Dear Orphans

Tamworth Country Music Festival Shows 2012

2012-01-15T06:22:00+00:00

Hi everyone. Just a quick reminder we are playing two shows at the Tamworth Country Music Festival next week.

The shows are on the first Friday and Saturday of the festival and are both free outdoor shows on the streets of Tamworth. However, the most exciting thing is that the whole band will be joining us.

This will be the first time in Tamworth for our banjo player Richard Galluzzi, fiddle player Carlyn Chen and double bassist Paul Sun. Paul is even bringing his whole family with him to share the experience!

We hope to see you on the streets on Tamworth next week! Be sure to say hi.

Nick and Lyn.

Friday January 20, 2012 9:00PM – 10:00PM
Peel Street Stage near Bourke Street

Saturday January 21, 2012 12:00PM – 1:00PM
Touchwood Stage outside the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre.

Listen to... Midnight at Annandale

2011-11-30T10:18:00+00:00

After a two year recording hiatus, Dear Orphans are back with their new EP Midnight at Annandale.

Following on from their debut album Dear Orphans, alt-country songwriters Lyn Taylor and Nick Payne return with a new EP inspired by the local, Sydney bluegrass and old time music community - the Bluegrass and Traditional Country Music Society.

Nick writes:

"These folk meet the first Saturday of the month at the Annandale Neighbourhood Centre for an open mic night and lots of jamming. They are passionate players of bluegrass and old timey music including beginners through to some of Australia's best bluegrass musicians. The amazing thing about these folk is that you've never heard of them. And you may never hear of them either. Their passion for the music is such that they'd rather stand in a corridor and jam with you than play to a thousand people. And they are some of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet who are always ready to teach you a lick or two on your guitar, banjo, mandolin or whatever you might be holding."

Inspired by these musicians and their music Dear Orphans have come up with six new recordings that capture the soul of this heritage in both instrumentation and message.

Joining them on instrument are musicians from this community including Richard Galluzzi on clawhammer banjo, Carlyn Chen on fiddle and Elen Price on double bass. Also featuring are their old friend Mike Kirkley on pedal steel and jazz singer Paul Sun takes to the double bass and now features as a permanent part of their live act.

If you enjoy music that draws from a deep well of music from the first part of the last century and combines it with a contemporary songwriting attitude, then listen below to these tracks from the always fresh Dear Orphans.

Midnight at Annandale

Buy a copy of this album now. We'll email you a download code to digitally download the album and mail you a download card and one of our trendy badges.

Buy now

An Orphan's Life

A haunting gospel song longing for a new home. A 1930's country/gospel feel with solos from Richards clawhammer banjo and Nick on dobro. All the while with Scott Collins playing lonesome harmonica in the background. Overlaid across all of this is the duet vocals of Lyn and Nick playing the part of an orphan wishing for an eternal family.

Weary

A drunk song penned by Lyn and featuring Nick on lead vocals. The last song you play in a late night jam before you roll into bed at 3am.

Sean Connery is Bond

A classic bluegrass "tune" (or instrumental) featuring solos from Nick and Richard on dobro and clawhammer banjo respectively. Just when you think the song is over the melodic sounds of Mike Kirkley on pedal steel take over, lifting this song to be something a little bit more than what you'd expect from a bluegrass tune.

Sunset Dreaming

The gentle vocals and sparse guitar finger-picking of Lyn Taylor dominate this song with the subtle slide sounds of Mike Kirkley on pedal steel. Double bass savante Elsen Price adds an intriguing layer to this song as he bows the bass line from the middle of the song onwards. A brief ukulele solo from Nick takes us to the end.

Wait the Night

The first Dear Orphans track to be penned by banjo player Richard Galluzzi. An simple and innocent song that hopes that a lover (or friend?) might stay a little longer before going home. Old time music meets contemporary message.

Castlereagh

The second track penned by Richard Galluzzi. An authentic old time tune showcasing the clawhammer banjo and Carlyn Chen's amazing fiddle playing. Recorded entirely live in a single take in Nick and Lyn's lounge room. Features Lyn on hand claps, whoops and hollers.

How to buy

Midnight at Annandale is available now as a digital download. Buy now and we'll email you a download code and instructions. We'll also mail you the physical download card and a Dear Orphans badge.

Buy now

Email any questions to help@giftpony.com.au for a speedy reply.

