Custom Shop "Outback Station "

As you know, Maton’s Custom Shop is constantly evolving and expanding the range of models available under this banner. Our Custom Shop luthier, Andy Allen has ‘raised the bar’ yet again with his latest creation, a series called “Outback Station.”

Six of these exquisite guitars have been hand crafted to the exacting high standards that make a Custom Shop guitar head & shoulders above the rest....

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The Sands Of Time

When Maton's exceptionally talented Custom Shop Luthier, Andy Allen set out to expand our model selection, who would have thought that a timeless piece, "The Sands of Time" would be a result of the countless hours of dedication and attention to detail...

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Michael Fix will be performing in an Exclusive Masterclass performance at Allans Music Kew on Thursday Aug 23rd.

Thursday August 23rd @ 7PM
Allans Music Kew
56 Cotham Road, Kew 3101
Ph: (03) 9852 7645

Michael's repertorie includes Jazz & Blues, Celtic & Australian Folk, Country, Classical and his own distinctive compositions, many of which have received TV and radio exposure, as well as various major awards...

Register here...

It had to happen!

Maton now has a presence on MySpace so navigate your browsers to www.myspace.com/matonguitars and join in the fun!

Musikmesse is an international trade fair for musical instruments, music software and computer hardware, sheet music and accessories.

This year Maton will be in Frankfurt to take part!

Maton Pty. Ltd.
Hall: 3.1 Walkway: C Stand: 81

Congratulations to the winners of the 35th Country Music Awards held at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday the 27th January 2007. Especially to our Maton endorsed Artists.

	Well done Lee Kernaghan for winning 4 Golden Guitar Awards. These included: Heritage Song of the year – Close as a Whisper Highest selling Album of the year – The New Bush Album of the Year – The New Bush Male Artist of the Year – The New Bush
	Congratulations to The McClymonts for winning 2 Golden Guitar Awards. These girls have a great future. Maton New Talent of the Year – Something That My Heart Does Vocal Group or Duo of the Year - Something That My Heart Does. This was the first year that Maton has had the naming rights for the Maton New Talent of the Year at the Tamworth Awards
	Congratulations to Tommy Emmanuel – what a genius this man is Instrumental of the Year – Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag.
	Congratulations to Felicity Urquhart – what an amazing voice she has. Video Clip of the Year – Big Black Cloud.
	Congratulations to Allan Caswell & Drew McAlister Vocal Collaboration of the Year – A Little Bit of Country In Us All .

A big thank you to all our Artists that played at the Maton Showcase in Tamworth . Once again we believe it was one of the highlights of the festival

• Lee Kernaghan
• Lawrie Minson
• Melinda Schneider
• Brendan Walmsley
• Sinead Burgess
• Sam Hawksley
• Kirsty Lee Akers
• Craig Stewart
• Daisy May
• Jake Nicolai
• Kimberley Bowden
• Travis Collins
• Sunny Cowgirls
• Victoria Baillie
• Barbara Baillie
• Felicity and Glen Hannah

And a special thank you to Lawrie Minson for being our MC for the event.

Nomination for

‘Contemporary Blues Album of the Year'

On Tuesday Dec 12th Fiona Boyes' ‘Lucky 13' was officially nominated by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, for the 2007 Blues Music Award , ‘Contemporary Blues Album of the Year'. Formerly known as the W C Handy Awards, the BMA's are the world's premier accolades for Blues Music. Often called ‘The Grammy's of the Blues', the BMA's past winners for ‘Blues Album of the Year' include B B King, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, Shemekia Copeland, Marcia Ball, Albert King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The 2007 Blues Music Awards will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday May 10, 2007 at the Cook Convention Centre in Memphis, Tennessee.

Fiona has once again achieved a unique honour as she is the first Australian artist to be nominated in the 27 year history of the Blues Music Awards.

The first 2 rounds of Blues Music Award nominations were decided by an international panel of reviewers, music and recording industry executives, radio hosts, and music critics. This final round of voting, which will determine the winners, is only open to members of the Blues Foundation.

