LOU Green has found her happy place writing songs and making music in Serpentine.
From having her own music room for the first time to taking the stage at open-mic sessions at Jarklin’s Four Posts Hotel and Goldfields Music Club in Dunolly, Lou says her songs have a hint of comedy.
And that voice inspired by country singers Casey Chambers and the late Archie Roach headed north last night to share billing with Iceland’s Svavar Knútur and Australian folk duo The Maes when the Festival of Small Halls performed in Pyramid Hill Memorial Hall.
Living in Serpentine has given Lou the space to grow as a musician.
“I’ve always wanted to live out of town. Everything is better here and I can breathe again,” Lou said.
“In Bendigo, I had to to share my two passions in the one room - music and pool. Now I have my own room just for music - my happy place.
“When I get home, I grab the guitar, start singing and all of a sudden everything is better.”
Lou, who happens to be the leading female player in Bendigo’s pool competition, says her music flourished during COVID lockdowns.
“I had mucked around with guitars for a long time, then just before lockdown I get a new guitar and haven’t looked back since.” she said.
“I had a phobia about facing a microphone but there are amazingly supportive people who have helped.
“Ken Ritchie, who also lives here in Serpentine, says my voice is like Casey Chambers but he prefers mine.
“I’ve had people come up and ask if I know her. So one of the songs I have is called Do You Know Casey Chambers?”
Lou said she didn’t consider herself a songwriter, rather a vessel. “If a song wants to come out (be written), it comes.” She said: “I am writing about the country that is my roots and also with a bit of comedy.
“And once they are written, I still have to learn the lyrics!
“I grew up with country music - every weekend in Inglewood, listening to country music on record players. One of my uncles bought a four-cassette set and I guarantee I learnt every word of every song.”
Lou said weekends with grandmother Ethel Ashworth and uncles Alan and Bobby Grundy started her love for country music.
And without mentors in the music scene including Bendigo Blues and Roots’ Ross Perry, Lou says “I’d still be just singing in the front room”.