Four-time Golden Guitar nominee and 2012 Toyota Star Maker winner, Bob Corbett and his Roo Grass Band burst out of the world of folk and country music with a unique brand of songwriting and showmanship.
Bob has entertained audiences across the length and breadth of Australia and North America and has released six albums (2007 – 2015).
Wherever Bob and the “Roograssers” perform, an infectious joy engages audiences with heartfelt songs, toe-tapping tunes, spontaneous antics, a boot full of instruments, and a musical journey that travels from the towns and cities of Australia to the U.S. Appalachians, all the way to the Scottish Highlands.
Bob’s onstage presence and award winning songs are supported by Sue Carson’s warm fiddle and operatic vocal abilities, two times Australian Flat-Picking Guitar champion Robbie Long, and Dave Carter’s consummate, if not comic instrument juggling, from bass to banjo to bagpipes.
Bob and The Roograssers have enjoyed high rotation radio airplay, music video’s frequently aired on CMC & Ch 11’s now defunct ‘The Range’ program, international media exposure, national TV performances on Ch 10’s Late News, Ch 7’s ‘Sunrise’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’ programs, dozens of major Australian music festivals and live performances at the CMA Festival in Nashville USA.
Bob has won nine 1233 ABC Music Awards (2006 – 2008). He has been nominated for a MusicOz award (2008); 3 Victorian & National Country Music Awards (2012) and 7 nominations in The Australian Songwriters Awards (2009 – 2012).
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Who is The Bob Corbett Band?
Bob Corbett
Bob Corbett is a multi-award-winning musician from Newcastle, Australia. His most notable career achievement to date was winning 2012 Toyota Star Maker, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious country music talent search.
He has released six albums of original compositions (2007 – 2015). Among many of his achievements he has been nominated for four Golden Guitars at the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia (2012 – 2013), he has won nine 1233 ABC Music Awards (2006 – 2008), he has received seven nominations at The Australian Songwriters Awards (2009 – 2012), three nominations at the Victorian Country Music Awards (2012) and one nomination at The MusicOz Awards (2009).
With an intermittent schedule of touring and festival appearances around Australia, he performs regularly in Newcastle hotels and clubs and is also a regular at The Tamworth Country Music Festival. He has also performed at the CMA Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of the international artist showcase in 2012.
Early Career
Bob began learning piano and guitar in high school. In 1989 he formed “The Paisley Brothers” with his school mates. After graduating from high school in 1990, Bob formed his first original music and professional band, “Mercy Dash” in which he performed rhythm guitar, backing vocals and composed the majority of the songs in the band’s repertoire. In 1992, Bob accepted the position of lead guitarist, co-songwriter and backing vocalist in popular Newcastle band, “Arvidson Price”, later renamed, “Bliss”. The band regularly toured the New South Wales North Coast, South East Queensland and regional New South Wales. It was on a regional New South Wales tour that Bob fell in love with The Tamworth Country Music Festival. He continued crafting his songwriting with his original band “Mother Popcorn”, playing in Newcastle hotels and busking at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
In 2001 Bob attained a Bachelor of Arts (Communications Studies) from the University of Newcastle in which he majored in Film, TV and Sound production. During his university years he collaborated on many award winning short films including; Dolly & Fluffy – (Director ) winner of Best Film and Best Soundtrack at The Shootout; The Love Kitchen – (Director, Screenwriter, Co-composer) winner of Best Film at The Newcastle Film Awards.
Later Career
In tandem with his original music career, he has performed in many Newcastle Bands, most notably the cover music duo “The Loonatic Fringe” and the acoustic guitar quartet, “24 Strings”.
In 2000 he started his solo-singer-songwriter career and released his first EP, Dockyard Workers. His debut album, The Hurricane Inside was released in 2007, followed by Storyboard in 2008. He then formed the group, Bob Corbett & The Roo Grass Band and released the album’s, Silver Lining (2010) and Lucky Country (2011). Upon winning 2012 Toyota Star Maker he recorded the album, Everyday Is A Festival. His most current album, Roovolution (2015) was recorded as The Bob Corbett Band.
Sue Carson
(Fiddle, Mandolin, Percussion, Backing Vocals)
Sue has performed as a professional musician for over 20 years in various genres from opera to contemporary pop, country, folk, and musical theatre.
Essentially a coloratura soprano, Sue’s versatility has allowed her to play roles from Mozart’s “Queen of the Night” to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carrie” in Carousel and Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. She won the Newcastle Conservatorium “Doris Smith” scholarship in 1997 which enabled her to study for a short time in London.
Since her return, Sue has been involved in several Hunter region performances of opera, musicals, jazz concerts, orchestras, and has conducted workshops for school students, University students and as voice tutor at regional music camps such as the annual Kia-Ora camp at Scone.
Aside from her regular performances and touring with Bob Corbett and the Roo Grass band as fiddle player, mandolin player and backing vocalist, Sue teaches both contemporary and classical singing at community and tertiary level at the Newcastle University Conservatorium.
