Barry Parks was on hand with his camera and here we are: left to right - Ian Jane, Roger, me (Penny) and Jim Jarvis.

MINI TOUR OF NSW OCTOBER 3RD, RYDE, SYDNEY The Ryde concert was fabulous, and was hosted by the warm & welcoming Pam & Barry Parks, in their own living room, with French windows opening onto a balmy Sydney night. The chairs were filled with old friends and new from the Hornsby Ku-rin-gai Folk club and from all around Sydney. Legendary songwriters Jim Jarvis and Ian Jane were both in attendance. Jim & Ian wrote the song BALMAIN, that Roger & I have been singing ever since we first heard Jim perform it live to air on one of Dermott Ryder's 2MBS-FM live folk concerts sometime in the early 1980's. Having spent 10 years living in Balmain, the song has a special resonance for us and we still love to sing it. Jim released a classic album in the 1970's - on the Larrikin label. If you can get a copy, do so - it features Jim's wonderful blues guitar playing and his rich soulful voice. Jim played some of his songs at the concert and then, after Rog & I sang BALMAIN, Ian Jane told the story of the song and how it came to be written. Our version of the song is still available on the CD OUTBACK CAFE. "The wind it blows so hard, you firmly grip the railing of a Birchgrove quay by a harbour sea, where the Sydney boats go sailing." (From BALMAIN by J.Jarvis & I.Jane)

OCTOBER 5TH, ILLAWARRA FOLK CLUB. The Illawarra Folk Club Concert was at City Diggers,Wollongong - hosted by John Broomhall - a good friend of ours from our Sydney days - and a fabulous songwriter. Friends from Sydney and Wollongong were all there, and we really enjoyed the night. No photos of the concert as yet, but we hope to have some soon! We did enjoy the scenery around Wollongong, and revisited some favourite spots - iit is an utterly beautiful area - some of the glorious coastline is pictured on the right. For information about the Ilawarra Folk Club go to: http://www.illawarrafolkclub.org.au/

OCTOBER 6TH, THE SHACK, NARRABEEN, SYDNEY. The Tramshed Arts & Community Centre, 1395a Pittwater Road, Narrabeen. The Shack thrived in Narrabeen during the sixties and early seventies. Roger played there as a young guitarist with several bands, and as a solo artist. We were very excited about performing there. It first began in an old ambulance shed in the Narrabeen Camping area it ventually moved to a permanent residence in a shop in Narrabeen where it presented folk music three nights a week and saw many a well-known performer, some of whom have made their careers in music. Some of its well-known acts were the likes of Jeanie Lewis, Margaret Roadknight, Greg Quill and Country Radio, radio legend Bob Hudson, The Stovepipe Spasm Band, Al Head and New York Public Library. A great audience awaitedus at The Shack - it's a very popular and successful venue. We played on the same bill as Peter Miller-Robinson and Wheelers & Dealers, who have a huge following in Sydney. The poster, based on their original screenprinted posters from ye olden days, is shown at right. Hopefully there will be some photos too at some stage. Ronda Mawer, who we remembered well from her band Mid Life Crisis, in the 80's, and Kathleen Swadling are the warm and friendly organisers - the entire event has the quality and ambience of the old days of the folk boom - except that there is an excellent sound system! We had a great night and hope to re-visit The Shack on our next trip. The Shack has been reborn and reconstituted, with regular monthly folk music nights. For more information log on to their website: http://humph.org/shack or contact: Rhonda Mawer (0413) 635 856 (mobile) Kathleen Swadling swadling@bigpond.net.au

