MARY HEARD AND THE MIDWEST OBSESSION HISTORY

The Midwest Obsession

The Midwest Obsession is about traditional country music. Hillbilly, honky tonk and western swing, a sound that draws dedicated fans wanting to preserve a tradition that originated from such celebrated musicians as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams.

The Midwest Obsession began in 1997 after Mary advertised in a local street rag. These days, the five musicians are well-known players in the Sydney country music scene, and are a familiar sound to Tamworth Festival fans. Recently the band hit the national top twenty charts with the duet 'Making Sweet Music Forever' from their debut album, Happy Ever After.

The Album -'Happy Ever After'

With the birth of Mary's son Jordan somewhere in the middle, 'Happy Ever After' took over a year in its making. The album introduces nine original tracks including two duets,'Too Busy Loving You' with Mary-Anne Burton and 'Making Sweet Music Forever' with Keith Glass.

A totally collaborative process from song writing to playing, The Midwest Obsession is joined on the album by Gary Brown on dobro, Phil Cole on guitar, Mark Thomas on pedal steel, Wayne Goodwin on fiddle and Garry Steel on piano accordian. Mary co-wrote some songs with Phil Colson and Keith Glass, and chose to do Chris Masuak's 'Comfort Highway'.

The Band

Les - Guitarist, Harmony Vocalist
Original band member and co-producer, Les adds an integral element to the band's sound. He has a distinct style which comes from a childhood of listening to all the great country songs of the 50's and 60's, and that fills the music with an incredible richness of melody, rhythm and harmony.

Peter - Steel Guitar
Peter's musical background starts at the place where country and blues meet. Sometimes it sounds like he is going to slide right off the end of that steel and never come back again. There's a real edginess to his playing that adds to the band's classic country sound.

Bronwyn - Upright & Electric Bass
Bronny has played with The Midwest Obsession since 1998 and is an Australian country music sweetheart. Well known and loved by her Tamworth fans, her repertoire includes bands such as The Early Cookers, Scarlet Rose, The Parwills and The Heldorados.

Phil - Drums
Share trader by day, drummer by night, Phil is no stranger to the stage nor the studio. Drumming so sharp and timing impeccable - he can be counted on to get it right first time, every time.

Mary - Lead Vocalist

Founder, singer and songwriter, Mary Heard is indeed the essence of The Midwest Obsession. Starting her singing career as a 'Flim Flam' singing telegram, Mary soon moved on to the tunes she loved singing the most - Country. She taught herself to yodel and walked the bar and lay across pool tables while she sang, creating a stage presence and a reputation that spread. Today, Mary's high-energy shows always get the crowd dancing.

More recently she has taken up song writing and has learnt to find her own voice with help from some of the best. Her tunes are classic country - heart breaking, funny, yet distinctive.

Play Time

'The great thing about The Midwest Obsession is that we're really close. There's tightness and commitment there. It's not be the kind of country you hear everywhere and what we've found is that the people who come to our gigs are people who listen to this type of music quite a lot - so there's not a lot of room for a bum note.

We've put a lot of work into our sound and because there's no compromise with our music, we're doing really well - Of course the great payoff is that we're doing something we really love.' Mary Heard

The Midwest Obsession has played for the last two years on Saturday nights at thriving inner city country music venue, The Enmore Hotel. Keep your ears pricked for The Midwest Obsession at Country Music Festivals around Australia.

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