Gleny’s Story

A Country Girl with an International Heart

Gleny Rae is an award-winning Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music educator whose work is as expansive and surprising as the country she calls home.

Now based in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Gleny brings together folk, bluegrass, country soul, rhythm and blues and calypso influences to create music filled with energy, humour and emotional honesty. Armed with a fiddle, accordion, guitar, piano and a powerful storytelling voice, she has developed a sound that is unmistakably her own.

Finding Music in Western NSW

Gleny grew up near Nyngan in western New South Wales, where she completed much of her early schooling by correspondence and had limited access to formal musical opportunities.

Those beginnings helped form her belief that music should be available to everyone—not simply as entertainment, but as a source of confidence, connection and possibility.

Gleny later completed a Bachelor of Education through Southern Cross University while touring Australia with Gleny Rae Virus and her Tamworth Playboys. The band became known for its energetic mixture of hillbilly swing, bluegrass, western swing, gypsy jazz and blues, accompanied by Gleny’s cheeky humour and stories drawn from rural Australia.

DOWNLOAD BIO (or read below)

“Music should rattle your bones, loosen your feet and open a door into somebody else’s story.”

Gleny Rae Biography

A country girl with an international heart, Gleny Rae believes music can inspire and change lives. “Music is a two way street, equally important to the performer AND the listener.”

“We learn so much through music, and I spend most of my time as a music teacher learning from my students!”

A passionate educator, Gleny Rae left the east coast in January 2021 to teach music in Alice Springs and fulfill a calling to work on community with indigenous children. Two years into her Mparntwe (Alice Springs) teaching role, Gleny Rae can be found conducting choirs as afar afield as Tennant Creek, Nyirripi, Papunya and Finke. She relishes the opportunity to work on country with First Nations people and the incredibly passionate educators there.

Gleny Rae is no stranger to the screen, having appeared in the first ground breaking series of Go Back To Where You Came From which screened on SBS in 2011. In 2018, she travelled to the USA with her friend and colleague Wanita as part of the award winning music documentary I’m Wanita. As Wanita’s manager, her roles included organising recording sessions, publicity, liaising with local musicians and assisting with the filming of the documentary, but most importantly taking care of the unpredictable and demanding talent (Wanita)!

Wherever Gleny Rae lives, she becomes deeply embedded in the music community and relishes the opportunity to create new performance opportunities and attract musicians from afar. Since living in Alice Springs, she has performed with King Marong, Alice Springs World Chamber Orchestra, Olive Pink Opera, Warren H Williams, Neil Murray, Xavia’s We Sing, Stellar Sea’s Is This Desire and Dina’s Should You Lose Your Belongings. Gleny Rae is Musical Director of the monthly Pop Up Cabaret gig (On the Wing Productions), organised the Alice Springs World Chamber Orchestra fundraiser at Olive Pink Gardens, and has lured Australian artists to Alice Springs to perform including Jackie Marshall, Shannon Bourne, Mike Martin, Sarah Carroll.

While living in Newcastle (2009 – 2019), Gleny Rae was artistic director of the Karuah Bluegrass Music Festival, creator and director of the Coaltown Strutters Ball, and curated a series of concerts at the Sunset Studio for 7 years, attracting both Australian and international artists.

In her teaching career, she has coordinated and conducted a number of large scale concerts in Karratha WA, Newcastle NSW and Alice Springs NT. Most recently, she coached and conducted the Alice Beat combined schools choir featuring 155 students from schools in a 500km radius of Alice Springs.

Her performing career spans from Edinburgh Fringe Festival to American Music Association Showcase in Nashville TN, and most of the folk festivals in Australia including the big three; Woodford, National Folk Festival and Port Fairy Folk Festival. She is regularly asked to run fiddle workshops or run festival choirs, including the Gospel Choir at the 2022 Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

The 2018 album Diggin’ A Hole was awarded Best Roots Album at the Australian Roots Music Awards in 2018. In 2023, Gleny Rae was awarded a Golden Fiddle Award for Best Fiddler in a Band at the 2023 Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the Australian Folk Music Award for Best Instrumentalist. She also established the Mparntwe String Band Folk Song Collective, a weekly gathering of folk music enthusiasts who wish to improve their skills, connect with other like minded musicians, and develop a shared repertoire of music relevant to people and place on Arrente country. This project culminated with a hugely successful Bush Dance and performance at the 2023 Desert Festival.

