Although there is still no firm release date on 'River Tracks' - Songs Of The Darling, I can say it will be soon. The CD is being manufactured as I write and the web pages are built and ready to be revealed. I was chatting to Helen Healy the other day who suggested I should make the album available for digital download. I had previously released my albums on digital only and many people had said they could only play CDs. The thing is, there are many who no longer have CD players too. So I took Helen's excellent suggestion on board and have decided to make the CD available as a digital download via this site. You might have noticed a 'music' page but it is not accessible just yet while I get everything in place. So there you go - digital download AND physical CD. The physical version will feature a booklet with images from around the Darling River along with a very 'ghosty' photo of moi sitting behind the actual CD.  The image here is the artwork on the back cover. I think the trees look a bit 'Blair Witch'. There are so many amazing shapes in the bush around here! Wentworth locals will recognise the song titles and I'm sure will identify with the sounds I have captured which are so typical of the Darling.

I've been visiting Pooncarie with Dee regularly this year to work with children through Pooncarie Children's Outreach Services. We have been exploring music and singing through pitch and rhythm, and how it all comes together. Some of the children will be performing when they get together for their Christmas gathering in town, so we sat down and came up with some lyrics. Dee kindly put them together into song lyric form and I added some music. The video above is the result of all that, together with the voices of the mum's and children, and some help on percussion from the infants :-)
It has been a great experience for the children who live in such remote areas to get together every fortnight but funding is short and without it, next year's sessions are threatened.
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It is probably more accurate to say work finished, as Dee has completed these stunning pieces this week. We have really enjoyed having people pop in on the weekends - some old friends, new friends and we have met some really interesting people.  It seems the blokes love Dee's walking poles! Some have just dropped in for a chat too!   We decided the welcome swallows were the only beings enjoying our water feature so we have put it outside our gallery. It adds a great ambience! The CD Songs Of The Darling should be here by the first week of November - feedback about it has been great! If you'd like a little preview pop in and I will play some of it for you.

Our store is now online but we still have lots of pieces to add including the pin pictured,  so keep checking back to see what's new. There is only one of each item too as Dee doesn't do 'repeats' so that gives you an idea of the unique nature of her work :-)

I often see blogs started then fade out to nothing. I guess it is because when first starting a blog, there is lots to talk about and this, my first blog, is no exception. 

It has taken 18 months of hard but very enjoyable slog for Dee and I to establish Rivertrack Studios. Dee has not only become a landscaper (another story!), she has worked tirelessly to produce some amazing work for our store, which is now open in outback Wentworth, NSW.

I have nearly completed my CD of instrumental music inspired by the local area. That in itself has been an 18 month journey of going out bush and recording the sounds of this beautiful natural area, then composing and arranging music to accompany them. I have learned all about search engines, audio & video production, to design CD covers, web sites, brochures - the list goes on. 

It would have been easy to give up before we started when we realised the enormous amount of work ahead of us, but this week we can see the fruits of our labour. We opened the shop, this website was published and my CD is very close to ready for production.
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Dee's beautiful jewellery is finding homes at a rate of knots and the work coming off the bench every day never ceases to delight me.