Hamilton County Bluegrass Band
Line-Up:
Dave Calder (Mandolin / Guitar / Vocals)
Paul Trenwith (Banjo / Vocals)
Alan Rhodes (Guitar / Banjo / Mandolin / Vocals)
Colleen Bain (Trenwith) (Fiddle)
Len Cohen (Bass Guitar)
Lindsay Bedogni (Guitar / Vocals)
The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band were a group of musicians from the Auckland and Hamilton area who formed a group to play mainly folk and bluegrass music. They formed around the end of 1966 and released a self-titled album in 1967. 1968 saw their first single on RCA called "Barefoot Nellie"/"I'll Never Hold You In My Arms Again". A switch to the Kiwi label for 1968 and 1969 saw two singles, an EP and four albums. The albums were "Recorded Live At Poles Apart", "Country Touch", "Yesterday's Gone" and "Two Shades Of Bluegrass".
Len Cohen was the first member to leave the band. Another switch to HMV in 1970 brought the group to the attention of the public. They started appearing on television and gained a popular following. The television series "The Country Touch" gave the band considerable popularity throughout New Zealand. Their first HMV single was "Carolina On My Mind"/"Roll Muddy River". They entered "Carolina On My Mind" into the 1970 Loxene Golden Disc Awards, where it became a finalist. It was included on their HMV album called "Fifth Season". From this album came another single "Hey Boys"/"Proud Mary". They repeated their success of 1970 by getting "Hey Boys" into the finals of the 1971 Loxene Gold Disc Awards.
The "Fifth Season" album was recorded in the Wellington HMV studios in 1970, and with the production skills of Peter Dawkins, captured the energy of the music with contemporary recording techniques, producing an album distinctly different from its predecessors. The band had been together since 1967, and the experience gained in three years of concerts, TV shows and performances showed with the tight, polished sounds of this album.
A second HMV album was released in 1971, called "Live At The Wynyard Tavern", after which a move to the Columbia label took place.
Two singles, "You"/"Gentle Ways Of Loving Me" and "Mercedes Benz"/"Old Times (It's Easy To Forget)" came out in 1971 and 1972 respectively. There were also two albums for Columbia, "For You" and "Kersbrook Cottage" along with an EP "Live At Tamworth". Kiwi released another album in 1974 called "Country Road".
A trip to the USA in 1971 had finally taken the band to the source of much of its music, and a new enthusiasm was evident in performances and choice of material. They refined their sound during tours with the Slim Dusty Show throughout Australia, together with regular performances in clubs, universities and folk music venues, until they were given the opportunity to record "Kersbrook Cottage" at EMI's Sydney studios.
"Kersbrook Cottage" was recorded in 1972. By this time Dave Calder and Lindsay Bedogni had left the band and they were replaced respectively by Graham Lovejoy and Miles Reay. The move to Australia introduced them to a new audience and new opportunities, with a new sound that was firmly based on the earlier band, but which leaned in different directions.
The tune that many consider to be the signature tune of the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, was "Orange Blossom Special". This was recorded in Sydney in 1975 and the line-up had changed somewhat by then. Colleen, Paul and Graham were still there, but new was Anne Kirkpatrick on bass and Colin Watson on guitar.
The band basically folded at the end of 1975 when Paul and Colleen left. A final album was released by Axis in 1978 called "Orange Blossom Special".
Paul Trenwith and wife Colleen Trenwith went on to record four albums after they left the group. Recording as Paul and Colleen Trenwith, the first in 1976 was "Fresh From The Country" and again in 1986 "Brand New Day". The other two albums were released as Trenwiths and Friends, and were inspirational albums called "Gospel" in 1979 and "Now To The King" in 1987.
In the late 90's, an album of all new material, called Encore, was released. The line-up had Paul, Colleen, Dave Calder, Alan Rhodes, and Jeremy Trenwith, the son of Paul and Colleen. This line-up played periodically from around 1994 to 2001.
In the early days of the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, Dave Calder and his wife Andrea recorded a couple of singles, an EP and an album as Dave and Panda. The first single was actually by Dave and Panda and the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band. The album in 1969 was called "Come In Stranger".
In 2002 EMI released a very best of CD, which contains tracks mainly from there two albums "Fifth Season" and "Kersbrook Cottage".
