Glen Naylor

glen-naylor-the-bonza-bobby-dazzler-bush-band.htm - Skope Magazine

Another weekend is here again! My guest this week shows that music is the universal language and that you are never too old to create music. We are traveling across the globe to introduce Glen Naylor from Victoria, Australia. Glen makes childrens music that is upbeat, positive, and very catchy. I must admit that my son’s new favorite song is “The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band” and Glen has been gracious to offer this song as a FREE MP3 for all readers. Join us as Glen Naylor talks about Australia, raising her wonderful grandkids, working with Chris Wilson, and so much more!

Stoli: Where are we talking from and how has your summer been going?

Glen Naylor: G’day from beautiful Bright in north eastern Victoria, Australia. It is the middle of Winter here and it is snowing on the peaks. We live below Mount Hotham which is the highest Ski Resort in Victoria. Bright is a lovely tourist town nestled in the Ovens Valley and surrounded by spectacular mountainous countryside. Bright is a town for all seasons and is renowned for the magnificent Autumn colours which attracts visitors from all over Australian and around the world in May each year. We have a mob of Kangaroos with their Joey’s outside our windows every morning and we hand feed the Kookaburras in the afternoon.

Stoli: How did you come up with the name, The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band?

Glen Naylor: The title of my album and the song “The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band” is made up from typically Aussie expressions with Bonza meaning excellent (or little ripper) and Bobby Dazzler meaning someone who is an “expert” at dancing for example (she’s a real Bobby Dazzler). The bush band is the story of animals coming from various parts of Australia playing musical instruments and forming aband. The song has lots of Aussie sayings in it too and a Koala plays a Gum leaf which is actually done by people in Australia the leaf is held against the lips and blown onto producing a fantastic sound.

Stoli: What does living & playing music in Australia mean to you?

Glen Naylor: Australia is a wonderful place to live and to write songs about, my forbears and in particular Captain W. Randell was amongst the early settlers in this magnificent country and Captain Randell was the first man to build and launch a Paddle Steamer into our mighty Murray river in 1853 hence, navigating the river and opening up the river trade in those early times. I am currently working on a song about the Murray River. I felt a remarkable historic parallel with Nashville when I was there this year, learning about the riverboat Captain Thomas Ryman (Ryman auditorium) and travelling along the Cumberland River was fabulous it was just prior to the terrible floods in May. I am not a performing artist due to my demanding family responsibilities my husband is a T.P.I. (totally permanently incapacitated) war veteran.

Glen Naylor “The Bonza Bobby Dazzler Bush Band” MP3:

SKOPE IT HERE!

Stoli: How did your grandkids inspire you to create music & pursue it very aggresively?

Glen Naylor: We have raised our gorgeous little grandson from a tiny baby he is now eight and he is my inspiration, every cloud had a silver lining and life has a funny way of balancing things out sometimes. To write, I steal moments in the middle of the night when it is quiet and I creep around like a little mouse at all strange hours. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the ability to change negatives into positives by turning the hardships of day to day living into something creative especially at this stage of my life.

Stoli: When you started to put your music out there were you surprised by how well received it was?

Glen Naylor: I am overwhelmed having my songs so highly regarded especially in America, by people I consider to be not only consummate professionals with a wealth of knowledge and experience but friendly, supportive, communicative and fantastic guys. I refer in particular to Eugene Foley, Gary Allen and Pat Adams in Nashville. Only two years ago as a first time entrant into any contest I had three songs on the shortlist and one at number ten in the ASA Australian Songwriters Association Contest Lyrics.Gary Allen gave me a Very Honourable Mention within weeks of the music being written and submitted to his contest, once that happened I thought we must be on the right track especially being judged by Gary who has performed with some of the best in the business, therefore the recognition I have received over a very short space of time absolutely blows me away.

Stoli: Does it bother you that the media labels you as “Grandma” or do you like that?

Glen Naylor: My greatest achievement in my life is to have two wonderful children and now I am so lucky to have four beautiful grandchildren three boys and one girl therefore, I am not bothered by media labels such as “Grandma” in fact I am quite proud of it however, grandmothers can be anything from about forty or so through to a much old - Skope Magazine