To encourage Australian music lovers to vote in these awards, Maton Guitars , along with Fiona's Memphis record label, Yellow Dog Records , and her Australian distributor Only Blues Music , are promoting a special offer for all those who want to support Fiona's nomination. Maton Guitars will present a Maton Mastersound MS500LS electric guitar (valued at more than $1,500) autographed by Fiona and legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin, to a lucky voter.

Fiona's relationship with Maton Guitars began more than 20 years ago when she won a Maton CW80 acoustic guitar for one of her first public performances. She recorded 2 award winning acoustic albums on her CW80, and then went on to record ‘Lucky 13' on her custom-shop Maton Mastersound, showcasing the incredible versatility of these unique Australian guitars. Fiona is now proudly Maton's premier Blues ambassador worldwide.

As well as the chance to win the Maton Mastersound MS500LS, everyone who registers with the Blues Foundation and votes will receive :

• a compilation album from Yellow Dog Records, showcasing their roster of Blues & Roots artists,
• a limited release, autographed CD entitled ‘Fiona Boyes - The Maton Sessions' , containing a previously unreleased track from the Lucky 13 sessions, and tracing the recording history of Fiona's award winning albums,
• a Maton DVD documenting the 60 year history of Maton's emergence as Australia's leading guitar manufacturer.

Once you have voted at www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/vote.php4 and registered your details by emailing backporch@fionaboyes.com including your Blues Foundation membership number, name and contact details, you will be sent the 2 CD's and the Maton Guitars DVD, and you are in the draw for the autographed Mastersound MS500LS.

You simply have to go on-line www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/vote.php4 - pay the $25.00 Blues Foundation membership fee, follow the voting prompts - you can vote for any of the nominees, but don't forget about Fiona – and then email backporch@fionaboyes.com with your Blues Foundation membership number, name and contact details, and you are in the draw. Voting closes on February 28 th 2007 and the winner will be announced during Fiona's performance at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in early March.

Once again, thank you for supporting Australian blues. Let's all get behind Fiona's nomination and see if together we can make musical history.

For all those still in Melbourne in the New Year you are welcome to come to a farewell party for Steve and Fiona at Nighthawk Blues in Mentone, on Sunday Jan 7 th starting at 4.00pm. Light food will be available from the kitchen, musicians are welcome to play, there will be a backline, and the bar will be open. Come and go as you can – Fiona and Steve would love to see you. Contact Bob Thomas at Nighthawks if you're coming so he knows what staff he'll need. His number is 9583 8511. 

PS  So much has been happening lately that it's hard to keep up with all the news.  Fiona is proud to announce that she has signed an endorsement contract with the US company DEAN MARKLEY STRINGS .  Dean Markley are one of the world's largest producers of high quality guitar strings and accessories and Fiona is proud to endorse their products.

For further details

http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4
http://www.fionaboyes.com
http://www.DeanMarkley.com
http://www.myspace.com/fionaboyes
http://yellowdogrecords.com/fiona/fiona_boyes_press.html
http://www.piedmonttalent.com/news.cfm?ID=100

Contacts:
Management, Booking & Publicity
Steve Clarke
Piedmont Talent
sclarke@piedmonttalent.com
0418 320 103

On the 30th November, 2006 a Maton MS-500 Mastersound electric guitar played by the late Beatle, George Harrison featured at Air Studios in London, Cooper Owen's Music Legends Auction. The estimated value for the guitar was between £100,000 - £120,000 (approximately $189,000 - $227,000 USD).

The MS-500 has a natural finish, tobacco sunburst, two volume and two tone controls, three-way selector switch and Bigsby tremolo.

According to the auction lot description, George Harrison borrowed the guitar in the summer of 1963 from Barretts Music Shop in Manchester, U.K., while the shop repaired his Gretsch Country Gentlemen.

George has been photographed playing this guitar whilst on an Australian tour during this period.

It is believed that Harrison used the Maton between May and August of 1963. George was photographed playing this guitar whilst on an Australian tour during this period. Roy Barber, guitarist with Dave Berry's band, The Cruisers, traded his Stratocaster for the MS500 from Barretts and owned the guitar until 2000.

View the Channel 4 UK news report video here