The Music Show

“This song put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch”, said Neil Young about his only major hit, Heart of Gold, from the 1972 album Harvest. Whether or not the dozens of artists who’ve covered it since consider it “middle of the road”, they’ve certainly taken it right off the beaten track. Andy’s guest analysts in this second edition of our new Cover Story series are singer-songwriters and broadcasters Henry Wagons and Georgia Mooney.Music details:Heart of GoldComposed by Neil YoungOriginally performed by Neil Young for the album Harvest (1972) on Reprise RecordsCovers by:Johnny CashWillie NelsonMidnight ShineTori AmosBettye LaVetteBoney M.OndaraNeil Young & Stray Gators (live in Tuscaloosa)Technical production by Harvey O’Sullivan and Bethany Stewart.The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country 

Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra has more of an ethos than a sound. A twenty five piece indie band with constantly evolving membership, it began as a solo project by Matt Hsu, whose values and “punk-trained” composition shine through on not one but two new albums released on the same day: Noodle, and Forest Party.Opera for the Dead (祭歌) is a "contemporary Chinese cyber opera" that explores cultural practices around death and grieving. Guzheng player and in-demand collaborator Mindy Meng Wang and sound artist and composer Monica Lim have teamed up to create a work which features four instrumentalists, a countertenor, electronics and cutting-edge visuals. Andy chats to them about how rituals, improvisation and friendship inform the performance.

Metal, marimbas, vampires and EDM: ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me as you’ve never heard it before, with producer Paul Mac and composer Alice Chance.This is the first episode of Cover Story, a new series from The Music Show in which Andy and his guests take songs of the popular music canon and examine their cover versions, for better, worse, and weirder. Music details:Lay All Your Love On MeComposed by Benny Andersson & Björn UlvaeusOriginally recorded by ABBA for the album Super Trouper (1980) on Atlantic RecordsCovers by:ErasureBrian David GilbertBentley RoblesAmberian DawnPale HoneySiv JakobsenCaroline Shaw & So PercussionPaul Mac’s Tekno Train: The Album is out now. German vocal ensemble Sjaella perform works by Alice Chance in July:Hobart Festival of Voices 1/7/25, 2/7/25Ballina 6/7/25Brisbane - QPAC 10/7/25Sydney - Utzon Room 13/7/25Adelaide - Ukaria 19/7/25, 20/7/25Canberra 23/7/25Melbourne Recital Centre 25/7/25The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country. Technical Production by John Jacobs and Bethany Stewart

British singer and songwriter Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78. In 1996, Andy spoke to her about finding her true voice, why she was drawn to the music of Kurt Weill and the Weimar Republic, and why she was wrong about The Rolling Stones.Armed with homemade instruments and a larrikin spirit, Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band were mainstays of Melbourne's alternative music scene in the 1970s. Brothers and founding members Jim and Mic Conway are the subjects of a new documentary film by Fiona Cochrane called Whoopee Blues. Mic and Fiona are on The Music Show to reflect on band's clowning, costumes and chaos, and how it helped shaped the blues, rock and children's music that came after.

