back to The PBGB Shed Brett. Followers of PBGB will remember a period back in 2013 / 14 when Brett was a regular in The Shed. Listen to some of the songs we recorded with Brett back then by clicking on Brett's Special Project Page on the right of your screen.
We didn't see Brett for a while. He popped up again recently, full of enthusiasm, and we were very pleased to have him back. He marked his return by accompanying Artie Westwood on Backing Vocals on Artie's 'Fields Of Hay' which is featured in the article directly below.
We look forward to hearing more of Brett's songs very soon. Might even do a 'band' version of So Good To See You.
Stay tuned !
