Clelia Adams

I finished your memoir. I had to keep reading and couldn't stop. Darling Clel, it's such a triumph of love and passion and bloody hard work. Congratulations! I left a five star review on Amazon. You are an astounding woman. Much love, Mary-lou (author of The Last of the Apple Blossom, The Chocolate Factory, The Jam Maker)

Clelia's (aka Cleo) life story IS an adventure, no doubt about that. She writes with a beautiful sense of “having been there”, and she evokes her insights and experience, through her own words, and through the words of others. Those others are the people who shared the experience of working with her as colleagues or bosses; and we also meet her personal friends in life; along the way. Clelia's friends are friends for life, and her warmth with regard to them is beautifully conveyed on every page.

Beginning her life in Orange, we experience growing up with her Italian family, the ups and downs, the meals, the dress making, and all is evoked with a visual imagery that makes us feel we are there with her.

She tells of her life inside the music industry, first as a secretary, then promoted to writer, working for the Sydney office of Go-Set, the seminal pop-rock newspaper. The story she tells is personal, and intimate as we learn of her feelings and insights, and the people, with many a “hoot” along the way. We meet many of her magazine writer colleagues, and also learn of her encounters with Australian and international musicians along the way.

From here, the tale ventures into her experiences of working for WEA, a large record label and distribution hub. Her stories capture the same intimacies of her life in Go-Set, and continues the journey we are on, with her. We learn some insights into what goes on behind the scenes of international tours, most are good, and some are difficult.

This work is a pleasure to read, with further adventures of travels in Europe; to performances at Tamworth Country Music Festival as a country singer with number one country albums to her name. To her long relationship with Garry Adams, and all the things that made up their lives.

Her writing is always personal, emotional, her feelings always there for us to witness. This book is a must read, as it is an insight into life as an Australian in the Australian entertainment industry, not just the pop world, but the Country music industry as well.

To top t off, we are treated to a few pages from Clelia's recipe book, an insight into her tastes for cooking. There''s lots of quotes from people and projects she has been involved with over the years, as well as reviews of her albums, and a lovely chapter that could easily read that life begins at 50. Altogether now, hip hip hooray for Cleo!!

David M Kent, Master of Arts in Communication. Thesis topic: The Place of Go-Set in Rock and Pop Music Culture in Australia 1966 - 1974. University of Canberra. 

Clelia Adams is a legend in Australian Country Music. And the weird thing is she never really set out to be one. The Italian immigrant who ran away from home at 16 ended up at pioneering music paper Go-Set, before moving to WEA Records both in Australia and overseas. But Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones weren't enough to keep her at the multinational record company, and after a few years she quit the bright lights for Tamworth - with her then husband Garry Adams - in search of country music. Garry, a founding member of the Australian prog group Galadriel, whose self-titled 1971 LP remains one of the most collectable and revered Oz albums of all-time, had moved on from his psych folk and prog roots and into country and gospel so its Australian home was an ideal launching pad for the next phase of both their careers. It was 1974 and less than a year later Clelia was laying down her first backing vocals on a recording session in Tamworth.

For the next 25 years she worked on nearly every country music recording in Tamworth chalking up hundreds of namechecks. She also took her muse on the road with the all-girl group Skarlett, and was a member of the equally legendary New England Rangers, the first country rock group formed in Tamworth. By 2000 she had separated from Garry, upped sticks, relocated to Mullumbimby, recorded her first solo album, Fine Company (in 1996), and decided to start writing her own songs at the tender age of 50.

She became a superstar as her songs and albums not only soared up the Australian country music charts but broke big in the European market where she topped the International Top 40 CM Singles charts on many occasions. This introduction is only necessary for the uninitiated. Any true Australian country music fan  knows the multi-award winning Adams but, as this gig showed, Clelia is not a twang, yodel and boot-scootin' hoedown kind of gall - although she can do it with the best of them and beyond.

