The Wilson Pickers

Wed 29th Oct, 2008 in Features

If some of the faces making up this five-piece blue grass outfit look familiar, it could be because you’ve seen them about town playing with their various individual projects. Andrew Morris, Danny Widdicombe, Ben Salter, Sime Nugent and John Bedggood make up The Wilson Pickers, a trans-state ensemble of talented musicians doing their own take on bluegrass; a group of friends gathered together with a mutual love of music.

Andrew Morris, taking a little time out from his hectic schedule, spoke to FasterLouder about his latest offering to the music world.

The Wilson Pickers were born from an idea Andrew thinks was planted during a stay in Nashville, Tennessee a few years ago. He woke up one morning back in Australia with the concept of getting a few of his mates together to form a bluegrass band, but to take bluegrass and put their own stamp on it. He made a list of friends he would love to work with and emailed them to see who would be interested in it. He got an overwhelmingly positive response from them and this put the wheels in motion.

Unfortunately, with Moz, Danny and Ben in Brisbane and Sime and John based in Melbourne (and all of them pretty busy) it made the actual realisation of the idea a little difficult. But eventually they all got together, and it seemed to work. In fact it worked out so well, they decided to write some songs and do an album.

It was never the idea that this was a full time commitment, so they just get together when they can, play when they want and basically just enjoy it. “It’s a logistical nightmare, but so far so good,” Andrew says. “If at least four of us can get together, that’s a show, but it’s better if we’re all there.”

Getting everyone together is not that easy even when they plan for it, as they found out when they put three days aside in Brisbane to record their debut album. On day one, Ben was nowhere to be found, still stuck down in Melbourne. On day two, Danny took a day off as a nasty fever rendered him out of action. They finally all got together on day three to finish recording the 11 songs they had written.

Land of the Powerful Owl is the product of those three days. It’s an amazing collection of songs, lovingly put together by these five amazing musicians. They juggle lead singers and various instruments to create a wonderful mix of songs and sounds. It’s obvious listening to this album that these guys enjoy each other’s company, and had a lot of fun doing this project. “Although next time I think we’ll take a week or two out of our schedules, and take it at a more leisurely pace,” Andrew admits.

So, the plans have been laid, schedules have been aligned and the boys are hitting the road to promote their debut album. In between dates, Andrew is taking time out to help a mate, playing with Bernard Fanning at the Youngcare Benefit Concert on 8 November at the Tivoli in Brisbane. It’s a concert gathering together some amazing Australian performers to help raise funds for Youngcare, an organisation helping young people with high care needs.

The Wilson Pickers will be headlining their own shows, launching Land of the Powerful Owl in a series of gigs down the east coast. Then the rest of November sees them touring with The Audreys, followed by a few festival dates at the Queenscliff Music Festival and Woodford Folk Festival.