Nigel Wearne: Cambridge Folk Festival performer’s music explores Americana’s ‘darker side’

Leaning more towards the ‘darker’ side of Americana – his music blends blues, folk and Americana-noir – singer-songwriter Nigel Wearne is starting to make a name for himself in his native Australia, the US and the UK.

Following a debut UK tour earlier this year, where he co-headlined dates with Yorkshire songstress Lauren Housley, Nigel, who grew up on a farm in southern Australia, is returning to the UK this summer for a number of shows, including a slot at the Cambridge Folk Festival.

Speaking to the Cambridge Independent from his home near Warrnambool, about three hours west of Melbourne, Nigel says that he had quite a few things lined up before the pandemic.

“It’s all sort of kicked off this year,” he notes. “MerleFest was one that was meant to happen in 2020. That’s a big American festival; Doc Watson started it back in the 80s, paying tribute to his son Merle Watson, who died in a tractor accident – he was a great musician himself.

“It’s quite a feather in the cap, that one; I think it’s a festival that a lot of people in America would love to play and I was lucky enough to get a gig at it because the director saw me play at Folk Alliance in 2020.”

Nigel also appeared at the Old Settler’s Music Festival in Texas earlier this year and, after he’s been to the UK, he will be performing at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in September in Bristol, a city on the Tennessee and Virginia border which is considered the birthplace of country music.

“So it’s a pretty choc-a-bloc year, I guess you could say,” says Nigel, a multi-instrumentalist whose musical influences include Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Gillian Welch, “and next year I’ll be building on that, given I’ve got my US visa, and I had a breakthrough in the UK in January with Lauren Housley, so I’m really keen to get back.”

Nigel’s most recent single, released in March, is titled A Moment too Soon. It has been described as “a kooky Americana-noir rumba that swaggers and sways to a retro vibe that smacks it straight back to the 60s. Think after-dark jazz club meets The Addams Family”.

Other singles include soulful duet To the Edge, a duet with Lauren Housley, and Black Behind the Blue, described as “Americana-noir-blues shuffle, doused with the swagger and sway of New Orleans jazz”.

Further praise came when Nigel’s second album Black Crow was awarded a four-star review by Rolling Stone magazine and also received a nomination for Best Country Album at the Music Victoria Awards.

The record also debuted at number one on Australia’s AMRAP (Australian Music Radio Airplay Project) charts. His new album The Reckoning is set for release later in the year.

With all that’s been going on, Nigel is looking forward to his appearance – on the Thursday – at Cambridge Folk Festival.

“I’ve known about the Cambridge Folk Festival for a long time so I feel quite privileged to get a gig at it,” he says, “very much looking forward to it, and doing some shows around that, north and south – heading as far north as Saltburn-by-the-Sea [in Yorkshire] and heading as far south as Brighton.

“Then a couple of spots at Cambridge Folk Festival – one main spot and then like a workshop thing with a bunch of other artists on the Saturday.”

While at Cherry Hinton Hall, Nigel is looking forward to checking out some of the other artists at this year’s event.

“I’m very keen to see Rufus Wainwright – and I certainly grew up listening to The Proclaimers,” he says, “I’m really looking forward to checking out the site and the festival.

“There’s some great bands on there – Angélique Kidjo will be great to see, I’ve listened to her over the last few years, and the Daoirí Farrell Trio.

“I saw Daoiri play on the weekend, solo here in Australia, but it will be great to see him play with a band. And then there’s a whole bunch of new artists that I’ll get to see, which will be exciting.”

Nigel Wearne, who says he likes “the darker shades and minor chords” when it comes to music, will be performing at the Cambridge Folk Festival – on the new Stage 3 – on Thursday, July 27, and will also be taking part in a workshop on Saturday, July 29.

For more information on the Cambridge Folk Festival, visit cambridgelive.org.uk/folk-festival. For more on the artist, go to nigelwearne.com.