Songs by John Prine (Speed of the Sound of Loneliness), Hank Williams (Honky Tonk Blues), Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman (Sin City), Neil Young (Harvest Moon) and Catherine Britt (Hillbilly Pickin' Ramblin' Girl) dot a set list that does contain a yodeling song (her wink to the traditionalists) amid some of her biggest hits such as River Valley Express and Wildflowers, arguably one of her best songs, Peel Street Buskers Lament, and traditional faves Don't Fence Me In and Jambalaya. It's a tour do force of country heartland made even better by the sheer brilliance of her band. This lady only works with the very best.

From stage left to right: (photo in the Gallery) On guitar and vocals, Australian record producer (three times winner of the Country Music Awards of Australia Producer of the Year, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter (he's written more than 30 #1 country hits) Rod McCormack; accordionist Jackson Church, who is also a multi-instrumentalist in the Church family Band, The Haystack Mountain Hermits; Clelia Adams, lead vocals; her Mullumbimby partner in harmonies Amber Weedon, known as Miss Amber for her adventures with UKE Mullum with her partner Stu Eadie, who is next in line on stage. Eadie is a household name for his work in bands, Died Pretty, Karma County, The Whitlams and Clouds, is one of the country's foremost Ukelele players. Finally on upright bass, one of Australia's most revered bass players and producers, Rod Coe, whose history is a book in its own right but lets just say he produced The Saints groundbreaking debut album and punk masterpiece I'm Stranded, was the permanent bass player and bandleader in Slim Dusty's Travelling Country Band for 25 years until Slim's death in 2003, and produced around 30 of the legendary country musician's albums. That doesn't even touch the surface of the other bands he's played in and recorded, particularly across the 1970s and 1980s. 

The ease with which this line-up swings through the songs underscores the understated genius at play on stage, all fronted by Adams who hits the high notes with aplomb and confidence while conducting the performance with a wry smile and stories galore. You can tell she's a music girl through and through. She's been there, done that. A lot. She oozes roots. Clelia Adams and her band are sweethearts of the rodeo in love with the heart and soul of country music. They don't make a lot of appearances these days but when they do, it should be your next truck stop.

I've just finished your awesome book! What an extraordinary and wonderful read! Although I didn't know most of the people you mentioned, I certainly knew of them and reading about them triggered many memories. As a 1950 baby boomer, I left for Orange as a 16 year old to pick cherries and was “adopted”by the beautiful Rossi family along Mt. Pleasant Road. So you got my memories ticking over right from the start. I recalled seeing the Flying Circus at the Tamworth Workers Club in 1971. I lived close to Mick Dagg when I spent some time in Armidale. And so the memories kept flooding back. 

You should be very proud for what you have achieved and for getting it all down on paper, especially for future generations of your family. The descendants will love you for it! And remember…it isn't over yet, keep on keeping on! Fondest regards, Terry Flatley 

Clel, finally been able to put down your book. What a great read, your memory of those past events is amazing (you are a bigger name dropper than me, if that's possible). Congratulations - it is a piece of Australian history that I hope many people will enjoy. For me it was full of nostalgia, and facts that I didn't know. The amazing  thing was what the book told me about the music scene in Tamworth as we arrived four years after you. Congratulations again on a magnificent project." Gary Robertson - former manager of Axiom Entertainment Tamworth.

This is a very personal review, there will be nothing unbiased about it but within that, there is the educated critic. I know what is important and I know what is good. Clelia and I became connected over a few things. I love all things Italian. I'm from Tamworth, a great supporter of TCMF, and I love traditional country music. I have huge connections to the central west of NSW, Bathurst and Wallerawang, which are just down the road from Orange.

Mainly, I love Clelia. Bob Browne and I played a lots of her music on 2GLF. We love her story and the woman that she is. As I read her book, I played all of her albums. It was like the soundtrack of her life.

Her life has not been easy, there's been some rough times, some amazing, some colourful and some very sad with brain tumours, major surgeries and divorce. 

Clelia loves music and loves life. She was a key member of the Go-Set Magazine /WEA days and her stories are varied and entertaining. She speaks affectionately of Bon Scott, Shirl from Skyhooks, the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant and many others.

Clelia Adams is a national treasure, a lady, and a great talent. You will laugh and you will cry and you will want to try the family recipes and remember the years that gave you these special memories.

Her story is a big part of Australian Country Music. It says a lot. It tells the story of Australian Country Music, where we've been, where we are and where we are going.

