SALTBUSH

Saltbush formed in 1971 with Bernie O’Brien (ex The Rondells/Tamlas), on vocals, lead guitar, dobro and fiddle. Harold Frith (ex-Thunderbirds), vocals and drums, Paul Pyle (ex-Johnny O’Keefe Band), vocals and double bass and Ross Nicholson on vocals and guitar. In 1973 Saltbush played as the session band on all the tracks on Kevin Shegog’s 'Rodeo Man' released on W&G. In the mid 70s, country music broadened its appeal in Australia when artists such as Saltbush, Suzanne Prentice, Jean Stafford, Anne Kirkpatrick and Lindsay Butler joined the established stars on the Tamworth Awards stage.

Saltbush had two tracks ''Brown Bottle Blues'' and ''Redneck Mother'' on the compilation album,'Live At The Station Hotel', released by Lamington Records. The album was a snapshot of Melbourne's pub scene from the 70’s. Saltbush released their first album, 'At Twin Rivers' on the Rainbird label in 1976. The following year Saltbush won the Tamworth Golden Guitar Awards for New Talent of the Year with their song ''Sassafras Gap''.

Saltbush played as opening band for the Marty Robbins 1978 Tour of Australia and toured with Slim Dusty. The band released their second album self-titled 'Saltbush' on the EMI label. It was produced by Mark Moffatt, who played some great pedal steel and mandolin on the album. Saltbush were mentioned in the Sep 2, 1978, issue of Billboard magazine as Australia’s representative at the second annual Tulsa International Music Festival spotlighting artists from the Jim Halsey Corporation’s roster including Tammy Wynette, Don Williams, Rick Nelson, Roy Clark, Reba McEntire and The Oak Ridge Boys plus acts representing nine countries, including Saltbush. The band won another award at The Tamworth Golden Guitar Awards for Best Vocal Harmony with their song ''Stranger''.

Saltbush played the pub band in Tim Burstall’s film The Last of the Knucklemen. By 1980 the dynamics of the group were changing, and as part of a transition artists such as Noel Watson joined to revitalize the band, but even adding players of such calibre was not enough. In 1981 Saltbush disbanded as a group. Ross Nicholson died in 2021.

Members

Bernie O'Brien (vocals guitar dobro fiddle), Paul Pyle (bass vocals), Ross Nicholson (guitar vocals), Harold Frith (drums) Noel Watson (vocals guitar)

References

Ross Nicholson