[from Susan Jarvis in The Sun-Herald October 27, 1991]

ONE of the most exciting aspects of contemporary country music-which today ranges from bush ballads to bluegrass and from blues to boogie—is its variety.

One band which is currently expanding the horizons of Australian country is Melbourne group The Moonee Valley Drifters.

And although their music is quite different from anything else on the contemporary country scene, the origins of that music hark very much back to the traditional country, boogie and rhythm and blues of the'40s and '50s.

In fact, the band's lead singer, expatriate American Tom Forsell, describes The Moonee Valley Drifters as a "roots" band.

"There's a real acoustic, country emphasis to our music. We have a lot of influences–Cajun, Zydeco, Tex-Mex–and we like them all. We play a lot of old stuff, but we're gradually working more and more original material into our show," Forsell said.

The music of the Moonee Valley Drifters is essentially in what writer David Latta has described as "the vintage country-boogie-western swing style".

The band plays a traditional set ranging from the 1940s through to the 1960s, interspersed by a number of original tunes, many of them written by Forsell himself and several by the band's guitarist and harmonica player Rick Dempster (who was a member of the highly acclaimed Dancehall Racketeers).

Tom Forsell is very interested not only in the lyrics and instrumentation of the music he plays, but also its origins and social background.

The Moonee Valley Drifters have been performing in Melbourne for the past three years and have just released their second album on the Brunswick City Council sponsored Brunswick Recordings label.

"We've been lucky in that Brunswick Council has a council arts officer who is very interested in music–I think this is the only council-sponsored label around. They approached us about doing our first album and the result was Boogie Woogie Fever, which was put together with studio assistance from the ABC," Forsell said.

Now they have recorded another collection of their own style of music, including a number of originals. The album is titled Juke Joint Johnny and features no less than 17 tracks (the forthcoming CD will have 20), which give an impressive insight into just what the Moonee Valley Drifters are all about.

Forsell believes that the band's music–especially that initiated by him–is very much a product of his early years.

"What you hear when you are very young stays with you. I grew up in the industrial city of Detroit, Michigan listening to people like Ernest Tubbs, Bob Wills and Hank Williams," he said.

Forsell moved to Australia in 1973, and began teaching in the Victorian school system. He said he hadn't expected to find a great deal of bluegrass and country music here, but was delighted when he discovered musicians with the same musical passions he held.

"I've got a strong commitment to vintage American country music, boogie, R&B and early rockabilly.

Playing is something I simply have to do and when I don't play there's something missing," he said.

"I guess we're different from other bands in that we're not really looking for a hit single. The atmosphere in this country really wouldn't allow that at the moment, I don't think.

"But we genuinely like the stuff we do and our aim is to get more and more of it heard.

"Through getting our kind of music heard, we hope we will be able to change some musical directions and have a bit more impact on the music scene.

"Essentially the Dancehall Racketeers were doing that with Western swing and we're following in their footsteps. They were very successful, and we're finding that we're building up a following here."

The Moonee Valley Drifters play around the pubs and restaurants in Melbourne, but the diversity of their music means that they are in demand for a wide range of venues, ranging from the recent Spoleto Festival to the Jazz After Dark series at the Victorian Arts Centre and the Port Fairy Folk Festival.

The band comprises Tom Forsell on rhythm guitar, mandolin, accordion and lead vocals; Rick Dempster on harmonica, steel guitar and vocal harmonies; Ed Colbourne on drums; Brendon Sherston on guitar and vocals and Paul Pyle on double bass and harmony vocals.

The members of the band have long musical careers dating back to the days of Johnny O'Keefe and have worked with artists like Slim Dusty and the band Barefoot Nelly.

The new album reveals the extent of their musical talents. The music is fast and furious, extremely danceable and very interesting.

Highlights include the title track, "Juke Joint Johnny", the old Hank Thompson song "Six Pack to Go" and the W. Walker tune "No-one To Talk to But the Blues".

For country traditionalists there is the Buck Owens song "Above and Beyond" and Marty Robbins' "Mean Mistreater", along with a traditional Tex-Mex waltz titled "Prenda del Ama".

Tom Forsell has contributed several of his own tracks: "Here I Go Again", "Cajun Baby", "Walking By Myself" and "Foolin' With Me". There is also a blues instrumental by Rick Dempster titled "Shuffling with the Reeds".

Other tracks include the Merle Travis song "Guitar Rag". Curtis Gordon's old rockabilly hit "Rock, Roll, Jump and Jive" and another rockabilly number, Syd King's "Good Rockin' Baby".

This style of music is fairly different from what has been seen in country circles over recent years and it is being hailed by some, including writer David Latta, as part of the "new country" movement. It is, however, essentially very "old" country, transplanted from the American mid-west.

The new Moonee Valley Drifters album is currently available only through Brunswick Recordings (10 Dawson Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056) or at their gigs. However, Forsell points out the band is negotiating for a more extensive distribution, which will see CDs and albums as well as cassettes in the shops.

The Moonee Valley Drifters will be making their first visit to Tamworth for the 1992 Tamworth Country Music Festival.

At this stage they will be performing at the Longyard Hotel, plus a number of other venues and are likely to attract a lot of interest from diehard Dancehall Racketeers fans who welcomed that band passionately a couple of years ago.

When he isn't performing with the Moonee Valley Drifters, Tom Forsell also plays with another country band,[ends here!]