Wallis & Matilda

25 years ago, the release of ' Pioneers' by new group Wallis and Matilda, changed the face of Australian country music.

To the delight of the true Australian music lover, 'Pioneers' took some of Banjo Paterson's timeless classics, and transformed them into haunting, evocative songs. It gave Australians from all walks of life a new way to relate to poetry and in particular the much loved works of our favorite bush poet, Andrew Barton Paterson.

Since the release of Pioneers, Wallis and Matilda have released a further 4 CD's. Those being, The Old Australian Ways, A Singer of The Bush, Australian Gold and Song of The Federation, which was released at Tamworth in 2004.

Pioneers, The Old Australian Ways and A Singer of The Bush have been also been released as a 3-CD boxed set (through Rajon distribution) titled The Great A.B. (Banjo) Paterson collection.

It seems however, that despite releasing over 50 of Paterson’s classic and most popular poems, the band are more than often referred to by many of their supporters as, The Pioneers. This no doubt is a result of the success of their original vinyl album ‘Pioneers’ which achieved platinum sales award in it’s year of release, 1980.

This then is surely a fitting testament, because in so many ways, Wallis and Matilda can proudly take their place amongst the pioneers of Australian country music, and Bush balladeers.

John Wallis and Colin Perkins (the group originators) will be performing special 'unplugged' versions of their Wallis & Matilda concerts at 4 pm on Wednesday 25th, Thursday 26th, Friday 27th and Saturday 28th of January at the North Tamworth Bowling Club cnr Bligh and Piper Street Tamworth.

These special 'unplugged' concerts will feature many of the Banjo Paterson classics as well as a new batch of poems from the newly released 'Song of the Federation' CD.

It promises to be a unique musical experience capturing the spirit and emotion of the bushland that moved Paterson to poetry.
A truly modern expression of the old Australia, a unique blend of music and poetry as you will have never experienced before.

Don’t miss this memorable moment as we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the release of Clancy of the Overflow …. we hope to see you there.