“Oh bury me beneath the willows, under the weeping willow tree” - Traditional.

Andrew Wrigglesworth and Laura Coates are a couple of old souls, steeped in bluegrass tradition and draped in gothic Americana imagery.  That kind of description might make them sound like some carefully contrived concept-act but there’s something truly different about The Weeping Willows: they really mean it.

Just like their old-timey forefathers, Laura and Andrew see themselves as simply contributors.  They are cogs in the wheel; part of a long music tradition that emerged years before their own existence and will survive them by hook or by crook.  The old songs they sing are plucked from the canon, the new ones they write are simply added to the book.  The origin of each track is almost irrelevant, as all are performed with an authenticity and vibrancy befitting this most dignified and welcoming genre.  A Weeping Willows performance, whether live on location or caught on tape will always delight.  

Some might call Andrew a virtuoso but he doesn’t see himself that way.  To him, the acoustic guitar (or sometimes the dobro) is just that object that hangs permanently from his shoulders (perhaps it’s really held up by his fingertips?  Or maybe it actually is a part of his body?)  Regardless, he plays it with purpose and authority and it wraps itself around his and Laura’s vocals with warmth and affection, never saying too much or too little.  

Laura, for her part, stays as busy as a post-war housewife; complementing her partner’s skill with a voice that ranges from sugar-sweet to evangelically piercing, whilst regularly adding a little accordion, lap steel or even flute on the side.  She’s in possession of a calm self-assurance, her stoic stage presence the perfect foil for Andrew’s thinly veiled neurosis as they regale their audience with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay.  Real music.  

To answer your question, yes: Andrew and Laura are an item.  Theirs is an uncommon and intoxicating mix of love affair and musical union.  In fact, by the standards of the world from which they appear to have emerged, they are living in sin.  But that’s not so bad.  There mightn’t be a ring, but there’s chemistry aplenty – think Cash and Carter, Sinatra (Nancy) and Hazlewood or even Kristofferson and Coolidge.  Is her name tattooed on the inside of his upper arm?  It wouldn’t come as a surprise. 

With their first official album release due this year, it’s likely we’ll see a fair bit more of The Weeping Willows.  But it seems as though they’d hardly care if we didn’t.  Andrew and Laura would be doing this anyway – writing, singing, harmonising.  And meaning every word of it.  Lucky for us, they’ve chosen to share.  Now we need to listen.
 
~Lachlan Bryan.

Kit and The Cub are Sydney Folk Duo - J.D. Coote (f. Keys/Vox) and A.D. Provan (m. Guitar/Vox); The timely hiatus of their previous project gave the duo the green light to go ahead and tackle their lifelong love affair with folk music.

Combing primarily Piano and Acoustic Guitar for their rhythms and melodies, while layering Coote’s signature, smoky vocals in with Provan’s underlying baritone, the two seem to have achieved a sense of mournful urgency in their sound.

Alongside their ever growing list of carefully crafted, original material, Kit and The Cub love to pay tribute to their heroes in their live shows by performing a carefully selected bunch of songs they feel not only highlight their heroes to their audiences, but have also deeply affected and shaped themselves as musicians and songwriters

With songs that dig deep into melancholy, devotion and flawed and fascinating characters, Sam Newton is an artist with the uncanny ability to find a direct line into the central themes of his songs with a raw and poetic honesty.

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www.samnewtonmusic.com

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samnewtonmusic@gmail.com

Sydney Based Musician

"...like listening to an old record only Live, Such a clean and effortless voice..."

Connecting with the simplicity of life, while laying bare the bones of the human condition, is what Dear Orphans and their music are all about.

The band comprises singer-songwriters Nick Payne and Lyn Taylor, with Carlyn Chen (Fiddle) Paul Sun (Double Bass) and Jolyon Gray (Dobro), rounding out a unique mix of folk, bluegrass and americana.

The current lineup have been playing together since 2011 having played numerous festivals such as the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival, Karuah Bluegrass Festival and Tamworth Country Music Festival, to name a few.

“Our music persists in a way that other music doesn't. It has the ability to stick with you for a long time. We are influenced by traditional bluegrass,” says Nick. He adds: "What I love about bluegrass is that it's music written by people battling with real life. And sometimes the reasons they are writing and playing that music are to rise above that and set their sights on something higher."

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