Orley Benson

From Australian Traditional Music People
Revision as of 11:16, 1 March 2025 by Lpb (talk | contribs) (Add brief bio from FSA vol 2)
Jump to navigationJump to search

Orley Benson, Cudgegong, NSW provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive, as recorded by John Meredith.

Orley Benson "played a big two-row 'Corso' button accordion and had the same smooth, sweeping style of playing which I first heard from the Holland brothers. Born in Linburn in 1910, Orley's first job as a lad was working at 'digging out' -- eradicating rabbits the hard way -- at Cudgegong. One of his work mates, Albert Franklin, had in his tent a small button accordion which Orley bought from him for five shillings. He took it back to his tent, and in twenty minutes had learnt to play 'Home Sweet Home' on it." -- J Meredith, R Covell, P Brown, Folk Songs of Australia Vol 2, UNSW Press, 1987, p40.

See also Vince Holland.

Related Tunes

You can search for tunes referring to Orley Benson.