A year ago at this time, Jimbo Stokes was working in Sydney as a management consultant. Pandemic restrictions meant he was working from home, and he had a lot of time alone. He was sharing a house with sister, Hester, a doctor who was working overseas.
It was during that period of uncertainty, the calm we all endured, when time stood still, that Stokes wrote his song, Atlas, a stirring tribute to his mother, Bronwyn Stokes.
Jimbo has just released a video of the song, his first.
Since last year his circumstances have changed. He left Sydney, leaving behind a good career to move back to the country. He grew up on a farm around Tamworth, and has now settled in Scone, making the time to write music and do his own artwork while working as a manager for Michael Reid's art gallery in Murrurundi.
"Something inside me just wanted to do it," he says of the song. "For personal reasons. It's a true story that came out pretty easily.
"It's a day in my life, when living in city. There's no commercial ambitions with it, it's a really personal one for me. The family were on board. Just to get it out was a great thing."
Bronwyn Stokes was a beloved family practice GP in the Tamworth and Merriwa regions who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to regional medicine, in the field of nutrition.
She got the letter about about her OAM while in hospice care, and died in November 2016 before the ceremony in April 2017, where her husband Brice and all their kids attended to accept it on her behalf.
Dr Stokes died of ovarian cancer.
"I think Atlas is a good metaphor to describe mum; someone who held so much on her shoulders but was selfless and had immense courage all the way to the end," Stokes says.
The song tells the story of Jimbo's time living in the city and dealing with the loss of his mother while trying to stay on track in the present, juggling memories of the past whilst dealing with the day-to-day grind of the corporate world.
"The video is very personal," Stokes says "Most of my family are in the actual video. The flashbacks are of home videos. The office space is my old office, one of the people I actually worked with is in it. Everyone is either a friend or family member."
Time heals some wounds, but also sharpens memories.
"I wouldn't have been able to write it in 2017, it would have been too raw," Stokes says. "Time does give a bit of perspective ...."
Stokes, who trained as an opera singer during his time in Sydney, was identified as an up-and-coming country singer. He was invited to attend the Academy of Country Music's 2022 senior course in Tamworth, which was postponed due to COVID restrictions.
He only bought a guitar, started singing during lockdown.
"That song took a day or two. It's quite authentic. Telling a story I knew well," he says.
"I've written more now, and there's more to come. I like writing about a story I resonate with, experience of someone close, that sort of has that strong core meaning to it," he says.
Jimbo teamed up with award-winning producer and musician Rod McCormack to record the song, and worked with videographer Steph Hunter on the Atlas video.
Dr Stokes worked as a GP in Merriwa, Walcha, Tamworth and Port Macquarie. She set up weight control clinics which assisted in saving many lives.
In a Scone Advocate story her husband Brice praised Bronwyn for her dedication to helping people and assisting patients fighting obesity, diabetes and related illnesses.
"She was at the forefront of fighting obesity through improved eating habits," he said. "Bronwyn was dedicated to helping people. She was a general practitioner but with a difference.
"She was a pioneer in combating the obesity explosion and for 30 years used her special skills in diet and healthy living to save thousands of patients from obesity, which in turn has cured and helped prevent, type two diabetes, heart disease, dementia and other associated complaints."
Dr Stokes died of ovarian cancer after an 18-month battle. "She went into remission," Jimbo says. "It came back. It was a horrible time, especially for mum, she knew what was going on, she knew it was terminal."
As the song says: You were the strongest one I knew; You did everything for us, you did all that you could do
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