Ricky Pann & the Folkenators

Bluegrass, Roots, Country, and Folk with a twist of Pop.

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Ricky Pann is a songwriting musician who has spent his life collecting stories surrounded by great musicians, artists, and eclectic individuals from all walks of life.

Fresh from winning the Fretfest songwriting competition at Tamworth Country Music Festival 2024, Ricky has been writing, playing, producing, and touring for four decades.

Ricky’s new band is a reboot called the Folkenators comprising some of Australia's foremost accomplished acoustic players. 

“We use string-band acoustic instrumentation to blend a mix that draws on folk, country, bluegrass, blues and rock crafted into relatable pop songs with meaning”

“The Folkenators” is a fluid band of incredibly gifted musicians with long-term collaborator Paul Abrahams. Folkenators are players drawn from in his extensive musical orbit with whom he has worked, played and loved for over forty years.

All of Ricky’s songs are based on his own life experience. 

“Life is most certainly stranger than fiction and I consider songwriting an obsession that’s cheaper than therapy. Anything and everything you live breath and hear is fair game for a song”

Ricky is a walking encyclopaedia of musicology. His influences are deeply rooted in music of the past, the moment, and the future. 

“Music is like food where a fusion of attitudes, humility, honesty, ingredients, culture, necessity and improvisation can collide to define new taste”

Great songs and instrumentals by all artists define a time and place in history.

Ricky’s lifelong obsession with music has drawn him to anything on the cutting edge that pushes musical boundaries.

Ricky’s long-term collaborator is Paul Abrahams (Reels, Wendy Mathews, Peter Blakley, Crow Mountain). They work in the Acoustic and Electric space with the Folkenators and Atmospherica.band