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Country Music News

Hello again, on a very cold Taranaki day.

Congratulations to the Manawatu Country Music Club, in Palmerston North, on their 40th Birthday Celebrations on the 21st of August, the venue was packed to capacity, (about 300 people) everyone was made welcome, I (Rex) was a founding member all those years ago, and their first Vice-President, so I was asked to make a speech, and cut the cake, along with the current President Kevin Amohia, and a past -President Malcolm Groom, Noelene and I sang a couple of songs, and it was a great time to catch-up on many friends from the area, some we had not seen or heard of, for nearly 40 years.

Special thanks go to Eileen Burne, the Secretary/Treasurer, for her exceptional organising skills, and to the committee for their support. A great time was had by all.

Noelene and I were honoured by the 2ZH Hawera Country and Variety Club, on Friday the 27th of August.

They organised a special night for us, to recognise our achievements over a long period of time, (We began singing in public, together in November 1955, and made our first commercial record the following year, on the TANZA label) and special thanks to Mary Eunson, Maurice Boyd, and the committee, for all the trouble they went to, from the beautiful cake, in the shape of a guitar (a Washburn guitar!) and the special "Honorary Certificate", which stated "In recognition of their lifetime contribution and commitment to Traditional Country Music", and honoured by BEAR FAMILY RECORDS FROM GERMANY in 1999, THE COUNTRY MUSIC PIONEER AWARD by The Professional Country Music Recording Industry in 1988, at The Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, THE HANDS OF FAME in Tamworth, Australia in 1980, and THE HANDS OF FAME in Gore, New Zealand, in 2000.

We sang and played a couple of brackets of songs and instrumentals, and were ably assisted by our bass player MARK CORBETT, and on some items, by keyboard expert, DOUGIE BROOKS.

So that was nice, eh. We even sold a few CDs!

More recently, we were interviewed by VAL RYAN, for our new Access radio station, fm104.4, a half-hour interview, where we spoke of a little of what we have done over the years, and a few tracks from our CDs were played.

Val informed us that all the interviews she is doing, covering many Taranaki artists, will be broadcast, not only from our own local station, but from all the Access stations in New Zealand.

Finally, a reminder to keep a look-out for the book that is to be released on the 11th of October 2010, called "BLUE SMOKE, the lost years of early New Zealand Music, 1918-1964", and we believe it has an extensive section on Country Music. Written by CHRIS BOURKE, it promises to be a "must-have" for many many people.

Chris tells us that he will be conducting a radio series in 2011, from recorded interviews he made with the many artists he visited during the compilation of the book.

Until next time, keep it Country, and keep smiling.

Rex and Noelene.