At the age of seven, Billy Dettmer was playing a mandolin. Back then he was a member of the Victorian Banjo Club. He’s released three albums, a couple of books of poetry and for a time ran Australia’s longest running musicians’ night for 20 years. Billy fell initially for rock’n’roll and rekindled the flame playing his own style of folk music.
On our third phone call chasing Billy, we learnt why he’d been such a hard man to catch. With train noise in the background and his daughter in tow after a hectic but fun day at the Royal Melbourne Show, Billy was at a loss where to begin when Frankly Frankston Magazine started off the interview with: “I’ve been told by my publisher that you’ve got an amazing story to tell and that you’re a very interesting man of many talents. Where do we start?”
His third album saw him win seven awards from the Australian Song Writer Association, two Tamworth Song Writer Awards, Best New Talent at Snowy River Country Music Festival, the Banjo Paterson Award for Poetry and the Have A Go Show, which aired on Channel 7 – and these highs came at the same time! He even appeared on Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s Red Faces twice. With a spectacular last album, he’s inspired later in life and hopes for another string of successes with his fourth album 20 years on.
“My sound has developed; I’ve created my own individual style and produced hundreds of songs,” says Billy.
You could say he’s a man of many skills. He worked for 15 years full-time as a paramedic and is now a clinical instructor in Melbourne’s Ambulance Support network, taking students to the next level to become ambulance paramedics or enhance their skills for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Billy organised the 20th anniversary of the Frankston Guitar Festival on October 6-8 – he was founder and artistic director – and is filling what little time he has left in his day working hard on his fourth album.
His music hasn’t been the main focus for Billy for 20 years, but his passion has returned with gusto. “There was a lot of talk about how the Frankston Guitar Festival should come back, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve put a lot of my time and money into it.”
Billy explains that playing music in the late ‘60s and ‘70s was great because there was so much support from the radio stations, which played predominantly local artists - unlike now. Billy explains that there’s a lot of the good old “two steps forward and one step back” in the music industry, and unfortunately a lot of the musical work is still done for nothing. Given that music didn’t pay too well, he’s kept his passion to the side as he’s worked helping others and earning a living. “Life just keeps rolling on.”
He credits Mike McClellan for his musical inspiration and has always strived to be like him. Songwriting inspiration, on the other hand, comes from Paul Kelly. Billy’s songs tell stories of Melbourne, and he describes himself as a “storyteller, poet, artist drifting through life and the ambulance worker sitting beside you”.
Billy will be featuring at Marysville Jazz and Blues Festival on October 20.