![MUSICIAN: William Crighton will play on a paddle steamer as part of the Riverboats Music Festival. Picture: JONATHAN CARROLL MUSICIAN: William Crighton will play on a paddle steamer as part of the Riverboats Music Festival. Picture: JONATHAN CARROLL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/dNmjTCUWGCi8W4CsChEdGZ/87ef2eaa-ed07-4725-8cfa-b525718579e4.jpg/r0_1242_3792_3327_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
AFTER spending time in the Echuca region during his childhood, musician William Crighton will return to the area for the Riverboats Festival.
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Featuring including Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, James Reyne, Mia Dyson, Hoodoo Gurus and Paul Kelly and Charlie Owen, the three-day Riverboats Festival kicks off on February 17.
Crighton will play on Saturday on board of one of Echuca’s iconic paddle steamers.
“I’m really looking forward to getting down here. I lived there for not very long as a kid and am up in Hunter Valley now,”
“When I was in Queenscliff, I played on the blues train with the band, that was cool. A lot of people heard the music and then came to the set. So playing on a paddle steamer is a cool idea.
”Everyone I speak to about it loves Riverboats. I can’t wait to check out Paul Kelly and Melody Pool.”
After growing up singing church hymns with his grandmother, Crighton turned his attention to songwriting before taking a break form music.
“When I was very young, about four or five, I sang to my pop. That’s my first memory of singing,” he said.
“Then I started writing but was never any good until recently. I still don't know if I am good but I just keep working on it.
“After I went away from music, I came back without thinking about a music career. I was just playing and writing and getting a connection that I hadn't had before.”
Crighton has recorded one album, something he did at home with his wife and friends over two weeks.
“I have recorded a lot in past when I was younger but did few things that were released. This is the first one that I completed and put out,” he said.
“We recorded in the house we were living at at the time, just set up some gear.
“It was cool, all my good friends, my brother Luke and wife Jules were in the house for a two week period. There was no clock running, we had all the time in the world to get what we could get.
“There are other ways to make an album but this suits me. We were only thinking about getting the best performance of each song.”
The musician has a strong blues flavour but said his music is subjective and can’t be defined by one genre.
“It varies each show. Sometimes we’re fully electric, sometimes unplugged or in between. It depends on the evening as to what we play,” he said.
“(The songs are) stories about growing up in the country and spirit that comes with that.”
Beyond the Riverboats Festival, Crighton will also tour through South Australia and Tasmania and also perform at the Blue Mountains Folk Festival.