Thursday 23 November, The Collective Community Hub, 33 Johnsonville Road, Johnsonville, 7:30 pm

Entry: $15/$10 for members. Cash only (no eftpos facilities). Vaccinations and masks encouraged.

Robyn-Lynn is a singer-songwriter from Kapiti. She was inspired by music at a young age but didn’t take to the stage until later, but now making up for lost time. It was while taking singing lessons with Charlotte Yates that she got inspired to get into the realm of songwriting. She was living in the city at the time and Newtown Acoustic was her introduction to the folk scene. She is influenced by all kinds of music and her songs are about everyday situations and more. She recorded her first CD at the end of 2022.  

Margaret Pullar discovered Acoustic Routes as a 16-year-old back in the Holland Street days and has been heavily involved in running the folk club for many years. She has been treasurer, secretary, Balladeer producer and committee member as well as a regular attender. While she has always joined in with sing-arounds, this is her first guest appearance at the club. Over the last year she has finally worked hard at improving her skills, learning new songs, and now is regularly performing at the Plimmerton Boating Club and small festivals.

West Road (Ron Craig, Andrea Coop and Christine Roseveare) have played together for so long we can’t remember how it started but it has been a fun few years, with lots of practice (and chat) and the very occasional gig! They offer three-part harmonies, Ron’s renowned finger picking, Andrea’s lyrical fiddle and Christine’s sympathetic (with a bit of a groove) electric bass playing. Their music is mostly Americana – songs from Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Susanna Clark, Guy Clark with a bit of Richard Thompson and Joan Baez thrown in. Expect smooth harmonies and songs worth listening to.

For the best part of two decades now, Helen Dorothy has been on a quest to write the ultimate song (which she knows doesn’t really exist but that just might stand out amongst the ‘230 million’ that have gone before…) and refine her performance – guitar and voice – to draw in and engage the listener, whilst pursuing a small number of gig opportunities with next to no personal social media output!

That’s just how it is – it’s a conundrum, but it’s also an appealing challenge. She maintains her music is on slow cook, hoping the longer it gently simmers away, the more tender and robust it will become. Helen Dorothy has produced three studio albums, won favourable reviews in UK’s fRoots magazine, and tucked a few folk/arts festival performances under her belt. Occasionally collaborating with some highly regarded musicians as well as a published poet, she keeps on chipping away at her craft in a way that allows her to stay true to herself!

https://helendorothy.bandcamp.com/music

Jenny and Tony will be singing songs by Dick Coker, who lived in Auckland and Wellington, played his songs at folk clubs from the late 1960s to this century, and died last year after a long illness.

Jenny Kilpatrick met Dick and Kath when she joined her big brother Murray in the Wellington folk scene in the early seventies and met Tony Ricketts in Auckland in the mid-eighties. Since 1990 she and Tony have been expanding each other’s musical horizons. Jenny’s Brit-trad roots and fondness for old blues meeting Tony’s rock’n’roll past and singer/songwriter inclination meant they were bound at some stage to graduate to Dick’s songs, with his combination of satire and social commentary, word play and wit.

Thursday 28 September, Roseneath School Hall, Roseneath, 7:30 pm

Entry: $15/$10 for members. Cash only (no eftpos facilities). Vaccinations and masks encouraged.

Originally from Amsterdam, Frank brings his technical brilliance to this New Plymouth-based duo, while his Taranaki-born wife, Erin, provides the driving rhythm guitar and has a reputation for her unique style on the banjo – described by Albi (& The Wolves) as having ‘a
kinda swagger’. Whether it’s a sizzling acoustic instrumental or the soulful delivery of a ballad, they capture the essence of “guitar and song”, through the variations of the acoustic genre – folk, blues, country, bluegrass, swing, classical. All wrapped into a neat Kiwi-Dutch package. They perform some hidden gems, well-known standards, and their own compositions. Currently, they are in the middle of recording Frank’s instrumental compositions and working on their follow-up vocal album.

“Beautifully concise guitar playing, tasty harmonies, well- crafted originals and brilliant covers” – Chris Penman 

https://www.facebook.com/frank.and.erin 
https://www.youtube.com/user/FrankJohnErinManu 

Toil and Trouble are a Wellington based trio comprising Jude Douglas (fiddle and vocals), Mary Hubble (flute and vocals) and Ron Craig (guitar and vocals). They play traditional and contemporary songs and tunes mainly with an English/Celtic flavour. Also included are a few American, Canadian and antipodean numbers. The group are all long-time members of the Wellington folk scene.

