Stories From the Road

We know there's so many ways to enjoy this glorious countryside of ours, but here's some ideas to get your imagination going. Each journey has been individually honed - some from parts of bigger roadtrips, some customised to take in smaller yet equally wonderful towns, and all designed to end at a Festival of Small ... Read more

Festival of Small Halls is inviting Woodfordians to come away west with our merry band of musicians this Spring and see the outback as never before – in the seat of a local, in a place where the walls are lined with treasured memories. The Jellyman’s Daughter (SCO) together with Ash Bell and Sara Tindley (AUS) will travel from Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival in the lush rolling hills … Read more

Festival of Small Halls has announced that a new partner festival has joined their family to co-present The Jellyman’s Daughter (SCO) together with Ash Bell and Sara Tindley (AUS) on the upcoming Spring Tour 2019: Dorrigo to Queenscliff. Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival joins Queenscliff Music Festival to partner on the Spring Tour 2019, which … Read more

The Festival of Small Halls Autumn 2019 run smashed through all our records – the highest number of shows on a Small Halls tour (25), the highest number of sold out shows on a Small Halls tour (seven) and the longest ever spent on one Small Halls tour (seven weeks). The outcomes achieved over the ... Read more

Next show in Week 3 we have Hallston, the perfect name for Small Halls! And it seems the crowd lived up to their name… Hallston, What a fabulously rowdy bunch. NL all the way over here. Ha. I don’t think anyone on tour sang as loud, clapped as loud and kept us on our toes … Read more

Week 3 continues the tour with some fun loving and beautiful crowds coming into the shows. Some cheeky audience members were found too down at Merton… Dear Merton, You rocked the night. What a super fun crowd you were. What a feast we had. Great caterers. To the young girl helping her mom and sister, … Read more

Week 2 of the tour continues in some amazing towns with some amazing food! Wycheproof was up next, and it seems like the homesickness has manifested from emotional to physical… Dear Wycheproof, What a cough I had when I got in! Battled it for a week. It tried to take me out by the time … Read more

Week 2 of the tour is up and running, and it’s mind blowing how amazing all of the regional communities are. First show of the week; Goroke! And it was the teens of the community that amazed our tour party… Dear Goroke, We arrived early so we could do a singer/songwriter workshop for the students … Read more

The Once and John Flanagan continue on their Small Halls tour! Just when you thought their stories couldn’t get better, these next few towns brought a whole new level! The next town they went on to visit was the friendly community in Orroroo, which includes the friendly animals too… Dear Orroroo, When we pulled into … Read more

On the road they go! The Once and John Flanagan have finished their first week on the road, and they have a few stories to share. They started in South Australia, first visiting the small town of Allendale East… Dear Allendale East, Do you know you were our first Small Halls show? We came into … Read more

Sold out shows, wild animals and community support, pretty much sums up what Festival of Small Halls, Summer Tour 2019 looked like for Liam Gerner and Fru Skagerrak. A road trip like no other from Queensland down to Cygnet, Tasmania, back up to Bowenville and all in between.  Full of laughter, folk music and new … Read more

As we look towards the change of the seasons, we invite you to grab a cup of tea and come on a journey with us… Look back through the Spring/Summer that was 2018/19. We toured six musical acts through three states on three tours. We performed 96 shows at 58 small halls, five of Australia’s … Read more

When we are invited to a community, it is with open hearts and gratitude we accept the invitation.  Festival of Small Halls is an advocate for the rural communities it partners with – many of the communities we visit are trying to save their small halls.  With what most call “progress”, we are seeing more … Read more

There is a saying out here on the road to Australia’s Small Halls, “if these floors could talk, what stories would they tell?”  Most of the halls that open their doors to us were built in the era of Saturday night community dances, a time when most people were born and raised in the same … Read more

Scandinavian folk trio Fru Skagerrak and Australian troubadour Liam Gerner have arrived in Tasmania to begin a five week journey across Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland with the Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour 2019. Australian touring musician Liam Gerner is looking forward to the stories and characters dotted through the regional landscapes of … Read more

Week 3 We kick off week 3 with Melbourne Cup day and a public holiday in the town of Aramac!  Our hosts fell in love the the Kimberley boys, and according to the MC Dawn ‘The Best’ James, Harry & Elwood were lucky all the local ladies were married because otherwise they wouldn’t have been … Read more

Week two kicks off with a ‘Bandivesary’ – 19 years together for Madison Violet in Wallumbilla. We definitely have a festival vibe with the local school band and markets pumping as the sun goes down! After the show, Harry & Elwood got chatting to residents local to the area for 83 years and were told the … Read more

Stories from the road – on tour with Tour Manager Aimee Gray With four folk musicians, four guitars, a banjo, a fiddle and plenty of bunting we hit the road to our first small hall ‘Rocky Creek’. As we meander down the dirt road keeping an eye out for the wallabies cooling off in the … Read more

The announcement of Fru Skagerrak (NOR/DEN/SWE) and Liam Gerner (AUS) is set to deliver a musically dynamic experience of contrasts against the classic backdrop of Australia’s Small Halls. Armed with matching love for the stories of our time, these two gifted outfits are joining the call of rekindling the time-old tradition of gathering in the … Read more

Twenty regional, rural and remote presenters are readying their halls for the upcoming Festival of Small Halls Spring Tour. They’re recruiting their teams, they’re sprucing the halls and they’re perfecting the scones. Importantly, they’re also supporting members of their community living through the drought. A Festival of Small Halls show is pretty easy on the … Read more

