What's on Peter Madill & Jack McKenzie
We have a range of events on our calendar...
Sunday Club Night: a feature concert every week (apart from some holiday weekends) 7.30 pm. Floorspot performers often invited from local musicians in the first half. Cafe and bar open. Usually door sales only. See notes on each night for featured performers or events.
Thursday Open Mic Night: a warm welcome to all, 7.30 pm. Gold coin entry. Cafe open.
Special Concerts - may be scheduled on other nights
Our venue for club events is the Opoho Bowling Club rooms, 80 Lovelock Avenue, North Dunedin
In the current covid climate, some may wish to wear a mask when up and moving around.
Peter Madill & Jack McKenzie
It was the early 70s and two young men, more than ten thousand kilometres apart, were being influenced by the folk music and the associated musical instruments that became so popular at the time. They are Peter Madill and Jack MacKenzie, who became very involved in both the music and the construction and repair of instruments that were used therein. As it turned out, their respective universes were not only parallel but converging.
Advance to the 2019 Wellington Folk Festival, where Peter and Jack first met and became aware of each other’s music and the potential that existed between them. Both had committed to displaying their luthiery work at the Festival. However both were also taking part in the Festival as performers, Peter with the Madillionaires and Jack with the Downunderdogs.
Following that Festival, a relationship between them developed through their guitar building. Peter, being the more established and experienced of the two was kind and generous, and began helping Jack develop his skills. Sticky problems were solved through collaboration and Peter’s formal woodworking skills were shared with each visit.
Then a relationship of respect and admiration developed along with the guitar building, and both had an interest in each other’s music. They decided to try a short stage performance, which took place at the last Mid-Winter Holler, which took place in late February 2023. Their music was very well received. As a result of encouragement and suggestion, an experimental concert at the Wellington Bluegrass Society then resulted.
Although they have a different approach to music, the common thread of the folk music tradition allows an intuitive understanding of the music. Because of this, adaptation to each other’s repertoire followed naturally. This music is underpinned by their combined repertoires, harmony vocals, solid flat picking and the possibility of an appearance of the pedal steel guitar that Jack has been teaching himself to play. It will be an interesting and rewarding evening, steeped in a combined rich history of decades of involvement in this art, complete with unique stories and a perspective born of the pursuit of both luthiery and music.