Sara Tindley video from the recent Orphanage Session

2011-11-27T12:09:00+00:00

Here's some video of our guest Sara Tindley from the last Orphanage Session.

The song is "Water Ran Red" and features Azo Bell on the saw as well as Matt Bone on the double bass.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/85nUYj4pFMo

Midnight at Annandale to be released at the next Orphanage Session

2011-11-02T11:31:00+00:00

Dear Orphans are pleased to announce the release of their new EP "Midnight at Annandale" at the next Orphanage Session on Saturday November 12 alongside our feature guest Sara Tindley.

We've been super busy the last month or so finalising our new EP "Midnight at Annandale". The EP is inspired by an amazing group of Australia's most selfless musicians - the welcoming folk at Sydney's Bluegrass and Traditional Country Music Society.

These folk meet the first Saturday of the month at the Annandale Neighbourhood Centre for an open mic night and lots of jamming. They are passionate players of bluegrass and old timey music including beginners through to some of Australia's best bluegrass musicians. The amazing thing about these folk is that you've never heard of them. And you may never hear of them either. Their passion for the music is such that they'd rather stand in a corridoor and jam with you than play to a thousand people. And they are some of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet who are alway ready to teach you a lick or two on your guitar, banjo, mandolin or whatever you might be holding.

This new EP is inspired by both these people and their music. And we've be blessed to have some of them play on it including Richard Galluzzi on clawhammer banjo, Carlyn Chen on fiddle and Lindsay Mar on double bass. Add to the mix our old friend Mike Kirkley on pedal steel, Elsen Price on double bass as well as Paul Sun on double bass (he also sings jazz - see www.swingingoodtime.com). Two of the tracks were written by our banjo player Richard.

We are releasing this EP Saturday November 12 at our last Orphanage Session for 2011 as a digital download. It will be available on the night for sale and you will be able to download it as soon as you get home to your computer, iPod and burn it to CD to play in the car. It will be available for sale on our website sometime during the following the week.

Sara Tindley

Joining us at The Orphanage Session will be our feature guest Sara Tindley. Sara comes from Byron Bay with a new album under her belt - Time - produced by Chris Parkinson from The Yearlings (who were our guests way back in 2008). Her previous album was produced by Bill Chambers and she's amazing! We can't wait to welcome her.

"Lyrically, Tindley shows shades of Paul Kelly & Tim Rogers while sticking to a Lucinda Williams-esque sound that's about as sweet as anything that's come out of the country for quite some time… compulsory listening for all supporters of Australian roots music" – Dan Condon, Time Off

Check her out at www.saratindley.com.

All the details

Full details for the show are as follows:

The Orphanage Sessions: Sara Tindley + Dear Orphans EP Launch
8:30 pm Saturday November 12
Mars Hill Cafe
331 Church Street
Parramatta NSW 2150

Tickets are available now from OzTix. We're offering a free hot drink on us for everyone who buys a ticket in advance. So please follow the link below to get your tickets.

http://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=23890

Thanks in advance and we look forward to celebrating with you.

Nick & Lyn

Announcing a new release in November and Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival

2011-09-22T09:56:00+00:00

It's been while since our debut album "Dear Orphans" was released so this September we've been planning and plotting a new release.

Over the next few weeks we'll be recording some new material for a release. We're pretty excited about it so we thought we'd answer a few questions you might be asking about it.

Why now?

Firstly, it's been too long since we released our first album Dear Orphans. After a hectic 2008 and 2009 we put our feet up in 2010 because we were burnt out from the effort of keeping the Orphanage Sessions going every month. At the start of this year we vowed to record something new and although the year has gotten away from us we're now coming good on that promise.

Secondly, the band we've got playing with us right now is sounding the best we've ever had a band sounding. We're feeling very blessed to have the privilege of playing with our current line up and we really want to capture the sound that is happening right now.

Is this an album or an EP?

The release will have enough material on it to make it more than an EP, but it'll be a little shorter than a full length album. Maybe it's a mini-album.

What's the style of this album?

Our current line up includes Paul Sun on double bass, Richard Galluzzi on clawhammer banjo and Carlyn Chen on fiddle. As a result this will be a very bluegrass sounding album. There'll be some tracks that we've recorded earlier this year that feature Mike Kirkley on pedal steel, Linday Mar on double bass and also Elsen Price on double bass.

When will it be available?

At our next Orphanage Session on November 12. Sara Tindley will be our guest and she's great.

