R.L. Takes The Boogie Down Under

There is a land where summer skies

Are gleaming with a thousand dyes,

Blending in witching harmonie;

And grassy knoll and forest height,

Are flushing in the rosey light,

And all above is azure bright.

(Caroline Carleton - "Song of Australia")

The year was 2022. Australia called, and R.L. Boyce answered.

Actually, Dom Turner sent a text and I responded, but that doesn't really grab your attention does it?

Before jumping into R.L.'s 2022 trip to Australia, a little background on his first trip down under is in order.

In March 2019, R.L. made his first trip to Australia to perform two shows at the Girrakool Blues Festival on the Central Coast in New South Wales and a club date the following week, backed by Australian slide guitar master Dom Turner (Backsliders, Turner-Brown Band, Phil Wiggins) and drummer Rosscoe Clark (Kingdom Brothers, Foreday Riders). Many thanks to Bruce Johnson at Xabc Entertainment Pty Ltd for making this happen.

Dom Turner, R.L., Bruce McGurty - backstage Caravan Club 3/03/2019

This trip created the spark that resulted in future collaborations, and a growing friendship, between Dom and R.L. Later that year, Dom traveled to Mississippi, where he played with R.L. at the Otha Turner Goat Picnic, the Radio Memphis Blues & Booze Show, the Como Jam - with Australia "Honeybee" Jones (sister of the late Paul Wine Jones) and Damion "Yella P" Pearson, and R.L.'s "Big Blues Mane" Picnic (with Lightin' Malcolm). I had the good fortune of sitting in with them at each, except at the Otha Turner Picnic. Their performance at the Big Blues Mane Picnic is included on the live album "Boogie With R.L.," which received a nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 2022 Blues Music Awards.

Radio Memphis Booze & Blues Show - Sherena Boyce, Mark Caldwell, R.L., Dom Turner

Radio Memphis Booze & Blues Show - R.L., Dom Turner, Me (photo: Mark Caldwell)

Como - Me, Australia "Honey Bee" Jones, Yella P, Dom Turner, R.L. (photo: Dawn Likens)

In May 2022, R.L. made his second trip to Australia; this time for Blues on Broadbeach on Queensland's Gold Coast. Dom Turner and Rosscoe Clark, who were joining forces at the time in the Rural Blues Project, again accompanied R.L. My initial plan was simply to confirm arrangements with the festival and Dom, take R.L. to the airport, and then pick him up upon his return, as I had done in 2019 for his Girrakool shows and tour. At the last minute, Mrs. L. insisted that I go and R.L. said he wouldn't mind the company. So, off we flew - first to DFW, then a 17 hour and 15 minute flight across the international date line to Sydney, and then a flight to Brisbane, where a car service took us the final one hour south to Gold Coast.

There was a slight hiccup in Dallas. The Qantas gate agent for the international portion of our fight discovered that the name on R.L.'s printed work authorization did not match the name in the Australian government's computer system. The printed version had "R.L." The government's computer had "R.l." - with a lower case "l." This discrepany required investigating and numerous phone calls. Once we convinced the computer that R.l. was in fact R.L., it allowed us to board.

We left Memphis Tuesday afternoon May 17 and arrived in Sydney Thursday morning May 19. As to what happened to Wednesday, R.L. would later explain, "It's just gone."

R.L. at the gate in the Memphis airport (5/17/2022)

The festival slotted R.L. and Dom on the Victoria Park Stage on Friday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. That morning was filled with promo shoots and audio spots for the festival and local interviews. "Music make anybody join together," R.L. said when asked about their collaboration during one spot. "That's how I met Dom. We met each other playing music." Dom agreed, "It's the music that's bringing us together. This type of blues music. It's a very raw sounding blues." "Hard blues," R.L. added. "That's what it is, hard blues."

Dom, Me, R.L. - Broadbeach, Queensland (5/20/2022). Photo: Sue McAulley

We actually arrived a bit early for a scheduled afternoon interview with ABC's Bluesday Tuesday radio host Matt Webber. With some free time on our hands, we decided to hang out on the beach. Here's a few shots of R.L. and Dom engaged in shenanigans while left unsupervised:

Back on schedule, R.L. talked with Matt Webber during the radio interview like they were old friends from Panola County. Matt has an impressive knowledge of North Mississippi Hill Country blues and they almost finished each other's sentences while educating Matt's listeners on the music of Fred McDowell, Robert Belfour, Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, R.L. Burnside and others.

The festival also recognized a group of "superfans" - those who had attended all 21 festivals to date - and treated them to a meet and greet with R.L. and Dom before Friday night's set:

Getting to the main point of the trip, here's a few shots of Friday night's incredible show:

Here's a little taste of what R.L., Dom, and Rosscoe cooked up on the Victoria Stage that night:

A friend of Dom's loaned us a French marching drum from the mid-1800's. At one point during the show, R.L. swapped his guitar for the marching drum and a pair of sticks. They played "Glory Glory Hallelujah," fife and drum style, with Dom playing the fife and vocal parts on slide guitar.

Saturday morning provided a chance to stroll through downtown Gold Coast. Here's R.L. with Ron Tanner - friend, host, and storyteller extraordinaire:

R.L. was originally booked to play the Surf Parade Stage Saturday evening and the Kurrawa Park Stage Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, steady rain that afternoon and into the evening resulted in the cancelation of Saturday evening's show and heavier rain overnight rendered Kurrawa Park unsafe for use on Sunday, although shows on a few other stages still went forward.

The unexpected down time, however, allowed R.L. to rest up and for us to spend more time and a couple of relaxing dinners with Dom and his wife, Ida; Rosscoe; and Ron. [1]

Many thanks to the entire festival team at Major Events Gold Coast, including Mark Duckworth, Mark Sutton, Zac Fahey, and Kahla Clark. Much thanks also to Sue McAulley at SueMac Media for all the arrangements and taking such good care of us.

View from the balcony of our suite at the Qube Resort Apartments.

Dom, R.L., Rosscoe - Blues On Broadbeach

I am grateful Mrs. L. insisted I make the trip with R.L. and for the opportunity to have spent this time with him.

Thanks for stopping by,

~ Steve

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Notes:

[1] In August 2023, on R.L.'s behalf, I invited Dom to return to Mississippi to collaborate and possibly record with R.L. through a grant program that supports Australian artists and creative workers undertake collaboration, development, cultural exchange, knowledge sharing, and reciprocal relationship-building activities such as residency exchanges. We hoped arrangments could be finalized for an August/September 2024 visit. Sadly, R.L. passed in November 2023.

all content © 2022 Steve W. Likens

(except Girrakool Festival and Blues on Broadbeach promo photos)