Festival of Small Halls has announced that Emily Lubitz and The Paul McKenna Band will feature on the upcoming Summer Tour 2023:- Cygnet Folk Festival to Illawarra Folk Festival. Packed to the brim with 19 communities and three partner festivals, this 32nd edition of the regional touring festival will journey across two states, dipping its toes into the waters and wonderful hospitality of its hosts across Tasmania and New South Wales.
Produced by Woodfordia Inc, The Festival of Small Halls brings years of passionate folk spirit into every nook and cranny of the vast and spectacular communities that make up this country. The program for this tour showcases renowned, skilled and enamoured musicians from Scotland and Australia, harnessing the powerful and multi-layered community spirit in their songs.
Beginning at Woodford Folk Festival’s enticing return to the summer festival circuit, the Summer Tour 2023 will embark across the Southern Isle of Tasmania, performing at Cygnet Folk Festival, before heading back up to New South Wales for Illawarra Folk Festival and a loop of the rich and green Central and Southern areas of the state. “We’re so excited to be heading back to Tasmania, after a long couple of years away”, said Festival of Small Halls Producer, Isobel Bartlett. “This tour engages so many incredible communities who put so much into their shows, and with the amazing and marvellous pairing of Emily Lubitz with The Paul McKenna Band, this tour is going to blow us all away – I can feel it.”
Emily Lubitz captures a timeless, heart-string-pulling ache in her music that will have its hold on you. After a decade of touring with Tinpan Orange, Lubitz is striding out on her own, and right into the open doors of the halls of the nation. A veteran of the touring scene, her recently released EP Begin Again traverses a poetic and luminescent portrait of everyday life and the magic within it all.
The Paul McKenna Band has been hailed as “The best folk band to have come out of Scotland in the last 20years” by The New York Times. Led by songwriter Paul McKenna, who’s powerful lyricism has had him become one of Scotland’s finest young singer-songwriters, with a powerful voice to match his passionate social conscience. McKenna and his band – Conor Markey (banjo/bouzouki/guitars) and Toby Shaer (percussion) – draw on the Celtic folk tradition, with roots in both Scotland and Ireland. With a mix of original and traditional material, The Paul McKenna Band will bring a full-bodied and dynamic sound to every show they play.
The Paul McKenna Band were featured on the Festival of Small Halls Autumn Tour 2020, which was cut short after just a few days. “We are thrilled to be able to come back to Small Halls and make a return to some of the festivals we performed at on our very first visit to Australia”, said Paul McKenna.
The Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour 2023 will perform on 19 January at Kangaroo Valley Hall. Tickets are available at www.festivalofsmallhalls.
Natalie Harker
