“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.

Brother Buffalo "...Desert highway hipslinger with a goodie-bag of shambolic folk 'n' roll, suburban hymns and seedy motel blues. This seasoned troubadour knows his way around a hook and a good time."

Todd Richmond Bennett (voice/guitar/harp)
Breakin' hearts and slow dancin' since before the internet...

Words about Paul Andrew Carey

"The first time I heard Paul Carey sing, I knew there was something special going on there. The second time, I started to think that this guy is more brave, insightful and uninhibited than most songwriters in this country. The third time, I was a converted fan."
Shane Nicholson - Multiple award wining singer/songwriter/producer, Golden Guitars, ARIA's etc

"Keep your eyes and ears open to Paul Andrew Carey. He is indeed a rare find in singer-songwriters, Fearless, talented, and completely original."
Jeremy Edwards – Musician/Producer. Producer Award at the 2006 Musicoz Awards.


Words about Paul Andrew Carey: Penned on the Artist by Mick Daley

“Paul Carey, a masterly musician and songwriter with an epic rock pedigree, has emerged from a submerged decade with an explosive body of work that just erupts, quite terrifyingly, on stage”.

Offering Carey a support gig was a dreadful mistake. When I bowled into the Drunken Poet after an earlier engagement it was to witness Carey rampaging across the bar, howling out the kind of primordial berserker magic that mutated the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion from Beck's support act to the colossus that tore apart an ABC studio.

This is a man who’s shared big stages on tour with Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and Van Halen. His 90s rock band Gumption were arena rock monsters, till they imploded in their own idiosyncrasies. 

Carey is just at home on the small stage too. He remains a shambling rock beast, whether tearing up the Drunken Poet to the patent astonishment of the whisky hardballers, or howling cathartic twenty minute dirges to spellbound audiences in a house concert in Coburg. 

In a town teeming with songwriters it takes rare talent to be noticed. Carey stands out in Melbourne for his extraordinary presence, narrative power and determination to get to the heart of human stories.

Tearing up the Drunken Poet is only one facet of his lunatic assemblage of talents. He can change gear on a dime and move through a range of genres, playing sweet guitar ballads or destroying a fretboard with solos out of the Captain Beefheart bestiary.

In a basement studio on the banks of Merri Creek he’s been labouring in obscurity for a year, producing tracks for a project that continually expanding. From a humble rock and roll album it’s blown into a fully fledged psyche-rock compendium that ranges from elegant, bittersweet ballads to stoner rock odysseys to balls out hip hop dance tracks worthy of Kendrick Lamar.

He’s a literal songwriter, focused on describing a tangible world, grounded in circumstance but moving through time. His songs are long explorations of character and often tragic endeavour, delivered with a robust emotionality that is more than capable of provoking very real tears.

Carey’s lived through several musical scenes, from Grafton, home of Gumption, to Newcastle, where he fronted The Mojo Liberation Front and Evolluap, as well as playing organ for reggae band The Gualliards. In Melbourne he formed soul-groove band The Lustral Water and performed for two years as guitarist for Kutcha Edwards, writing on his album Blak n Blu.

Carey is coming out of hibernation, preparing himself to hit the live scene in tsunami splendour. I for one will be volunteering as the support act.

“I have not heard a more quality, eclectic, compelling, incredible songwriter in a long, long time”.
Aleyce Simmonds – 2017 APRA Award Winner – 2018 Golden Guitar winner

“Ignites and feeds the hungry spirit with powerful imagery and originality. His words and music mark him as a master craftsman “
Luke O’shea – six time Golden guitar winner, APRA song of the year, etc

Bluegrass, country and folk wrapped up in precise instrumentation and carefully woven harmonies.

Tim Bodman is following