About the Festival

2009

2009 is the 20th anniversary for the Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival. We have secured some great acts from throughout NZ and Australia and we can confidently claim to have one of the best running festivals in Australasia.

This year I dedicate this festival to Henry Gerritsen who for the past 19 years has been a great supporter of the festival as a venue operator, a committee member and a great mate of the many musicians who have played or stayed at Haruru Falls Resort, earlier known as The Panorama Resort.

We have two musicians -- Peter Rawlings and Neil Anderson -- who will have participated in all 20 festivals alongside myself  having being involved with the organisation of this festival since the start. Fullers has been involved over the past 20 years with either bands on a music cruise or providing free passage to musicians to Russell and back.

Over this time I have seen so many changes in people's lives -- with births, weddings, deaths and lots of birthdays. It has been an absolute pleasure being invited to a lot of the musicians' special days. Through this festival I have clinched some very good friendships with musicians, their partners and the many devoted fans who have attended the festivals.

I thank the accommodation houses who give free accommodation for musicians and special guests.

Thank you to my husband who for 20 years has put up with me spending a lot of time organising this festival alongside the jazz and blues festival held in August, to my brother Trevor Ashby and to Basil Stewart who over the past years have helped out at the registration desk and with other things that crop up from time to time.

Last year saw the resignation of Anika & Steph of Blah Blah Marketing and the start of Collective Concepts Marketing Solutions with Kate & Brenda now helping with the marketing side of the festival.

Thank you to all venue owners/managers and their staff -- without these venues there would be no festival.

2008

Shirley knows the show must go on so three ladies have been co-opted to help her out with things. They are Anika Whapshott, Steph Godsiff & Bev Sharpe, and with their help the festival will continue to grow.

Our website continues to grow as well with the never-ending help of Donna Russell from E-builders NZ Ltd web design. She designed this site several years ago and continues to update it as news comes to hand. If anyone needs help with a website, contact Donna.

The line-dancing programme continues to grow and without Sue Orr’s tireless work into this programme it wouldn’t happen.

This event just doesn’t happen it takes a lot of organising over the year by very dedicated people

2007

Top billing in 2007 brought back Owen Blundell, Stephen Cheney & Grae Addison along with Stephen Anthony, Bidge Boyed, Billy Bridge & Rebecca LeNye all from Australia alongside our very own Marian Burns, Reg McTaggart, Margaret Bates, Joy Adams, Ray Solomon, Dennis Marsh, Roger Tibbs, The Galley Slaves and another 40 musicians all as popular and as good.  It also brought in a walk-up programme for anyone who wanted to have a go. This proved so popular that we decided to continue it in the next year's agenda. Sadly this year saw the resignation of Ross Brljevich who had been involved since 1992 and Mike Simm who joined the team in 1994, both feeling they had done their time and leaving their mate Shirley May on her own with the knowledge that they were still there to give her advice if she needed it. They are still strong supporters of the festival and now they will be able to come along and enjoy the weekend without the workload.

2006

The 17th Country Rock Festival welcomed a large number of supporters and musicians to make this the most popular festival of its kind in the country with its easygoing format, the variety, the organisation and the fun that is had by all over the three-day weekend. This year was no different. The format was the same, many of the faces familiar, some new artists, some new songs, and lots of laughs and many more friends to meet. Top billing this year was Stephen Pride from USA (brother of Charley) and our favourite Aussies David & Merelyn Carter, Laura Downing, Stephen Cheney, Alison Hams, Mark Tempany and Grae Addison. Also along was Jetty Road & Dale Hooper. Add to that some of the leading NZ Acts and we had a festival not to be missed.

2005

A line-up of 65 artists, including eight international acts, promised to make the 16th Annual festival another weekend to remember. From the early days of Country & Western, the festival has evolved into a popular community event, appealing to all agaes and all tastes as well as ranking as one of the premier country music events in Australasia.
Our life members register (10 years plus involvement) has continued to grow in numbers as testaments to the continuing enjoyment we all take from the festivals. This year included Roland Storm, Sandra Humphries, Mark Tempany, Alison Hams, Alan Webster & Grae Addison all from Australia and from the USA came Shane Warner & Kevin Sam to top the billing alongside our own NZ acts such as Joy Adams, Roger Tibbs, Dennis Marsh, James Ray, Reg McTaggart & Marian Burns plus a lot of others. As usual we all have our different favourites and have been pleasantly surprised with the talent on display. Our sponsors are also an integral part of the festival and we thank Lion Foundation, Lion Red, Montana, Nationwide rentals, and local business’s especially the local accommodation providers for their continuing support.

2004

The 15th Annual Festival gave us a chance to celebrate our longevity, our success and many wonderful friendships made since 1990. We proudly claimed to be NZ's finest and judging by the number of Aussies we have attracted, we are obviously a significant event in the Australian calendar.
Over the years, the successful format has evolved with 300 plus musicians now regularly enjoying a fun weekend of music, entertaining over 2500 appreciative fans. The music has evolved also over the years from hard-out country & western in 1990 to more modern and wider-appealing country rock that we had in 2004. Line dancers have also been welcomed to the festival with a special programme of their own. This year promised to be the best yet again with top entertainer & comedian from Australia Owen Blundell along with award-winning husband & wife duo Carter & Carter and another award winner Billy Bridge and brought back again by popular demand was Double Decker Dave, Michael King, Craig Byrne, Stephen Cheney & Laura Downing and from the USA was Sally Burgess & top guitarist Richard Smith. The NZ artists' list grew bigger than before with over 40 acts from as far as the South Island to the top of the North Island, this festival was proving to be the place to be in NZ by a lot of Australian & USA artists which started to lead to a large number of overseas artists being declined. Once again a great festival for 2004.

