With that chill in the air there’s no denying that the Echuca Moama Winter Blues Festival will soon be upon us. So picture this: a warm venue, a glass of red wine and Australia’s queen of the blues Ali Penney with her hot band the Money Makers. Sounds like the perfect antidote.
Ali Penney can be summed up in just five words: a breath of fresh air. But to list all of her accomplishments you’d need a lot more. Together with her band she has won six Chain Awards (including Best Female Vocal), she is a music teacher, a university student, a mother (soon to be a grandmother), but most of all she’s a music fan who can hold her own on and off stage. “In a couple of weeks I’ll be finished university, so I’ll be kicking up my heels!” smiles the vivacious Penney.
“I’ve got a great bunch of musos together to join me at the blues fest. My brilliant new guitarist, Matt Ross, has got a new [self-titled] CD out that’s zipping up the blues charts at the moment – and he’s a great guitarist and singer. We’ve been doing a lot of duets and he’s put a new colour into my music – he’s also helping me write my songs. We did four new songs up at Broadbeach [Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival], so hopefully we’ll be able to do an EP before we play at Echuca.”
Along with Matt Ross, Ali’s ‘Money Makers’ include Mike Rix and Rossco Clarke. “Mike’s an incredible bass player and Rossco’s a great blues drummer. They’re such great guys and so supportive,” Penney says. “Rossco plays with Don Hillman, Tex Miller, Eugene Hideaway Bridges, Ray Beadle and Clayton Doley and lots of different blues bands.
“The blues community around Australia is so phenomenal – we’re like family. I love the guys I play with. When we’re away I cook breakfast for them every morning. I think they expect it now! One morning my guitarist said to me, ‘Everyone’s hovering around the kitchen. I think they’re waiting for breakfast.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding me! Well I’d better get it on then!’” she laughs. “That’s our tradition now – a good cook up.”
Penney has a natural instinct to protect and nurture those around her. It may come from raising sons or from giving music lessons to hundreds of primary school children over the years. She knows the importance of being inspired and can still remember the night she fell in love with the blues.
“I was a bar maid at the Bridge Hotel back in the late eighties and early nineties. The Hippos were playing there and Bridie King was playing the piano. She’s the first woman I saw playing blues, and I was like, ‘Wow! What is this music?’ She’s my blues godmother, and I was so excited when I got to play with her last year at the Narooma Jazz Festival – we had a ball!”
Penney is now leading a strong league of women in blues music. “I recently did a showcase with Lil’ Fi, Cara [of Hat Fitz and Cara] and Sweet Felicia. I love hanging out with my blues girlfriends. We have such a good time and I always get inspired to write new music after seeing them. I always get song ideas from people – if you wander around long enough someone’s bound to say funny shit to you. That’s what Lil’ Fi says: ‘Don’t tell a song writer your story, cause you’ll end up in a song’.”
When & Where: Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival – July 24-26
Written by Natalie Rogers