Performers 2019

The line-up for the 2019 Wirrina Bluegrass and Acoustic Roots Festival has been finalised. We had a wonderful batch of submissions, and as always, it wasn’t an easy job to select the performers. We’ve been able to secure a terrific line-up including plenty of great Bluegrass, two Western Swing bands, Old-time fun, contemporary singer-songwriters, and a touch of Celtic Rock. Read on…

Bluegrass—Made in Taiwan

Jenny Lester with Andrew Clermont, Daryl (Jack) Melbourne and Aron McLean are back together after 25 years, re-living the crazy three years in which the group played over 600 shows, including a tour of Taiwan. Three-time Australian Bluegrass Guitar Champion Andrew Clermont is well known to Wirrina Bluegrass festival regulars and tours internationally with The Apostle String Band and Andrew Clermont’s Supper Club orchestra. Jenny Lester is a dynamic Canadian bluegrass singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Since the original Made in Taiwan years, Daryl Jack’s 3000 shows include those with The Fargone Beauties. Aron McLean mostly plays with Peter Denahy.  Trev Warner (Bluegrass Junction) and Paul Cooper (Cherrypickers) will also appear with them during the weekend. All in all, expect one very seamless Bluegrass unit!

Web: Jenny Lester       Andrew Clermont:  http://www.andrewclermont.com.au/sounds.htm#stormy

Facebook: Andrew Clermont

The Borderers

For over 20 years Jim Patterson and Denise Alex Alexander have electrified audiences across Australia and the world with their fusion of Celtic rock, zydeco, African, folk, gospel and whatever style of music that happens to take their fancy. Jim and Alex are renowned for their unbelievably high-energy shows. With ten albums under their belts, they’ve recorded with African, Indian and American soul and gospel singers, performed at WOMAD in England, and entertained huge crowds in Melbourne’s Federation Square, Adelaide’s Skyshow, Byron Bay’s Blues & Roots Festival, Port Fairy’s Folk Festival, and the famous Skagen Festival in Denmark. They are a much-loved, admired and sought-after act and we are lucky to have them at Wirrina in 2019.

Website: https://theborderers.com.au/press/
Facebook: The Borderers

Nobody’s Sweethearts

Nobody’s Sweethearts are an Adelaide based western swing band. ‘Western swing’ is a rich stew of influences and a precursor to rock and roll, reaching its zenith in the 1940s with the great Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys. It is predominantly 1930s dance music—string band jazz played with fiddles and steel guitars, and in it you can hear hillbilly boogie, Dixieland, gypsy jazz and blues influences as well.

Featuring:
Ted Keeley: vocals
Pete Miller: pedal steel 
Ashley Turner: fiddle
Wilson Main: guitar
Ross Wesson: drums 
AJ Kevern: double bass

Facebook: Nobody’s Sweethearts

The Cherry Pickers

The Cherry Pickers are a contemporary bluegrass band playing your favourite tunes from today and back in the day. Coupled with their love of traditional tunes and their original songs, the Cherry Pickers make for an exciting and refreshing bluegrass experience. The Cherry Pickers appear regularly around Adelaide and have played at many festivals around the country including the National Bluegrass Festival, Mountain Grass, the Kelly Country Pick, JamGrass, the Fleurieu Folk Festival, Healesville Festival, Cullulleraine, Groundwater, Dorrigo Folk Festival and the Wirinna Bluegrass Festival. In 2016, the Cherry Pickers toured the US including playing at AmericaFest in Nashville Tennessee. The Cherry Pickers are ever popular at Wirrina festivals and we welcome them back with open arms!

Featuring:
Mark Bandick: guitar, vocals
Lou Evangelistis: mandolin, vocals
Paul Cooper: banjo, vocals
Gage Stead: bass, vocals
Mae Napier-Traeger: fiddle, vocals
Rob Cooper: dobro, vocals

Website: www.cherrypickersband.wordpress.com/music/
Facebook: facebook.com/cherry.pickers.7

Flying Engine Trio

All the way from Melbourne Australia! Flying Engine Trio is the stripped back ‘core’ 3-piece version of Craig Woodward’s Flying Engine Stringband and are some of the country’s finest purveyors of traditional dance and social music from the southern states of America. Flying Engine Trio play an eclectic mix of driving & hypnotic Old Time Appalachian Stringband music, Mountain Blues & Ballads and Traditional Cajun/Creole 2-Steps & Waltz’s from Southwest Louisiana. Acoustic, up-tempo dance music! Also great for not dancing to!

