News from Annette & Kim

Hi Folks

Firstly we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that you had a safe and enjoyable festive season. And now it’s back to reality. Welcome to 2015. It’s going to be another busy and exciting year and we hope you all can join us.

Our first gig of the year was our very first concert at the Wanganui War Memorial Centre on the 14th of January on our way to the Marton Country Music Festival. We made our way down to Wanganui via SH4 and the National Forest which was an interesting and scenic drive in itself. We had a great night entertaining a small but appreciative audience that didn’t want to leave once we had finished our last song, which was a very nice feeling. Thank you to everyone that supported us on the night. We would also like to thank Ken and Sue Carrick and their support staff who made us feel so welcome. We definitely look forward to a return visit sometime in the future.

The following day we had lunch with Lloyd and Nancy Muller and then had time to look around Wanganui. We made our way up to the War Memorial Tower via the 66 metre elevator ride up through the hill it stood on and on to the viewing platform above the elevator shaft to view the sights of Wanganui. We totally recommend it to anyone staying in or passing through Wanganui. From there we headed for Marton but were side tracked by an awesome antique shop at a little place called Turakina. This is a must stop for those interested in good old stuff. Annette picked up a
couple of items and I was almost tempted, maybe next time.

We arrived in Marton Thursday afternoon and settled into our accommodation before heading over to the park to catch with Len and Anne. An impromptu walk up was held in the evening before the main festival started on Friday afternoon with a good number of motor homes already arriving for the weekend. The Friday night concert headlined Dennis Marsh with support from ourselves, Reg McTaggart and the Yodelling Ladies all ably backed by the band Pheonix.

Walk ups started a 9:30am on Saturday and continued until 1:30pm when invited artists took to the stage to perform until approximately 5:30pm. The weather was awesome and a good crowd of over a thousand people was building up during the day enjoying the entertainment and hospitality provided by Anne and her team and the many singers that got up to sing. Main acts on the afternoon show included Allan Webster from Australia,thank you Allan and Maureen for the entertainment off stage as well, Roger Tibbs making a comeback following his success in the US, great to catch up with Roger and Denise again, we have not seen them since our trip to the States in 2013, Jason Bradley the festivals main draw card from South Africa who has a similar style to Brad Paisley and on talking to him said that Brad has been the biggest influence on his style of guitar playing, he was also saying that there are very few country artists in his country, nice to meet Brad and his wife Tina, and local entertainers Dennis Marsh, Joy Adams, Kylie and Trevor, Abby and Nancy Muller to name just a few. The entertainment was near continuous on Saturday with just a short break to allow people to grab a bite to eat and freshen up before the evening show started which
featured selected artists supporting the overseas acts. These included some of the acts previously mentioned along with Tori Tuau, a promising young singer from the Rangitikei area, Keith Herbert and Peter Jackson guitar and banjo players respectively and ourselves. It was a fantastic weekend and great the catch up with old friends and to meet new ones as well. Thank you for supporting us and the festival. Thank you also to the two bands, Shotgun and Pheonix, who played during the weekend and put in a lot of hours backing everyone that wanted to sing. Our thoughts go out to friends that could not be with us for the weekend Graeme and Linda McCardle and the Moratti and Pascoe families for their recent losses.

The weekend wound down with the Gospel walk ups on Sunday which included a touching tribute to those who could not be with us.

On Monday morning we said our farewells and headed home stopping along the way to view the Tangiwai memorial between Waiouru and Ohakune. It was the first time for me on SH 49 and the first time at the site of this devastating train crash. We also stopped at Horopito Motors just off SH4 not far out of Ohakune. This was one of the places used in the filming of the Bruno Lawrence movie Smash Palace, you know where he is in the car sitting across the railway tracks. I have never seen so many car wrecks. From there it was about eight hours of driving to get home and the end of an exhausting but exciting week.

Now we look forward to February and it doesn’t slow down we will be in Pukekohe on the 6th,7th and 8th for the inaugural festival there and the following weekend we are off to Australia for two weeks for the Barham festival and a couple of organised gigs we have arranged as we make our way to Dale and Barbs place in Adelaide where we will be going to the Clipsol 500 motor racing before flying home on the 2nd of March. But we will tell you all about that later.

