Local north coast singer/songwriter Bill Jacobi has taken the honours in the recent Play Mullum and Play Falls Songwriting Competition with his song Ride.
Judged by Mullum Festival’s Glenn Wright, Falls Festival director Brandon Saul and Rhythms magazine’s Martin Jones, the theme of the competition was ‘hitting the road’.
Bill says his entry was a song he’d had in his bag for a while.
‘It captures the feeling of the open road. It’s all about getting out of town on a motorbike and leaving your troubles behind. The lyric is built around the words of a good friend’s four-year-old daughter: “Naught naught daddy gone kuka bi” which translates roughly to “Naughty daddy’s gone on the motorbike”.’
As a solo artist, Bill uses foot percussion, lap slide and open-tuned guitars, and a combination of finger picking and bassline-driven rhythm that snakes and rattles around songs both evocative and passionate.
The result is a repertoire of engaging material that runs the gamut from folk to funk to hillbilly stomp and beyond.
Bill will perform this Sunday at The Mullum Festival – 8.15pm at The Bowlo and at the inaugural Falls Byron Festival on Thursday 2 January.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
