www.laurenhousley.com www.nigelwearne.com
It took 8 weeks to see Nigel Wearne play a show; it took 8 years to see Lauren Housley play one. A pure incidental analogy to where both artists fit on the timescale. To elaborate the concept, Nigel Wearne is making new inroads into the UK from a substantial base in the Australian roots music scene, while Lauren Housley consistently finds new ways to cement her status as an acclaimed singer in an industry where opportunity ebbs and flows. Collaboration grew from a fleeting association, further sealed by increasingly productive distant interaction before the pinnacle of teaming up on stage. This evening proved the finale of a short run of dates. They gelled like seasoned collaborators. Thimblemill Library launched a new year with a hugely enjoyable and entertaining show.
On an extensive night of varied music, Nigel Wearne opened up with a distinguished extended slot wasting not an inch of laying out who he was. We got a full-on Victorian country guy deeply involved with all aspects of his country's heritage adept at fusing the essence of folk and blues. He knew the worth of telling a story, had the knack of writing a meaningful song and proved a maestro operator on the guitar and banjo. Nigel Wearne could be considered niche Saturday night entertainment in one stratosphere. For folks leaving their armchairs for the knowledge-laden setting of a community library, it was an appointment with enlightenment and affirmation of how music can doubly educate and entertain.
The 8 year remark introducing Lauren Housley dates back to the initial release of her debut album SWEET SURRENDER in 2015. Having been first alerted to her innate talent, the subsequent years have been a mixed bag of inactivity, a couple of excellent releases and tracking the highs of others honing in to elevate the status. Although there were no accessible standalone shows to supplement the records, a live appearance at the Beardy Folk Festival in 2021 began to alter that situation.
The full band show of that performance didn't descend upon Smethwick this evening, but the stripped down duo format with husband Thomas Dibb enables close up exposure to one of the UK's foremost session guitarists on the Americana scene. Together he provides the framework for her to juggle the vocal cords and spin a spruced up bunch of songs in an affable and thoughtfully considered manner.
Once the audience knew a lot more about Nigel Wearne and Lauren Housely, the finale leant heavily towards the collaboration, and the invite to join up on stage prolonged the evening by a good half an hour. Fun and inimitable covers entered the fray alongside further solo material this time with a fuller sound and the song that had introduced the Lauren Housley-Nigel Wearne collaboration. 'To The Edge' is a signpost to what the duo can conjure up and more is expected when new music is sent our way from Down Under in the near future.
Thimblemill Library laid on all its aesthetic splendour to the guests and a hearty audience hungry for some sincere live music that blows way most Saturday night alternatives. Lauren Housley and Nigel Wearne left both the library and their brief alliance at the end of the show in gracious harmony. One suspects this union will re-assemble at some point. There was too much good in it to leave on the shelf.