A SHORT HISTORY OF RESTLESS MUSIC
Restless Music is one of the longest running "little labels" in Australia.

Restless was started by Penny Davies & Roger Ilott back in 1983 in the backyard of a rented cottage in Balmain, NSW. After recording their first two LPs of their own work, Penny & Roger branched out and began recording compilation albums for folk performeres in the Sydney area. These small runs of LPs (Workers In The Field - Volume 1 and 2, Under Southern Skies) were done as collective projects with everyone involved putting up money for the pressings and covers, and Penny & Roger doing the recording for free. They then recorded an LP Wilderness - Songs for Conservation and the Environment especially for the Wilderness Society.

JOHN BROOMHALL was an early convert to the Restless Studio - after recording his first album Broken Hill Miner elsewhere for his Tindola label, his following three albums were recorded at Restless in Balmain. The albums were Free As The Breeze (including the track Wild & Free/Song of the Trees - as heard on Australia All Over), Drifting Down The Darling and The Days When The Anzecs Were New.Some of these albums have since been reissued by the Illawarra Folk Club on CD.

PETER KEARNEY also recorded several albums at Restless for his Crossover label at the Balmain studios in the 1980's.

GARY SHEARSTON was the latest in a long line of artists spanning nearly 30 years of recording history at Restless. Gary recorded Best Of All Trades, Renegade and The Great Australian Groove at the Restless Studio for Undercover Music. These albums were followed by REVERENTLY, HILLS OF ASSISI and PATHWAYS OF A CELTIC LAND which were all released posthumously on the Restless label.

Just some of the people we've recorded at RESTLESS MUSIC 1983-2014

Penny Davies & Roger Ilott, Gary Shearston, Gordon Bok & Carol Rohl, Dave de Hugard, Bob & Margaret Fagan, Denis Kevans, John Dengate, Skewiff,
Spangled Drongoes, Bill Scott, Lee Williams, John Broomhall, Julie McGonigal, Margaret Walters, Wayne Gillespie, Harry Robertson, Richard Brooks,
Vincent P. Brophy, Gill Rees, Alan Scott, Chris Kempster, Peter Kearney, Jill Stevens, Jim Gregory, Sonia Bennett, Mark Davidson,
Lionel O'Keeffe, Sharon Doro, Murrumbidgee Whalers, Phil Hungerford, Jenny Shimmin, Teri Welles, Paul Best,
Rusty Dusty Bros, Sticky's Mob, Celtic Cowboys, John Warner, Phaedra, Kerrie Maguire

A Downloadable Double Album Sampler featuring many of these artists - entitled BALMAIN TO STORM KING - is now available on CD BABY

Click here for BACK CATALOGUE

WEBSITES OF INTEREST:
CD BABY
The Folk Rag
Trad & Now

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