26/08/2026
Sept 25-28th
Tickets available through Try Booking
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1609182
Let's Write a Bluegrass Song Workshop.
Boyup Brook based singer songwriter John Matthews is a talented multi-instrumentalist.
John’s melodic style of banjo picking and was honed during the“ Bush Band Dance craze of the ’80s. John is unique in his musical ability to improvise and accompany others in the acoustic music scene with performance experience in the Colonial, Celtic (Irish) and Bluegrass and Old Timey song and tunes. John often performs with Green Herring of Greenbushes .
John will offer a framework for an engaging, community-driven song writing workshop.
Linking the structural elements of bluegrass—a genre famous for its dramatic, fast-paced "train wreck" disaster ballads (like the Wreck of the Old 97)—with the historical tragedy of the Mornington-Wokalup Jubilee Train Disaster providing a raw emotional stake that will naturally fuel the audience's creativity.
Let's Write a Bluegrass Song (LWABGSS) workshop into four actionable phases.
Phase 1: The Bluegrass Engine
I will Introduce the genre through active listening. Show the audience that bluegrass storytelling relies on simple tools that anyone can use.
Phase 2: Unearthing the Wokalup History
Anchor the workshop in the rich, tragic history of the South West. Present the key facts of the 6 November 1920 crash as lyrical building blocks.
Phase 3: The Collaborative Brainstorm
Facilitate the transition from history to a collaborative creation, to turn the facts into sensory descriptions and rhythm.
Phase 4: Writing & Performing the Chorus
The audience's ideas will form a final, singable piece, allowing everyone the immediate satisfaction of seeing a song manifest in real-time.
Tickets still available Try booking
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1609182