Until then take care and keep it country.

Best Wishes
Annette and KIm

Hi Folks

May has come and gone and here we are half way through the year. We began May with a gig at the Dargaville RSA and the Westies that would be joining us on Norfolk Island. The Following weekend we were joined by The Mountain Mist Band at the 25th annual Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival. Both Annette and I remember the first years of the festival and being a part of them. Thank you, Shirley, for all your hard work over the last 25 years and to all the volunteers that have assisted you in making this a world renowned country music festival. Thank you also from Annette and myself for the certificates of appreciation for our support of the festival during the last 25 years. It has been our pleasure to be associated with this very prestigious festival, and fun too. It was a great weekend with fine weather and awesome music. Thank you to everyone that supported us and especially the amazing audience at the Paihia Pacific for the standing ovation. We were literally blown away. We could not have done it without the support of our fantastic band. Thank you Richard, Ian, Tiny and Andrew for backing us your continued support is very much appreciated. We look forward to working with The Mountain Mist Band and to seeing you all at our Kamo Club concert on the 13th of July.

Norfolk Island Festival 2014

Annette and Kim Norfolk Island NZ Showcase

On the 18th of May we flew to Norfolk Island for the 21st annual Norfolk Island Country Music Festival with a group of 47 country music fans. NICMA were also celebrating the 20th Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award. The weather for the week was the best that I can remember with the group enjoying swimming, snorkelling, fishing, golf and horse riding just to name a few of the activities available on the Island. We started the week with a welcome dinner at the Leagues Club where everyone got to meet one another. We had a few repeat offenders on board that knew the ropes and everyone got into the swing of things singing along to great music performed by local identity Lully.

Monday morning we were all up early for the half day tour. We changed it up a bit this year and did a couple of extra things on the morning tour one being an island style morning tea in the gardens of an historic island home. Annette and I entertained with a few gospel songs at Saint Barnabas Chapel. This was a very enjoyable and informative tour. Monday evening was the New Zealand Showcase which Annette was a part of. Everyone enjoyed an excellent concert from the kiwi performers.

The whole week was full of exciting activities and country music. The mini golf was a hoot and with 47 people all playing at once it was certainly challenging to organize but everyone got into the spirit of it all and just went for it. Check out the photos on our photo page.

The RSL lunch time gig was very successful and next year Terrance, the RSL manager, has invited us to do a dinner show as well which we are looking forward to. The Fish Fry was very entertaining, well I thought so, and we are both looking forward to performing “Ridin’ High” acoustically again sometime soon. Annette and I can totally recommend the Culla & Co Horse and Carriage Tour. This is an awesome Cyldesdale horse ride out to Steeles Point to enjoy the cliff top views,a cuppa and a chat with Culla himself, a local identity, who started Culla & Co in 1986.

On Friday night we joined those from the group that chose to do the Night as a Convict Dinner. We were in the company of Private Lessons, Private Parts and the Commandant aka Brant McRichie, Hayden Evans and Phillip McCrae ( Lully) respectively. Once again check out the photos on our photo page. This was a great night.

Before we knew it the week was over and at the Traditional Dinner on Saturday night we all sang a few songs together, awarded the prizes for the road sign competition and presented Des and Sharon with the signed cowboy hat.

We hope everyone got home safe and happy. We certainly look forward to having you all back in 2015 should you wish to join our tour. Registration of Interest forms will be available shortly and we get those to you one way or another. No sooner does one tour end and we are organizing the next one. Annette and I had a brilliant time with you all and hope to catch up somewhere very soon.

Until then take care and keep it country.

