On that album, Hale provided guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, lap steel, vocals and he co-produced it with Kelly.
Gerry Hale grew up in Newmarket, Suffolk and started playing music at the age of twelve, he turned professional at fifteen, spending three years touring rural England.
He was a session musician, providing violin, for Cambridge band, the Soft Boys, on their first two albums, A Can of Bees (1979) and Underwater Moonlight (June 1980).
[3] They were joined, in 1984, by Hale on fiddle, Richard Lee on double bass (also ex-Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators), and Australian-born Warren Wills on piano.
[2] Hale, on fiddle and mandolin, joined a bluegrass band, Rank Strangers, in 1988 with Philomena Carroll on vocals and bass guitar, Gary Forrester (a.k.a.
Rank Strangers won Best Group, Best Male Vocalist, and Best Composition for their album, Dust on the Bible, at the Australian Gospel Music Awards in Tamworth, New South Wales.
In December 1988 Mike Jackson of The Canberra Times described their album, Uluru, which "features some delightful lead breaks on mandolin [Hook], banjo [Somerville] and fiddle (Gentleman Gerry Hale) and some rock-solid accompaniment from guitarist [Rambeaux] and bass player [Carroll].
[5] He was a comedian, singer, musician and divisor alongside fellow members of that ensemble: Gadsby, Piper and Adam Gare, to provide The Bouncing Czecks Are Greedy.
[5] He took an acting role in the Glenn Elston-directed version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night from December to March 1993 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.
[11] In 1997 Uncle Bill contributed two tracks for a various artists' compilation album, Where Joy Kills Sorrow, via the W. Minc label: "The World's Got Everything in It" and their collaboration with Kelly, "Thanks a Lot".
[6] In August 1998 Uncle Bill released their debut album, Special Treatment, a set of cover versions of tracks by Australian songwriters, which was recorded at Red Heeler Studios, Preston.
[12] The title track, "40 Miles to Saturday Night" and "Maybe this Time for Sure" were originals by Kelly; "Don't Drink the Water" and "Overkill" were written by Hay; and "Stella Joy" was co-written by Smith and Randy Bulpin.
[18] In December that year Uncle Bill released their third album, Heartbreak Train, which was recorded between July and November 2000 at Red Heeler Studio, Preston.