She is currently doing post-graduate study in tertiary teaching which allows her to explore and research new possibilities and practices in authentic assessment particularly for contemporary students. This essentially means facilitating more public and real life performance scenarios for her students and increasing their awareness of the industry as a whole. Her own performance experience in this domain is a valuable resource for her to relay to her students.
Sue also worked for Freewheels Theatre in Education Company for 2 years in the early nineties touring NSW schools presenting educational short plays on topics such as bullying and domestic violence.
Sue has been nominated for several CONDA’s (City of Newcastle Drama Awards) including best professional actress as “Beatrice” in Hunter Valley Theatre Company’s The Venetian Twins (1996), “Susanna” in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (2004), and best supporting actress as “Queen of the Night “in Mozart’s Magic Flute (2009).
She also played “Heloise” in the debut performances of local original production Abelard and Heloise by Ross Fiddes and Paul Kavanagh.
An award winning multi-instrumentalist (violin, guitar and mandolin),
Sue is probably best known around Newcastle for her band work having fronted several quality outfits such as National Bush Band Champions Sligo Maid , pop trio Love That Hat, duo SMS with Michael Stove (The Sue and Mikey Show) and of course, the Roo Grass band with Bob Corbett.
Robbie Long
(Guitar, Dobro, Lap Steel, Mandolin, Bass, Percussion, Backing Vocals)
Rob is the 2010 and 2008 Australian Flatpicking Guitar Champion (Tamworth Country Music Festival)
“…undoubtedly one the country’s finest flatpickers…” – Rhythms Magazine, March 2008
Guitarist Robbie Long is a multi-instrumentalist who has covered miles of styles in his weird & wonderful career. He has been a ‘working man’s musician’ since leaving school, walking the boards with countless acts on stages and in studios over the past thirty years in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Ireland.
Although Rob has jazz/rock foundations, he has gathered tools from a spectrum of musical genres through his musical journeys, adding spice and depth to his playing. His repertoire spans bluegrass, Irish trad, gypsy jazz, blues, rock and fusion.
As well as playing solo & with his own ensemble, Rob is currently working with Bob Corbett and the Roograss band , and with roots-based trio ‘Jimmy the Fish’, featuring dobro player Pete Fidler and bassist/vocalist Liz Frencham. He also works with the Aussie King of Vaudeville Mic Conway, and toured recently with The Captain Matchbox Whoopee band.
Rob has performed at most of Australia’s major festivals, including Woodford, The National Folk Festival, Port Fairy, Illawarra Folk Fest, and Tamworth. He has had work featured on the Daily Planet on Radio National 2007. He also appeared on the soundtrack for the film ‘Australia’. A respected Australian guitarist, he has also performed onstage with a host of legendary Aussie guitar pickers, including Joe Robinson, Rod McCormack, Phil Emmanuel, Micheal Fix, Bruce Mathiske, Nick Charles, Phil manning and Lloyd Spiegel.
Rob is now a seasoned sound engineer and music producer. He has been the owner/operator of recording studio in Newcastle for ten years, and during that time has produced and recorded literally hundreds of projects, including CDs, demos, jingles & soundtracks.
He also has a long history in music education and instrumental tuition. He began giving private guitar and drum lessons as a young high school student, and has made one-on-one teaching a large part of his career and livelihood to date, teaching in music shops and privately.
In 2000 he completed a Batchelor of Arts in language and music, and in 2001 he attained a Diploma of Education (Secondary). This led to several years of High school teaching in the music departments of Newcastle High, and Lambton High.
In 2003 he also began teaching in the music department at several Hunter TAFE campuses ( Tighes Hill, Wyong, Ourimbah), specialising in music technology, recording and live sound. This involved teaching adults, as well as the TVET programme.
As an award-winning instrumental specialist, Rob is often called on to give workshops and perform in ‘guitar showcases’ at music festivals across the country – including The National Folk Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Blue Mountains Blues and Roots Festival etc.
As well as all this, he is quite stunning to look upon, ‘wowing’ fellow members at the local gym with his awesome physique, and amazing shows of sheer strength and agility. He has also recently taught himself how to fly a stealth bomber, how to perform emergency brain surgery ‘on the track’, and how to derail an entire coal train with just one toothpick! Amazingly, he survived a recent trip to the ‘deep south’ without choking on a Winn Dixie chilli wing, or being shot by street trash. He also makes a pretty mean lamb korma.
Dave Carter
(Bass, Banjo, Bagpipes, Backing Vocals, Percussion)
Performing professionally for over three decades, Dave has played, or sung on countless albums, singles, soundtracks, TV and radio beds. On the live front, Alex Smith Band, Ian Moss Band, Moving Pictures, 24 Strings, Bob Corbett & the Roo Grass Band, Mark Wells, Bliss, Special Branch, Loonatic Fringe, Love That Hat, and The Funbusters, make up a portion of Daves credits. Throughout Australia , and the world, Dave has performed at hundreds of venues, as well as many festivals, in front of intimate and enormous audiences, leaving crowds excited and satisfied.