Best Wishes
Annette and Kim
P.S. Don’t forget our concert on Sunday 13th July 3pm-6pm at the Kamo Club with The Mountain Mist Band. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Hi Folks

The months are racing by so we thought we would just bring you up to date on what we are doing. At present there are a couple of things we are getting ready for. One is the Bay of Islands Country Rock festival on the 9th, 10th and 11th of May. We have 4 shows to do during the weekend and will also be busking on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We are looking forward to performing with The Mountain Mist Band and to catching up with you all. The following weekend we are off to the Norfolk Island Country Music Festival with our tour group. We have a large group coming with us this year due to it being the 20th anniversary of the Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award and the 21st year of the festival itself. One of the contestants in the Trans-Tasman award, Kay Tappin, will be part of our tour group and she will be accompanied by her husband Kevin. Kay and Kevin are both long time supporters of New Zealand country music and we wish Kay the best of luck on the awards show. We will shortly be sending out welcome letters to all those joining us on our tour and look forward to meeting you all either at Auckland airport or at Norfolk Island airport depending on which flight you are on. It is going to be an awesome week.

On the 14th of June we will be one of the guest artists on Val and Ray Thurgoods 100th charity concert being held in Te Awamutu. If you are in the area make sure you keep this date free and check out the concert poster on our web site. There will be some great country acts joining us for the concert.

Our official album release concert is going to be held at the Kamo Club, Meldrum St , Whangarei on Sunday the 13th of July 3-6pm. Tickets are $15-00 each and you can get a meal afterwards for $15-00 as well so not a bad deal $30-00 for a dinner and show. Once again we will be supported by The Mountain Mist Band with sound by Dennis Pabirowski. We will be performing songs from our new album, “TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS“, as well as a few new songs and some old favourites as well.

On a final note we would like to welcome everyone that has joined our mailing list and who follow us on facebook. Thank you for your support it is very much appreciated. We apologise for not keeping as up to date as we would like to on these new fan dangled modern gidgets.

Our next gig will be on Friday the 2nd of May at the Dargaville RSA. Hope to see you there.

Take care and keep it country
Annette and Kim

Hi Folks
February was notable for two reasons. One being the release of our second duo album and the other being our trip to Australia to once again perform at the Barham Country Music Stampede. We collected our new cd “Try a Little Kindness” on the Friday before we flew out to Aussie. We had our fingers crossed that all would be correct on the cd cover. We had approved the draft copy but you are still a little nervous. Stebbings had done a great job though thanks to the good management of Hazel Lamb throughout the project. The photos Jackie and Helen had taken for the cover were great and Joanna had done an awesome job on the graphic design. The whole thing looked and sounded absolutely fabulous if I can use that term. Thanks to Mike at Manuka Studios and the excellent work done by all the musicians on the album. We are really happy with the final result. On Saturday morning we flew out to Australia.

We were met at Melbourne airport by our friends Rod and Margaret McCarthy who had kindly offered to pick us up and take us back to their place for the night before heading up to Barham. We first met Rod and Margaret in 2011 when we first went to Barham. Rod and his friend Peter make wooden toys as a hobby to sell at the markets. They are known as “The Toy Boys”. Peter and his wife Robyn would also be in Barham for the festival. Rod and Margaret took us on a walking tour of, Kyneton, the town where they live and where Rod grew up. Kyneton is an old gold mining town about an hour north of Melbourne and has a population of approx. 2500 people. It has many old buildings some made of the original blue stone that many buildings were made of back in the day.

Rod and Margaret put us up for the night and on Sunday morning we all headed up to Barham with the caravan in tow.

We arrived in Barham at about 11:00am and as we were ahead of schedule we decided to go to the caravan park and help set up the caravan and annex. The whole gang had arrived and set up. Peter and Robyn and Helen and Graeme, Margaret’s sister and her husband, were all ready for a week of dancing and country music.

