In this room, you will experience the full concert of the Turner Brown Band, the very last concert held at the Playhouse on Thursday 12 March 2020 before the lock-down came into effect. You will experience a world music creative public performance in which Southern US Church-based ‘Sacred Steel’ music crashes head on with blues-based sounds. The concert and songwriting workshop that followed showcased creative approaches to thinking about social justice, cultural diversity and gender equity. The event was organised by Associate Professor Bruce Crossman in collaboration with Jen Dollin (Office of Sustainability, Western) and filmed by Vincent Tay (Lecturer in Media Arts Production) and three of his students, James Nolan-Neylan, Emily Azzopardi, and Amar Ghofa. The event was emceed by Associate Professor Sally Macarthur (Director of Academic Program, Music and Music Therapy) and featured a 45 minute set by The Turner Brown Band followed by a lively panel discussion with Kate Fagan (Director of The Writing and Society Institute), Dr Clare Maclean (Academic Course Adviser, Music), and Jayd Luna (lead singer in Western’s band, The Groove Operators), to discuss the performance and diversity challenges in the music industry. The members of the Turner Brown Band include: Dom Turner (slide guitar, vocals), Nikki D Brown (vocals, lap-slide guitar), Gloria Brown (rhythm guitar, vocals), Tomika Webb (drums, voice) and Rowan Lane (bass).
The Turner Brown Band is a joint Australia/USA musical collaboration between Australian slide guitarist and music producer Dom Turner (of awarded blues act Backsliders) and Ohio-based ‘Sacred Steel’ lap-slide guitar and vocal sensation Nikki D. Brown. The result is a merging if Nikki’s southern style US gospel ‘Sacred Steel’ guitar and vocals with Dom’s blues-based sounds forming a duelling slide guitar eclectic and uplifting gospel-blues musical feast. Dom Turner completed a DCA at Western Sydney University under Associate Professor Bruce Crossman in 2019.