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First ever Restless Record to be released in Europe! Back in 1983 Penny Davies & Roger Ilott built their first studio in the backyard of their house in Balmain, Sydney, Australia. The purpose of the studio was to record some demos so that Roger could get work as a session guitarist, however he didn't rate himself as much of a singer in those days, so asked Penny to do some vocals. The album "RESTLESS" came out before they had ever performed together in public. Only 500 copies were pressed and a copy recently sold for almost $200 on eBay. Guerssen Records in Spain has taken an interest in this historic album and has now released"RESTLESS" as a limited edition CD. Back then they said: "(Restless) succeeds because the album is put together with care and good taste… Penny Davies' voice is warm and natural, with an endearing occasional rough edge. Roger Ilott uses acoustic and electric 6 and 12 stringers, pedal steel and bass, to weave delightful counterpoints to the melody."Stringybark & Greenhide, Vol. 5, No 1, 1983 Now they're saying: Hay varios discos mágicos para amantes del folk- psych, folk- prog y folk- rock en los primeros 80. Esos álbumes les dan mil vueltas a muchos discos del género en los 70; mientras algunos discos son constantemente sobrevalorados por el simple hecho de ser 70's, muchos otros sufren lo contrario y son infravalorados o incluso ignorados por el hecho de ser 80''s. Guerssen quiere tomar cartas en el asunto y hacer su parte echando luz sobre estos grandiosos, desconocidos y olvidados discos. Primero fue Bob Theil, luego Walti Huber, y ahora es el turno del dúo australiano Penny Davies & Roger Illott. Penny y Roger llevan en activo desde 1983, cuando comenzaron su carrera discográfica con este excelente disco. Se trata de folk- rock de primera línea, con guitarras acústicas, y eléctricas de 6 y 12 cuerdas a cargo de Roger, más la voz femenina de Penny (con alguna ayuda de Roger), a lo que se añade ocasional percusión, pandereta, mandolina.....nada de batería, nada de bajo...sólo desnudas y directas melodías que enganchan a la primera. 16 temas en total, 5 de ellos bonus tracks inéditos hasta hoy y grabados en las mismas sesiones que el álbum!!! Nuevo diseño de portada (a petición del dúo), booklet con fotos y notas escritas por los músicos y, como es habitual en nuestras ediciones, con slimcase. Recomendado!!! RECENT REVIEW OF THE GUERSSEN RELEASE WHICH APPEARED ON the psychedelic folk homestead website: Davies is of English/Welsh origin but in 1966 she moved with her family to Australia , singing British folk material at that time. Australian born Roger Ilott played first folk/country with The Rusty Dusty Bros , played with The Southern Road Band , and since 1976 with Penny in The Oak Road String Band , beside he was demanded session guitarist. The last band emerged to a trio and then a duo. Penny and Roger married in 1980, and started to develop their playing together and building up a repertoire of what should be songs with an inspiration in Australia and Australian folk music. Not only because modern Australian folk has roots in English folk, but also thanks to Penny's gifted voice developing inspiration often in some troubadour kind of style, the songs have easy rhythmic folk-like melodies destined to be remembered well, are in a typical English fashion and these also have a certain sad beauty because of this. The home studio recording, which was a recording session process, before they ever tried anything out live, with use of multi tracking in the vocal parts, accidentally, because of the close harmony work on them; often reveal something common or reminiscent of Mellow Candle , while certain other tracks, through Penny's voice colour qualities, and the music it's folk associations, sound something like a simplified folkrock version of Trees , as like expressed into a full-range-duo format. The guitar arrangements as well as the voice have a perfectly balanced feedback that creates a very warm atmosphere, in combination with a spacey-timeless effect on the vocals (again I refer here to Mellow Candle). Just here and there you can hear how Roger learned guitar from listening to the Byrds (besides Lovin'Spoonful and Buffalo Springfield ), even bringing in, just here and there, that slightly eastern tinged “8 miles High” Byrds touch. Some of the harmony vocals differ a bit more, especially when sporadically Roger sings, it has slightly different vocal arrangements, sounding more like something going towards other folkpsych inspirations from late ‘60's. One track, the cynical song “To Many Fish” should make people blush now, because at the times of inspiration or insight, of realization of some changes move into false directions, it seems that for our future, which is now, not enough is done about it, so that such a song like this was destined to become prophetic, because nowadays fish became rare and poisonous in Sydney bay. The duo started their own label in 1982 and printed 500 copies of their studio album. They never thought about re-releasing their debut album, but collector's interest and interest from Guerssen Records luckily made them decide to do so. And this truly is a wonderful album, which I can recommend especially to fans of Trees and Mellow Candle and the likes. Think about that this is mostly self-penned (and not traditional) material. The extra additional material of five demo version songs gives an idea of the duo's creative process, something which is still revealed in these more roughly recorded versions. Ref. GUESSCD009 Check out http Guerssen Records by clicking here THEN PUT RESTLESS INTO THE SEARCH FIELD AND VOILA!