In an exciting coup for Woodfordia’s Festival of Small Halls, we can announce that the Summer Tour 2018 will feature Canada’s two-time JUNO Award winner, Old Man Luedecke and Australian folk festival favourite Lucy Wise. These incredible musicians bring a lifetime of stories and an unbelievable swag of talent to twenty community halls across regional, … Read more

Acclaimed Canadian multi-instrumentalists Madison Violet and rising Kimberley star Harry Jakamarra will join the Festival of Small Halls tour in 2018, playing 20 community halls across outback Queensland and New South Wales throughout October and November. The harmony of family is strong between these talented musicians – Juno-nominated Madison Violet met in Toronto in 1999, … Read more

Being part of the Small Halls Crew you always hear the same question along the road.  What is the next stop?  You tell them and no matter if it is forty-five minutes, two or five hours down the road, most of the time we get the same response, “never heard of it.”  My answer is … Read more

Another month, another tour! The team have just left the Port Fairy Folk Festival with Dave Gunning and Claire Anne Taylor and now have another five weeks on tour before they can shower off the festival dust. Just joking, we let them shower. But seriously – wow! What a weekend. Full of kind people, amazing … Read more

I’ve joined the guys on tour at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, and I have to say, the buildings in this town just blow me away! So old, so quirky, so beautifully preserved… almost gives the feeling you’ve stepped back in time. I caught Dave’s show in this church, and the light coming through was … Read more

Our Production Manager Harry has hit the road for the three day journey from Brisbane to Adelaide… but there’s a roadblock!

One of the most memorable moments from our Festival of Small Halls adventure happened when we were driving through Bulli in NSW and JD spotted an old box on the front lawn of a house that was clearly being chucked out for council pickup day. It was full of trophies! JD jumped out of the … Read more

The Penguins at Sulphur Creek – JD Edwards, The Small Glories  Summer Tour 2018 – Cygnet to Illawarra  We pulled into Sulphur Creek after a beautiful drive along the coast of Northern Tasmania with the Wynyard and Stanley shows ahead of us. The Sulphur Creek Hall was right across the road from the ocean and … Read more

It’s been a beautiful tour so far. We’ve left Tasmania behind and made it back to the mainland. Performing with The Small Glories at the Illawarra Folk Festival here in Bulli, NSW! Had a moment of zen at the beach this morning, missing my family big time! Wish they could be here with me today! … Read more

Whilst on the road the team found a cafe in Triabunna that served a Canadian breakfast! You could only imagine how excited The Small Glories got. Maybe so excited they had to pose for a picture?

Just saw some of the most interesting artwork I have ever witnessed. Incredible pieces of paint, sculpture, video and light and everything in between! Even a “poo” Machine! As pictured here. – JD

Craig Perkins, Mayor of Rosevale shares some insight into the night and a joke about a banjo…

#Tasmania we love you already! What a place… We’re so fortunate to be on tour with such an incredible team. Thank you, Woodford Folk Festival! First show of the Festival of Small Halls Australia kicks off tonight in Rowella. Gorgeous space & great sound.

Vance tells us about his time in Rainbow Beach

I’m writing this in Yeppoon, a small coastal town in Queensland near Rockhampton. The view out of the hotel window is pretty good. Straight onto the ocean across the road. But I’m inside trying to book a car with frequent flyer points. Turns out that’s disproportionately time consuming. The glamour of touring. I’ll definitely be … Read more

Vance Gilbert has been getting snap happy on the road – check some of his shots out in this post!

Vance plays at the small hall in Cooranga North

On his 18th day in Australia, Vance travels out west to Texas.

Vance tells us of his adventures in Brisbane , the people he met and the food he ate.

Vance Meets Berry, the motel dog.

Vance tells us about his day off and a cow sighting

Vance tells us about his Airbnb and an encounter with a huntsman

Vance goes on an adventure to kind a Kangaroo

Vance tells us about his experience at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and his workshops at state schools.

Vance Gilbert tells us about his time at the Mullum Folk Festival

Vance Gilbert tells us about his first show in Wyreema and the wonderful people he has met.

Vance Gilbert tells us of his Aussie experiences in day two of his Australian tour!

Check out Vance Gilbert’s first day in Australia!  

Hi friends! Vance Gilbert, our international touring artists for the Summer Tour 2017 – Mullum to Woodford. Check out the first instalment of his tour diary below!

Queensland Summer Tour 2017 Is Announced Woodfordia Inc are proud to announce the Festival of Small Halls will be returning to the roads of Queensland and New South Wales in November 2017. The first Festival of Small Halls tour to hit Queensland since 2015 officially runs from Mullum Music Festival to Woodford Folk Festival, visiting … Read more

Woodfordia Inc recently received the marvellous news that the Queensland Summer Tour 2017 will be supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Arts Queensland, a long supporter of Woodfordia Inc, supports Festival of Small Halls through the Playing Queensland fund. This fund is designed to maximise opportunities for regional Queensland communities to experience high quality … Read more

Welcome, friends. You may notice our website is looking a little different from the last time you visited – we’ve created a fresh look to celebrating returning to the roads after a year of clipped wings. After our tour of Victoria in 2016, we realised that this project needed more if we were to keep … Read more