Grab a comfy seat - the Small Hall Sessions are back

Frank Burkitt and his partner Kara will kick off the 2023 Small Hall Sessions.

The Small Hall Sessions are back, and its first tour of 2023 will be with an artist returning to Hawke’s Bay after a hiatus of several years.

Frank Burkitt now lives in the UK with his partner Kara, but while living in Wellington previously, he was a regular visitor to Hawke’s Bay.

Small Hall Sessions creator and curator Jamie Macphail says Burkitt is a consummate entertainer with a collection of great songs and a very easy, relaxed presentation, with very funny stories and a flowing line of banter between his songs.

“His style is perfectly suited to the format created with the Small Hall Sessions, where the audience is comfortably seated, and is highly attentive to every aspect of the artist’s performance.

“Frank is a storyteller, songwriter, singer and guitarist. In that order. His rambling anecdotes aim to give the audience more of a connection with his songs. He draws inspiration all the way from stories he’s been told at the bar to his innermost personal thoughts on long, slow days spent alone.

“The latest offering Silvereye, titled after the beautiful small bird of New Zealand, is his most intimate, sentimental and personally revealing album yet. Introspective and extremely indulgent, but also crucial for some mental sanity.”

From playing the folk clubs of Edinburgh as a teenager to charting on the Official New Zealand Music Charts and winning the 2019 Vodafone NZ Tui for Best Folk Album, Burkitt, through his many incarnations - from solo and duo performances to playing with a full backing band - has won the hearts of audiences throughout New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

“His songs are beautifully written, his singing voice and guitar playing carry the songs perfectly, and his harmonies with Kara are intimate and gorgeous. There are elements of jazz and blues in his style, along with hints of bluegrass and country, but this is folk, in its finest 21st-century form, and his banter is reminiscent of the great showmen of times gone by.

“These sessions will feature Frank’s most recent songs; stripped-back, pensive folk ballads, intimate, honest and heartfelt. There’ll also be some old favourites, rearranged for guitar, voice and flute. Engaging nights of story, harmony and great songwriting.”

The Frank Burkitt Duo is playing in Maraekakaho, Argyll East, Waimārama, Kairakau and Clive Halls, beginning on Wednesday, January 18.

For tickets and more information, visit smallhallsessions.co.nz.