The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #29294   Message #3489098
Posted By: GUEST,Marsh Robinson
11-Mar-13 - 09:20 AM
Thread Name: Help: Oz: Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band
Subject: RE: Help: Oz: Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band
In 2009 I was contacted by Chris Bettle with a proposal to perform with him, Liz Eager and Barry Goanna Golding in Forbes. His pitch concerned the song "The Ballad of Ben Hall". We had performed it all over the country but never in Forbes. Chris had friends in Forbes, and so he had heard that Forbes was planning a Ben Hall Festival in September of 2009. He saw his chance to have "Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band" finally perform the Ballad in the place where it was set. Chris contacted Liz, Barry and me to ask if we would perform a set at an event during the festival, with of course the Ballad being represented. We agreed, and began rehearsing via loungeroom recordings sent through the post.
Come the day, we played two sets and were part of an event which included relatives of Ben Hall, including his great nephew, himself named Ben Hall. It was a charming affair, and I believe we acquitted ourselves to the audience's satisfaction and the memory of the Band. I don't recall all the tunes we played, but we finished as we began with the lovely sound of Liz's flute on Tom Blackman's Waltz.
It was videod by Liz's husband Clive who had been sound engineer with Mulga Bill for many years.