Rock'n'Rails

Rock'n'Rails is a rattlin' ride through the history of railways in Queensland. Featuring a familiar and unforgettable collection of train songs, these classic ballads, ditty and tunes will have you steaming along with Tim Jackman's Cash-like vocals and chugalugging guitar, and Silas Palmer's honky-tonk keys and hillbilly fiddle.
With a slideshow of historic photos and films, and songs selected from a list as long as the Ipswich line, your quirky conductors invite you to hop on board for a hooting toot-toot of a ride. Fun for the whole family!

TIM JACKMAN is an actor, singer and performer who has been entertaining children and adults alike for over a decade. With guitar, kazoo and classic nursery rhymes, Tim brings music and rhythm to the heads, shoulders, knees and toes of every audience. He has entertained the children of the Woodford Folk Festival for over a decade, appears weekly at The Corner at the State Library of Queensland, and has been invited to return to the Sydney Children’s Festival this year after debuting in 2009.

Tim was once employed by Queensland Rail as a Junior Unclassified Assistant Roster Clerk. On his very first day he received instruction on brewing the perfect pot of tea…

SILAS PALMER is a keyboard and fiddle player in great demand in a number of popular Brisbands including Women In Docs, The Daybridges, The Lovers of Modern Art, Roz and the Wayward Gentlemen and Spot the Dog. He has recorded with all of these artists as well as Claire Whiting, Liam Griffin and Michael Fix. He currently works full-time as a teacher, performer and session musician, when his is not appearing at a festival in Australia or abroad. More recently he delighted audiences as Fritz in enchanting family performance Nadia’s Wish and is the keyboard/fiddle player in the about-to-be-world-famous, Nadia and the Best Band in the World!

Luckily, Silas was saved from being killed by a train at the age of 3 by the man who was later his violin teacher.

PINEAPPLE PRODUCTIONS is a Brisbane based production house, creating, presenting and producing quality live arts and cultural experiences for children and families, with a distinct sunshine state flavour. Pineapple Productions was established in January 2010, producing a full-length theatre and music show, Nadias’ Wish a new Queensland work that is designed for touring throughout regional Queensland and beyond. The company is currently producing Tea and Music – Sounds and Songs of the Railway and The Paper Boat Project for QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival for under 8s in 2010, with a view to touring these works in the future.

Pineapple Productions believes that we make trains bigger and better in the sunshine state…

KERRYANNE FARRER Director and Creative Producer of Pineapple Productions is passionate about producing contemporary high calibre arts experiences for Queensland audiences, particularly children and their families. Recently as Manager of Children and Young Peoples Service for State Library of Queensland she produced works for large-scale holiday events such as Circus at SLQ and Around the World. In 2010 Kerryanne produced, directed and co-wrote, Nadia’s Wish with artist Nadia Sunde. Kerryanne has produced work for several major festivals including Pig City for the Queensland Music Festival and BCC and Island, a six-day program of Aboriginal, Torres Strait and Pacific Island cultural sharing for children for QPAC’s Out of the Box Festivals in 2004 and 2006. In 2010 she produced Tea and Music: Songs and Sounds of the Railway (now Rock'n'Rails) and Paper Boat Lantern for Out of the Box festival.

Kerryanne is an avid tea drinker and her favourite train is the sugar cane trian at The Big Pineapple…

Rock'n'Rails is presented by Pineapple Productions who acknowledges State Library of Queensland as the original co-presenter of this concert performance for Tea and Music: Songs and Sounds of the Railway as part of 2010 QPAC's Out of the Box Festival for Under 8s.