What next after this?

We've got a bunch of songs we're saving for an album following this. It's tentatively themed "Cowboy and Road Songs" and Lyn's keen to make a noise on the electric guitar. Expect this release to be a bit edgier when it arrives.

How can we keep up to date with what's happening?

We'll be recording over the next few weekends and we'll be posting photos and stuff on Facebook. You can keep an eye on what's happening at www.facebook.com/dearorphans.

Can we have a sneak preview of any of the songs?

You sure can. Here's something that we've been working on. It's a bit different... it's an instrumental.

http://soundcloud.com/dearorphans/sean-connery-is-bond/

This sounds awesome, when can we next see you live?

We'll be playing at Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival on the weekend of October 21-23. You can check it out and grab tickets here...

http://www.dorrigofolkbluegrass.com.au/

Stay tuned!

Nick and Lyn

Road trip to Bellingen

2011-08-07T02:16:00+00:00

The weekend before last I took Friday and Monday off and headed up to Bellingen to see our dear friend Scott Collins.

Here's some photos and video from the trip.

Thursday 28/07

Hit the road from Sydney around 4pm. Spent a good hour in traffic just trying to get out of town!

Arrived in Bellingen about 10:30pm to a warm welcome and a raging log fire.

Friday 29/07

Breakfast and then walk around town and then spent the afternoon working up songs for a set at the Lodge 241 Cafe. The cafe runs "Friday Folk" every friday night.

They made us feel very welcome despite the late redaction to the blackboard out the front to correct a minor mistake.

We were joined on double bass by the local mechanic Will who played great - thanks Will!

Following on from us locals Kym Pitman and Vic Manuel from Trunk Road played. I was absolutely blown away by the playing of these guys in particular Kym's song takeaway.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/XnkK1nIk0cQ?hl=en&fs=1

I'm looking forward to heading back with Lyn sometime and playing again for these guys at this great venue.

Saturday 30/07

Spent the day working on Scott's song Show Me the Right Way. Had heaps of fun recording hand claps and multi-part gospel harmonies.

http://soundcloud.com/dearorphans/show-me-the-right-way

After that... dinner at the pub!

Sunday 31/07

Drove up to Dorrigo for breakfast.

Afterwards I showed Scott the site for the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass festival. Both Scott and Dear Orphans are playing at the festival Octover 21-23. Read more at www.dorrigofolkbluegrass.com.au.

We then stumbled on the site for the Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum. The museum is not yet open as they need to spend another massive amount of in order to satisy council requirements. They have one of the most comprehensive railway collections in the world including 67 carriages. They are staffed by volunteers and as you can imagine, are struggling to raise the money they need to get the museum open. As a result all we could do was look from outside the fence, but were nevertheless amazed at the sheer amount of trains and carriages we could see. Scott is hoping to film a video clip for his song Big Train here someday soon.

On the way back down the mountain I insisted on touching the Bellinger River so we took a detour off the main road and found a wooden bridge and a place we could scramble down to the river. The water was clear and large fish were visible.

Having arrived back in Bellingen Scott checked his email to discover that the Dorrigo Folk in the Round jam was happening the same afternoon. So back in the car and back up the mountain we went to enjoy a laid back afternoon jamming with the locals.

Sunday night there were fireworks at the Bellingen showground.

Monday 1/08

Time to head home :(

Farewells were said and then I hit the round around 10.

I took it easy and detoured via Foster/Tuncurry and drove through the great lakes - Wallis Lake, Smith Lake and Myall Lake. Just south of Foster I headed up the top of Cape Hawke to get 360 degree view of area - absolutely beautiful!

I arrived home safely around 7pm and look forward to heading back up that way for the Dorrigo Folk Festival and hopefully around Christmas time to play some more shows up there.

Nick

Show me the right way Lord

2011-07-30T05:09:00+00:00

I spent a weekend in Bellingen with Scott Collins and helped him finish off this song. It's a gospel song he wrote on the bus on the way back from the Pittwater Bluegrass Jam.

I'm looking forward to him finishing his album and releasing it, but in the meantime have a listen to this sneak preview of his work.

I contributed a few verses, hand claps, foot taps and lots of yelling and screaming and singing out of tune in the background.

http://soundcloud.com/dearorphans/show-me-the-right-way

Nick

Photos and video from last Orphanage Session with Karl Broadie

2011-07-23T10:41:00+00:00

Thanks to everyone who came to the recent Orphanage Session at Mars Hill Cafe.

