July 9th Wooden Box Band/Kerr, Burgin & Norman/Annette Esquenet

Irishman Andrew Kerr (ex. Jacky Tar) and Alan Norman (The Warratahs, The Rag Poets) have been playing as a duo for many years. They have recently expanded to a trio and are joined by Paddy Burgin (The Wooden Box Band, The Zimmermans), and his magical guitars, on a more permanent basis.

Paddy, a world-renowned luthier, was a member of The Scarborough Connection, who featured on Andrew and Alan’s critically acclaimed 2023 release ‘For the Record’.

A swampy melting pot of country, folk, americana and blues, they combine a mutual love of story-telling and rhythmic grooves with narratives about the human experience. They perform predominantly original material, with contributions from each member, calling on a wide range of instrumentation including piano, acoustic and Weissenborn guitars, accordion, bodhran, and percussion.

The Wooden Box Band describe themselves as an unrelated family of musicians from all walks of life who enjoy writing and playing urban folk music around Wellington and environs beyond.

The Wooden Box Band's members were harvested some time ago from Wellington bands such as the Balkanistas, the Mockers, Dunstan Rangers and Jessie James and the Outlaws. You can hear a variety of styles at play here...

Usually they come in a group of half a dozen, just like bread rolls, and features guitar, fiddle, trumpet, electric guitars, bass and drums.

Annette Esquenet is a singer-songwriter whose songs have a gentle Indie-Folk sound, containing thoughtful observations about life on earth, with an enchanting and occasionally mystical twist.

She has performed at Mainly Acoustic a number of times, either on her own or with other notable musicians such as Chris Moses and Susan Colien Reid. Annette can often be seen playing her Weissenborn slide guitar in The Caramellos Band, 

Originally from the UK she now based in Aotearoa / New Zealand on the Kapiti Coast.