After wowing the crowds with their shows during the 2015 festival, the Albert Hotel made Good Corn Liquor one of the feature acts for 2016 with five shows scheduled across the 10-day festival. 

With this massive vote of confidence and the launch of their second album, Good Corn Liquor were on the rise until a horrendous car accident in April 2015 took the life of the band’s singer, Stu McKenzie, and left guitarist, Ben McCauley and bass player, Nick Wright badly injured.

After multiple operations and months of painful recovery, it became clear the band would need help to fulfil their commitments at the 2016 festival.

Gunnedah musicians Steve McCauley and Trevor Stacey joined forces with remaining band members, Ben Murphy, Nick Wright and Ben McCauley, and with the support of the Albert Hotel management, The Good Corn Liquor Show took to the stage for the 2016 festival.

At each of the five shows, the band was joined on stage by guest musicians and singers who volunteered their time and talent in support of the band, making each show a unique experience.

At the Tuesday show, Luke O’Shea, 2015 Golden Guitar winner for Best Male Artist, took time out of his busy schedule to come and play with the band in an amazing display of support. 

I was fortunate enough to be in the audience for the band’s final festival show which was one of the most memorable musical concerts I have experienced.

For this show, the band was joined by John Lee, a brilliant fiddle and mandolin player from Sydney, who just turned up and asked could he jump in and play. 

Such was the musical prowess of musicians on stage he was incorporated into the show as if they had played together for years, adding some beautiful fiddle solos into the repertoire.

For me, the stand out song of the first set was a Good Corn Liquor original, the rip-roaring bluegrass song, Ribbons.

 The band were joined at the start of the second set by Lawrie and Shelley Minson.

Four-time Golden Guitar winner Lawrie Minson is a guitar legend who has played with Lee Kernighan and Jimmy Barnes in an illustrious career.

Shelley is a singer who had the place jumping with her rockabilly music, finishing with a reworked version of the classic, Tainted Love.

Lawrie Minson was asked to stay on as the band ripped into Shake, Rattle and Roll and That’s Alright My Momma. The capacity audience were lapping it up it including a couple dancing outside on the footpath.

The band changed musical styles to finish the second set as US-born, Sydney-based Bryen Willem stepped up to the microphone to deliver a couple of classic country trucking songs including the much loved, Six Days on the Road with Ben McCauley pumping out the country sound on baritone guitar.

The third set started with the pure voice of Maree Hodson on vocals with the band laying down a traditional country sound with fiddle and lap steel guitar solos.

Jess Holland, who toured the Northern Territory with Good Corn Liquor, then hit the stage with an amazing three-song set of Bobby McGee and The Weight, finishing off with a blistering version of the Led Zeppelin classic Rock and Roll with Steve and Ben McCauley delivering superb guitar solos as the band rocked the Albert Hotel to its foundations.

In a touching tribute, the band members toasted Stu McKenzie before finishing with the band’s first ever single, the rollicking Ain’t That Just the Way. 

With the crowd screaming for more, Ben McCauley went to town on the Good Corn Liquor favourite, The Bird to finish a truly great show. 

In total, 11 musicians had graced the stage with eight different lead vocalists performing across a range of genres. It was a pure delight watching the band move effortlessly between bluegrass, country, rockabilly, pop, blues and rock.

There were no musical charts, no computer aids, no gimmicks, just superbly talented musicians giving their all and having fun.

At the heart of it all were Ben McCauley, electric guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar and vocals; Ben Murphy, acoustic guitar, drums, percussion and vocals; Nick Wright, harmonica; Trevor Stacey, upright bass, electric bass and vocals; and Steve McCauley, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals. 

Live music is special and sometimes, just sometimes when the sparks fly and real magic happens, it becomes truly memorable. This was just such an occasion.

At Saturday’s Golden Guitar Awards, Stu McKenzie was honoured during a tribute to those working in the country music industry who passed away during 2015.

Good Corn Liquor are taking an indefinite break and hopefully this will allow Ben McCauley and Nick Wright to regain full mobility and health.