The man they couldn't shut up, MURRUMBIDGEE JONES, has come down from the mountain to announce the release of his new album WALKING THROUGH MOLASSES.
A lyrical and musical joy, country in flavour with a touch of blues, the album features songs of warmth, depth, and if you listen carefully, a touch of wit and humour.
Its subterranean Australiana. Rural noir. Stories of mangled relationships and denuded landscapes. Try hards and couldabeens all wanting to be the first treated for summer sunburn. Between the lines there’s hope and humour where love songs can be heard on the banks of dry rivers. It’s driving around the block with your window down and listening to an orchestra of cicadas singing in the twilight heat. It’s longing for the past that never existed and hoping a future that will never happen. It’s dreams covered with weeds. It’s flowers blooming in the spring, and the beautiful sound of summer rain drumming on the roof in 4/4 time.
As usual, inspired by great and famous grave robbers of the past, and delivered in a style that will break the mould of mediocrity and rattle the bones and teeth of the recently exhumed.. No smoke. No mirrors. Authenticity guaranteed…Along with his earlier releases SUNSHINE and THE SAME JOKE TWICE digital downloads are available on Bandcamp.
WALKING THROUGH THE WEEDS is MURRUMBIDGEE JONES’ third album. Recorded over there eight hour days with few overdubs, the production was kept simple - no histrionic solos and cumbersome arrangements. A live sound.
WALKING THROUGH THE WEEDS is MURRUMBIDGEE JONES’ third album. Recorded over there eight hour days with few overdubs, the production was kept simple - no histrionic solos and cumbersome arrangements. A live sound.
PLAYERS
MURRUMBIDGEE JONES - Guitar. Harmonica. Vocals
GRAHAM GRIFFITH - Pedal Steel
AMANDA BROWN - Violin
PAUL LIVINGSTON - Guitar
HUGH WAYLAND - Accordion
JOCK ALEXANDER - Bass
NEIL HAWKES - Drums
KERRYN STANTON - Piano
MA RUCKUS - Percussion
DENNIS AUBREY - Guitar
EMAIL: gecksosand@yahoo.com
THE CRITICS
There are artists and there are consummate artists. Murrumbidgee Jones is one of the latter. Not only is he an accomplished visual artist, but his true forte is a lyricist/songwriter. Never prolific, he has released three albums since 2009, each surpassing the last in quality and raw beauty. Taking his time to craft his astute observations in to songs, both poignant and entertaining, depicting slices of life we can relate to, while we lose ourselves in the pure musicality of his offerings.
In essence: Walking Through Molasses, does not deviate from Murrumbidgee’s previous effort, in invoking tumbleweeds blown vistas of Australiana, drawing the listener into the world weary and sometimes mythical images of our bush country. But on this third offering from Mr Jones, he has drawn upon a rich well of sublimity which transcends by far the average country and western record. In fact, this could bet one of the best records off any genre for 2020.
I absolutely love this album. Check it out- Pete Williams (Made in the Shade) 3NRG, Melbourne.
In essence: Walking Through Molasses, does not deviate from Murrumbidgee’s previous effort, in invoking tumbleweeds blown vistas of Australiana, drawing the listener into the world weary and sometimes mythical images of our bush country. But on this third offering from Mr Jones, he has drawn upon a rich well of sublimity which transcends by far the average country and western record. In fact, this could bet one of the best records off any genre for 2020.
I absolutely love this album. Check it out- Pete Williams (Made in the Shade) 3NRG, Melbourne.
Deep, gothic , old-country stories about the dark side of life. Rich and emotive - Americana UK
Simple and witty...music that just lets the world go by - Sydney Morning Herald
A great songwriter and a passionate musician. His songs are alive, original and recognisable at the same time. Nice folk, country influences mixed with some bluegrass, rock and blues…..something irresistible…..uncomplicated .. …..old-time music without being old fashioned…..A very nice album from a great Australian singer-songwriter. - Eelco Schilder (Folkworld Germany)
A rhythmic blue collar rumbling - Skateboarders Journal
Brilliant - Rootsville (Belgium)
A fine amalgam of country, folk and blues - 21st Century Reviews
An outstanding collection of songs A must - Hobart Mercury
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| Pic. Jock Alexander |
Pic. Bryan Cook
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Sydney Morning Herald |
Pic.Michael Shirley
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| (The Itinerant - Painting by Murrumbidgee Jones.) |
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| Live at The Lomond, Melbourne |
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| Hobart Mercury |
AVAILABLE NOW ONBANDCAMP
NOW READ ON......
