Vin Garbutt’s success through obscurity

Garbutt’s ability to layer his sense of humour over complex social issues has made him a folk favourite for over 40 years.

“My first folk music experience was in 1963 and I was blown away that the songs weren’t sung in an American accent,” he said with a laugh from Perth before boarding a plane to Melbourne for a show at Brunswick venue The Spotted Mallard this week.

“They were singing in my accent, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

The 68-year-old describes folk music as music with a social conscience “closer to the grassroots” of societies and cultures.

“Your folk singer is like a musical journalist,” Garbutt said.

Born in Southbank in Middlesborough, his earliest memories of music were of singing along as a young boy with Bill Haley, Del Shannon and Everly Brothers while on working men’s club bus trips around the north-east of England.

In a world filling with more and more hyper-celebrity musicians, Garbutt prefers to remain incognito.

“Not everyone knows about folk music but I’ve sung to several hundred thousand people who’ve never seen me in a magazine or on TV,” Garbutt said.

“It’s worked for me.

“The world is full of brilliant musicians and most are in what I call the ‘media shadow’.”

The 17-album veteran said his songwriting inspiration stems from social issues such as interracial relationships, child abuse and asylum seekers.

“My song Punjabi Girl is about the troubles of a lass from an Asian background and the family’s disapproval of her relationship,” he said.

“Teacher from Persia is about an Iranian refugee I knew who always wanted to be a rockstar and had to get out of [Iran] after his family converted to Christianity.

“I’ve also got a song called The College about child abuse, not sexual abuse but about the time when the cane was used very heavily in schools,” he said. 

“They thought the stick and discipline were the be all and end all.”

Climate change is also a topic Garbutt has covered lyrically on a number of occasions.

“This current northern winter hasn’t been cold enough to kill the bugs necessary to grow the crops we need,” he said.

“Although it has meant that I’ve been able to grow Lebanese cucumbers outside near a north-east facing cliff for the last five years now.

“Before that you could only grow plants like that in greenhouses up there,” he said.

Garbutt was enjoying yet another tour of Australia and was excited to revisit the Bega Valley after many tours through the Australian desert since his first visit in 1977.

“I was surprised by the greenery, I didn’t realise because I’m so used to red-Australia,” he said of his first trip to Cobargo three years ago.

Garbutt will play the Cobargo Folk Festival’s Magpie Music stage on Friday night from 8pm and the Gulaga stage from 6.30pm on Saturday.