by Adrian Miller.
The following is based on an interview conducted with Dave by Clayton Werner and myself on Songcatcher on Radio Adelaide on Mon 10 Feb, 2025.
You have been a folk singer and songwriter for more than 50 years now, and have been recognised by the SA Music Hall of Fame for your contribution to original music. Do you have any recordings of your songs available?
I’ve just finished going once a week to a lovely studio at Forest Range, just out of Uraidla, called Forest Range Studios to record some songs, and put together a bit of a compilation album. One that’s got some old songs from previous years, it’s got some songs with my late wife who I sang with for 25 years, plus it’s got some new songs as well. Believe it or not there are 17 songs – I believe they just fit onto a CD!! It’s something I needed to do – take in your history, look at the present, but you also have to move on.
You and your late wife Kate ran the Singing Gallery in McClaren Vale for 25 years?
That was a great venue – it took a lot of looking after, but it was a great experience. we had so many young bands from interstate – quite a few acts that are now quite famous came through the Singing Gallery. I discovered after a while that they wanted to come because they all started to understand that I cooked a meal, they would always ask if we were going to feed them when they came. But they loved it.
Please tell us about the venue The Singing Gazebo in Clarendon. This is actually on your property? How long has it been a venue and how did it become one?
After 25 years at the Singing Gallery, there came a time to move on. I’m not a young man, and there comes a time when you can’t climb up a ladder to fix the roof. The time had come to move on. Because we lived in Clarendon down by the river, it’s a really beautiful spot, My son said if you don’t have the Singing Gallery you’d better build something in your garden. We had enough garden to build a Gazebo – it’s a very lovely building, an eight-sided building with beautiful acoustics and it’s – people find it delightful. That’s where most of our shows are happening now.
You have travelled all around the world. Where are some of the favourite places being a folk singer has taken you?
As a folkie you have to travel a lot if you want to make a living and I’ve toured a lot in many places but I’ve always made the Adelaide Hills my home, and it’s always good to come back.
We used to tour for the Arts Council, so we flew all around the Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, in a light aircraft. That was pretty scary, I don’t really like flying that much. But that was quite an experience going to many aboriginal communities, singing and writing a few songs. Plus I’m actually a Pom, so I occasionally go back to the UK and England to sing a bit. I’ve been down The Franklin of course, singing against the dam on the Franklin, and I’ve also sung in America, at Portland University.
But my main journey is going to India, I have been taking groups – I’m basically a tour guide believe it or not, it’s a musical journey mainly to Himachal Pradesh in India, and that’s where the Dalai Lama lives, the foothills of the Himalayas, at a place called Dharamshala – many people have been there. There is a song on the album that was recorded there.
This is not your first Adelaide Fringe performance?
A few years ago Kate and I did a reconciliation concert for the Fringe, and we had quite a lot of Ngarindjeri people came, Kate was a teacher down at Meningie, and she worked with the indigenous people there.
You have recently published a book of songs, stories and poems. Is the book still available? Will you be performing songs from the book at the concert?
Yes I’ve published a book with 100 songs, poems and stories, I’m pretty pleased with it. A lot of people in their life keep a diary. I’ve never kept a diary, but my life is contained in the songs I write. They tell my story. There are copies still around, and will be available at Fringe shows.
There are still regular concerts at the Singing Gazebo including morning concerts for tour groups? How do people contact you to arrange a morning concert?
I have a lot of tour groups coming – Seniors clubs, Apex, Probus, that sort of thing. They come for morning coffee or tea, and I do a concert for them. People ring me and say we’d like to bring a group up – it could be any group. Anybody can contact – as long as I get 20 people I’ll do a concert and morning tea. I make damper, gourmet damper! And I have a few different friends that come along and do a tall story or a ballad.
What can people expect to see and hear at the Dave Clark Folk Singer Concert in the Adelaide Fringe 2025? Will the concerts be solo performances or will there be other people joining you?
I’ve got a few friends coming to play with me, that are on the album so it will be a collection of the songs on the album plus some of the stories, an interval for some damper, and espresso coffee. You can bring a drink with you. All set in a lovely venue under the cliffs of the Onkaparinga, down at Clarendon.
Is there anything you wish to add to encourage people to come along to see Dave Clark Folk Singer Concert?
I’d love to see you there!
Dave Clark Folk Singer Concert plays at Domain Theatre Marion Cultural Centre at 2pm Fri 21 Feb and at the Singing Gazebo, Clarendon at 2pm Sun 16 Mar and 2pm Sun 23 Mar. Tix available HERE.
You are also running some other shows at the Singing Gazebo during the Fringe?
I decided to do some Gazebo Sessions, as I call them, so I asked my friend Paul Reynolds to get a little group together to do a folk concert. So one of the sessions will be a concert of folk music. Then there will be a morning ukulele session for anyone wanting to learn ukulele. And for the third session my son will be coming over from Melbourne and bringing his family, so we’ll be having a nice family concert!
Singing Gazebo Sessions Clarendon plays at various times from Sun 23 Feb to Sun 2 Mar at the Singing Gazebo Clarendon. Tix available HERE.
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