Too Many Chiefs

Andrew London, Wayne Mason and Rob Joass
Mates on the road rolling out top quality songwriting and musicianship, with lashings of irony and humour. – East Auckland Times

Three songwriters argue over headline billing, playing order, and whose shout it is, while talking about themselves and playing their self-selected ’Greatest Hits’.

Wayne Mason is something of a Kiwi icon, having won the ‘song of the Century’ with his song ‘Nature’, first recorded in the ’60s with The Fourmyula,  and also covered by the Muttonbirds in the ’90s. Also a founder member of Rockinghorse and The Warratahs, Wayne now records and tours under his own name. When on the road with the Chiefs his job is to deliver philosophical profundities such as ‘music is like water – it just seeps away into the ground’.

Rob Joass is a 3 times Tui Award finalist, singer/songwriter and leader of folk/rock troubadours Hobnail. His gritty songs are equal parts folk and country rock, with the occasional barb of satirical humour betraying a cynical perspective on the human condition honed by decades of constant touring through the highways and back roads Europe, Canada and NZ. Rob calls this ‘repeatedly smashing myself up against a wall’.

Andrew London tours and records with his own trio, imaginatively named The Andrew London Trio. He was previously Chief of swing trio Hot Club Sandwich, whose repertoire consisted mostly of Andrew’s whimsical, humourous and satirical ditties. He was also assistant Chief of Kapiti’s ‘Cattlestops’, a five-piece country band whose Tui-nominated album ‘Back to Rosetta Road’ provided much of the soundtrack to the movie ‘Second Hand Wedding’.

“This was not a series of songs but a complete performance,  and their banter and commentary was a part of that. It was like sitting down with a group of friends reminiscing – such a cool relaxed vibe – and then this great music kept being served up. Too Many Chiefs – Buy tickets. You won’t regret it! Nicola Voice,  concert review.

https://www.facebook.com/toomanychiefsnz

Enda Kenny

Dublin-born folksinger Enda Kenny is one of Australia’s favourite festival performers.

As a storytelling songwriter, his ability to instantly engage audiences is well known, creating evocative characters drawn from life that pull you into their stories and songs that trigger memories you didn’t know you had.

He has the migrant’s eye for his adopted landscape, has travelled widely across and around it and found the word pictures to bring it to life like you are travelling with him.

He has headlined festivals in Hong Kong and the UK, opened for the McGarrigles at Sidmouth Arena, toured through Germany and Holland, and played thousands of venues from Folk in the Bath and The Albert Hole to The Drunken Poet. He is equally at home around the campfire at Nariel Creek, Australia’s longest running festival. 

Kenny is a cracking solo entertainer, the raw emotion of songs like Heart Tattoo and Vigil are beautifully balanced by hilarious observations about everyday life and human frailty. As the world reopens its doors to live music, his travels are taking him even further along the road. Make sure you catch him.

“On small stages to intimate audiences or large stages to festival audiences he always holds the crowd in the palm of his hand. Witty and intelligent songwriting and a brilliant night’s entertainment” – Eleanor McEvoy“Enda is regarded by many as the best folk singer-songwriter in Australia. He showcases his brilliant songs during hugely entertaining live performances…Heart Tattoo matches wonderful stories of local characters and places with strong melodies. The album has garnered high praise from reviewers, including likening Enda’s lyrical skills to those of Leonard Cohen.” – House on The Hill   www.houseonthehillconcerts.com.au

“The finest Irish songwriter living overseas” – Colum Sands

Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qSRh_04DIM

The Blue Sea Above

The Blue Sea Above are fast becoming regulars in the Dunedin music scene. Their live shows combine energetic violin improvisation with solidly crafted and strongly melodic songwriting. Dean’s virtuosic, ethereal, and intuitive violin mastery – drawing on decades of orchestral performance – blends beautifully with Tom’s easy style – sweet earthy vocals and compelling guitar rhythms.

Dean Hollebon has been a member of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra for over 40 years. He is the conductor of the Dunedin Collegiate Orchestra, and has conducting and teaching roles at Saturday Morning Music Classes, as well as offering private violin tuition. He is a member of the Southern Consort of Voices. He loves making music and savours every performance, finding music expressive, transformative, and immersive. He relishes exploring a different and creative side of music with Tom in The Blue Sea Above.

Tom Bolton has been playing his original music both solo and in various line-ups for more than 20 years. His songwriting ranges widely, from the time-honoured basics of three chords and the truth, to song structures and progressions that explore unexpected and rewarding new territory. His voice reaches out in a dynamic conversation with his guitar playing, with range and power that still allow for the human vulnerability and essential positivity at the heart of his lyrics.

https://theblueseaabove.com/

https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Blue-Sea-Above/61553872689291/

Fingerpicking Delights IX – 1 December

“How Guitar Fingerpicking Came to Christchurch”.

In playing order, the acts are:
Phil Doublet,
the Christchurch Kings of Skiffle (Davey Backyard, Dan Heatley and Paul Keen),
the Mountford Trio (Hugh Canard, Mary Ruston and Neill Pickard),
Jon Hooker and Tony Hale,
Graham Wardrop.

Tony Hale is pleased to announce details of his ninth Fingerpicking Delights evening and welcomes you back to this showpiece of Christchurch’s guitar fingerpicking talent.
Early bookings are recommended.

