COUNTRY and bluegrass musician Pete Denahy is bringing his brand of music and humour to Quambatook this weekend.
Pete will hit the stage with his band The Surreal McCoys from 7.30pm at Quambatook’s Senior Citizens Hall this Saturday.
It will be a first for Pete and the band who have performed across the Mallee, but not yet in Quambatook.
“Quamby is a bit off the beaten track,” he said.
“I’ve played in Swan Hill and across the Mallee, but it’s a first time for me in Quambatook.
“My wife is a Mallee girl, so I’m pretty familiar with the area.
“I’m expecting to feel that good, old-fashioned Mallee hospitality and I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.”
Mr, Denahy said he thinks people in rural areas have a good relationship with music.
“Peoples out in regional areas spend a lot of time listening to music,” he said.
“In tractors or utes and as they’re driving along, a lot of people out there have a pretty clear idea of what they do and don’t like.
“I think people respond really well in those areas, shows like this can be a bit of an escape for people.”
Denahy said he had found new popularity with his comedy songs, like his 2008 hit Sort Of Dunno Nothin’ which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times on YouTube.
But he no longer feels the pressure to decide between being either a serious or comic musician.
“I used to struggle a little bit with wanting to be taken seriously,” he said.
“Often the material of mine that gets the most attention is the comedy stuff, even though I’ve written a hell of a lot straighter stuff than comedy songs.
“I don’t worry about things like that anymore, because even if we are doing straight-up, honky-tonk sort of stuff like we will be doing a bit of this weekend, that humour will still come in between the songs.
“As soon as I stopped worrying about it, it all sort of seemed to fall into place anyway.”
And with his pals The Surreal McCoys backing him up on stage, Mr, Denahy says crowds should expect to see a great night of music.
“Sound-wise, the shows with the Surreals are a bit different because we’ve got an electric guitar and a double bass on stage,” he said.
“We’ve got Aron on upright bass, who is just an incredible presence on stage, a very funny guy as well as a great player.
“Then Jeff Mercer on electric guitar, he and I were both in Slim Dusty’s band back in the late 90s and have continued to tour with each other.
“We are sort of like brothers, we have toured around the country many times.
“It makes a real difference when you’ve got three blokes on stage who love each other as brothers. We’re really good mates, and I think that comes through in the show as well.”
Cleo’s Kitchen will be at the show selling hot food from 6pm, tickets to the show can be found at trybooking for $10, or $5 for concession card holders.
