Clelia Adams - Live at Mullum Fest, Civic Hall, Mullumbimby, July 13, 2025

Clelia Adams and band in full flight

Clelia Adams is a legend in Australia country music. And the weird thing is she never really set out to be one. The Italian immigrant who ran away from home at 16, ended up at pioneering music paper, Go-Set, before moving to WEA Records in the early 1970s both in Australia and overseas. But Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones weren't enough to keep her at the multinational record company and after a few years she quit the bright lights for Tamworth - with her then husband, Garry Adams - in search of country music. Garry, a founding member of the Australian prog group, Galadriel, whose self-titled 1971 LP remains one of the most collectible and revered Oz albums of all-time, had moved on from his psych folk and prog roots and into country and gospel so its Australian home was an ideal launching pad for the next phase in both their careers. It was 1974 and less than a year later Clelia was laying down her first backing vocals on a recording session in Tamworth. For the next 25 years she worked on nearly every country music recording in Tamworth chalking up hundreds of namechecks. She also took her muse on the road with the all-girl group, Skarlet, and was a member of the equally legendary New England Rangers, the first country rock group formed in Tamworth. By 2000 she had broken up with Garry, upped sticks, relocated to Mullumbimby, recorded her first solo album, Fine Company (in 1997), and decided to start writing her own songs at the tender age of 50. She became a superstar as her songs and albums not only soared up the Australian country music charts but broke big in the European market where she topped the International Top 40 CM Singles Chart on several occasions. This introduction is only necessary for the uninitiated. Any true Australian country music fan knows the multi-award winning Adams but, as this gig showed, Clelia is not a twang, yodel and boot scootin' hoedown kind of girl - although she can do it with the best of them when she wants to. No, Clelia Adams' tapestry is grown from the roots of country music and beyond. Songs by John Prine (Speed of the Sound of Loneliness), Hank Williams (Honky Tonk Blues), Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman (Sin City), Neil Young (Harvest Moon) and Catherine Britt (Hillbilly Pickin' Ramblin' Girl) dot a set list that does contain a yodelling song (her wink to the traditionalists) amid some of her biggest hits such River Valley Express and Wildflowers, arguably one of her best songs, Peel Street Buskers Lament, and traditional faves such as Don't Fence Me In and Jambalaya. it's a tour de force of country heartland made even better by the sheer brilliance of her band. This lady only works with the very best! From stage left to right: On guitar and vocals, Australian record producer (three times winner of the Country Music Awards of Australia Producer of the Year), multi-instrumentalist, songwriter (he has written more than 30 number-one country hits), Rod McCormack; accordionist, Jackson Church, who is also a multi-instrumentalist in the Church family band, The Haystack Mountain Hermits); Clelia Adams, lead vocals; her Mullumbimby partner in harmonies, Amber Weedon, known as Miss Amber for her adventures in Uke Night with her partner, Stu Eadie, who is next in line on stage. Eadie is household name for his work in the bands, Died Pretty, Karma County, The Whitlams and Clouds, and is one of the country's foremost Ukelele players. Finally on upright bass, one of Australia's most revered bass players and producers, Rod Coe, whose history is a book in its own right but let's just say he produced The Saints groundbreaking debut album and punk masterpiece (I'm) Stranded, was the permanent bass player and bandleader in Slim Dusty's Travelling Country Band for 25 years until Slim’s death in 2003, and produced around 30 of the legendary country musician's albums. That doesn't even touch the surface of the other bands he's played in and recorded, particularly across the 1970s and 1980s. The ease with which this line-up swings through the songs underscores the understated genius at play on stage, all fronted by Adams who hits the high notes with aplomb and confidence while conducting the performance with a wry smile and stories galore. You can tell she's a music girl through and through. She's been there, done that. A lot. She oozes roots.

Clelia Adams and her band are sweethearts of the rodeo in love with the heart and soul of country music. They don't make a lot of appearances these days but when they do it should be your next truck stop.

All photos © Mike Gee, 2025 She writes a mean book too. You can buy a copy of her great biography, One Of A Kind, from her website: https://www.cleliaadams.com

Check out the exclusive rehearsals report, Clelia Adams - The Mullum Sessions, with full gallery: https://www.gmuses.net/post/clelia-adams-the-mullum-sessions