Read this and learn. For those who are starting out in the country music scene, especially. Hard work, persistance and flexibility are the keys. 

I loved this book right from the start! Then you just fitted in instantly with the perfect job at the best place to work in Australia - Go-Set. So many great memories that will last a lifetime. However, more amazing was your move to Tamworth, at exactly the time Australia's country music scene needed an injection of fresh ideas and sounds to bring it to the level of prominence in the Aussie music industry that it had long deserved. How the stars aligned to bring this about is a thing of mystery, yet it is so natural, according to the way you tell it. The right people turning up at the right time, with musical talent in abundance. Anyone who wonders how Tamworth became such a musical power base only needs to read your book. Michelle O'Driscoll - Brisbane Go-Set Editor

Back in the mid-1970s - the name Clelia Adams probably appeared in most issued of this publication, as she was a featured singer on just about every record made in the Country Music Capital, at that time.

Without giving anything away from the book, Clelia delves into the Tamworth story with an insight that could only come from someone who was at the apex of the scene - naming names, telling anecdotes and filling in a lot of gaps left out of the so-called official Tamworth story. Clelia was a member of the trio Skarlett with Lynette Guest and Cate McCarthy, The New England Rangers, Garry and Clelia Adams (with former husband Garry Adams) and Clelia and Gary Brown before continuing a solo career.

Clelia has every right to drop names of some of the biggest names in the rock world in the book, not just from her Go-Set days, but during many years for WEA Records both in Sydney and London. Clelia lifts the lid on the quirks and shenanigans that the stars got up to, while filling in readers in on her personal ups and downs, including two bouts of brain tumour operations. Those of us that know Clelia will find plenty to remember in this book but those who may be discovering this immensely talented woman for the first time will find inspiration, heartfelt stories, and wonder at her inner strength. I suggest you source the recordings to complete the picture. 

Clelia will launch her book in Tamworth at 12 midday, on Sunday January 19th @The Press.

Jon Wolfe - Capital News, Tamworth  (edited for length)

I've broken the golden rule of reading by going straight to the chapters that I can identify with. It was a very nostalgic and, at times, an emotional read. You have captured the view of the Tamworth scene brilliantly. I was also very humbled to be included in the acknowledgements and to see my name pop us during the text. Poor Blossom. I remember dropping into your first house on the highway minutes after chasing down the runaway goat while dodging the trucks. I really thought I might be invited to be part of a “roast” the following day. The memories kept flooding back. Greg McDonald - former journalist with the Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth

Country Comfort…One of the highest of highlights of 2024 for me was having the honour of editing this book “One of a Kind” by Clelia Adams, one of Australia's most celebrated country music stars of all time.

To quote my own back cover notes - "One of a Kind is full of the delicious aromas and recipes of true Italian cooking, of the rattle and hum of friends, relatives and fellow musicians who supported Clelia Adams over 60 years. It's a road story, a love story and a recognition of all who drove Australia's long, dusty country highways and those who still do. It's a paean to country music. It's not just a story of success, ultimately at the highest level, but of compassion, self-belief and sheer hard work. It's a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll - or be a country star - and Clelia takes you all the way. She truly is One of a Kind.

And I'm not exaggerating. If you love a great music biography, in fact any biographies per se, then you have to read One of a Kind. From arriving in Australia as a child when her parents migrated to the lucky country, to eventually running away from home, working at the legendary music paper Go-Set Magazine (think bands, think shenanigans) in the late 1960s/early 70s, to Led Zeppelin, Yes, John Prine, Sandy Denny, before moving to Tamworth where she sang back-up vocals on the majority of releases recorded in Australia's country music capital from the mid 70s to 2000, you would think she had done it all. Not so. She became a songwriter in her 50s and found huge success in Europe and t home, and won nearly every country music award imaginable including the 2024 Dusty Boot Awards for Services to the Country Music Industry. It is an incredible story, told with a rare passion and honesty. 

I reckon there's no other music memoir like it. I can't remember anybody who veers from Led Zeppelin to Tamworth to brain tumours to ukes to genuine Italian food recipes. Mike Gee, dual Walkley Award winning journalist.