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Bill Scott – A Legacy of Words and Music
Warwick Arts Council, in conjunction with Warwick Folk Club, hosted a special concert on Sunday, April 23, to celebrate the life and works of noted Australian writer, songwriter, folklorist and poet Bill Scott , of Warwick, who passed away in December, 2005, after a long illness.
Featured artists at the concert were Stanthorpe folksingers, Penny Davies & Roger Ilott, along with their son, Jordy Davies-Ilott. The Davies-Ilott family were long-time friends of Bill's, and have performed and recorded many of his songs over the years, including Australian folk classics such as “Hey Rain!” and “Where the Cane Fires Burn”.
The concert, Bill Scott – A Legacy of Words and Music, went ahead on a lovely sunny afernoon in the beer garden at O'Mahoney's Heritage Hotel, Grafton Street, Warwick, near the railway line. One of the audience members rode a horse to the event, which was attended by friends and fans from far and wide.

BILL'S son, HARRY SCOTT, recently released a wonderful DVD/CD package on his Dolphin Creative label. The DVD (screened on the ABC in the afternoon arts programme) is available through the Bill Scott website.
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For more information on Bill see our page Hey Rain The Bill Scott Songbook
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HEY RAIN -THE BILL SCOTT SONGBOOK - NOW PUBLISHED IN USA
Hey Rain! The Bill Scott Songbook, compiled by Penny Davies & Roger Ilott and first published in Australia by Restless Music in 2002, has just been published in U.S.A. by Timberhead Music, legendary American folksinger Gordon Bok's publishing company and record label.
Gordon has recorded several of Bill's songs on his albums, and spent some time visiting with Bill, Penny and Roger when he was in Australia touring with Carol Rohl in 2003.: "Gordon became friends with Bill Scott through correspondence, finally meeting up with him on his trip to Australia in April 2003. Timberhead Music is proud to offer the American edition of this Australian treasure, compiled by Penny Davies and Roger Ilott. Bill has written many wonderful songs about his homeland, a few of which Gordon has had the pleasure to record. This collection of songs, photos and notes, first published in Australia in 2002, is full of the heart and humor of a very special man. 56 pages."
To order the American songbook go to Timberhead Music and check out Gordon Bok's songbooks and CDs too.

The songbook is still available here in Australia of course. The songs are notated with full lyrics and guitar chords perfect for the beginning folk singer, as well as the seasoned performer.
Bill Scott s songs tell of working life, the landscape and climate, and the Australian character; there is comedy and longing, irony and insight.
Hey Rain - The Bill Scott Songbook collects together 23 songs, some of which appeared on Opal Miner -The Songs Of Bill Scott (CD RM075), a few more that have emerged since, and a couple of neglected classics from Bill Scott s considerable treasure-trove of Australian song.
For more information go to the HEY RAIN page or head straight to HOW TO ORDER..
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RUSTY DUSTY BROS RECORDING PROJECT - FEATURING JORDY DAVIES-ILOTT

We've been involved in recording with Roger Ilott's old band from Sydney, Rusty Dusty Bros. Roger played guitar with them in the 1970's. Jordy Davies-Ilott is drumming for them too. He's a busy lad! The photo below shows Jordy drumming in the studio during the September holidays when ex Rusty Dusty Bros bass player Jed Hudson was visiting and we spent about 90% of our time in the studio working on songs, old and new. Since then we've had another visit from Jed, along with Joe Cannon, songwriter and guitarist from the old band,, and some more recording went ahead. Then, in May, Roger went to Sydney and spent some more time working on music with Joe & Jed, plus old bandmate Peter Garrety (songwriting, vocals, sax, guitar). There should be something available for afficionados by the end of 2006.

