WILLIAM Crighton possesses a contact book as deep as his booming baritone and intense songwriting, and he used it to purposeful effect on Tuesday night.
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The Crighton Campfire for Jungala (Tracker Pete) was an ambitious three-hour live-stream concert incorporating performances from around Australia and overseas.
With names like Missy Higgins, Henry Wagons, Jeff Lang, Fanny Lumsden, Travis Collins, Lukas Nelson, The Basics and Kim Churchill there was enough talent to fill an impressive festival line-up.
It pointed to the respect Crighton commands in the music industry. But it also illustrated the love Crighton and his peers hold for Peter Birch Marshal, known as Uncle Pete or Jungala.
Last month Jungala, a renown Indigenous dancer and elder from Byron Bay, had a leg amputated due to diabetes. In response, Crighton launched a fundraiser to assist Jungala in buying a prosthetic leg and his rehabilitation.
Showers forced Crighton to film inside his shed, but the gentle patter of rain only added to show's intimacy. From the shed Crighton sang with his wife Julieanne or with guests such as Melody Pool and Collins, shared stories and threw to performances from guests like a bearded Molly Meldrum.
Collins and Crighton's duet of Slim Dusty's Lights On The Hill was a highlight, except for the internet freeze. Collins told of his shock of hearing Dusty drop the F-bomb on stage as a teenager, while Crighton shared the time as a 14-year-old he cheekily asked the country legend for a freshly-signed autograph after a gig in Tumut.
It's been amazing how creative live-streams have become since COVID-19 began. The Basics, which features Wally De Backer of Gotye fame, performed Hey Rain from the bar of a country pub surrounded by locals nursing schooners.
Missy Higgins sang Sweet Arms Of A Tune by candlelight while her children slept, and England's Beans On Toast performed his coronavirus-inspired tune Human Contact from his London lounge room.
Eclectic, powerful, and with surprisingly good production, Crighton Campfire for Jungala was further proof of music's ability shed light in the darkest of times.