Delaney Davidson + Barry Saunders – Leigh Sawmill: October 12, 2024

0

Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders are out on the road celebrating their new album, Happiness Is Near. We sent Simon Coffey up to Leigh Sawmill to scope out the show ahead of their two nights at Auckland’s Freida Margolis.

Rima/Five years on, following up on their debut collaboration, 2019’s Word Gets Around, sees this serendipitous pairing, Delaney Davidson & Barry Saunders returning with a sophomore album, Happiness is Near, and a subsequent tour.

Delaney DavidsonCreating together goes far further back than 2019, 2015 saw them sharing the stage (alongside Tami Neilson and Marlon Williams) on the 2015 Church Tour, which was captured as a documentary entitled The New Sound of Country. And even earlier experience, the Ōtautahi/Christchurch 6.3 earthquake in 2011, was shared while chatting with others in a café. The pair have more than a decade of culpability to reminisce on already.

Tonight’s show at The Leigh Sawmill, was the fortuitous solution to both the Tamaki Makaurau shows having sold out, and I hadn’t been up to the Sawmill for many years, remiss of me, so it was also an opportunity to ephemerally reconnect with past experiences (Bonnie Prince Billy, The Chills).

It’s back to the 70’s, kai and a show! Tables are reserved and we are seated at a rather strategic table, center, but not directly in front of the stage, top shelf for writing a review and taking photos. After a bite (the Edzotic and Gratuitios pizzas were grande) and a drink (Lake Hayes Pinot Gris), with our spot safely secured, we check out the adjacent antiquities ware – Merchants of Leigh, it’s full of taonga, including a generous array of vinyl, with many very tempting offerings. In the end, I satisfied my addiction with a vinyl copy of Delaney Davidson & Barry Saunders latest Happiness Is Near (and a gig poster from the wall)

Barry SaundersAudience claps/cheers welcome the duo on stage, introductions are made, and Davidson is quick to share the po’s/night’s lay of the land, referencing an opportunity for cigarettes and fisticuffs in the car park during intermission.

The Long Goodbye is immediately launched into, by the rua/two, just they and their guitars, It’s a song dominated by Davidson signature vocal growl, with Saunder’s vocals adding a softness, a tunefulness, it is a gentle yet rousing introduction to the night. It is quickly followed by Man Of Few Words, the lead digital single from Happiness is Near, it sees, hears Davidson and Saunders swap places, and even without the organ on the recorded version, it is a rich narrative/ballad, as Davidson pitches in at opportune moments to lift this waiata about the war-damaged friends of Barry Saunders father.

Delaney Davidson’s vaudeville background is on display as he baits the audience with a rambling tale of audience participation earlier in the ra/day. It results in a Leigh Sawmill singalong, to the chorus in Yeah Yeah Yeah. Very much an American-gothic hook-ridden tune, a standout, reminiscent of quality Nick Cave. Little Dollar has the unmistakable Davidson harmonica sound that instantly takes you to Neil Young’s Harvest. A slightly melancholic Barry Saunders led, and penned waiata about ports a plenty, and the inequity they feed.

Make Your Own Luck from 2019’s Word Gets Around, acts as a reference point against which to measure the creative change between albums, as does the Barry Saunders solo tune (missed the title of) dedicated to an old friend Sam Hunt who lives up the way.

Happiness is Near has a darkness, an American-gothic vibe running through many of the songs, and Mean Streak (Davidson only penned tune) is perhaps the Brechtian flag bearer for this. It is uncomfortably introduced in a self-deprecating manner, but it is a song I instantly connect with, perhaps, it is aging punk rocker in me. Perhaps, as a counterpoise, Davidson & Saunders end the first set with the first song they ever wrote together, Word Gets Around from 2019’s Word Gets Around.

On the return after intermission, no fisticuffs took place in the carpark, but many cigarettes were puffed. A sea of hypnotic harmonies washes over the room, as These Are The Days features Saunders as a master of haunting lead guitar, while Davidson narrates sweetly. The title and opening track to Happiness Is Near follows with many quips including  “make my bank account great again” Very much a catchy alt-country pop song, harmonies and hope going hand in hand.

Delaney and Barry

Davidson’s allure, his vaudeville background is a constant, he is constantly provoking (kindly) His introduction of Evil Eye is as a dancing song, a song to waltz tonother Davidson penned song, it has a classic Delaney Davidson ambience about it, another gothic-Americana aroha/love song.

Following a Delaney Davidson solo spot, featuring a song based on a dream story, meeting a guy in a pub (missed the title) he is back on harmonica for another Saunders penned song. Tumble Down prefaced with a korero about his Uncle, a fisherman and a tall story about a swordfish, again, very much a Neil Young folk vibe pervades. Then it’s back, again, to the title track from 2019’s Word Gets Around, Davidson tempts with a Chuck Berry like solo from Saunders, it is a rip roaring ballad, fully of danceability, and as the other tunes from Word Gets Around played tonight have done, emphatically illustrates the journey traveled between albums.

There is a faux ending and offer of encore, the clowning around comes so naturally to Davidson, and to the amusement of Saunders. Davidson ruses they haven’t played Happiness is Near, and so they do. I am a little confused, but elated by the encore. We walk away well versed, well sated, kai, wine and waiata. It is obvious that Davidson & Saunders are influences on each other, in a way that juxtaposes the two eras they come from: noir meets the weary worldview, Johnny Rotten against Keith Richards, Woody Guthrie vs Johnny Cash. But together they are creating the new face of Country/Alt-Country in Aotearoa. E rawe!

Simon Coffey

 

Click on any image to view a photo gallery:

Simon Coffey
Latest posts by Simon Coffey (see all)