THE WAIFS, AUGIE MARCH, TEX PERKINS, JEN CLOHER and MARK SEYMOUR to headline 2019
RIVERBOATS MUSIC FESTIVAL
Tickets on sale now at riverboatsmusic.com.au
.
.
.
Riverboats Music Festival has announced a stellar lineup for 2019 with The Waifs, Augie March, Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Don Walker and Jen Cloher set to perform by the sun-drenched banks of the Murray from 15 – 17 February.
Taking place across three glorious summer days in the twin towns of Echuca-Moama, the Murray River’s popular award-winning music festival will feature some of the most exciting names in Australian music, staged in a natural amphitheatre under towering river red gums.
In a festival first, Tex Perkins and the Tennessee Four will take to the Riverboats stage in Far From Folsom, his award-winning show embodying Johnny Cash’s iconic performances at Folsom and San Quentin prisons in the late 1960s.
The 2019 lineup of homegrown Aussie talent will also include Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier, Gabriella Cohen, Fraser A. Gorman, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, The Kill Devil Hills, Benny Walker and Leah Senior. Rockwiz’s Brian Nankervis will once again take the reins as Festival MC.
Festival Director David Frazer said he was thrilled that Riverboats would again be presenting the finest in Australian music talent.
“After winning Gold for Best Festival at last year’s QANTAS Australian Tourism Awards, we are so excited to once again be bringing together a phenomenal lineup of artists in 2019.
“Over one incredible weekend the Riverboats audience can expect to sing along to Hunters and Collectors’ classics with Mark Seymour on the Friday night before blissing out to the sublime, Joni-Mitchell-esque vocals of Leah Senior on the Sunday. They’ll wear out their dancing shoes to Nigerian funk outfit the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra on Saturday afternoon before Tex Perkins channels Johnny Cash and takes us behind the walls of Folsom Prison in the 1960s. And to finally be presenting Australian folk darlings The Waifs to close Riverboats in style is something we’re particularly excited about.”
Riverboats famous paddlesteamer sideshows are set to return in 2019. In partnership with the historic Pride of the Murray paddlesteamer, Riverboats is the only music festival in the country giving festival goers the opportunity to experience a one-hour music-laden cruise down Australia’s longest river. These one- of-a-kind paddlesteamer sideshows will include intimate acoustic performances from legendary singer-songwriters Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier, celebrated indigenous artist and Echuca local Benny Walker, Melbourne singer-songwriter Fraser A. Gorman and folk artist Leah Senior.
In addition, Riverboats’ beloved Annual Festival Breakfast returns to the Beechworth Bakery on Sunday 17 February with live sets by Benny Walker. One of the weekend’s hot-ticket events, the Festival Breakfast sells out each year and punters are encouraged to book early.
Just two and a half hours north of Melbourne, Echuca-Moama boasts a broad range of accommodation choices within walking distance of the festival site, from local camping and caravan options to five-star serviced apartments, Air BnBs, houseboats, backpackers and quality motels.
.
2019 RIVERBOATS MUSIC FESTIVAL LINEUP
FRIDAY 15 FEBRUARY
Gabriella Cohen
The Kill Devil Hills
Mark Seymour & The Undertow
SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY
Benny Walker
Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra
Jen Cloher
Augie March
Tex Perkins – Far From Folsom
SUNDAY 17 FEBRUARY
Leah Senior Fraser A. Gorman Don Walker
The Waifs
.
Riverboats Music Festival: 15–17 February 2019.
Tickets on sale now at riverboatsmusic.com.au
.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
THE WAIFS
Australian folk darlings, The Waifs are the original road warriors, building a career out of continually circling Australia and the globe. From bustling cities to the farthest regional and coastal towns, they have spent the past 25 years reuniting with old friends and gathering new ones thanks to their enchanting live shows and affable nature.
TEX PERKINS & THE TENNESSEE FOUR – FAR FROM FOLSOM
Seminal musician and Riverboats favourite Tex Perkins returns with his critically-acclaimed Far From Folsom – The Songs of Johnny Cash. Featuring legendary backing band, The Tennessee Four (Matt Walker, Dave Folley, Steve Healy and Shane Reilly) with Rachel Tidd, Far From Folsom embodies Johnny Cash’s iconic performances at Folsom and San Quentin prisons in the late 1960s.
For the past decade Tex Perkins has been synonymous with Johnny Cash through his Helpmann-Award winning stage production, The Man In Black. More recently, Far From Folsom premiered at The Old
Parramatta Gaol to over 7000 people, before hitting the road and touring the country.
MARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW
Mark Seymour formed Hunters and Collectors in 1980 with a bunch of uni friends. Touted as the ‘next big thing’, the band went on to record the iconic album Human Frailty in Melbourne in 1985 which has proven to be one of the most important and enduring Australian records of the 1980s. On top of the thirteen Hunters and Collectors albums, Mark has released seven solo albums and three with his current band, The Undertow. Throughout it all, he has shown he is one of our finest songwriters, capturing our stories of love, loss, human courage and achievement.
AUGIE MARCH
Augie March enjoys both high critical acclaim and ardent popularity and is roundly lauded as one of Australia’s finest bands ever, admired through their live performance and their dynamic and emotive music. With Glenn Richards’ distinctive voice, his sharp, literary lyrics and the band’s off-kilter rock ‘n’ roll, Augie March has become a major Australian band over the past decade, with multiple awards, and an ever- increasing and loyal fan-base in Australia and beyond.