Sunday afternoon, after catching up with our Aussie mum and dad, Barb and Dale Goldsmith who had travelled over from Adelaide to join us for the week and to be our transport back to Melbourne, we met up with Ruth Morpeth the festival organizer and settled into our accommodation at Christina Cottage, the same beautiful house we stayed in during our 2012 visit, and organized ourselves for the week ahead. We performed over 25 forty minute shows from Monday through until the following Sunday in the auditorium and in the coffee shop. We met a lot of artists that had not been at previous festivals. These included; The Battlers, Michael and Shaun an Uncle and nephew duo, Terry Leonard and Rick Charles both Elvis impersonators, Jono Nicholson Terry’s protégé, Matt Burke a singer/songwriter from Bendigo,Graham Hugo, Rod Williams, Justin Standley a previous Norfolk Is contestant in the Trans-Tasman and X Factor finalist and Cindy Doherty. We also caught up with some familiar faces as well; George Farnham, Kim Ritchie and husband John, Sandi Dodds, Geoff Evans, Anthony Tenace also the sound man in the auditorium again this year and Kerran and Karan from the backing band Denva who with Peter on drums did a great job of backing the artists from Friday until Sunday’s finale which was a real hoot. There were some interesting impersonations Graham Hugo as Kenny Rogers only had to take his hat off, George Farnham as himself, he got that spot on, Joyce Yates as a heavy metaler from back in the day certainly a sight to see, Joyce never fails to surprise, Sandi Dodd and Justin Standley with an awesome rendition of a collection of songs from the movie “Grease” and Annette and Kim as the legendary June Carter and Johnny Cash.We also managed to catch two great concerts during the week. On Monday night Dwayne Elix performed his one man show with tributes to Buddy Holly and Hank Williams. Dwayne is also a multi-instrumentalist and performed a banjo set but also plays guitar, mandolin, dobro and accordion. On Tuesday night our good friend Wayne Horsburgh  performed his show singing a variety of songs from Frank Ifield, Slim Whitman and Marty Robbins. This was a very polished show and very enjoyable. Wayne has spent more than 20 years performing in America including his own shows at Branson. It was great to catch up with Wayne again both he and Dwayne stayed with us at Christina Cottage.Then, before we knew it the week was over and we had to think about heading home. It was a fantastic week of singing and watching everyone enjoy themselves on the dance floor. Thank you all for your support we had a great time and look forward to seeing you all again next year.

On Monday morning we tiki toured back to Melbourne with Dale and Barb down through Maldon where we stopped for lunch. Maldon is another gold mining town from back in the day which has retained the original shop frontages. Then it was down through Castlemaine and Daylesford stopping off at Geelong beach where Annette had her first ride on a ferris wheel, check out the photos of that ride. We also stopped in to see Dale’s brother Grant and his wife Sherril before heading back to the beach for dinner and then into Melbourne to find a motel and prepare for the flight home.

We were at the airport early on Tuesday to check in, said our goodbyes with not too many tears, and headed through the gate to find our plane arriving in Auckland at about 4:00 o’clock and that was that. We were home.

Keep it Country

Annette & Kim

Hi Folks

We hope you all had a happy and safe Christmas and New Year and that you are all looking forward to 2014 and the new adventures it will bring.

Our first engagement for the New Year was the Marton Country Music festival on the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th of January. We arrived in Marton on Friday afternoon after a good trip down from Auckland. There were already over 200 mobile homes at, Wilson Park, the venue for the festival. It was pretty cold to boot but quite a few brave souls were enjoying the Friday night walk ups which we also participated in. The threat of rain held off during the whole of the weekend and Sunday was an absolute pearler of a day.

It was great to catch up with old friends and to meet some new ones as well. The two main acts for the festival were Joni Harms from the U.S. a great singer/songwriter and a very nice lady. We both highly recommend listening to some of her work. Roger Tibbs was back fresh from his tour of the Mid West States of the United States where he is doing fantastically well and in great demand. Roger has secured his own show at Branson that will run for approximately a month in late 2014. Congratulations Roger, well done. This is a major major achievement for a Kiwi artist.

Annette and I did the walk ups on Saturday and Sunday and were part of the main show on Saturday night so it was a busy weekend. In between we met a lot of fabulous folks. Thank you to Anne and Len for inviting us down. We had a great time and look forward to the 2015 festival and to seeing both on Norfolk Island in May. Also a big thank you to both bands which supported all the artists during the festival Shotgun and Pheonix.

