The Tweed Coast’s own Round Mountain Girls are the golden ‘girls’ or is that ‘boys’ of the country music world after taking out three major gongs at this year’s Golden Fiddle Awards at Tamworth.
A sister award to the Golden Guitars, the Golden Fiddles honour bands with fiddle players and this year it was the boys of the Round Mountain Girls who dominated.
The band took out the biggest band award of the night “Best Band Featuring A Fiddle Player”, with the fiddle player in question, Rabbit Robinson taking out “Best Fiddle Teacher” and the highly coveted “Lifetime Achievement Award”.
Not bad for a boy born in Murwillumbah, who took up the violin at just two and a half and had his first full lessons at the Convent in Tweed before being selected for the Queensland Youth Orchestra.
During the week Rabbit is better known as Paul or Mr Robinson – violin teacher at St Anthony’s Primary School, Kingscliff, St Andrew’s Lutheran College and the Gold Coast Christian College. But at weekends he’s Rabbit – a member of the RMG – a band with a very fast growing reputation.
“We use to play the side shows but now we are on the main stage,” band member Chris Brooker said.
At the Golden Fiddle awards they shared the stage with the likes of Australia’s best-known fiddle player Pixie Jenkins and one of the kings of Country music, Troy Cassar Daly.
“The awards were in the Town Hall at Tamworth – it looks like the muppet theatre,” Chris laughed.
“We got to play our second most requested song – after happy birthday – The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
The Girls, who described this fourth trip to Tamworth as their “best and most successful ever” started the night with Rabbit winning “Best Fiddle Teacher”.
“I’ve been teaching since high school,” he said. In fact it was through his teaching jobs that he met the rest of the Round Mountain Girls.
“We were looking for a fiddle player about six years ago,” Chris Eaton said.
After unsuccessfully advertising they decided to contact local fiddle teachers and see if they knew anyone who would like to join a “Bluegrass Band”. A phone call to Tweed Musicland put them in touch with Rabbit, who rather than recommending someone else, decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
And since then they have steadily built up their following and profile and will, over the next few months play some of the biggest country music events in Australia – sharing stages with Lee Kernaghan and Keith Urban.
And when they’re not on the road Rabbit, or Mr Robinson , will be passing on his love of the violin, which he inherited from his violin playing grandmother and his mother, a pianist and cello player, to a whole new generation. He has been teaching for almost 30 years and has his own DVD “Secrets Of The Electric Violinist” out in the market.
“I love seeing young players discover the instrument,” the father of six budding musicians said of his passion for teaching.
Rabbit said it was a real honour to win awards but despite travelling Australia with the RMG and the world with Youth Orchestra (and performing with Rolf Harris) the final “Lifetime Achievement Award” still came as a huge surprise for the 48 year-old.
“We had won two awards and I thought that would be it,” he said.
“I was taking a video on my iphone when they started to announce the winner but when they started with “he was born in Murwillumbah” I knew it had to be me.
“My hand started to shake wildly holding the phone and I said to Chris (Willoughby) quick come and take this we’re winning another one.”
St Anthony’s deputy principal Michael Kennedy said the win couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
“He’s been teaching here for a few years now and he is so great with the kids,” he said.