As you have probably gathered, we're a family as well as a music studio, and Jordy, our youngest member, has been a huge part of the making of the upcoming album of his parents, Penny & Roger. He drums for their dance band The Ring Ins and with his own band Arrahfest (who recently supported Intercooler at SYCfest, in Weeroona Park, Stanthorpe). He plays guitar too, and anything else he can get his hands on, and is keen to develop those skills and front a band sometime in the future. This is his final year at school, so it will be a challenging one. Life for us all is busy & full of work and music.
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Penny and Roger's son, Jordy, playing drums in the studio in the RDB's sessions last September

(Some of the) RDB's in Sydney in May 2006 L-R:: Peter Garrety (guitar, sax, vocals), Jed Hudson (bass), Joe Cannon (guitar & vocals), Roger Ilott (Rickenbacker 12 string guitar)

REVIEWS OF PERFORMANCES:

PENNY DAVIES & ROGER ILOTT
at National Folk Festival, Easter, 2007
Penny & Roger were guests at the National Folk Festival in Canberra at Easter. "It was a wonderful festival,", says Penny, "we saw some fantastic acts and met up with old friends, as well as making some new ones." Penny & Roger did two performances at the festival - a tribute to Bill Scott - using his own songs, poems and stories to illustrate a long and fascinating life..The crowd was large and enthusiastic - singing along with the choruses of Bill's best known song "Hey Rain" till the marquee shook. In the crowd was Bill's old friend Gary Tooth -"young Gary", as Bill always referred to him. Still performing, Gary is one of the young folksingers Bill took under his wing in the Folk Centre days in Brisbane.
"Bill's songs and poems created an incredible spirit among the listeners," says Penny. "Bill was, as legendary American folksinger Gordon Bok says, 'a deep well' - and he mined those depths during his wonderful life and created songs and stories that will live on long after us."
Penny and Roger also performed another concert on Easter Monday - this time featuring their own songs. "We feel as though we are 'back'", Penny reckons, "We took time off to raise our boy, and now he's off having his own adventures, it's time for us to start travelling with our music again. We enjoyed Canberra so much and look forward to getting around to lots more festivals and folk venues from here on."

Illawarra Folk Festival 2007
The Illawarra Folk Festival was held from 25 to 28 January 2007 at beautiful Bulli, NSW. Penny and Roger appeared 4 times in all. "We did a Tribute to Bill Scott when we first arrived, Dave de Hugard helped out with a song and a poem from Bill's extensive writings. The first night we also performed in a concert with lots of "old" friends from our Sydney folk days. It was grand to catch up with everyone and to have so many chances to play for people. We also saw some great acts - Enda Kenny is one of the best songwriters around, and his new album is excellent. He performs live with Lindsay Martin and they are both powerful and melodic. We also caught the legendary Rory McLeod - how do you remember a song that's got 600 words? Rory can! And his concerts are totally captivating. We saw John Dengate, still funny as ever, and John Broomhall - whose writing is as interesting and evocative as ever. Thanks to the crew at Illawarra for a fantastic festival!" penny

FOLK REDLANDS
April 15th, 2007

REVIEW BY COLIN NIGHTINGALE
Penny Davies and Roger Ilott came to the club on Sunday April 15 th and we had great expectations considering their Folk/Country/Bush Pedigree!
Its seems difficult to listen to Macca on Australia All Over without hearing a rendition of the Train song, or Hey rain or other well known tracks of Penny and Roger. We wanted to hear these and many other favorites, needless to say they didn't let us down and gave us over an hour of excellent songs lightly peppered with anecdotes from their lives and 30 years in Folk music.

A friend of mine who is not a Folky but likes a cross section of music said, “ it was one of the best Blackboard sessions I have attended and it got even better when Penny and Roger took to the stage”. He bought a CD and made sure I bought a DVD (I didn't need much persuading).

I know Penny, Roger and everyone at the club had a great afternoon and I look forward to seeing them back in the not too distant future! I'm sure Penny won't mind if I included a clip from an email she sent me: “THANKS ENORMOUSLY for a wonderful day at Folk Redlands . So great to meet you all and to have such a lovely listening audience - did our hearts good!”

For those few that didn't get a CD (and probably wished they had) we have a number of their CD's on consignment at the club for $20 each.

