Review: Greg Phillips. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
Melbourne roots music radio identity Werner Martin has been presenting his popular Hot Damn Tamale show on 3CR for ages (Saturdays 7:00pm to 8:00pm), showcasing the best in American and Australian blues and roots music. Recently Werner and amiable venue owner Eleni, decided to take his show to the street, presenting a quality series of acoustic, solo and duo shows at the cosiest of venues, Eleni’s Odeon Richmond in Swan Street. In February Werner hosted Geoff Achison and Kathleen Halloran at the Odeon in a fabulous night of music. Last night Hot Damn Tamale delivered Geoff again, this time sharing the spotlight with guitar compadre Shannon Bourne.
The Odeon is a small venue with a capacity of around 60 seated people. Like Werner’s radio show, these nights have a community feel to them with many in the audience knowing each other from frequenting blues related gigs around town. These folks are the heart and soul of Melbourne’s vibrant blues music scene.
Shannon Bourne has been a busy musician but not spending a lot of time on his own material. As he said from stage last night, “I’ve been hiding in a lot of bands.” A lot of bands indeed. This week he’s been filming video clips with Cold Chisel’s Don Walker as part of Don’s touring and recording band. When he’s not playing with Don, he can be found gigging with Chequerboard Lounge or Sarah Carroll’s band, among other sessions. Last night Shannon pulled on his trusty Churchill acoustic, placed a slide on his finger and got to dust down some material from his own impressive catalogue of recordings. Opening with ‘Changes All The Day” from his debut album Burn it Down, we got a wonderful taste of Shannon’s tasty fingerpicking skills.
Acknowledging his friend and Australian music legend Broderick Smith, Shannon then performed the title track to ‘Unknown Country’, an album he recorded with Broderick in 2009. In his pre-song banter, Bourne told us the amusing tale of Garth Hudson of The Band’s role in the album. Garth had performed on a Dingoes record previously and with Unknown Country, had reconnected with the iconic musician. For this album Garth had supplied various tracks including some gorgeous piano accordion. However for the title track, Sharon suggested that it sounded like Garth was just sitting at home testing sounds, with one organ lick sounding nothing like the next. Brod thought it was great but Shannon and engineer Matt Walker disagreed and consequently just used the consistent sounds they thought added to the track. Bourne then went on to perform a heartfelt version of the track for the Odeon faithful. ‘Cotton Dress’ from Bourne’s Dark Things album is always a show stopper and he didn’t disappoint with an extraordinary atmospheric reverb-laden rendition of the song.
After a short break, it was Acho’s turn to play a solo set. Like Shannon, Geoff has the unique ability to hold an audience spellbound with not only his fretboard skills but a keen sense of mood and dynamics. With his Gibson EC30 BKE acoustic guitar in hand, Acho offered us a superb version of Why Don’t Wise Men Want To Rule The World?, a song he said was written a long time ago and it didn’t mean anything back then! ‘No Love Today’, a beautiful Chris Smither song followed before Geoff, began a strange repetitive riff. It was a riff inspired by his time working at a car parts manufacturing plant and hearing the rhythmic sound of the ‘blow moulder’, a machine he heard on a daily basis. Geoff then played the song which developed out of his factory life, a funky tune which allowed him to launch some fancy fingerwork upon us.
Geoff Achison and Shannon Bourne then took to the stage together. Playing Geoff’s classic tune ‘Adam and Eve’ as requested from the floor by photographer Jason Rosewarne, the duo delivered a breathtaking version. As Geoff told us from the stage, “We’ve never played it quite like that before! Now it’s disappeared out into the ether. It’s gone and only exists now in the minds of everyone here. That’s why live music is such cool thing!”
It was Shannon’s turn to pluck a song from their metaphorical jukebox and he decided on the classic Hendrix tune ‘The Wind Cries Mary’, which travelled through a passage of soulful licks and even some jaunty country picking. ’Sovereign Town’ the title of Geoff’s 2018 album was up next. It’s eternally a heartfelt tune, always sung with passion by its composer but with Shannon on hand to add his smoky slide guitar it reached a new level of poignancy. Their heart warming performance of “Skeleton Kiss’ the opening track of From the Sovereign Town record was just too good for words.
After witnessing many of the world’s biggest bands at stadiums like Marvel or the MCG, nothing compares to a couple of real musicians feeding off each other in an intimate room, listening and surprising each other while taking the discerning music loving audience along with them. While one solos the other offers mood or some kind of context to their musical partner’s notions. When the two musicians happen to be two of Australia’s finest guitarists, then magic is guaranteed to happen. The Odeon’s sound was pristine and the audience sat silent as the music seeped deep into our souls.
Congratulations and thanks to Werner Martin and The Odeon for presenting such a world class showcase of Australian guitar talent. Checkout the Odeon Richmond’s website for more opportunities to witness amazing, intimate performances
https://www.odeonrichmond.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/shannonbournemusic
