Bringing a slice of Americana to the Bellarine, Americana On The Bellarine will feature some of the region’s finest artists at an Ocean Grove craft brewery.
Celebrating the vibrant fusion of genres of blues, roots, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and even gospel; or Americana music, as it is often referred to, Americana On The Bellarine is the brand-new boutique festival heading to the Bellarine this February.
Taking over the surrounds of Ocean Grove’s Craft Brewery BrewiColo on February 12 2023, Americana On The Bellarine will feature an impressive lineup of some of the region’s finest songwriters and storytellers including Sarah Carroll, Alister Turrill, Annie-Rose Maloney, Nathan Seeckts and Andrea Robertson, all artists with strong connections to the Bellarine region.
Americana On The Bellarine
- The new boutique mini-music festival celebrating the fusion of blues, roots, folk, rock and country.
- Featuring some of the region’s finest artists, songwriters and storytellers including Sarah Carroll, Alister Turrill, Annie-Rose Maloney, Nathan Seeckts and Andrea Robertson.
- It takes place from 12pm on Sunday 12 February 2023 at Brewicolo in Ocean Grove.
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Originally conceived more than three years ago, Ocean Grove singer/songwriter Andrea Robertson had grand plans for this event to take place in mid-2020. But then COVID hit, effectively wiping out the live music scene in the process. Like many other musicians, Robertson decided to go ahead and run the event as a livestream in July 2020, creating a link for people to donate to rather than charging a fee, and splitting the proceeds between the five artists involved.
“It gave me a focus, a purpose for my music, and the opportunity to reach out to other artists and audiences at the same time,” Robertson said.
This livestream event, along with a number of others Robertson organised during covid, brought a lot of joy to music-lovers during a long, bleak lockdown, and in turn, those music-lovers were generous with their support and appreciation.
A couple more attempts to run the event were impacted by further outbreaks and snap lock-downs. Fast-forward to 2022, an opportunity came along to apply for funding through Creative Victoria, Robertson’s pitch was successful, and with it, her vision to run Americana On The Bellarine as a live, face-to-face, ticketed event will finally become a reality this February – and what a glorious, long-awaited achievement this will be.
Speaking of glorious, the aforementioned lineup for this forthcoming festival is a carefully-curated selection of performers who encompass the genres of blues, roots, folk, rock, alt-country, even gospel and bluegrass. The end result when woven together is a distinctive roots-oriented sound which often lives a world apart from the pure forms of those very genres.
The Ukelele Queen of the Bellarine, Sarah Carroll has performed at most of Australia’s high-profile festivals and a good many of its pubs over a 30 year career, and is noted for her work with GIT, The Pirates Of Beer, The Junes and The Cartridge Family. Her songs chime with sincerity and come straight from her big, brave heart. She has just released her new single Haunted Highway, with album number six to follow by mid-2023.
Nathan Seeckts is a powerful singer songwriter who effortlessly fuses the sounds of Americana, folk, country and blues delivered with a commanding voice that is equal parts gravel and passion. Hailing from Geelong, Seeckts has undertaken his own creative journey, across three formative EPs before arriving on his first mountaintop – the acclaimed debut album The Heart Of The City in 2019. That record cemented Seeckts as one of the most exciting new voices on the Australian Americana landscape and received a nomination for Country Album of The Year at the 2019 Music Victoria Awards. He can strip a song back to acoustic guitar and that show-stopping voice or lace it with ragged electric guitar and a rock-leaning rhythm section and find equal amounts of power and immediacy in the music. That range and duality is key to Seeckts’ world-class songwriting ability and the acclaim he’s received for The Heart Of The City.
Also joining the lineup is Annie-Rose Maloney, a 33-year-old singer songwriter who was born and raised in Geelong. Growing up on Wudawurrung country in the Barrabool Hills, she found her love for songwriting around the same time she was developing her love for nature, sports and learning about the inner workings of self. Maloney says of her music “I appreciate stillness, pulsing rhythm and clear melodies. I intentionally marry my music and words together so that the messages of my songs can be heard and felt with clarity.” She will be accompanied by Jess Ellwood on guitar, who effortlessly bolsters Maloney’s songs with her modest and commanding playing style.
Hailed the future of Australian Blues, it would be a generalisation to group Alister Turrill with other young roots players. His playing style blends a true form of blues with complex songwriting seldom seen. Having shared stages with Jeff Lang, Geoff Achison and Lloyd Spiegel on several occasions and has supported the likes of Charlie Parr (US), Tim Rogers, Ash Grunwald, Kim Churchill, Steve Smyth, Tim Freedman and Shane Howard, Turrill has been consciously pushing himself as a writer, fervently avoiding complacency. Honest, flawed, gravel-throated, folk music awaits…
Then of course there’s the heart and soul of the whole operation in Andrea Robertson. With a reputation of being a humble, hard-working artist who knows how to put on a stellar show for audiences, Robertson has perfected the art of creating nostalgic blends of folk, country and soulful-blues-inspired songs since first hitting the right note on an upright acoustic piano as a teenager. Blending honest songwriting with eloquent vocals, an acoustic melody and delicate pulsing beats, much like the ebb and flow of the ocean her music is varying, emotive and thoroughly engaging.
These five talented local artists will perform live at boutique Brewing Company, BrewiColo in Ocean Grove who have thrown their weight behind the event. The BrewiBites food truck will be open to satisfy punters hunger on the day along with BrewiColo’s extensive range of award-winning beverages.
Tickets are $27.50 + booking fees and are available here.