Some thoughts from Penny: "This folk venue is one of the best kept secrets around! A bushland setting. Great food available in a separate space, so that the music space is reserved for listeners, which makes it IDEAL for acoustic music. A lovely audience who listened attemtively and sang along with every chorus. We had a fantastic time! Look them up on the web at www.folkredlands.com and go along to the next concert. at Redlands IndigScapes Centre at 17 Runnymede Rd, Capalaba,
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WERRIS CREEK RAILWAY FESTIVAL, Werris Creek, NSW.
Werris Creek was once a large and thriving hub of NSW railway life. Recent years have not been kind to the town, but on October 1st the Australian Railway Monument was officially opened there, and part 1 of an excellent railway museum was also opened to the public, in the old Werris Creek station. Penny and Roger featured in 3 concerts over the weekend and their new song "Werris Creek (The Railway Town)" went down very well with the Werris Creek locals, as well as the thousands of visitors to the town. The new song will feature on their upcoming album "Big Water". See the Lyrics page for the words to the song about Werris Creek we wrote on the way down there!
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Stanthorpe Civic Centre and Empire Theatre Toowoomba, with IAN MCNAMARA ("Macca") and his band plus The Aussie Brass, The Goodwills and Gary Shearston.

When "Macca" and friends toured Southeast Queensland in July, Penny & Roger, with their son Jordy, performed at the Stanthorpe concert (where "The Monkeys" definitely sang soprano!) and in Toowoomba at the beautiful Empire Theatre. Macca's band featured an old mate of Roger's, Gary Fredericks, who played guitar with Roger in "BRUMBY" back in the 1970's in Sydney.

Penny, Roger & Jordy had a terrific time playing to two warm audiences and also "hanging out" with musical friends for a couple of days, and making some new ones.

On Sunday morning Penny, Roger & Jordy went to the ABC Studios in Toowomba where "Australia All Over" was being broadcast, and they performed a new song "The Hills And Rocks Of Home", and featured Jordy on banjo. At 16 years of age Jordy is already a fine musician, playing slide guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, drums, percussion and just about anything with strings - a chip off the old block!
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L-R: Ian McNamara, Jordy, Penny & Roger - Stanthorpe Civic Centre

L-R:Penny, Roger, Jordy, "Macca" - ABC Studios, Toowoomba

do re mi "Music For Children
Penny Davies is Stanthorpe's do re mi "Music For Children" teacher. A website for do re mi Teachers in Australia is currently being developed and the address will be linked to this site shortly. do re mi Music For Children classes are based on the philosophy of Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1957) - a prominent Hungarian composer, linguist, musician and educator. The ideals of Kodaly can be summarised in five simple points:
That true music literacy - the ability to read, write and think music - is the right of every human being.
That music learning should begin with the child's own natural instrument -the voice.
That to be completely successful, the training of the musical ear should begin as early as possible (before Kindergarten).
That a child's musical “mother tongue” is the folk music of the child's own culture and musical skills and concepts should be taught using Folk song.
That only music of the best quality should be used in the education of children.
The Kodaly Music Education Institute was established in Australia in the early 1970's.
PENNY DAVIES B.A. (Communications) Folksinger, performer, songwriter, children's entertainer, trained in Musicianship and Kodaly Methodology at University of Queensland Summer Music Schools by K.M.E.I.A. Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia Inc.) and affiliated as a do re mi teacher with K.M.E.I.A.
K.M.E.I.A. Inc. is part of an International body of Music Educators who strive to promote the concept of music education initiated in Hungary by the composer Zoltan Kodaly
do re mi classes
are the ideal introduction to music education, giving children the skills on which to base later experiences such as instrumental lessons, further musical study, a musical career or music purely and simply for fun;.
provide a secure learning environment that can strengthen family relationships through natural interaction;
are beneficial to the child's total development:
For more information email penny at restless_music@yahoo.com.au
Photo below shows a Toddler class in action - Penny is at far right.
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ABOUT RESTLESS MUSIC
Restless Music was started in 1982 by folksingers, Penny Davies and Roger Ilott, who were living in Sydney. The studio was originally known as Restless Recordings. From 1983 until August, 1987, when Penny and Roger relocated to a 32 acre property at Storm King Dam, Stanthorpe, Queensland, Restless Recordings was the centre of the Sydney folk music recording scene. During that time, Penny and Roger produced 20 albums on the Restless label, as well as albums for other small labels such as Tindola, Sandstock and Crossover. Since moving to Stanthorpe they have continued to produce their own music (see catalogue) and albums for Australian Bush Poets and country performers. For more information, click here : Studio & Label
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