Australia’s favourite piano man, Tim Freedman blends songs and stories in his latest solo outing ‘Tim Freedman’s Moonlit Deck’ at Kingston Butter Factory in May.
The ‘Moonlit Deck’ shows see The Whitlams’ frontman perform from his back catalogue, accompanied by Ollie Thorpe on pedal steel guitar, and charm audiences with stories about the songs.
It’s a fairly laidback format Tim happily dubs ‘roots cabaret’. “I am adding some songs from the past three albums that I haven’t done solo for a long time,” Tim says.
“For the past four years I’ve been doing the first four albums a lot, so I’ve shifted my focus to the more recent material. I’m doing a few songs from my solo album [‘Australian Idle’] in 2011, like ‘Back When We Were Beautiful’ and ‘Peter Brown’, which are lesser known songs from my repertoire. I’m doing quite a lot from ‘Kookaburra’, the country album from last year.
“Then when I do the well-known songs, I like to offer a few little anecdotes about some surprising background on the lyrics or music stories on how we promoted the song in the old days.
“It’s a good natured, good-humoured show. We manage to do lots of different soundscapes even though there are only two of us, and it will only get better as the month goes on. Brisbane, I think, is the last one so the wheels will be well and truly greased by then.”
Between The Whitlams and his solo career, Tim has, in his own words, “played every dunny in the country” over the past 30-odd years. He says playing solo and duo shows with a stripped-back stage configuration in smaller rooms keeps him working outside of major tours with the band.
“Last year Ollie and I did 40 or 50 dates as a duo,” Tim says. “We get to go to charming places like the Gulgong Opera House [Prince Of Wales] 30 minutes north of Mudgee and play for audiences that aren’t spoilt for choice. They’re ripe for the converting.”
The Kingston Butter Factory ticks all the right boxes for Tim. Situated south of Brisbane and north of the Gold Coast in the City of Logan, the Council-funded venue provides a vital connection between artists and their audiences who live outside metropolitan areas.
“The band played at the opening of that facility on the outdoor stage about three years ago and I looked at the theatre then, got a tour of it, so I know what to expect,” Tim says.
“It’s a lovely soft-seat theatre, about 200 [capacity]. Just perfect for cabaret. I wish there was a little room like this in every suburb because I could work every weekend of the year.
“This one’s in Logan and people say ‘why out there?’ And I say ‘well, because it’s a great theatre and they fill it. Why wouldn’t you go there?
“If the council is going to build that sort of place and book artists in it, it can only be good for the local area and it’s great to support. There’s not enough of these places in Australia.”