Featuring:
Craig Woodward: fiddle, clawhammer banjo, Cajun accordion, vocals
Liam Wratten: fiddle, clawhammer banjo, Cajun triangle
Johnny Wilson: fiddle, guitar

Facebook: Flying Engine 

Jen Lush with Tara Coates

Jen Lush writes evocative, starkly modern folk songs spun from the heart. Her recent album of Australian poetry crafted into songs has taken Jen and her stellar band to festivals and venues throughout South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania. Currently recording her new album, Jen returns to the deeply personal, taking the magnifying glass to the small idiosyncrasies of her life in the suburbs, mining for simple joys and everyday frailties in acoustic songs which teeter on the edges of folk, alt-country and something entirely it’s own. Appearing for the first time at Wirrina Bluegrass Festival with fellow singer-songwriter Tara Coates.

Website: www.jenlush.com.
Facebook: Tara: www.facebook.com/tara.carragher   Jen:  https://www.facebook.com/jlu00/

The Wolfe & Thorn

Emily Wolfe and CC Thornley will bring traditional music from Tasmania and abroad to the Wirrina stages this year. Their music is sustainably sourced, gluten free, and suitable for all diets including Vegan and generally fussy. They recommend a Tasmanian cider, craft beer or a good red wine to compliment the palate. Experience serendipitous surprises and unexpected joy with their mix of Dixie, Gypsy Jazz and Classic timeless favourites.

Featuring:
Emily Wolfe: fiddle
CC Thornley: banjo

Website: https://ccthornley.wordpress.com/the-wolfe-thorn/
Facebook: facebook.com/The-Wolfe-Thorn-1081325655588456/

Backwater

Backwater are a Melbourne based traditional bluegrass band with a solid pedigree. They play the early traditional Bluegrass made famous by Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and the Stanley brothers with a smattering of Carter Family material. Backwater also draw material from the best of the second generation of bluegrass performers: Audey Blaylock , Jnr Sisk, Karl Shiflett, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury, Vern & Ray, Dave Evans, James King, Red Allen and Joe Val etc

Featuring:
Rob Lewis: guitar, vocals
Peter Somerville: banjo, vocals
Maxine Sutcliffe: double bass, fiddle
Mark Pottenger:  mandolin, vocals

Facebook: Backwater

William Alexander & Cat Moser

Crooning troubadour and old time folk singer, William Alexander brings back the songs of hillbilly and country music’s greatest figures as well as his own songs of the new world and all its trials and tragedies. William grew up in the western country of New South Wales and maintains an intense physical and spiritual connection with the land of red dirt that he first came from. Over the last few years, playing concerts and festivals, bars and halls across the country has gained many loyal fans and friends who encourage and inspire him. William is touring the country sharing his new record—when not working at an organic garlic farm. William will be joined on stage at Wirrina by Cat Moser.

Facebook: facebook.com/williamalexandermusic

Slim Dime & The Prairie Kings

Slim Dime and The Prairie Kings are an old-time party band with a difference.Their energetic live show includes smokin’ guitar twang, fiddle, electric table slide and all guns blazing! They play Hillbilly big band music for the folks who love to kick up their heels and step onto the dance floor. With musical influences from the 1930’s and 40’s (such as Bob Wills) Slim Dime and The Prairie Kings throw in a dose of Honky-Tonk and Bluegrass to create a modern blend of classic sounds.

Featuring:
Jen Land: vocals, tenor guitar
Chris Taylor: vocals, electric guitar
Mark Pottenger: vocals, steel guitar
Maxine Suttcliff: vocals, fiddle
Andrew Barcham: vocals, bass

Website: https://slimdime.com/slim-dime-the-prairie-kings/

Facebook: Slim Dime

Bluegrass Junction

Adelaide-based Bluegrass Junction comprises musicians who share a lifetime’s passion for straight old-fashioned three-chord bluegrass music, with great instrumental skills and strong harmonies driven by the power of a bass fiddle. Trevor Warner is a Hall of Fame inductee and three times Australian Bluegrass banjo champion. He now fronts the band as a superb Bluegrass fiddler. Nick Cawthorne, one of South Australia’s best Bluegrass guitarists, is complemented by Geoff Bridgland on banjo and John Bridgland on mandolin. It’s all tightly held together by Stephen Loss on bass fiddle. Their voices combine to get that ‘high, lonesome sound’ that characterises traditional Bluegrass. Formed in 1997, but with most members playing Bluegrass for 30 years or so, the band has an extensive repertoire.

Featuring:
Trevor Warner: fiddle, vocals
Nick Cawthorne: guitar, vocals
Geoff Bridgland: banjo, vocals
John Bridgland: mandolin, vocals
Stephen Loss: bass fiddle, vocals

Henk Groot Trio

From Manum SA, Henk Groot is a multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, who is well-known as a regular participant and performer at Wirrina festivals. In 2019 he will team up with Ashley Turner and Tony Schick to play original songs, Country, Folk and more.

Featuring:
Henk Groot: guitar, fiddle, vocals
Ashley Turner: fiddle
Tony Schick: double Bass