A rare blend of sacred and secular songs
Sol3 Mio bookend Christmas with concerts over length of country
The handsome wooden arches and stained glass of Auckland’s old St Mary’s church would have rarely rung with such a blend of sacred and secular songs as they did when Barry Saunders, Tami Neilson, Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams brought their collective catalogues into its intimate space.
The show had played the Holy Trinity Cathedral next door on the previous night after dates in Napier and Tauranga.
From the swamp-gospel of Neilson’s Bury My Body and a glorious O Holy Night duet between her and the operatic Williams (he singing in te reo) to the spooky loops, delays and scouring vocals of Davidson’s treatment of In the Pines, this was a night where all measures of the
Chuman condition were explored.
Saunders included a couple of the Warratahs’ better known songs ( Maureen, Hands of My Heart) and at times Davidson seemed to channel the spirit of John Lee Hooker’s eerie blues as re-imagined in Sun Studios of the ‘50s.
Neilson offered her newly minted country ballad Lonely (written in part by her late father and finished by Neilson and her brother) and tapped the spirit of Peggy Lee (on her terrific Walk) as much as Patsy Cline. Williams brought the unsettling Dark Child and State Hospital.
But an always engaging evening emerged out of such diversity.
Often referred to as country artists — Saunders perhaps the most mainstream in that regard — these singer-songwriters explored much more than that: The soaring ’n’ sandpaper voices of Neilson and Davidson took on the Dan Penn-Chips Moman soul classic Dark End of the Street, Neilson sang her moving ballad First Man about her father (“The first man I ever loved was the first man to ever hold me in his arms”) and Davidson took off into that high lonesome sound of Hank Williams on Please Don’t Let Me.
And if the tribulations of love and life were ever-present so was the healing spirit ( Get On Your Knees in the encore).
With a small but cracking band (Dave Khan once again Jack-of-allinstruments), clever changes of musical and personal focus, humorous but brief stage patter and a set of often exceptional originals, this was a concert to treasure.
And an opportunity to applaud the unique, discreet and seemingly effortless talents who brought the sacred and sometimes slightly profane into a place which has doubtless heard all manner of this before, but never with so many great songs, brittle guitar or such impeccable bluegrass harmonies. Today Larry Keogh: The Fiddler Irish Bar, 71 Victoria Street West, 9pm. Open Mic: The Dogs Bollix, 2 Newton Rd, Newton, 7pm. Takapuna Open Mic Night: Takapuna Bar, 2 Anzac St, Takapuna, 8pm. Windsor Castle Open Mic Night: The Windsor Castle, 144 Parnell Rd, Parnell, 8pm. Kane Steves: Spencer on Byron Hotel, 9 Byron Avenue, Takapuna, 6.30pm. Paul Nairn and the Phantom Quartet: Pt Chevalier RSA, 1136 Great North Rd, Pt Chevalier, 7.30pm. Tuesday Jazz: The Esplanade Hotel, 1 Victoria Rd, Devonport, 6.30pm. Billy T Applicant Showcases: The Classic Comedy Club, 321 Queen St, Auckland CBD, 8pm. Dexter's Deep Sea Discovery: The Blue Baths, Queens Drive, Rotorua, 10.30am. School holidays Clever Kiwis: Maritime Museum Holiday Programme: New Zealand Maritime Museum, Corner Quay and Hobson Streets, Auckland CBD, 9.30am. Zirka Circus: Orewa Reserve, Hibiscus Coast Highway, Orewa, 2pm. Extreme Trampoline: Parnell Trust School Holidays: Epsom Normal School, 41 The Drive, Epsom, 7.30am. Extreme Trampoline: Parnell Trust School Holidays: Parnell District School, St Stephens Ave, Parnell, 7.30am. Makerspace Makey Makey Magic Workshop: Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne St, Auckland CBD, 1pm. Minecraft Day 1: Parnell Trust School Holidays — Parnell District School, St Stephens Ave, Parnell, 7.30am. Mission Possible: Auckland Zoo, 99 Motions Rd, Western Springs, 9.30am. Pet Safari: Parnell Trust School Holidays: Epsom Normal School, 41 The Drive, Epsom, 7.30am. Pet Safari: Parnell Trust School Holidays: Parnell District School, St Stephens Ave, Parnell, 7.30am. Professional Wrestling Holiday Programme: MANIA, 2/335 Sandringham Rd, Kingsland, 9am. Sea Scopes School Holiday Activity: Torpedo Bay Navy Museum, 64 King Edward Parade, Devonport, 10am. September-October School Holidays Promotion: Rocket Ropes, 12 Tom Pearce Drive, Auckland Airport, Mangere, 10am. Winter Fun Preschool Play Programme: Bayswater School, 181 Bayswater Avenue, 9.30am. YMCA Auckland City Holiday Programme: YMCA Auckland City , 149 Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD, 9.30am. YMCA Ellerslie: Spring Holiday Programme: YMCA Ellerslie, 46 Michaels Ave, Ellerslie, 8.30am. Alien Invasion: Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Rd, One Tree Hill Domain, Royal Oak, 10am, 1pm, 2pm.