Thursday 24 August, Roseneath School Hall, Roseneath, 7:30 pm

Entry: $15/$10 for members. Cash only (no eftpos facilities). Vaccinations and masks encouraged.

The Jimmies, Wellington’s longest running folk band, have decided to call it a day after more than 35 years of music making. Their appearance at Acoustic Routes’ August concert will be their swan song.

The band began life in 1986 as the Jimmy Cook Band – a ceilidh and barn-dance band, and their distinctive brand of mainly Irish and Scottish music broadened over the years to include Kiwi songs and standards from the sixties and seventies, as well as original songs and tunes. Besides their dance, birthday and wedding gigs, they have been regulars at Wellyfest and have kicked up a song and dance at festivals and other events throughout the North Island.

The first line-up back in 1986 was Mary Hubble, Kevin Ikin, Liz Merton, Ken Allan, Colin Morrison and (briefly) Bruce Chapman.  Other Jimmies over the years have included Malcolm Alder (bass) Bob Silbery (bass), David Knowles (electric guitar), and Ruairidh Morrison (fiddle, flute, whistles and concertina). Musical mates who have helped out when they have been short of a player have included Tim Barrie and Duncan Davidson, as well as whanau.

This final concert features Mary Hubble, Kevin Ikin, Ann McChesney, Murray Kilpatrick, Susan Ellis and Kevin McLoughlin. Together they’ll be on flute, whistles, tenor banjo, guitar, mandolin, percussion, keyboard, accordion, banjo, fiddle, bass, and of course vocals, reviving some of their earlier repertoire as well as more recent favourites. 

Divine Pitch (Stephen Riddell and Megan Ward) are a folk duo who tell stories from the mouth of the fish: Te Upoko o te Ika / Wellington. The “divine pitch” is what they call A = 432 Hz tuning, a slightly flatter pitch with a certain resonance that helps humans feel connected to one another and to a spiritual reality.

Stephen and Megan play from a foundation of Irish tunes and old-world ballads, and also write their own songs about local content. Stephen plays guitar and occasionally piano, while Megan plays fiddle, mandolin, and banjo, also occasionally tin whistle or cello.

Divine Pitch Creations – YouTube and https://www.divinepitchcreations.org/

Simple Gifts are Sue Rose and Philippa Boy – two friends who share a love of harmony singing and very eclectic musical tastes. They revel in unusual arrangements of traditional and current songs accompanied by a range of instruments including Appalachian dulcimer, guitar, and hurdy gurdies.

Thursday 27 July, Roseneath School Hall, Roseneath, 7:30 pm

Entry: $15/$10 for members. Cash only (no eftpos facilities). Vaccinations and masks encouraged.

Bob Cooper-Grundy has been playing blues guitar and singing country songs for 50 odd years and has opened for Guy Clark, Townes van Zandt, Tom Russell and Jimmy Lafave. He plays finger picking and slide guitar with some virtuoso flourishes.

Kate Marshall plays violin, accordion and flute and sings beautifully. She started with classical piano and singing in choirs and you don’t have to listen that carefully to hear Bach and Mozart lurking behind Bob Wills and Memphis Minnie. In this gig she might add in her new secret weapon of jazz glockenspiel!

Based in the Wairarapa, and regular guests at folk clubs and festivals, Bob and Kate’s song list veers between swing sounds of Texas, the blues and jazz, served up in the Bob and Kate way.

Check out their Bob and Kate facebook page for details.

Rachel Hird is a Wellington based singer-songwriter who has studied music and played piano for many years. She started writing songs a few years ago with jazz singer Lucy Smyth and is currently a member of Charlotte Yate’s Songwriting School. A regular attendee at Newtown Acoustic Sound open mic, she enjoys meeting and connecting with people in the music community. Her songs are inspired by people and situations past and present.

Glenn Barclay originally hailed from Auckland, where he had some involvement in the folk scene in the 1970s, but now lives in Porirua, after 40 years in Wellington.  He has been playing for many years, sometimes in bands that would average a gig a year, but mainly for relaxation. After a bit of a break, he has begun playing solo, featuring tunes from the broad Americana songbook, including one or two of his own, and is looking forward to the concert.