"I think the thing that has struck me the most is that if you just trust yourself and do the thing that feels the most honest to you, it always goes better."

In this episode Harley connects with Georgia Mooney, who landed in Brisbane just hours before this conversation after a 60-hour journey from Prince Edward Island, Canada.

She's a solo artist now, but you might know her from All Our Exes Live in Texas, the band that graced Woodford's stages and toured relentlessly for years.

Georgia's story is about transformation, from studying jazz at WAPA (where she encountered the rigid, male-dominated world of jazz school), to finding her voice in a four-piece harmony band, to now stepping out on her own with her debut solo record, Full of Moon and her follow-up on the way.

She's someone who's done the work. The unglamorous reality of being a touring musician, the loneliness of hotel rooms, the immediate consumption of complimentary biscuits, the strange intimacy of band life that's part marriage, part small business, part creative collaboration.

This episode is for:

• Musicians navigating the shift from band to solo work
• Anyone interested in what the reality of touring feels like
• People curious about the Festival of Small Halls
• Artists wondering if formal training helps or hinders finding your voice

Dive in to hear about why:

• Jazz school taught Georgia music theory but she had to unlearn the rules to find her creative voice
• Regional audiences bring something to a performance that city crowds simply can't replicate
• The stage is the one place you absolutely cannot fake it and that might be what saves live performance from AI

To learn more about Georgia: https://www.georgiamooney.com/

To come to the Woodford Folk Festival: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/

To keep up to date with Small Halls Tours: https://festivalofsmallhalls.com/

FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au

CREDITS:

Host: Harley Breen

Guest: Georgia Mooney

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah, Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Jack Tindall

Video Editing: Nicholas Haddow

Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson

Music by: The East Pointers Recorded on Jinibara Country

#RadioWoodfordia #GeorgiaMooney #FestivalOfSmallHalls #AllOurExesLiveInTexas #AustralianMusic #RegionalTouring #harleybreen #woodfordia

Join the Woodfordian Citizens:

Perks -

- Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating.

- Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special.

- Bonus podcast content

- Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets

- Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival

Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen

More information at www.woodfordia.org

For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/

Credits:

Host: Harley Breen

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jameison

Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson

Music by: The East Pointers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a heads up: There's going to be some chainsaw action, tree-dropping sounds and reversing of a crane thing during this chat. An arborist decided mid-interview was the perfect time for some timber work above our heads. An example of living and working on an ever-evolving site in the middle of a valley.

"Everything we do in a modern society is to pull us away. So we forget how much we're just truly... a piece of the puzzle."

Harley sits down with Joe H. Henry, a Métis musician from Nova Scotia who's returned to Australia for the Festival of Small Halls tour after falling in love with Woodfordia at our last Folk Festival.

Joe's story is steeped in the Red River Valley, where his grandparents walked 260 miles with oxen and Red River carts to settle. He grew up between two worlds – his father's Métis community of fiddle music, trapping, and self-sustaining bush life, and his mother's world of horses. Music isn't just what Joe does; it's "the Henry curse," running through generations of riders, singers, and instrumentalists.

He left home young with just his dog and his guitar, busking outside liquor stores and bars to survive. But that transient lifestyle was embedded in his DNA – the Métis people were always the storytellers, carrying songs and poems from community to community.

The conversation moves between the profound and the practical, from raising five kids (aged 17 to 3) without screens dominating their lives, to the trapping industry keeping remote communities alive, to why we all need to feel our insignificance in nature.

Joe explains why Woodford showed him the consciousness level of all Australians, how technology is changing the valley he once knew, and why he makes music.

This episode is for:

• Anyone who needs reminding that we're magnificently insignificant
• People interested in Indigenous culture, storytelling traditions, and how communities preserve identity
• Parents navigating the wilderness of raising teenagers in the digital age
• Musicians and artists wondering if following their frequency is actually a viable life choice
• 
  

Dive in to hear about why:

• Feeling small in nature might be the most important thing we can do
• Woodford just might be proof of who we all can be in the "real world"
• Sometimes the best parenting advice is "be water" and ALSO know your kid's best friend's parents

Keen to come to Woodford: https://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

For more Joe H. Henry: https://joehhenry.com/

FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/

CREDITS:

Host: Harley Breen

Guest: Joe H. Henry

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jamieson

Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson

Music by: The East Pointers Recorded on Jinibara Country

#RadioWoodfordia #WoodfordFolkFestival #JoeHHenry #MetisMusic #FestivalOfSmallHalls #IndigenousStories #metis #canada #novascotia

Join the Woodfordian Citizens:

Perks -

- Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating.

- Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special.

- Bonus podcast content

- Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets

- Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival

Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen

More information at www.woodfordia.org

For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/

Credits:

Host: Harley Breen

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jameison

Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson

Music by: The East Pointers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I love being surrounded by people that know about all this stuff - soil scientists, regen' people, and learning myself. That's how this place sort of works, isn't it? You get involved. You get pulled in."

Harley sits down with Chris "Shervo' Shervey, Woodford's Site Manager, who oversees 500 acres with a team of five full-time staff and conservation land management trainees. It's a conversation about sustainability, slowing down and the surprising way a metalhead punk rock folky ended up finding purpose in his work at one of Australia's most ambitious environmental projects.

Chris first came to Woodford as a patron in 1997 and returned as a volunteer before bringing his background in construction and bridge building to complement his passion for trees, plants, and regenerative land practices.

He's the guy who can turn visionary dreams into timber, steel, and working infrastructure. His journey mirrors Woodford itself: someone who arrived for the music and stayed for the mission.

This conversation digs into the philosophy behind a 500-year plan, the challenge of being patient when you want to fix everything at once, and why the best infrastructure is the lives on well after you.

This episode is for:

• Anyone curious about what happens at Woodford when the festival isn't on
• People interested in regenerative land management and large-scale sustainability projects
• Folks who wonder how festivals actually work behind the scenes
• Anyone considering volunteering or working at Woodford

Dive in to hear about why:

• A 500-year plan makes more sense than trying to fix everything tomorrow
• The best role isn't always being the visionary - sometimes it's being the person who can find the timber
• Kids building three-story pallet forts with power tools is actually good parenting
• Leaving things better than you found them is part of the essence of Woodfordia

Learn more about what's on this year including hearing Chris on a sustainability panel: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/programme

Jag your tickets here: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/tickets/

FOR MORE:

Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/

CREDITS:

Host: Harley Breen

Guest: Chris Shervey

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jamieson

Video and audio: Coeur Visual

Music by: The East Pointers

Recorded on Jinibara Country

#RadioWoodfordia #WoodfordFolkFestival #Sustainability #RegenerativeLand #FestivalLife #SiteManagement #thankyouforyourshervice #shervology

Join the Woodfordian Citizens:

Perks -

- Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating.

- Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special.

- Bonus podcast content

- Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets

- Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival

Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen

More information at www.woodfordia.org

For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/

Credits:

Host: Harley Breen

Producer: Benny Wallington

Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jameison

Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson

Music by: The East Pointers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.