2022 UNE Alumni Community Award winner - Mr Alan Gilmour
In recognition of his significant contribution to supporting the arts community specifically in the areas of not-for-profit music, songwriting, media and community radio.
When Alan Gilmour first picked up the guitar, The Beatles were among the teenage muso’s favourite artists. And while he may never have played on the same stage as the legendary Liverpudlians, he now shares an honour with John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney that few can boast. He’s also been inducted into the Honourable Order of Kentucky Colonels in the USA for his volunteer and community work.
It is one of the more curious awards the former banker received this year, alongside the Dusty Boots Award for Services to Country Music, his induction into the Australian Country Music Broadcasters Hall of Fame and now a well-deserved UNE Alumni Community Award.
“The Kentucky Colonels honour just turned up in the mail,” says Alan. “I join a lot of better known Kentucky Colonels, including country music legends Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tom T. Hall, and you can only be nominated by an existing Kentucky Colonel and I still don’t know who nominated me. It’s a bit like getting an OAM over here.”
In his own country, Alan is best known in country music circles as a song-writer, performer and broadcaster. Since retiring from banking and investment roles in 2006 he has rediscovered a passion for music that had its humble beginnings when he received his first guitar at age 14.
“That kicked off the means to make music and I would buy sheet music and try to emulate my favourite artists, like The Beatles and Bob Dylan,” Alan says. “I would have liked to have taken it seriously as a career but music is a bit of a hit-and-miss occupation and finance provided the means to raise a family. I just didn’t realise how important music was to me until I retired. By then it was unfinished business.”
Returning to study online for a Bachelor of Arts (Music and Writing) at UNE was an opportunity Alan relished and he graduated in 2016. By then he was actively writing and recording his own music, and volunteering with the not-for-profit multi-genre Australian Songwriters Association (ASA), including editing its magazine.
“My formal education up until that point wasn’t art-based at all, but at UNE I was able to bring my artistic mindset to the fore”
“My formal education up until that point wasn’t art-based at all, but at UNE I was able to bring my artistic mindset to the fore,” Alan says. “The lecturers were wonderful and I found the music theory and song-writing components of the degree very helpful. We would compose our own lyrics and music, perform and then share our work. My song-writing was much better after that.”
These days, Alan is a director of ASA and judges both its annual song-writing contest – “everyone from the person who has recorded a song in their bedroom to those who have recorded in a professional studio” – as well as the annual Tamworth Song-writing Contest. He’s highly regarded for giving people in the competitive Australian music industry constructive feedback and guidance in their craft.
“I judge thousands of songs each year and it’s very interesting to listen to what is going on in peoples’ heads,” Alan says. “There are familiar themes – love being the biggest one – but also life experiences, the loss of loved ones and relationships; the list goes on and on.
“A good song is a combination of lyrics and melody, but it also has to be well constructed. It’s more art than science. You just know a good song when you hear it.”
Alan’s own preferred genre is country music, and through the radio programs he presents and produces on community radio station TodaysCountry94one (2CCM), on the NSW Central Coast, he’s pleased to champion up-and-coming artists. Each week he presents the syndicated three-hour Australian Country Songwriters Show and one-hour Indigenous country show. He also produces the one-hour cultural show Binawah (meaning “to listen”) presented by local Indigenous elders.
“Community radio needs to represent the whole community and these programs have connected with our Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences,” he says. “Aspiring artists send me 50-plus new songs every single week, seeking airplay. They simply won’t get it on commercial radio and that’s where community radio comes in.
“I listen to the tracks and if they are of sufficient broadcast quality and decent songs, I give them a play. There could be a temptation to only play big country artists, but they aren’t the ones who need support, with recording contracts and all the promotion that comes with that. The people I play are equally as good, in my view, and will go on, in time, to win Golden Guitars. They are so appreciative of the backing. It’s just wonderful.”
Since 2016, Alan and his radio shows have been awarded six Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards, two Indie Country Music Australia Awards and Alan has been made a Life Member of 2CCM for services to the station.
“I am caught up in that swirling, magical thing that is music”
He’s 70 now, but still actively making and performing music. As well as the guitar, he’s added the mandolin, banjo, ukulele and keyboard to his repertoire, “to add texture” to his songs and recordings. There’s a country album in the works and Alan hopes to get a little airplay himself once it’s released. “I am caught up in that swirling, magical thing that is music,” he says.