DON WALKER
One of Australia’s most celebrated songwriters and raconteurs, Don Walker will lead you down the highway with tales of outback towns and science fiction, Hebrew myth, country halls and Bluecaps rock’n’roll, timber yards and poolrooms by the sea. Tales handed down from other centuries and those that had to be lived first hand.
JEN CLOHER
Widely revered as the punk-rock figurehead of Melbourne’s famous DIY music scene, Jen Cloher is an outspoken advocate for artist rights and the co-founder of the incredible Milk! Records label. Cloher’s fascinating life-story and compelling political voice is enough justification to pay her attention, but it’s the music that will have you returning again and again.
DEBORAH CONWAY & WILLY ZYGIER
Deborah Conway has been a significant and eloquent contributor to Australian music for over 30 years. Her first band Do Re Mi topped the charts and her first solo album, String of Pearls achieved platinum
sales. Conway met Willy Zygier in 1991 and together they have released albums that have attracted critical acclaim from reviewers and audience plaudits. Conway and Zygier continue to be a vital force, with their most recent recording Everybody’s Begging receiving a rare 5-star review in The Australian. They have pursued careers of extra-curricular activities alongside the core business of writing, recording and performing their songs.
FRASER A. GORMAN
Fraser A. Gorman grew up in the small surf town of Torquay, Victoria. Surrounded by surf culture, Gorman quickly strayed away and looked to the songs of Bob Dylan and early 60’s Rock’n’Roll. When he was twelve, his mother put him in singing lessons and he took to it like a duck to water. In 2015 Fraser released his first full length album, Slow Gum, receiving critical acclaim across the globe. Easy Dazy was released in 2018, recorded with producer Nicolas Vernhes (War on Drugs, Silver Jews, Cat Power) and Melbourne musician Dan Luscombe (The Drones). The record features guest musician friends including members of King Gizzard, Leah Senior, Anika Ostendorf (Hachiku) and Hollie Joyce.
GABRIELLA COHEN
Dreamy, fuzz-soaked popscapes. Seductive, broody and occasionally sinister, Gabriella Cohen has emerged as one of Australia’s most original and refreshing pop artists. Initially striking gold with the release of her
internationally acclaimed debut record Full Closure and No Details in 2016, Cohen moved to country Victoria in the summer of 2017 to begin crafting her second album, Pink is the Colour of Unconditional Love.
An expansive and exciting body of work, the album showcases Cohen’s unusually refreshing twists on pop arrangements. ‘Baby’ was born in the graveyard of unrequited love, while ‘Music Machine’ became a swagger of sultry defiance set in LA. Classic harmonies and nostalgic melodies – songs remarkable in their originality.
THE KILL DEVIL HILLS
The Kill Devil Hills formed in sun-bleached Perth, Western Australia, in 2003 as a quiet acoustic 3-piece project, but that was a dumb idea (too quiet) and didn’t last very long. Quickly swelling ranks like a looming tide, 15 years and a few divorces later the band has settled down as 6-piece purveyor of tuneful cacophony, beautiful bastard noise, ugly but honest ballads, and gene-spliced sonic travesties…in other words, a rock band with a heart of mud and coal.
BENNY WALKER
Yorta Yorta singer/songwriter Benny Walker is the real deal. His love songs and epic tales are mixed with passion for people, the land, summer vibes and deep grooves that reach the soul.
Nominated for four NIMA awards in 2016 (New Talent of the Year, Best Song, Best Cover Art and Best Film Clip for Oh No You Don’t’), Benny has played some of the country’s favourite festivals including Bluesfest, Woodford, Festival of King Island, and St Kilda.
THE PUBLIC OPINION AFRO ORCHESTRA
Inspired by the infectious afro-beat music of Nigeria and its neighbours, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra delivers contemporary African funk to Australian dancefloors. This mammoth ensemble comprises musicians hand-picked from Melbourne’s music scene. The experience and creativity of these established musicians energise the group’s original compositions and the sound of the entire band is a force to be reckoned with.
LEAH SENIOR
Leah Senior has been silencing audiences around the country with her otherworldly vocals and unique lyricism. The Melbourne-based folk artist creates fragile but effortlessly nimble melodies that demonstrate a clarity of thought and studied discipline beyond her years. Her songs evoke the familiar and the peculiar, the poetic and the plain. Her breakthrough 2017 album Pretty Faces pays homage to her folk music idols while hinting towards pop and psychedelic undertones.
MASTER OF CEREMONIES – BRIAN NANKERVIS
Brian’s BACK! We’re thrilled to announce that the wonderful Brian Nankervis will be joining us once again in 2019 as Festival MC. Renowned for his roles on SBS TV’s Rockwiz and Hey Hey It’s Saturday as street poet Raymond J Bartholomeuz, Brian is a regular performer and entertainer. He currently co-hosts ‘The Friday Revue’ on ABC Radio Melbourne and contributes regularly to The Age and Triple R radio.
.
.
AMNPLIFY – BA
I am an avid music fan who loves finding new artists in my downtime. My love for music stemmed from a young age and spans most genres. I have travelled across the country as well as overseas to see some of my favourite artists. I have been involved in the music industry since 2011 volunteering and working on some amazing shows and festivals and wouldn’t have it any other way!
Aside from music, I am also a sports enthusiast. If I’m not surrounded by music, you can catch me watching and cheering for my favourite teams, most importantly, the Dees. I also love coffee, bad jokes and travelling.