2003

2003 was our 14th festival with three artists from the USA — Jerry Hill, Sally Burgess and Kevin Greaves. Joining them were Craig Byrne, Mick Hearn, Tony Martin, Stephen R Cheney and Kerrigan La-Brooy, all from Australia. We had nine guests from the South Island and the other 50 bands from the North Island — all making it a weekend to remember.

2002

The 2002 festival saw more overseas artists than before with the first time appearance in New Zealand of James Intveld from L.A. & Carter & Carter from Australia. Donella & Chad Plane made a second trip and Stephen R Cheney his third appearance at the festival. New Zealander Kevin Greaves, John Kearns and Sally Burgess from Nashville joined the others to make it one our best shows ever. Not forgetting our own talent who travel from as far as Queenstown in the South to the North Cape at the top of the North Island.

2001

The year 2001 brought Donella Plane, Michael King & Stephen R Cheney from Australia. New Zealand artists included Dennis Marsh, Noel Parlane, Joy Adams, Reg McTaggart, Barry Croft, The Greaves Family, Kylie Austin and 60 other acts from all over the country.

2000

The year 2000 brought in top Australian artists once more with Corinna Cordwell, Terry Gordon, Stephen R Cheney and Yolande Gibson, who is New Zealand born but now living in Australia. A lot more top entertainers featured from throughout New Zealand. It also saw a rise in costs and badge prices had to rise to $25.

1999

Shirley May, Mike Simm & Ross Brljevich decided to limit the number of bands on the 1999 programme to 55 and to make a change in the name and call it The Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival. Queensland musicians Double Decker Dave, Laura Downing and Wayward Angels led the big Australian contingent at the festival that year and a large number of South Island performers were also present.

At least eight musicians have performed annually since the inception of the festival in 1990. The applause they deserve for their long support of the show will be shared with Fullers Bay of Islands and Shirley May, who have also been there from the beginning.

Festival organisers thank the principal sponsor New Zealand Breweries and the hotels, motels & Backpacker accommodation sites, all the other organisations and the individuals who have worked so hard to make the Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival so successful.

1998

Brian Letton returned for the ninth annual Bay of Islands Country Music Festival, while the American connection continued with performances by Kiwi from Nashville Kevin Greaves, one of the many talented offspring of the grandfather of New Zealand country music, the late Rusty Greaves, a regular performer at the festival until his death in 1998.

The 1998 festival sadly saw the retirement of Lois Pratt from the administration committee. . . leaving the other three members to grapple with the problem of accommodation for the musicians. Lois remains a strong supporter of the festival.

1997

The United States imports were a popular drawcard. So another Nashville performer Harmonica star Sammy Harp appeared at the eighth Bay of Islands Country Music Festival in 1997 along with Australian bush balladeer Brian Letton.

Entry to venues was formerly free, but costs were mounting and a $20 fee for a three-day pass was introduced to cover them. It brought some initial criticism, but the punters still packed the popular festival. A line dancing programme was introduced with the help of Sue Orr and the halls and streets were crowded with dancers stepping out in style.

1996

And the authentic American flavour continued in 1996 when Nashville singer songwriter Angela Kaset topped the bill among 60 other acts for the seventh festival.

1995

Overseas performers got into the act in 1995, when talented Nashville guitarist Thom Bresh led the line-up of 180 musicians on the programme for the sixth annual Bay of Islands Country Music festival.

1994

This year saw a new team organise the fifth annual festival with more than 140 musicians.
Fullers Bay of Islands director Mike Simm joined Shirley May, Lois Pratt and Ross Brljevich on the administration team and helped make it a year to remember with music on board the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway travelling between Opua and Kawakawa, dancing in the street and festivities extending to the Star hotel in Kawakawa.

1993

Mike Nettmann ended his involvement with the festival, The Lighthouse Tavern dropped out as a venue and more than 40 bands participated and the line-dancing craze was launched.

1992

The response from the musicians and the public anchored the festival as an annual event and only six months later, top performers such as Barry Croft, Brian Ringrose and Kitten had top billing among more than 90 musicians on stage at the third Country Music Festival in May 1992. It was also the year The Park Bay of Islands and Paihia Pacific Resort joined Fullers and the Haruru Falls venues to expand the number of festival locations to close to its present format. It was also the year Park Manager Ross Brljevich began his long and significant service with the administration of the Country Music Festival.

1991

A year later, the future of the festival was in doubt with the sale of the T.H.C. Waitangi to the Tai Tokerau Maori Trust Board and the departure of Mike Nettmann from the hotel. But he and his trusty lieutenants, Shirley and Lois, knew the show must go on. They found new venues at the Twin-Pines Hotel and Panorama Motor Lodge at Haruru Falls and the Lighthouse Tavern in Paihia, and the second annual Bay of Islands Country Music Festival was held on November 29th 1991.

1990

The first Bay of Islands Country Music Festival was held at the former Tourist Hotel Corporation Hotel at Waitangi - now called the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Bay of Islands on the 7th, 8th & 9th May 1990.

Mike Nettmann, resident pianist at the T.H.C. Waitangi, saw the potential for a country music festival organised along the same lines as the Bay of Islands Jazz Festival, which he had helped launch in 1985. He got the new festival going with the help of local country music fans and performers Shirley May and Lois Pratt.

Fifteen groups and individual musicians turned up for the first show, and the enthusiastic audiences which enjoyed their performances in two rooms at the hotel and on the Fullers boat cruises judged the inaugural Bay of Islands Country Music festival a big success.