Bianca Jade

I'm off to Fairbridge Festival next weekend with Matt Willis and his upright bass for a world of music in one weekend. The 2009 Fairbridge Festival celebrates Global Roots and Branches with a feast of world, folk and roots music spanning twelve stages, a hundred acts and six continents over two days and three nights. There are day or weekend tickets for those of you that feel like a drive to the historic village just near Pinjarra.

It's been a couple of years since I played under the beautiful maple trees in the front courtyard of the Freo Arts Centre.  Local singer Natasha Bouchard will start the afternoon with her sweet folk melodies. I'll be joined with my usual partners in crime Matt Willis & Tim Jago. Bring a picnic rug and chill out on Sun 25th Jan.

My song 'Leaving the Country' has been nominated for WAM Song of the Year in the 'blues & roots' category. If you like this smokey ballad please cast your public vote.

I now have a 'Sparkle Chorus' after playing to 500+ children in Kings Park today. I particularly enjoyed my four young back-up singers who also swayed in time to my strumming. Nice moves girls! There was a rather young chap with a ukulele and an even younger little girl who insisted on holding my hand whilst I played guitar. The highlight would have to be singing 'Twinkle Twinkle' country-blues style.

Clad in a bright white suit Dan Bull wowed the Rocket Room with his 'one man band' tunes for his EP III launch. I have to admit I felt like a fish out of water in one of Perth's most hard core rock venues. Lucklily I had my red dorothy shoes on, so with a couple of taps I managed to wish myself a congenial audience. There's nothing quite like putting a folk singer in a rock venue - you start getting requests for Britney... Thankfully Dan took the audience to an even higher level ending the show on the all time classic 'Eternal Flame' - there really is no place like home.

Being the support act doesn't mean you get to meet the star but you certainly get treated like one... now I know what it feels like to play on a big stage with a big sound before a big star. Kings Park looked sparkly and green on this crisp Autumn night. My fingers got cold and kd's toes got cold but the show went on...

Supporting The Black Sorrows at The Quarry to a 600 strong audience was more like a Shakespearean play than a gig. Several sub-plots kept the night full of surprises as a group of young Italian men who spoke no English be-friended me at stage door; I found my mother wearing a staff pass; and our dressing rooms got trashed! I felt more like Helena than Bianca Jade but alas... the photos taken by Positively Hyped tell the truth.

Heading south this weekend to the gorgeous town of Nannup in WA.  I'll be camping with 40 other artists from around the globe for the festival weekend. Everything will be on offer... from folk, country, blue grass, rockabilly and bush breakfasts.

It's that time of year again... WAMi Festival. Over 50 Western Australian acts will be playing around stages in Northbridge on Sat 23 Feb. You will be able to find me and the boys on the Universal stage on Williams St.

Dave Mann and I are back in our home town of Perth after driving around the bottom of the country in the tour bus. Highlights included - an unexpected house concert in the Adelaide hills; watching one of Dave's fans perform one of his songs onstage in Torquay; and getting lost in the spectacular countryside of the Yarra Valley on our way to Giant Steps winery. Our final show is at Clancy's Pub Freo with our bands on Sat 9 Feb.