1.00pm - 2.00pm – Port Hillbillies
2.15pm - 3.15pm – Backyard Davey
3.30pm - 5.00pm – Carmel Courtney
1.00pm - 2.00pm – Port Hillbillies
Every Tuesday evening they slope from the shadows of the Port Hills.
One American, Justin Rogers on mandolin, guitar and vocals, one Aussie Gary Elford on guitar, acoustic bass and vocals. They meet up with a six toed Kiwi singer, banjo and guitar player Steve Stern to share their love of Bluegrass, Old Timey and Americana music as well as Janes chocolate chip cookies and Milo.
Playing together now for over three years they have formed into well-balanced instrumental and vocal trio, driven by Steve’s banjo playing and Justin’s sympathetic and innovative mandolin ornamentation. Gary’s contribution on guitar and bass pulls the whole thing together into the tight unit that is the Porthillbillies.
They play a range of songs and tunes from toe tapping, recognisable standards to some obscure songs from other genres that are given the Porthillbillies once over.
2.15pm - 3.15pm – Lil Chuck
Having spent a lifetime rummaging through the drawers of 1930's - 50's music, Chuck’s songs are inspired by the sounds of the era - Blues, Early Jazz, Western Swing, Ragtime etc. and are uniquely presented in the style of street performers from those glory days. Sticking to the traditional one man band format, Chuck plays all the instruments simultaneously.
Captivating story telling intertwines effortlessly with heart stopping harmonica. Multiple guitar styles are underpinned by his left and right feet frantically pounding the kick and hi hat. The listener is left simply wondering, "How the hell does he do that"?
Originally hailing from the UK, Li’l Chuck has been stomping his music in NZ since 2003.
Li'l Chuck has performed at may high profile events around New Zealand including opening for American legend Jimmy Buffet, Bluesman Jerron 'Blind Boy' Paxton and The Topp Twins.
His 2017 album Utility Blues hit No’6 on the official NZ albums chart & has twice been the feature artist on Jesse Mulligan's Radio New Zealand’s Friday live.
In an age where we are rushing around at breakneck speed, where everything is instant, sugar coated, airbrushed and overly polished, Li’l Chuck brings us down to earth with some organic, all natural, whole grain, naked goodness.
3.30pm - 5.00pm – Carmel Courtney
As a musician Carmel has collaborated with many artists on projects in a wide range of styles from Klezma to Electronica, Experimental to World, from Latin, Jazz and Blues to contemporary Maori. She has toured extensively with contracts in the middle East, Europe and the US playing venues and festivals such as ‘The North Seas Jazz’ , ‘Womad Reading’, The Faroe Islands and ‘Noenberg’ and in NZ – ‘Splore’, ‘Roots’ and ‘Parihaka’’