FOR Queensland melodic-folk duo Busby Marou, the year 2011 will certainly go down as one to remember - for both the right and wrong reasons.
It got off to the most devastating start when the worst floods disaster in Australian history unleashed its fury on the pair's native central Queensland town of Rockhampton.
“My mum and dad's house was under for almost two months,” Tom Busby told Community.
“And my three brothers' construction and transport business went under, so they were out of action for a few months too.
“And my house in Brisbane went under as well…it was pretty full-on.”
Slowly but surely, things turned around.
In June, Busby and musical companion Jeremy Marou released their self-titled debut LP.
Dazzling with beautiful harmonies and speaking of quintessential central Queensland landscapes and experiences like taking the boat out to Great Keppel Island for a spot of fishing and driving out to Five Rocks Beach, it garnered glowing press reviews.
High rotation from Nova and Triple J helped the album climb to number 24 on the ARIA charts and soon enough, the boys secured coveted support act slots for the likes of Canadian crooner KD Lang and pop cultural icon Dolly Parton for her first tour Down Under in almost three decades.
“I jagged a photo with her last night (at the Hunter Valley show) and I generally don't get star-struck, but this was a different experience altogether,” Busby said.
“She hasn't had a support act since 1976 - and that was her current guitarist. He ended up opening for us yesterday!”
But perhaps their biggest ever triumph - alongside winning a Deadly Award and the Indigenous category at Brisbane's Q Song Awards last year (Marou is Torres Strait Islander) - was featuring on the Neil and Tim Finn tribute album, He Will Have His Way.
But the opportunity could just as easily have slipped.
“We were on Mornington Island up north and someone had read a good review in the Sydney Morning Herald and saw we were Finn fans, and through a stroke of luck, the producer of the Finn album tried to get hold of us,” Busby shared.
“But we had no phone reception so my sister sent a message to the island and all we got from one of the Indigenous elders was: you have to call your sister Loretta…Neil Finn is trying to get to you.
“We thought it must be a joke. We got back to the mainland, called the producer, called work and told them we couldn't come in for another three days and went straight into the studio to sing the Better Be Home Soon cover.”
A memorable year indeed.
Busby Marou play The Boulevard, Joondalup, on November 30; Norfolk Basement, Fremantle, on December 2; Indi Bar, Scarborough, on December 3; The Bird, Northbridge, on December 4.
Emilia Vranjes