“Ships become obsolete; fine furs are ravaged by moths, faded by the sun, worn by rubbing against show cases; garments go out of style; the gold watch grandfather handed down is replaced by a thin one. Change and decay is all around—except in violins. Death rarely comes to the violin.” So wrote Arland Weeks in 1929, in The Scientific Monthly.Dr Laura Case gives Andy a potted history of the violin in Australia, from 1788 to 1914 – and beyond. It's a history of class and gender lines in the colony but it's also about how the violin has been an instrument of both assimilation and resistance by First Nations violinists.Music at the start of the show:Title: Etude No. 1Composer: Rodolphe KreutzerArtist: Elizabeth WallfischAlbum: 40 EtudesLabel: CPOTitle: Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; No. 3; i. PrestoComposer: Ludwig Van BeethovenArtist: Elizabeth Wallfisch, David BreitmanAlbum: Beethoven: The Sonatas for violin & fortepiano Nos. 1-5Label: NimbusTitle: The Highlandman SetComposer: trad.Artist: Chris DuncanAlbum: Fyvie’s EmbraceLabel: ANC MusicTitle: Was There Anything I Could Do? Composer: The Go-BetweensArtist: The Go-BetweensAlbum: 16 Lovers LaneLabel: MushroomTitle: Biamanga Juxtaposed, Sound of Past with Future; ii. Ancient ImprovComposer: Eric AveryArtist: Eric Avery, Ensemble OffspringAlbum: Biamanga JuxtaposedLabel: ABC ClassicMusic in the interview with Laura:Title: Duos Op. 64; No. 1; B.509 – iii. Adagio - CantabileComposer: Ignaz Josef Pleyel Artist: Indira Gonzalez, Emmanuel SiffertAlbum: 6 Duos, Op. 64Label: VDE-GalloTitle: High Road to LintonComposer: TradArtist: Sharon ShannonAlbum: The Winkles TapesLabel: Kata SongsTitle: Maritana, Act 1: Opening ChorusComposer: William Vincent WallaceArtist: RTE Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra, Proinnsias O DuinnAlbum: MaritanaLabel: NaxosTitle: Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major; Op. 30, No. 3; iii. Allegro vivaceComposer: Ludwig Van BeethovenArtist: Anne-Sophie MutterAlbum: Beethoven: The Violin SonatasLabel: Deutsche GrammophonTitle: Hermit of Killarney & The Black Cat Piddled in the White Cat’s EyePerformed live in studio by Dr Laura CaseTitle: Biamanga Juxtaposed, Sound of Past and Future; iii. Eagle and CrowComposer: Eric AveryArtist: Eric Avery, Ensemble OffspringAlbum: Biamanga JuxtaposedLabel: ABC ClassicMusic at the end of the show: Title: Go To Sleep (The Legend Of Ŋamini Baŋ’ Baŋ’)Artist: Andrew Gurruwiwi BandAlbum: Sing Your Own SongLabel: Independent releaseTechnical production by Nathan Turnbull. The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.

Country singer songwriter Andy Golledge cut his teeth in Sydney’s Inner West band scene before returning to his hometown of Tamworth a local hero. He and his band have racked up thousands of kilometres of touring, and whether it’s in the back room of a country pub or in the biggest concert hall in town, they put on one hell of a show. Andy is our ears on the ground at Tamworth Country Music Festival which ends this weekend, and he’s up for two Golden Guitar Awards for his latest album Young, Dumb & Wild.Pianist Lisa Moore and clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff are two Australian musicians who’ve spent much of their lives overseas. Their new album My Place brings together Australian and American composers works either written or arranged for piano and clarinet. Lisa and Lloyd join Andy to talk about how a nation finds its sound – or doesn’t.Andy Golledge performs at Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday 25 January at 9pm. 

American composer Caroline Shaw’s latest album, a collaboration with Sō Percussion, is called Rectangles and Circumstance. It’s a collection of ten songs run through with words by Emily Dickinson, Emily Bronte, William Blake and Christina Rossetti, as well as Caroline herself. She joins Andy from her home in the US to talk about her collaborators and her co-poets.When Irish singer songwriter David Keenan came onto the scene he was described as “the sound of Tim Buckley and Brendan Behan arguing over a few jars, while Kavanagh deals Dylan a suspicious hand of cards, and Anthony Cronin and Jack Kerouac furiously try to scribble it all down” – so no pressure there. He talks about wearing those comparisons, writing songs about Ireland, and the story behind his guitar as well as performing new music live.

The Music Show explores the legacy of the late Ruby Hunter – short in stature, a giant in music, and a mentor and parental figure to so many First Nations musicians in subsequent generations. We’ll hear Ruby from the archives, and catch up with Emily Wurramara and Dan Sultan, both of whom have sung a tribute to Ruby Hunter alongside their fantastic new albums.

Some of the most prominent folk singers of the twentieth century like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan were being surveilled and, in some cases, blacklisted by the FBI due to their political activism and ties to the U.S Communist Party.Writer and historian Aaron J. Leonard has written several books on the subject and is in to reveal why the US Government was so fixated on musicians in the 1940s and 50s, and what he unearthed from the FBI files he gained access to. Aaron J. Leonard's books on this subject include The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party, USA-1939-1956 and Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression - 1955-1972, both published by Repeater Books. 

Ziggy Ramo returns to The Music Show with a new album that’s more than just an album. Human? is a new and beautifully contradictory sound for Ziggy. It blends folk (with guest vocals from Vonn) and his signature rap, precipitated by Ziggy picking up the guitar for the first time in the wake of his 2021 single Little Things. Ziggy joins Andy to talk about the project - which spans the album, the book, and a related exhibition. It's an exploration of dark histories and big questions. The book is called Human? A Lie That Has Been Killing Us Since 1788.