Banjo twangs and fiddle tunes rang out in Wickham on a Friday night at The Lass O'Gowrie. Classics from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard and The Chicks were interspersed with zesty originals, fast and slow. Midnight Chicken's self-described "bizarre take" on bluegrass music is actually a lot of fun.
The band only started in March but between them they are a set of talented musos who have already played with some of the country's greats in the folk/country world including Kasey Chambers, Bill Chambers, Phil Emmanuel, Catherine Britt, Brad Cox, Fanny Lumsden, Gina Jeffries and more.
All aged 30 or under, Midnight Chicken members are guitarist and singer Jesse O'Neill, mandolin and bouzouki player Hunter Beasley, fiddle and banjo player Naomi Jones, fiddle player Jono Smith and double bassist Brennan Fell.
"We all played together in different projects and I guess we sort of had the idea that if we put the five of us together it was gonna be a lot of fun," Beasley says of the band's formation.
"It was either going to be horrendous or beautiful. So far it's been good," O'Neill says.
They started playing covers to get established, and then went on to write their own tunes.
"All of us came from slightly different genres but that's what makes it such a fun unique sound," Jones says.
She came from classical and folk, Smith grew up playing Scottish fiddle and Beasley grew up playing country songs. Fell has a jazz background. Whatever it is they're doing, it seems to work well. They're playing a lot of gigs, including Tamworth Country Music Festival in January. They'll record their first album in February with musician JB Patterson in Queensland.
The name Midnight Chicken has been stewing for quite some time. Hunter and O'Neill were in a Vinnies outlet in Tamworth years ago and decided that whatever the name of the random book they pulled off the shelf, that was the name of their future band. It happened to be an award-winning cookbook called Midnight Chicken. It worked nicely as many of his friends associate Beasley with chickens; he has a lot of chicken paraphernalia.
So it's a great start for the free range bluegrass band! They agree that country music is becoming cool again. They know there isn't a huge local scene for what they're doing, but they hope if they keep at it, they'll make an impact.
Jones is one of the organisers for the first annual Carrington Folk Festival, happening at Earp Distillery on February 17 in the new year.
"The idea is a half -day event with some bands, space to jam, workshops. We're hoping to create community, the folk music scene in Newcastle. We're celebrating awesome musicians that are here," Jones says.
Nathaniel James, owner of Frothers Espresso in Merewether, was at the Lass show and has welcomed many of the band members to jam at his cafe over the years.
"The reason I Iove them is they're this beautiful group of people running a set together as equals and as highly talented musicians," he says. "They're my best friends of all time."
Learn more about the festival by visiting Earp Distillery's website. Find Midnight Chicken on Instagram via @midnightchickenofficial.
