ABOUT THE LIGHTFEET BAND
GARY LUCK
Gary has been playing guitar and writing songs ever since hearing the famous Canadian folk song, ‘Four Strong Winds’ outside his old home town of Melbourne in the early 60s. He has appeared on Melbourne television and has written a short play, with music, featuring incidents in the life and times of Gordon Lightfoot which led to two of Lightfoot’s biggest hits.
Gary met Gordon Lightfoot after a show at the Sun Theatre in Anaheim, California and spent half an hour talking him into one more tour of Australia. Sadly when the tour could not go ahead due to Lightfoot’s ill health Gary decided that the next best thing was to put together a tribute show in honour of the man and his music and take it to Australian audiences. And here we are, almost twenty years later celebrating ‘Sundown-The Gordon Lightfoot Story’.
Gary has been playing Lightfoot songs for over forty years as a solo artist or in various cover bands in and around Canberra such as Southern Exposure and No Fixed Address along with a few of his own originals. He has toured with Ross Ryan (I Am Pegasus) and several artists from the United States. Gary has also played in various parts of South East Asia where he translated Ralph McTell’s biggest hit “The Streets of London” into Indonesian, in the United States and has performed his own single ‘Blood On the Frangipani’, a song about the bombing of Darwin on national radio, live at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne and in the Northern Territory Parliament House during the annual commemorations of the bombing in Darwin on the19th February each year. When not touring he is currently working on his own album entitled ‘Imaginary Postcards - The Old Tobacco Tin.’
Gary is a member of APRA and is on the Board of Directors of the Australian Songwriters Association. He sometimes jokes that he and Gordon Lightfoot have two things in common. The same initials!
Gary has been playing guitar and writing songs ever since hearing the famous Canadian folk song, ‘Four Strong Winds’ outside his old home town of Melbourne in the early 60s. He has appeared on Melbourne television and has written a short play, with music, featuring incidents in the life and times of Gordon Lightfoot which led to two of Lightfoot’s biggest hits.
Gary met Gordon Lightfoot after a show at the Sun Theatre in Anaheim, California and spent half an hour talking him into one more tour of Australia. Sadly when the tour could not go ahead due to Lightfoot’s ill health Gary decided that the next best thing was to put together a tribute show in honour of the man and his music and take it to Australian audiences. And here we are, almost twenty years later celebrating ‘Sundown-The Gordon Lightfoot Story’.
Gary has been playing Lightfoot songs for over forty years as a solo artist or in various cover bands in and around Canberra such as Southern Exposure and No Fixed Address along with a few of his own originals. He has toured with Ross Ryan (I Am Pegasus) and several artists from the United States. Gary has also played in various parts of South East Asia where he translated Ralph McTell’s biggest hit “The Streets of London” into Indonesian, in the United States and has performed his own single ‘Blood On the Frangipani’, a song about the bombing of Darwin on national radio, live at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne and in the Northern Territory Parliament House during the annual commemorations of the bombing in Darwin on the19th February each year. When not touring he is currently working on his own album entitled ‘Imaginary Postcards - The Old Tobacco Tin.’
Gary is a member of APRA and is on the Board of Directors of the Australian Songwriters Association. He sometimes jokes that he and Gordon Lightfoot have two things in common. The same initials!
FRED PILCHER
Fred started playing the 12-string acoustic guitar in Sydney in the late 1960s, mentored by the likes of Doug Ashdown, Mike McLellan, Marion Henderson, Buddy Wilson and Phil Cuneen. He was a regular at PACT Folk, Sydney’s premier folk club. He was a member of Pat Drummond’s Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom Band, regulars in the Sydney music scene at the time and headlining at many of the university and protest movement concerts in aid of the anti-Viet Nam war movement. Pat’s web site retrospective refers to Fred as a “12-string guitar whiz kid”. Iva Davies(Icehouse) cites the band as a major influence.
After moving to Canberra in the mid-1970s, Fred played alongside a wide range of Canberra’s folk, rock and bluegrass luminaries including Mike Hayes (the Prickle farmer), Donal Baylor, Dave O’Neill, and others. He appeared on Eric Bogle’s 2000 CD, Endangered Species as well as on Gary Luck’s iconic CD tribute to the Darwin bombing “Blood on The Frangipani”. Fred’s playing and singing have appeared on a variety of ads and soundtracks and he was a regular, with a variety of bands and performers, at the National Folk Festival for many years. He played at one of the first National Folk Festivals in Adelaide in 1971. Recently he was a member of award-winning Craig Dawson’s spectacular tribute to Lord Byron, the Lord Byron Five.
Fred has recorded and produced songs and CDs for well known Celtic band Humbug and Irish/Australian guitar virtuoso Johnny Reynolds (a member of Fred’s own band, So Far So Good). He’s working on a 2-CD set with his old band with Pat Drummond and his brothers.
Fred started playing the 12-string acoustic guitar in Sydney in the late 1960s, mentored by the likes of Doug Ashdown, Mike McLellan, Marion Henderson, Buddy Wilson and Phil Cuneen. He was a regular at PACT Folk, Sydney’s premier folk club. He was a member of Pat Drummond’s Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom Band, regulars in the Sydney music scene at the time and headlining at many of the university and protest movement concerts in aid of the anti-Viet Nam war movement. Pat’s web site retrospective refers to Fred as a “12-string guitar whiz kid”. Iva Davies(Icehouse) cites the band as a major influence.
