Local songstress Shelly Brown leads Rising North Tour up the coast

LENNOX Head singer Shelly Brown is among a trio of acts set to perform at The Beach Hotel as part of the Rising North Tour.

The Byron Bay performance is one of three stops on the tour, in which she will join New Zealand-born, Grafton-based singer Pam Hata and The Florin Arc, an indie-soul band from Armidale.

A firm believer in the saying “You have to be in it to win it”, Brown applied for a grant to make the tour happen. It is one of several regional tours supported by SoundNSW and MusicNSW across the state.

“These music-focused government bodies are actually just a bunch of legends,” Brown said. “They want to help musicians do their thing.

“Being offered this opportunity to tour with Pam Hata and The Florin Arc, to play in some new towns, meet some new people and go sing my heart out is really cool. But it’s also sharing the load of logistics, promo, yada yada yada.”

Brown was born and raised in Ballina, where her adventurous parents settled after sailing up the East Coast in search of industrial land by a river. They began building trawlers in the 1980s before moving into the design and manufacture of ultralight aircraft.

“I was raised singing around a dinner table, with tea chest basses and washboards,” Brown said. “My neighbour played the sousaphone.”

After exploring jazz and a stint in a funk band, Brown found her groove writing folk songs. Alongside her solo work, she teaches singing and leads a gospel brunch choir in Lennox Head.

She describes her music as “unique”, with upcoming singles about everything from bookshops to bat bites.

“My last single was a cracker of a soul song about leaving anchovies out in the rain,” she said.

Brown met Hata at the recent Byron Bay Regional and Remote Music Summit and was introduced to The Florin Arc through the SoundNSW program.

“I listened to an interview on a podcast with Pam and she described ‘singing as if your ancestors are standing at the back of the room’,” she said. “That speaks to my soul.

“For the Byron show I have my incredible husband Dan Brown on keys and synth, and I have two guest vocalists Chloe West and Emily Turner, who are amazing.

“So, in my set, expect harmonies, and songs about anchovies. Pam Hata’s set will build – I think she has a guest rhythm situation that might very well make me move and dance. And the Florin Arc will be powerful and emotive with a full band set.”

The Rising North Tour hits The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay on Wednesday, November 5 from 6pm.