A Melbourne sound that is at once both rakish and debonair.
So what specifically is it about Melbourne that, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, it’s able to support around 465 live music venues as compared to 453 in New York, 385 in Tokyo and 245 in London despite its population being a fraction of those major world cities?
Despite the flaky weather, the footy and Netflix, Melburnians are committed to going out at night and in great numbers in heat or hail to listen to live music and to find those bands and singers they’ve heard on Spotify or discovered on Soundcloud.
Is this a new thing—a passing fad? No! Melbourne has been a live music capital for generations, arguably for almost a century, and the story of how it became an internationally recognised live music capital is amazing. Roots is the history of live music in Melbourne, from jazz to blues, country, folk, rhythm and blues to rock, and the socio-political stories of those musicians who played what they wanted, when they wanted, without a damn.
The Author
Craig Horne has been a public servant and speechwriter and also a musician on the Melbourne scene over the last forty-eight years. As a teenager, Daddy Cool inspired him to take up the guitar and play in a rock and roll band of his own, eventually performing alongside Wayne, Gary and sometimes Hanna as members of his band The Hornets. His first book was Daddy Who? released in 2018.
Published by Melbourne Books, Roots is on sale now.
The public launch of Roots will be held on December 7, 2019 at the Caravan Music Club. For tickets, book here.