After moving to Canberra in the mid-1970s, Fred played alongside a wide range of Canberra’s folk, rock and bluegrass luminaries including Mike Hayes (the Prickle farmer), Donal Baylor, Dave O’Neill, and others. He appeared on Eric Bogle’s 2000 CD, Endangered Species as well as on Gary Luck’s iconic CD tribute to the Darwin bombing “Blood on The Frangipani”. Fred’s playing and singing have appeared on a variety of ads and soundtracks and he was a regular, with a variety of bands and performers, at the National Folk Festival for many years. He played at one of the first National Folk Festivals in Adelaide in 1971. Recently he was a member of award-winning Craig Dawson’s spectacular tribute to Lord Byron, the Lord Byron Five.
Fred has recorded and produced songs and CDs for well known Celtic band Humbug and Irish/Australian guitar virtuoso Johnny Reynolds (a member of Fred’s own band, So Far So Good). He’s working on a 2-CD set with his old band with Pat Drummond and his brothers.
KEITH POTGER AO
Keith’s musical career started well before The Seekers first stormed the UK charts in 1965. He is a self-taught musician who plays 6-string and 12-string guitar, banjo, mandolin and keyboards. With an eye to a musical future while still at school, he formed vocal groups which evolved in 1962 into The Seekers alongside Judith Durham, Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley. Keith’s ability to arrange harmonies for the group members was evident from these early days.
Taking up the 12 string guitar, he composed the distinctive riffs that are a trademark of The Seekers’ chart topping recordings, “I’ll Never Find Another You” and “A World Of Our Own”, as well as many other singles and album tracks, augmenting the wonderful lead voice of Judith Durham and the boys’ ear-catching harmonies and instrumental talents.
The Seekers were honoured as Australians Of The Year in1967, the only group to have been given this acknowledgment. The Seekers disbanded in 1968 and Keith’s musical activities included forming The New Seekers in 1969 as well as turning to songwriting and record production in major recording studios in the UK. He returned to Australia in 1978 to write and produce television jingles and music tracks as well as performing solo concerts.
In 1992 he reunited with Judith Durham, Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley to tour internationally as The Seekers for their Silver Jubilee and were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 1995. In 1997, the group released the Platinum-selling ‘Future Road’ CD and continued to tour extensively. During this period Keith wrote and recorded many original songs that are featured on his solo CDs “Secrets Of The Heart”, “Sunday” and “Smile Now”.
In June 2014, The Seekers concluded their UK and Australian Golden Anniversary tours and, along with his Seeker partners, Keith was awarded the Order of Australia (AO) for services to the Australian music industry and not-for-profit organisations.
2018 saw Keith unite with Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley, along with long time musical director Michael Cristiano, to form the Original Seekers and record their debut CD, “Back To Our Roots”. This group toured Australia in 2019 and were featured in the ABC live broadcast of the 2020 Australia Day concert at Sydney Opera House.
For the Sundown concerts, Keith adds electric guitar and mandolin to his trademark 12-string and 6-string guitars.
Keith’s musical career started well before The Seekers first stormed the UK charts in 1965. He is a self-taught musician who plays 6-string and 12-string guitar, banjo, mandolin and keyboards. With an eye to a musical future while still at school, he formed vocal groups which evolved in 1962 into The Seekers alongside Judith Durham, Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley. Keith’s ability to arrange harmonies for the group members was evident from these early days.
Taking up the 12 string guitar, he composed the distinctive riffs that are a trademark of The Seekers’ chart topping recordings, “I’ll Never Find Another You” and “A World Of Our Own”, as well as many other singles and album tracks, augmenting the wonderful lead voice of Judith Durham and the boys’ ear-catching harmonies and instrumental talents.
The Seekers were honoured as Australians Of The Year in1967, the only group to have been given this acknowledgment. The Seekers disbanded in 1968 and Keith’s musical activities included forming The New Seekers in 1969 as well as turning to songwriting and record production in major recording studios in the UK. He returned to Australia in 1978 to write and produce television jingles and music tracks as well as performing solo concerts.
In 1992 he reunited with Judith Durham, Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley to tour internationally as The Seekers for their Silver Jubilee and were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 1995. In 1997, the group released the Platinum-selling ‘Future Road’ CD and continued to tour extensively. During this period Keith wrote and recorded many original songs that are featured on his solo CDs “Secrets Of The Heart”, “Sunday” and “Smile Now”.
In June 2014, The Seekers concluded their UK and Australian Golden Anniversary tours and, along with his Seeker partners, Keith was awarded the Order of Australia (AO) for services to the Australian music industry and not-for-profit organisations.
2018 saw Keith unite with Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley, along with long time musical director Michael Cristiano, to form the Original Seekers and record their debut CD, “Back To Our Roots”. This group toured Australia in 2019 and were featured in the ABC live broadcast of the 2020 Australia Day concert at Sydney Opera House.
For the Sundown concerts, Keith adds electric guitar and mandolin to his trademark 12-string and 6-string guitars.
