21/08/07 - Mixing It Up At Gympie Is A Good Thing

By Tim Holland

Sections of the country industry have expressed disappointment at the organiser's decision to include mainstream acts such as Thirsty Merc, Kate Miller-Heike and Marcia Hines in the line up for this year's Gympie Muster.

Personally I think it's a great idea and I'm all for it.

The idea that major mainstream act want to play at the festival is a really strong acknowledgement of the event's pulling power and stature as a truly significant national music event.

And of course, we are only talking three or four acts here. The rest (over 100) are essentially country acts and the talent quests and regular events within the festival will continue as normal.

This year Lee Kernaghan, Gina Jeffreys, Travis Collins (who will launch his new album No Boundaries at the festival), Adam Harvey, Graeme Connors, Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar-Daley, Melinda Schneider, along with emerging country stars Shea Fisher, Amber Lawrence, Sinead Burgess and the like will all grace the main stage this year, so it's not like pop acts are talking over the festival. In fact, Hines is the only “non-country” act to be appearing on the main stage. Miller-Heike and Thirsty Merc will be strutting their stuff in the Crowbar.

We always talk about the need to get country into the mainstream, yet we are often quick to dismiss the idea of including mainstream acts in what we do when they want to be involved. Lets not be hypocritical and instead think positively about including them where appropriate.

Fans of those acts may now come to the festival for the first time and after seeing the pop acts, catch a couple of country acts they may not have seen before. They might then buy their album and become interested in these artists.

The alternative is to have the same acts popping up each year and an event that becomes stale and predictable. We probably don't have enough “star artists” in country running around at the moment to keep it completely fresh each year so including a few non-regulars each year can only be a good thing.

Personally, I'd like to see more international country acts at the event. But that's a conversation for another time.