Description
CD review by Hugh Worrall
Strathnairn is the name of a homestead art gallery at which the band played.
The place was so “magic”, and the gig was so memorable, that they wanted to cart the verandah of the gallery around with them.
Hence track 3 and the name of the album.
Mulligan’s Flat play beautiful Australiana bush music built on Australia’s European musical heritages.
If you like the original Reedy River style Bushwackers or modern people like Wongawilli or the Sydney Bush Music Club, you will probably love this music.
The tracks range from jaunty jigs and reels to beautiful waltzes and ballads put into various instrumental ‘sets’.
There’s lots of lovely melodies in these tunes.
The songs are a mix of original songs and traditional songs arranged by Mulligan’s Flat members.
Although, I did spot a glimpse of Vivaldi and Gershwin in there on track 8, with a bit of a cheeky grin.
The instruments vary between tracks.
We have Dave Gibson playing banjo and bass, Helena Hills on whistle and harp, John Furlonger on cittern and mandolin, Leonie Guinness playing fiddle, Paula Percival on flute and percussion, Peter Percival playing guitar and Ray Mulligan playing melodeon.
The quality of the sounds are really lovely, very clean, authentic, acoustic sounds.
The overall sound is clear and well balanced.
It’s really pleasurable listening.
The musicians are obviously very interested in the heritage of the music and the instruments they are playing.
Their playing is tight and clean.
I found myself nodding, tapping and swaying along to the beats of the songs as I wrote this review.
There’s lots of songs on this CD which will get you doing bush dancing around the living room.
Highly recommended.