 Community Projects in Mparntwe/Alice Springs

  • 2022 Facilitated Alice Springs Chamber Orchestra fundraiser concert at Olive Pink Botanic Gardens.
  • 2022 Alice Springs Chamber Orchestra performance with Elena Kats-Chernin at Araluen Performing Arts Centre
  • 2023 Elected as President of the Alice Springs Folk Club Inc.
  • 2023 Established monthly folk sessions at the Watertank Café, to build folk community, support local folk musicians, provide opportunities for emerging folk musicians and provide a platform for touring folk acts.
  • 2023 Establishment of Mparntwe String Band and Folk Song Collective, with Seed funding from Red Hot Arts. Culminated in performance at Desert Festival
  • 2024 Mpartnwe String Band weekly gatherings, creating an inclusive and supportive environment for string instrument players of all levels.
  • 2024 Artistic Director of newly launched Top Half Folk Festival, in new location of Ross River Resort. Festival was an artistic and financial success, with no funding!
  • 2024 Received NT Arts funding for Mparntwe String Band Project, to continue weekly string sessions, facilitate bush dances, and run First Fiddle Club programs – a free workshop targeted at school aged children to allow the opportunity to see, touch and play a violin for the first time.
  • 2025 Facilitator of Alice Springs Chamber Orchestra, with local performances including collaboration with Steiner School students.
  • 2025 Collaboration with Dusty Feet Ballet/Duprada Dance School culminating in performance at Araluen Performing Arts Centre
  • 2025 Facilitator of music program for Beanie Festival
  • 2025 Facilitator of Mparntwe String Band Bushdance as part of Desert Festival
  • 2025 Facilitator Singchronicity Choir (primary and secondary students) tour of Mparntwe/Alice Springs including Old Timers Aged Care Facility, Purple House and Sadadeen Primary.
  • 2026 Facilitator musical performances at State Funeral Ted Egan AO
  • 2026 Artistic Director Top Half Folk Festival at Ross River.
    Co-collaborator with Liam King on String Dome Project (funded by Festivals Australia) Involving original composition, teaching young local string players and liaising with guest artist Tenzin Choegyal. Premier performance at Top Half Folk Festival 2026.

Discography – performance and production

  • 2026 Momentum Gleny Rae Virus
  • 2018 Diggin’ A Hole Gleny Rae Virus
  • 2016 Big News in a Small Town (producer) Kate Oliver
  • 2015 AAA Gleny Rae Virus
  • 2014 Country Con Queso The Junes
  • 2012 Whojigadandy Gleny Rae Virus and her Playboys
  • 2011 12 Golden Greats The Junes
  • 2010 Beyond Horizontal Gleny Rae Virus and her Playboys
  • 2007 Highrollin’ Gleny Rae Virus and her Playboys
  • 2005 Thirteen Thongs Toe Sucking Cowgirls
  • 2002 Flamin’ Sheilas Toe Sucking Cowgirls

Performances include

  • Americana Music Association Conference, Nashville TN
  • Blackpot Festival Lafayette Louisiana
  • Edinburgh Fringe Festival, UK
  • Harvest Music Festival, Ozark AK
  • South West Regional Folk Alliance Conference, Austin TX
  • Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival
  • Cobargo Folk Festival
  • Cygnet Folk Festival
  • Darwin Festival
  • Desert Festival
  • Desert Harmony Festival
  • Fairbridge FolkWorld Festival
  • Gumball
  • Gympie Muster
  • Illawarra Folk Festival
  • Nannup Music Festival
  • National Folk Festival, Canberra
  • Port Fairy Folk Festival
  • Tamworth Country Music Festival
  • Wirrina Bluegrass Festival
  • WOMAdelaide
  • Woodford Folk Festival

Contact

EMAIL: gleny120@yahoo.com

WEBSITE: www.glenyrae.com.au

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/glenyraevirus/

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC9HAOWcJM7-qTwAr_-pK-Q/featured?view_as=subscriber

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/glenyraevirus/

Watch

Lively, Unpredictable and Full of Heart

A Gleny Rae Virus performance is much more than a collection of songs. It is an invitation into a world of colourful characters, resilient people, unexpected stories and irresistible rhythms.

Whether appearing solo, with the string-powered Grass Brazoos or alongside the horns and grooves of the Country Ace Soul Band, Gleny brings warmth, irrepressible humour and an infectious energy to every stage.

Expect feisty fiddle, honest songwriting, lively stories and a few musical surprises along the way.