Claire Moodie and Bill Lawrie, authors of Freo Groove – Musicians of Fremantle.
Camera IconClaire Moodie and Bill Lawrie, authors of Freo Groove – Musicians of Fremantle. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

New book a window into Fremantle’s music scene

Leah RobertsFremantle Gazette

DOCUMENTING the history and culture of Freo’s music scene is what two locals set out to do in their book Freo Groove – Musicians of Fremantle.

The book, written by Claire Moodie and Bill Lawrie, features 29 portraits – from Norm Wrightson in the 1940s to contemporary musicians.

Bill Lawrie said he started watching music on the streets of Freo back in the seventies.

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“Boom or bust, the community of musicians keep the faith,” he said.

“It was time to get some of these stories down and to make a book that was beautiful.”

Mr Lawrie said it was very hard to pick his favourite stories.

“There is a ton of great yarns, it was really interesting hearing how different players learned from each other over the years, inspired each other, handed on the venues,” he said.

“It is a window into the Freo music culture and the original photos by Jeff Atkinson and Matt Clifton are really strong.”

Claire Moodie said the book had received some great responses.

“We really hope locals will like it, we had a lot of fun writing it,” she said.

The book will be launched on Thursday, July 26 at the Navy Club.