Tonight, we address the question: ‘How and why did guitar fingerpicking come to Christchurch?’

Each artist will share how they got started, what style attracted them, and the satisfaction they get from playing to an audience. Will this be inspirational for up-and-coming guitarists? Of course!

The acts cover a range of styles, from Delta Blues to the urban folk revival, to hot guitar duets, to Christchurch-generated masterpieces. All are returnees to this concert series, some play professionally or teach guitar, and all encourage fingerpicking.

Taking time away from the road, Act One is multiple award-winning recording artist Phil Doublet, singer and fine exponent of the hollow Hawaiian Hilo lap steel guitar, played with a slide, and conventional acoustic guitar. Phil is a master of several styles but tonight is a blues night, reflecting some of the 1920s Delta styles. He impressed with his solo gig at the Canterbury Blues Club earlier in the year. Always an encourager of others, Phil organises a monthly songwriters’ gathering at A Rolling Stone called NZ Songwriters in the Round. Check the Star Gig Guide for times.
He has longstanding duos with his singer-songwriter wife Lana, and with John Sanchez-Lloyd, teaches guitar and songwriting, produces albums and is an on-call studio musician for NightShift Studios. A busy man over these last 40 years, Phil began playing at the unbelievable age of 7 and has been in bands since age 11. Prolific in the recording studio, Phil released his new album ‘The Journeyman’ in 2022 with the #1 single ‘Interstate of mind’. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcPjBQmpjx4

Onstage next is a British-style skiffle group, the Christchurch Kings of Skiffle, led by popular Englishman Davey Backyard. Davey is deeply dedicated to learning about and preserving the musical genre of skiffle. He has deeply immersed himself in its roots to the point of meeting musician Billy Bragg, author of a book on skiffle; connecting with Chas McDevitt of the Chas McDevitt Skiffle group, and if that wasn’t enough, he  has had conversations with Rod Davis, the original banjo player of the Quarrymen, predecessors of the Beatles. Davey runs the Skeatles, a skiffle Beatles tribute band who did a packed-out recent concert at A Rolling Stone. Davey’s sidemen are Dan Heatley on washboard (formerly drummer with Shane McGowan),
and Paul Keen on tea chest bass (formerly bass player with Kiwi legends The Bats).

They will play as close as they can to the Lonnie Donegan shows of the 1950s in England which were rebroadcast on New Zealand radio. Some of Donegan’s repertoire came direct from American records hocked off in Britain’s western coastal ports to be eagerly snapped up by pop and rock musicians just starting out their careers in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYixrZq3HE

The presence of such a lively, non-fingerpicking skiffle band will be made clear by Act Three. Neill Pickard, now 81, will share how this music inspired him in the late 1950s to take up the guitar. 82-year-old Hugh Canard learned basic chords in his native Fiji before attending high school in Whangarei. Both arrived at university in Christchurch and attended a life-changing concert of the Kingston Trio in February 1961, one of two held at the Majestic Theatre in Manchester Street. There, for the first time, onstage were two pioneering fingerpickers and a 5-string longneck plucked banjo. And this is why we will get to hear the famous Tom Dooley, played in urban folk style. Mary Ruston, known widely for her awesome keyboard skills, the all-girl trio Saffron Sisters and conducting and arranging for choirs such as Women in Harmony and currently Jazzamatazz, helps make up the Mountford Trio. She also was a member of the university folk music club but came along a little later.

After the break, the concert jumps to an era where basic fingerpicking skills were well-mastered and individual styles were showing through. Jon Hooker arrived from England in 1986 and quickly took on the demanding role of backing guitarist for Club notables Izzy Miller-Bell, Jan Rapley (Elliot) and Laura Taylor. Their work is on YouTube. Jon soon integrated into such high-performance groups as Rua, and Emeralds and Greenstone, and teaches guitar professionally. Tony Hale has been a booked performer at the Folk Club since 1971 and explored styles such as ragtime bluegrass over the years. Apart from backing singer Kristina Godfrey for nearly a decade, his passion is preserving local folk music history through tribute concerts and biographical articles, some of which are posted on the Folk Club website. Jon and Tony share a love of the complex art of guitar duets, inspired by Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Mark Knopfler and Tommy Emmanuel. They will acknowledge their respect for the two 1970s Atkins-Jerry Reed albums before displaying some of Jon’s arrangements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO5iSKBwB5Q

Closing out the show is our main artist Graham Wardrop, showing us once again how talent, years of playing and innate creativity combine to allow a musician to express himself so well on the stage. Graham enjoys these shows as much as we do.

Graham writes: “Early in the year I did shows down south in Otago, some concerts in the Nelson region and then a tour with Elizabeth Braggins and Suzanne Lynch. This was a fast start to the year and response to all of the shows was very enthusiastic with good attendance numbers. I visited the lower North Island before returning to Christchurch late May. In early June I had surgery on my left hand which put me out of action for the whole of winter. Thankfully, the surgeon did a fantastic job and I’m now back to playing  . My first gig back was a concert of original music at The Piano. It was well attended and very well received. I have been asked to do a few more concerts of my own music which is a big thrill for me. I have embarked on building two guitars, a steel string and a nylon string. I find the activity of creating instruments as interesting and exciting as actually playing the instruments. I’m looking forward to December 1, to hearing some fine guitar playing and to performing some fingerstyle pieces for you all. Cheers Graham”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT77GfACnMM