When Snow Townsend's Bona Fide Travellers pull into clubs on the Lost Highway they don't need to flash driving licences or CV'S for the guest book,
they are genuine horsemen with the notches on their guns, guitars, drums, fiddles and holsters. The Bona Fide Travellers are a riveting roots band whose members were in the vanguard of the progressive country scene of the seventies.
The members rode in the same posse as The Dingoes, Greg Quill's Country Radio, Saltbush, Hit & Run, Dead Livers, Bluestone and many more.
Cyber chappies and chappettes might have called them alt-country if they emerged in the new millennia.
But back then the Station Hotel in Prahran and nearby Reefer Cabaret vied for honours with T F Much Ballroom and other north of the Yarra venues in a hipper country era.
Their exploits were chronicled in magazines diverse as Juke and Ram and bi-weekly Truth before the mainstream dailies discovered the sub genre.Snow's Wild Beaver Band featured on Live At The Station Hotel 1976 vinyl album with The Dingoes, Myriad and Saltbush.
The album was released on Lamington in 1976 and reissued by Missing Link in 1981 - another of the highlights was Dingoes song Marijuana Hell.
I fondly recall writing about Snowy - front person for One Armed Bandit and Wild Beaver Band, for counter culture bible Digger as J.J. McRoach booked country artists as a soundtrack for his historic 1977 run for the Senate as the honourable candidate for the Australian Marijuana Party.
McRoach, maiden name Peter Olszewski, gave exposure to the genre as editor of street magazines such Australasian Seed, Weed, Greed and Need, Flash and Ram before he graduated to Truth, Playboy and People where country was his music of choice.
McRoach, David Pepperell (aka Dr Pepper) and Colin Talbot embellished support of the genre with books on subjects ranging from dope, politics, yabbies, Phil Ochs, road trauma, Far East dictatorships and love.Unlike today, where the joys of the Internet ensures freedom of speech is a given, this was an era where Draconian droogs hunted and hated alternative magazines!!!THE BONA FIDE TRAVELLERS - THE PLAYERS:SNOWY TOWNSEND:Graham "Snowy" Townsend, known as Snowy Cutmore by some such as Station Hotel pint-sized promoter Mark Barnes, has played in a vast galaxy of bands.The Wild Beaver Band and One Armed Bandit reigned from the seventies and new recording act The Operators made their mark in the 1990's.The Operators released an album and The Bona Fide Travellers have a CD featuring songs such as Willis Allan Ramsey classic North East Texas Women, It's A Long Way To Nashville and The Ballad Of Honest Sam.Snowy was also the creative font for a seventies Bacchus Marsh country festival where his line-up was truly alternative to the matching shirt mainstream acts of the day.Chad Morgan and Saltbush headlined the December 30 show at Bacchus Marsh Race Course where other acts included One Armed Bandit, Dead Livers, Country Ltd, Hit & Run and Country Grass.Admission was a mere $4 at Bacchus Marsh and The Age broke ground with generous feature story by Alan Attwood - latter day Editor of The Big Issue.RAY CHABER:Ray Chaber: fiddle & guitar, came from New Zealand with MIKE PARKER (bass) with The Slippery Sam Blues Band having previously played in many top line homeland outfits.
Ray has played with Headbelly Buzzard and The Chilli Strings, and along with Mike were part of one of Kenny Joe Blake's line-ups.Ray, ever the traditionalist, participates in many of the bluegrass festivals and just loves "sitting in" on ad hoc performances.Mike also graced Melbourne stages with The Operators.SHANE FITCHET:Shane Fitchet swung from the ropes with Detroit garage and Surf influenced indie outfits dating back to the late seventies - they included The Remains, The Fermented Heads, Total Strangers, Buzzwagon, and Timmy Tiptoe and The Toecutters."The monikers say it all!", says Shane."I've come out of 15 years of drumming retirement to play with Snowy but my last bands were The Swing Club, an indie pop/rock/surf band fronted by two female guitarist/vocalists that consistently gained singles of the week status in Juke, Ram, Beat, and InPress in the mid to late 80's, and a brief stint in The Badarts (indie pop) both live and recording, then Musicland went bust and The Swing Club's debut album ended up in some tip in N.S.W!RODGER DELFOS: the newest traveller, down on his luck jumped a box-car and fell at our feet. We dusted him off, liked the cut of his jib, and asked him to join our wagon train! Acoustic guitar, lap and pedal steel, mandolin, oh so sweet vocals. Rodger, if he was dead would be a legend, but for now he's on loan from the Dead Livers, One Armed Bandit, The Blues Tin, and just about every other desperado outfit that's out of bullets.
........ courtesy of Dave Dawson www.nucountry.com.au
