Starting at Wentworth in 1987, the Mildura Country Music festival quickly grew to earn its place as Australia’s largest independent country music festival, putting Mildura on the map for thousands of country music pilgrims every year. But time has come for the festival to take its final bow due to lack of funding, marking at the same time John Arnold’s ultimate year as the festival co-ordinator following 19 years of loyal service. Marina Hacquin had a chat with him about the festival’s highlights over its three decades of existence.
IF the story of the Mildura Country Music Festival was to be told in a ballad song, the lyrics would evoke lifelong friendships between Sunraysia locals and visitors from all over Australia.
It would describe inspiring encounters between country music artists from different walks of life under the Mallee sun.
There would be mention of bush poets bringing their acoustic guitar to the banks of the Darling River or to Mildura’s bustling Langtree Mall to do what they do best – fill the air with music and bring joy to the public.
During the 10 days of the festival, held on the second week of the Victorian school holidays in October, about 7000 visitors flock to Mildura to experience live country music across 25 venues on the New South Wales and Victorian sides of the Murray River.
Borrowing America’s Grand Ole Opry formula, larger venues such as Coomealla Club and the Gol Gol Hotel are staged with seven to eight artists accompanied by a backing band, while places like Woodsies Gem Shop or the Red Cliffs markets resonate with the voice of solo artists.
Since its first edition in 1987, there has been some big names performing at the festival early in their careers, including Kasey Chambers, Adam Harvey, Felicity Urquhart, Dianna Corcoran, Jedd Hughes and Catherine Britt to name a few.
Providing up and coming artists who are not signed to major record label deals a stepping stone to follow their dreams is also what the festival’s Southern Stars, the Australian Independent Country Music Awards, is all about.
But running a music event of this scale relying on sponsorship and grants rather than paid entries was not always easy for the committee in charge of putting together the show. Originally, the driving force behind the festival was a trio of country music aficionados involved in the local music scene – the late Max Thorburn, Ted Trevaskis and the late Graeme McGuinnes.
With three principles guiding their decisions – keeping the festival free of charge for visitors, promoting local businesses and focusing on independent artists – each of the 33 festivals brought fresh challenges as well as big rewards.
In 2000, festival co-ordinator John Arnold stepped into the role, after eight years presiding the Sunraysia Country Music Club.
At the time, he says, the local country music club was a vibrant place, with promising talents such as Shayne Parle and Megan Laurie taking their first steps on the country music scene.
“I could see that the festival was a good thing to bring people, tourists and money to the district and that it was going to help young up and coming country music artists to forge a career, which was quite difficult,” he says.
“When I first got involved, we had a meeting with what was then called Sunraysia Tourism Association in the Grand Hotel and we asked them if they would give us some support, which they did.”
And before they knew it, they were flying with the kings, joining the Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Gympie Muster as one of Australia’s big three.
With applicants counted in the hundreds each year, an online system was created with John often required to travel interstate to see young artists perform.
“I didn’t know anyone much at all and you could argue that’s still the case,” John says.
“But I learned a lot, I looked at ideas that other people did and had a lot of friends in the industry, from other festivals, who helped us.”
The family-type festival quickly became part of a circuit of country music events, with fans travelling from Gympie to Mildura before heading to Port Pirie.
Remaining true to their values to promote the upcoming generation of country music artists, the committee created the ‘Top of the State’ Talent Quest – Victoria’s biggest Country Music talent competition – which was held for 20 years along with the Victorian Champion of Champions.
If these events ceased in 2009 due to lack of interest, other endeavors such as the festival radio called Classic Country, a 20-day show promoting artist with interviews and songs, kept the fans informed for three decades, sadly ending when Mr Thorburn became ill last year.
“Max spent thousands of hours putting the show together, which was the first festival radio in Australia,” John says.
“They do it in Tamworth now.”
Some award recipients had never won an award in their life until Mildura, marking a turning point for their early careers.
That was the case of Adam Harvey, who won his first Talent Quest in Mildura before moving on to become a major ABC artist and one of Australia’s most popular country stars.
“He had a deep voice, like no one else and everyone was infatuated with him,” John says.
“When you look at the audience when someone is performing there is a difference between a singer and an entertainer and that’s been right throughout history.
“The Talent Quest was like a stepping stone because if they were good they moved up fairly quick.”
The early 1990s was also the time when a young girl performing with her family in the Dead Ringer band stood out from the rest of the crowd. Her name was Kasey Chambers.
“We saw them at another festival and we got them to come to Mildura,” John says.
“You could tell she was always going to be a star. There’s something about her.
“She’s got charisma, she was different, she was vibrant.”
With the festival giving each artist a platform to show their true colours, there is no room for backstage passes and big names.
The format is about creating a relationship with the public, with the free entry a way to encourage fans to buy the artists’ CDs and more generally, to spend money in the community.
Last year alone, 7200 fans were drawn to Mildura, many as part of an annual pilgrimage, spending an average of $6.55 million in the district, according to the 2018 Encore Festival and Events report.
Three in four were there for the enjoyment of country music – true country fans, with many attending with their partner, friends or family.
And while he admits such a crowd can cause some parking issues and congestion in the locality, John also says the festival’s termination will create a gap in not only his life, but in the wider Australian country entertainment calendar.
“Since Visit Victoria (pulled) their funding about four years ago because we no longer qualified, it’s been complicated to keep it running despite the support of the Mildura and Wentworth councils, local businesses and country music supporters,” he says. “Since then, we spent all the reserves we had.”
A coach, a Talent Quest judge for other festivals, a photographer, a promoter – over the years, John wore many hats but one thing is for sure, his passion for country music is not going anywhere.
“If you sit down and listen to some of the younger, more contemporary artists, the genre is changing yet it brings people from across generations and states together,” he says.
“We did our best to give the up and coming people that fitted the criteria the best opportunity to make their future career successful. Have we achieved it? That’s for people to judge.”