Here is some video and photos from the gig for your enjoyment.

Here's a bit of our new road song - Queensland.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/eHkBFRMnig4

Our feature guest Karl Broadie was joined on stage by Mr T.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/UqM_kd3QEaI

Here's a shot of Lyn during our encore. You can view the whole album on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150243407442339&set=a.10150243407217339.348086.121194417338.

Lyn Taylor getting ready to sing "Baby Girl" for an encore.

Stay tuned for news on our next Orphanage Session coming soon.

Keep warm with us at our next Orphanage Session

2011-06-13T04:01:00+00:00

Winter has definitely arrived in dear little Sydney and whilst most of us are keeping warm by a fire (or a big heater) we’re keeping warm by rehearsing (and a big heater) for our next Orphanage Session.

Joining us this time around will be our dear friend Karl Broadie. I first met Karl through a mutual friend several years ago. This friend of mine was having lunch with Karl and some friends and knowing that Lyn and I were starting to put together a band invited me along. At a pre-determined time she said, “Karl - Nick is in a band”, and the conversation began.

In that first conversation Karl offered me sage advice and encouragement and after that we bumped into him regularly. When we started The Orphanage Sessions in 2008 Karl was on the top of our list of guests to ask to play - he gladly accepted. In 2009 we asked Karl to produce our debut album. He guided us through process of recording it in his lounge room, providing invaluable technical and creative input. The results were spectacular.

Karl is an amazing, empathetic songwriter which is reflected by the fact we’ve always had a great turnout whenever he’s played at an Orphanage Session. In fact, I’d say that the sessions are one of the best places to see someone like Karl play.

Great gigs are a combination of the performance of the artist, the enthusiasm of an audience and the intimacy of the space that brings them together.

And that’s what we’re looking forward on Saturday July 9 for our next session. Prior to that we’re also joining Karl as his guest at his Showcase Collection at the Bald Rock Hotel in Rozelle.

Details for both gigs are as follows:

Dear Orphans @ Karl Broadie's Showcase Collection
6pm - 9pm Sunday June 26th
Bald Rock Hotel
15-17 Mansfield Street
Rozelle NSW 2039
FREE!

The Orphanage Sessions: Karl Broadie + Dear Orphans
8:30pm - 11pm Saturday July 9
Mars Hill Cafe
331 Church Street
Parramatta NSW 2150

Tickets on sale at www.OzTix.com.au, and OzTix Retail Outlets as well as at the door on the night.

Please share this post with others and RSVP via the Facebook event at:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154147601321435

Warmly yours,

Nick and Lyn

Lost Highway

2011-05-10T11:03:00+00:00

A man gets in his car and drives off into the sunset leaving behind a failed relationship. Is he heading towards a new start or something else?

This song started off after listening to Townes Van Zandt for about a week. Playing on Capo 3 it uses a pretty common Am, Dm, E7 progression for the verse. The chorus then uses the major equivalents - C, F and G.

After writing this song I was bugged by a feeling that I'd inadvertantly lifted the melody from another song. After a couple of hours flicking through CDs I found not one, but two songs that used the melody - Wayfaring Stranger and Kasey Chamber's I Still Pray. A little fiddling with the melody and I was able to change it enough to give it its own unique voice, yet still retain the ethos of the aforementioned tracks. I completely forgot about the link to I Still Pray until one day when Jess Chalker told me it reminded her of that song.

Lost Highway
Payne/Taylor

Sun comes up across the burning plain
As yesterday slowly fades away
The night is gone day is almost here
I'll leave that girl way behind
Heading down the road don't know what I'll find
I'm heading down that lost highway

Gonna leave those days behind me
Gonna live from day to day
Gonna ride off into glory
As I travel the lost highway

Gonna right a note to leave behind
All about my life what I did find
About my life and the way it ran
Its time say my last goodbyes
Heading down the road towards the light
I'm heading down the lost highway

Darling don't you know
You don't have to be
All alone in this life
You're someone to me

The version we recorded on Dear Orphans featured the following musicians. Many thanks go out to all.

Nick - Vocals, acoustic guitar
Lyn - Vocals, acoustic guitar
Mike - Pedal Steel, mariachi bass
Richard Galluzzi - Clawhammer style banjo
Michael Roberts - Piano accordian
Karl Broadie - Tambourine, stomp