Sounds of summer in the country

AS summer arrives, the committee behind regional music and dance festival CresFest are set to celebrate the new season with a night of live tunes in a country pub.

The Welcome Summer mini festival will bring folk and roots sounds to the Commercial Hotel in Kingston on Saturday 2 December from 7.30pm.

CresFest director Judy Turner said there’s no better way to ring in the warmer weather than with live music and “quirky” country hospitality.

“The good folks at the Commercial Hotel Kingston have opened their hearts and their venue to us, to bring music, laughter, dancing, and joy to the start of the season,” she said.

“Profits will go to help CresFest Inc to build music in our community.”

On the bill are local acts, Davidson Brothers, Amie Brulee, and The Darlings Family Trust.

Lachlan and Hamish Davidson live in Ballarat and Bendigo respectively, Marcus and Gabrielle of the Darlings come from Gordon, while Brulee is Ballarat-based.

Davidson Brothers have been playing bluegrass music together for decades and have won five Tamworth Country Music Festival golden guitars in that time.

“We perform high energy acoustic music, original stuff, and focus on string instruments,” said Lachlan Davidson.

“I mainly play mandolin and fiddle, and my brother plays fiddle, banjo, and dobro, which is like a slide guitar. We have an acoustic guitarist and a bass player as well.

“In Kingston we’ll play about an hour of a bunch of original stuff we’ve recorded, and traditional bluegrass songs.”

The four-piece has played at many events around Australia including the Port Fairy Folk Festival, Meredith Music Festival, and the Gympie Music Muster.

“We enjoy getting to remote locations that don’t get a lot of entertainment because people really do appreciate it,” Davidson said. “It’s always memorable and always fun for us.”

The brothers have known Ms Turner since they were children and are enjoying the opportunity to support CresFest.

“We played in the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club with Judy when we were kids,” Davidson said. “Dad would drive us up from Gippsland for rehearsals with them.

“That was where we had our first exposure to playing big folk festivals, and we were not even teenagers yet.

“We got our foot in the door, were exposed to great folk music and live entertainment. From there we started busking, and eventually got booked on the programs.”

Search humanitix.com for tickets to the Welcome Summer concert.