Monday morning we were up early ready for the long trip home after a very successful weekend. Thank you to everyone that supported us and bought cds it is very much appreciated. We hope it won’t be too long before we see you again somewhere at a country music show or festival.

The following Friday we were in Orewa  to help mix our new cd “Try a Little Kindness”. But before that we decided to head down to Auckland on the Thursday evening to see Tami Neilson and her Mom and Dad in the” Neilson Family Reunion Show” at The Paddington in Parnell. We weren’t disappointed. This was a fantastic show. The Neilson’s are a very talented family, very professional in a natural sought of way and very, very funny. Both Annette and I were in tears. Check out some of their YouTube footage and you will see what we mean. They have been performing together for a long time and they have some interesting stories to tell about it. Thank you to Tami, Ron and Betty for such great entertainment and for allowing us the privilege of having our photograph taken with you all.

Friday the 24^th of January was a marathon day. We started the mixing of the songs on the new CD at 9:00am and finished at approximately 10:30pm with a couple of breaks in between but that’s over thirteen hours. Thank you to Mike for being so patient and working with us to create the sound that we wanted for this CD. We are very happy with the end result and we hope all of you out there will enjoy this album also. We’re sorry to say but the Aussies will be the first to get it as it won’t be ready until just before we head off to Barham for the Country Stampede festival on the 15^th of February. There will still be plenty available though when we get back.

We arrived back in Whangarei at about mid night on Friday with two gigs booked for the Saturday afternoon and evening so there wasn’t much time to rest. The first was a birthday party for a very good friend of ours, Bunny, at her home on Kamo Rd. We did about an hour and a half of entertaining for her family and friends and then had to head up to the Kamo Club where we had been booked for another birthday celebration. Both gigs went without a hitch and were both very enjoyable with everyone at the Kamo Club dancing the night away. We will be back there for the Dance Section Birthday celebrations on the 5th of March.

That’s about all for now we will catch up with you all at the end of February to let you know how the Barham festival went. Look out for our new CD “TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS” it will be available mid February, until then.

Take care and keep it country

Annette and Kim

Hi Folks

Well here we are again at the end of another year. We have had a busy year and 2014 is panning out to be no different. It has been an awesome year for us. The highlight definitely was our trip to America and being inducted into America’s Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame. We had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful people. We must once again thank Marlene and Gary for looking after us and Bob and Sheila for inviting us to perform at the festival. We hope to see you all again in the not too distant future.

We had 3 gigs in December to finish off the year. The first was on the 4th for the Kamo Club Dance Section Christmas break up. As we keep saying these are wonderful people to perform to. We had a lot of Christmas fun and look forward to 2014 and more dance section gigs.

We were invited to perform at the A & P show this year with The Mountain Mist Band. We had two awesome sets on the Saturday and it was great to be performing with the band again. We must thank Richard, Ian, Andrew and our stand in bass player Derek Barnston for supporting us and also our regular bass player Tiny Heathcote and the band for supporting us during the year. Thank you guys.

Our final gig was for the Kamo Club on Saturday the 21st. A large number of members turned out for the evening and it was great to see all the familiar faces and some old friends also enjoying themselves on and off the dance floor. We hope you all had an awesome night. We certainly did. Thank you to everyone that has supported us during the year. We would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Just to bring you up to date on our new album. We have completed all the vocals, Marian has finished her fiddle work and Paddy Long will be in the studio on the 23rd of December recording the Steel tracks. Alex has the massive job of doing all the guitar work and is working his way through that at present. We will be getting together with Mike at the end of January to do the final mixing and we are very much looking forward to that.

We only have 3 songs left that require sponsorship but time is running out as we will be completing the cover graphics and art work in mid January. If you would like to know about song sponsorship please contact either of us and we will be happy to explain how it works. You can also go to our sponsorship web page and sponsor one of the songs from there.

Well, that’s about all folks once again thank you all so very much for your continued support we do appreciate it. Take care and we will see you somewhere in 2014. Our first gig will be the Marton Country Music Festival 17th till the 19th of January.

Merry Christmas and keep it country.

Annette and Kim