Sadly, Al recently passed away.
In May 2018, Mick and Louise told us about a mate of theirs who "is a nice guy who writes songs, sings a bit, and plays guitar". Always on the lookout for songwriters, we were keen to meet him.
Al, at the time, had recently lost the house he was building on Vimy Ridge to the 2018 bushfires that ravaged Tathra. He managed to save a studio he had built on the block, so still had a place to live.
But he did lose many big beams of timber he had milled from trees on his block, along with building materials, machinery tools, workshop, instruments, boats, cars, trailers and caravans full of family heirlooms.........all gone.
Undaunted, Al set hisself down at the Sapphire fm community radio studio, and armed with Lou's acoustic guitar peeled off one of his original tunes....'Red Dress'. Well we loved what we heard, and within a couple of weeks we had Al come into the PBGB Shed to record it.
Al brought a swag of great original songs, a gritty voice and was no slouch on the guitar. He also had a beautiful nature. Loved a hug. We took an immediate liking to him, and he was delighted to find a bunch of people who were interested to work with him to record his songs.
Al, always humble and unassuming, viewed himself primarily as a songwriter, rather than a performer. But we found his playing and singing to be very down to earth and honest, so we made sure he featured on all of the songs we recorded with him.
It was late in 2018 that Al was diagnosed with a particularly nasty cancer. Despite Al's optimistic nature and determination to prevail the prognosis was not good. So we set about recording as many of Al's songs as we could. In fact Neil packaged up a bunch of Al's songs into a saleable cd in order to raise some money to assist Al and his family cover the medical bills - "Arden Street, Owl Noble". Should you purchase same, be assured every cent of your contribution will go immediately to Al's family.
You can hear all the songs on the cd plus more PBGB songs that Al contributed to HERE
Al was also very chuffed that top local band The Figmentz chose to record and perform his song "Love Sets You Free".
Despite his failing health Al stayed in touch right to the end and was determined to rejoin us. Alas, that was not to be.
We sorely miss you Al. Thank you for all the great songs and fun times together. Rest in Peace.
