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 Bobby
Cash is India ’s only country music artist - he is literally one in a
billion.
Bobby
Cash grew up and resides in Clement Town, near
Dehradun in the foothills of the Himalayas. orn
Bal Kishore Das Loiwal, his father used to call
him “Babu” which became “Bobby”- and
Kishore became “Kish”, which in turn became
“Cash”.
For as long as he can remember country music was
played in his house. In the early 1960’s an
aunt moved to Nashville and would regularly send
the latest country releases to Bobby’s mother.
With an uncle who made electric guitars and
sisters and cousins with a similar passion,
Bobby’s home became a kind of incubator of
country music in India.
After
his Father’s death Bobby used what money was
left to set up a school and hostel for
underprivileged children that his family run,
while he went to New Delhi to try and make his
living as a professional musician. He landed a
regular paying gig at “Rodeo” in Connaught
Place, New Delhi, after entering a karaoke
competition there. Once people realised that not
only did he have a great voice, but that he
could really play the guitar, he soon became a
major drawcard.
After briefly dabbling in “Hindi pop” he
returned to his first true love- Country Music.
A chance meeting with
Australian Producer/Director Colin Bromley in
Jan 2002 turned a dream into reality when he and
co-Producer Gerry O’Leary, through their newly
formed company Gobsmacked Television, arranged
for Bobby to attend the 2003 Tamworth Country
Music Festival as the subject of a documentary.
As India’s population had just passed the one
billion mark, and Bobby was the only guy in
India making a living playing country music, it
became “The Indian Cowboy…One in a
Billion”.
Tamworth was a chance for
Bobby to play for, and with, people who truly
love the same music he does. The curious who
came to his first shows were soon converts when
they saw this charismatic and talented performer
so passionate about his music. He became an
overnight sensation. He also caught the eye of a
successful farmer whose Aunt had been a
missionary in India between the 1920’s and
50’s. While knowing nothing about Bobby, he
offered to help Bobby record a CD - in the hope
that some of the profits would go to help
underprivileged children in India. It turned out
to be a match made in Heaven. Bobby returned to
Australia in June 2003 and recorded his first
country music album - “Cowboy at
Heart”.
The CD was released
independently by Gobsmacked Television in
December 2003 and made it into the top 10
Australian Country Music track charts and was
the highest selling independent artist for
distributor One Stop Entertainment at the 2004
Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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