As if freshly plucked from a festival stage, Harry Jakamarra and his brother Elwood Gray brought an honest reverence that oozed experience beyond their years while reaching the larrikin in our hearts at Four5Nine (14 October) in Perth.
With support slots such as Missy Higgins already on their resume, the lads from Broome (known for sharing their music with people through their family-friendly shows in their backyard despite recent setbacks) were down to earth, distinctly talented and soulful, entertaining storytellers.
Their ability to have a laugh at life despite it all, made them all the more likeable.
The night's opener, the intricate yet powerful sounds of Grace Armstrong, was the perfect way to ease into the night.
From her sway-worthy ‘Why Do Birds Fly’ about self-belief, to the melodious highs and lows of ‘Bleeding Out’, Grace captures a room wherever she plays.
In glorious contrast, the dark grit of Dan Howls together with Julia Weller took it up a notch with vigour.
After returning from a three-month tour in Europe earlier this year, the dark-blues duo had the room shaking with songs from their latest EP ‘A Dime A Dozen’ as well as yet to be released songs such as ‘King Side’.
Their standout song ‘The Prince’, a tune that respectfully dances with ideas around the much loved and infamous Prince of Wales Hotel in Bunbury. With lyrics such as: 'If these walls could talk, they’d scream and shout, they’d laugh at you and me', enmeshed with fast and slow rhythms, made it feel like a musical story, as if dancing with the range of energies some feel from the iconic establishment.
The first of the Gray brothers, Elwood took to the stage solo.
With plenty of toe-tapping songs that had the place soaked in smiles, his song about Port Hedland ‘Crushing Town’ and ‘The Races’, a song he said was about the Broome Races – 'Where they go in looking pretty and come out not so pretty' – took our imaginations to the contrasts of dressing to the nines in the outback.
First taking up the mandolin when he was a six-year-old on a family trip to Broome through the Great Sandy Desert, he soon developed a musical obsession. After busking in his early years as a musician, he has quickly cemented himself as one of Broome’s most loved acts. "The future of Broome’s music is in safe hands," Stephen Bart Pigram is quoted on Elwood's website.
With acknowledgement to the traditional owners of the land at the beginning his set, Harry Jakamarra began a solo set by picking up his banjo explaining as he tuned it: “This banjo is about 100-years-old, so bear with me.”
Then, as people’s jaws dropped as he silenced the room with his seemingly effortless speed and divinely hectic banjo performance, he caused the audience to irresistibly yelp and clap along to his fast lyrics: 'Give back what you stole, Tom Cole' and the highs and lows of ‘The Gypsy Trail’ from his 2017 self-titled EP.
John Butler is a fan as well. "Harry plays that banjo with all the revered spirit of the 'ole timey' while lighting a new exciting virtuosic flame underneath it.”
Then joining forces onstage, Harry and Elwood complemented one another musically and vocally, each knowing when to let loose and reign it in.
With the audience jumping and clapping to songs such as ‘Little Southern Girl’, the first track off his latest EP ‘In Your Town Tonight’ (which Harry describes as an alt-country, gothic folk release with a creepy Kimberley cowboy twist), there’s little doubt in my mind that we’ll be seeing the duo on more festival stages in the near future.
Together with their inspiring cinematic skills, they not only make a great, entertaining duo, but their humble, down-to-earth nature appeals to our humanness.
Currently touring The Festival Of Small Halls Australia on the east coast, we look forward to their return to the big smoke sometime soon.
