For more than three decades, Mudgee’s wine industry has blossomed, drawing throngs of tourists eager to quench their palette with one of the region’s increasingly famous drops.
But amidst all the hype over our quality vines, perhaps the rise of another equally impressive tourist-magnet may have been overlooked.
“The music scene in Mudgee is just huge,” said Roth’s Wine Bar manager Rebecca Ferguson.
“When I was growing up here, Parklands Resort was it as far as music venues went.
“Now all of these really unique venues have suddenly popped up, and each of them has something different to offer.
“Robert Oatley Vineyards has A Day on the Green, Parklands Resort is still pulling in the talent, the Brewery is getting some interesting names, Roth’s is running their Shed Sessions and a bunch of the wineries and pubs are all getting on board too, so we’re becoming a real musical hub.”
According to Mudgee Brewery music promoter Stephen Price, while most people in country towns are starved of concerts, Mudgee’s dynamic, artistic environment is helping its music scene to flourish.
“Music is such an integral part of people’s lives - it’s hard to imagine a world without music - and here it’s actually embedded in people’s souls and they don’t even know it,” he said.
But how did it all happen? How did Mudgee earn such a reputation?
When A Day on the Green directors added Mudgee to their concert venue list in 2002, little did they know such a move would kick start the town’s musical revolution.
With one show, The Whitlams, Renee Geyer, Richard Clapton and Jenny Morris paved the way for a host of 80s rockers to plan what would become a successfully recurring assault on the Mid-Western Region.
In the last year alone, Daddy Cool’s Ross Wilson, Hunters and Collectors frontman Mark Seymour and Australian Crawl’s James Reyne have each performed two Mudgee concerts after deeming the town too good for just one visit.
When INXS visited earlier this year, they told promoters they “thoroughly enjoyed” lapping up the sights and tastes of the region for several days before their performance, while other big-name acts like John Farnham and Jimmy Barnes have raved about their sold-out Mudgee audiences in concerts.
And let’s not forget the country stars like Lee Kernaghan, John Williamson and The McClymonts and the quirkier acts like Alan Caswell, Pugsley Buzzard and jazz genius James Morrison who have all returned over a number of years.
“I think it’s wonderful that guys like me can tour the country for so many years and yet there’s still some great places like Mudgee left to play,” said Ross Wilson before his first Mudgee A Day on the Green last year.
“Mudgee’s got this combination of wonderful vineyards, good food, a great location and wine that we all love, and that makes it a really exciting place that we look forward to playing at.”
According to Ms Ferguson, Mudgee’s intimate indoor venues have become another equally major drawcard for old and new artists alike.
“The intimacy of a small venue is something that a lot of the musicians we get here are really attracted to because it allows them to be one with their fans,” she said.
“There’s a circuit that’s started now where artists are doing Katoomba, Orange, Mudgee then Newcastle and we can hold our heads high that we are a part of it, but part of the reason that we are is because we offer the infrastructure that they want.”
Ms Ferguson believes such venues provide the perfect spatial and acoustic environment for artists to ‘thank’ their fans face-to-face.
“For the ‘heritage acts’ like James Reyne and (Cold Chisel’s) Ian Moss, they get to play to small groups of about 120 loyal fans just like they used to when they first started performing years ago, so it really takes them back,” she said.
“Then you’ve got modern acts who want the experience of being a metre away from their audience so they can watch how their music connects with them and see their expressions as they feel the music.
“Lior really interacted with his audience when he was here, and Kate Miller-Heidke agreed to play here purely because our venue had a certain feel and housed such few numbers.”
Ms Ferguson expects upcoming concerts from the trio of Christine Anu, Paulini and Grace Knight, The Whitlams’ Tim Freedman and possibly even Katie Noonan to take a similar line.
“I think Mudgee will continue pull big names – we’ve definitely got something here that gets them wanting to come back,” she said.
In the meantime, an abundance of young musicians, regular gigs from the region’s solo and group artists every weekend and concerts packed with local talent like Pick of the Bunch are assuring us all of a bright future for music in Mudgee.
“We’re seeing a fantastic selection of young artists coming through like Mitch and Mike Gordon, Fin and Gen, Lara Brett and Nicky Wall who are doing some great things for Mudgee’s music scene,” Ms Ferguson said.
“I think we can all be confident that the music industry here is definitely in safe hands.”
Coming gigs
Suzie Quatro, October 15, Parklands Resort.
Ladies of Jazz featuring Christine Anu, Grace Knight and Paulini, October 29, Roth’s Wine Bar
Cold Chisel, You Am I and Stonefield, November 5, Robert Oatley Vineyards
The Wiggles, November 22, Parklands Resort
Tim Freedman and The Idle, December 16, Roth’s Wine Bar
n Gulgong Folk Festival with Bill Chambers and Anne Kirkpatrick, January 6-8, 2012.
Adam Harvey, March 14, 2012, Mudgee Brewery
Katie Noonan, 2012, Roth’s Wine Bar
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