| Toby Martin is a Sydney-based writer and musician, erstwhile Youth Group front man, whose acquaintance I’ve been delighted to make in recent times, and lately I’ve intersected with two of his compelling projects, the book Yodelling Boundary Riders, and recording sessions with his sort-of Dougie Young tribute band, the Rug Cutters. |
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| Firstly, I’ve provided a cover blurb for Toby’s new, first book, Yodelling Boundary Riders: Country Music in Australia Since the 1920s, through the Lyrebird Press. I'm still spruiking the book for the same reason I wrote the blurb in the first place, because I think it's good, and I'll reiterate my remarks here because I can’t think of a better way to put it: “Country music is Australia’s original modern pop form—but you wouldn’t know it reading our orthodox cultural histories. Toby Martin is a new breed of writer who can see beyond urban-intellectual snobberies. This fine book thankfully avoids jargon in favor of a clear and entertaining exploration of some of the genre’s signature narratives. Who’d have thought that the singer of the beautiful 2005 Number One single ‘Forever Young’ would make such an elegant transition from stage to page?” Check it out and maybe even BUY a copy here |
 James and Toby |
| Secondly, on a recent Friday night in March, I dropped in on a session at Tim Kevin’s little studio in Marrickville, Grey Nurse, that Toby had convened with one of his erstwhile ‘side’ bands, the Rug Cutters, or Cug Rutters as I like to call them. Coming together a couple of years ago when Toby was appointed Folk Fellow at the National Library in Canberra, doing research (read about it here) into the great lost Aboriginal singer-songwriter Dougie Young (who he’d first learnt about through the pages of Buried Country), the Cutters include among their line-up Dougie’s grandson Jimmy James (James Macleod), peripatetic guitar wiz (and my Kiwi bro) Jason Walker, and Youth Group bassist Patrick Matthews. Since I’d started work on a new refreshed version of the Buried Country CD, and since I was very aware of Toby’s efforts with the Cutters, I asked him if he’d be interested in licensing a track to the album. He said, Yeah, sure – but then confessed he still hadn’t got around to recording anything with the band. And so, in short, he was delighted that I finally forced his hand on the matter, and he asked me down to the session to lend an extra ear, shoot some photos and perhaps most importantly, provide some libations. The band put down three tracks, ‘Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards’ (on which you might hear my BVs!), ‘Old Wilcannia Town’ and ‘No Time for Dancin’’, and at the very least one of them will make it onto the new Buried Country CD, due out later this year. |
 Rug Cutters: Toby Martin, Jimmy James, Jason Walker, drummer Michael Zagoridis |
