WELCOME - 2017.05.27

Garry Hayes, recently won the Maldon Folk Festival’s - 2016 Maldon Minstrel Award.

This award is based on live, acoustic only performance of a number of original songs. Judges look for musicianship, quality and interest in the song writing, stage presence, audience appeal etc.

Garry is based in the Shire of Nillumbik - North-East of Melbourne, Victoria.

He has performed for over 40 years in bands and as a soloist.  He is a skilled and versatile guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and accompanist and has performed extensively in the local area at hotels, restaurants, wineries, and community and post-bushfire events. He has also performed at festivals throughout Victoria – Maldon, Hurstbridge Wattle Festival, Red Cliffs, Burke & Wills, Girgarre, Halls Gap Jazz Fest and Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Much of his performance is now as a soloist – guitar, vocal and looping pedal in a folk-rock-country style.

Garry writes and performs his own songs on local, historic, social and political themes. His first major CD is “The Heritage Songs of Hurstbridge”

For the Minstrel Award he presented two of his latest songs ‘Let’s Get This Country Moving’ - a political statement about trade, the plight of the farmers and mining plus a more philosophical song, “Life’s a Game”

He was a finalist in the 2003 Port Fairy Songwriting Award with his CD title track ‘Beating Round the Bush’ linking The Canberra bushfires around that time with a certain US President.