Two previous albums. The Same Joke Twice and Sunshine. Songs of love, life, murder and the great grey plain. Hacksaw fiddles, barbed wire banjos and slow strummed guitars. Stories trapped between liquid and dust. Strong narratives dipped in imagery and carved with a bent nail into the cobwebbed window frames of forgotten hotel rooms. Wistful memories. The smell of diesel, cigarette smoke and sweat-soaked summer sheets. Dead flies and dust. Australian Gothic. Rural noir. Digital downloads from Bandcamp.
PROPAGANDA
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| Posters designed by Jock Alexander |
Pic. Ollie Black  |
| Murrumbidgee Jones (crouching) with (L to R) Hugh Wayland, Dennis Aubrey, Neil Hawkes, Mick Mahoney |
AND.......IN THE DARK FORGOTTEN PAST
POP 1280
(1998-2000)
S
REVIEWS
If there has been an identifiable Australian sound in rock music, it's usually been defined not by the music but by the lyric or vocal approach. It may used to have been about the bush, Skyhooks and Dave Warner put it in the city, The Scrubhornets are as Australian as you can get and not be lying at Gallipoli. This is not Seatle or New York, this is Oxford Street sweating on a hot Summer night and Marilyn is pregnant! And it's hot and dry and we're waiting for the rain and there's this guy who looks like a freak telling you about the family business, the killing business. The Scrubhornets are the current living heritage of Henry Lawson the drunken poet and storyteller of his generation. Warwick Irwin is as disturbing as henry and The Scrubhornets are a real Australian event. The brash, ramshackle, lo-fi approach of The Scrubhornets is a voice as close to the larrikin poets of the turn of the century Bulletin as this cynical time could allow to exist.
Drum Media Sydney
The Adelaide Advertiser
'Dada out of Freud or vice versa' - Sydney Morning Herald
'Hilarious' - Adelaide Advertiser
A DUO with Murrumbidgee Jones on
guitar/vocals and Michael Easton on double bass.
Named after a novel of
the same name by great American crime writer Jim Thompson.
One album, Pop 1280, produced by J. Walker. (CW Stoneking, Paul Kelly, The Whitlams)
Available on Spotify......
SCRUBHORNETS (1992-98)
Began as the Ghost of Charlie Cousins.
A punkish country sound. Wild and raunchy.
Not comic but plenty of humour.
ALBUMS
The Scrubhornets (Prod. Dave Steel (Weddings Parties Anything)
Kiss a Cactus (Prod: Ian Rilen (Rose Tattoo, X, Sardine, Skindiver)
PRESS
SIf there has been an identifiable Australian sound in rock music, it's usually been defined not by the music but by the lyric or vocal approach. It may used to have been about the bush, Skyhooks and Dave Warner put it in the city, The Scrubhornets are as Australian as you can get and not be lying at Gallipoli. This is not Seatle or New York, this is Oxford Street sweating on a hot Summer night and Marilyn is pregnant! And it's hot and dry and we're waiting for the rain and there's this guy who looks like a freak telling you about the family business, the killing business. The Scrubhornets are the current living heritage of Henry Lawson the drunken poet and storyteller of his generation. Warwick Irwin is as disturbing as henry and The Scrubhornets are a real Australian event. The brash, ramshackle, lo-fi approach of The Scrubhornets is a voice as close to the larrikin poets of the turn of the century Bulletin as this cynical time could allow to exist.
Drum Media Sydney
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| (Drawing - Su Fischer) |
The Adelaide Advertiser
There's something precious about a band which makes
music with no care for convention - just a fire in the belly and the skill
to make its best attributes shine. So it is with Sydney's Scrubhornets,
a ramshackle gang of storytellers who maraud their way through a folksy,
low-fi brand of rock'n'roll. It's the cynical drinking man's cabaret band.
The words, sung in a broad, unapologetic strine, are reminiscent of Dave
Warner's best wry slices of urban life. There's an immediate humor (among
the harsh images and tall stories) to such songs as the roaring, booze-fuelled
Hair of the Dog, the portrait of Ted Turner and the strange macho fable
Killing Business. They're epic rock'n'roll poems which makes plain sense
to Australian ears. If you're jaded by homogenised rock music, this is
an antidote.
David Sly
Adelaide Advertiser
David Sly
Adelaide Advertiser
And before that ....
THE JET BLACK COWBOY
A brief journey into the world of pulling faces and doing stupid things......
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| (Pic. Michael Shirley) |
FUNNY STORIES (1982-UNTIL NOW)
Absurdist comedy-performance troupe of national renown.
'Dada out of Freud or vice versa' - Sydney Morning Herald
'Hilarious' - Adelaide Advertiser
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Photo: Rhonda Thwaite    |
