Minstrel offers Wairarapa a gift of music

GIFT OF MUSIC: American singer-songwriter Brian Ernst will play King Street Live on Sunday from 8pm as part of his Give Until It's Gone album support tour and charity drive for widows and orphans in Kenya. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A singer-songwriter with a musical gift will stage his Wairarapa debut on Sunday as part of his Give Until It's Gone tour designed to help orphans and widows in Kenya.

American Brian Ernst plays King Street Live in Masterton on Sunday as one of 30 dates throughout New Zealand in support of his third studio album, during which 10 per cent of takings will go to an organisation he founded with his wife, Katie, called Journey4YOUth.

"Basically, we donate the first 10 per cent of our gross income to various programmes Journey4YOUth funds. Some of these programmes include widow and orphan care, empowerment trainings and microloans for women and education sponsorships for underprivileged youth. Handcrafts are available at the shows that support these initiatives."

Ernst said his music was "acoustic, soul, roots", which when live was layered using a looping pedal and an array of instruments.

The non-government organisation (NGO) was born in a storm a decade ago after the 30-year-old "travelling artist" ditched his suit and tie as a businessman in Washington state and with a friend headed to New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina had landed.

"Journey4YOUth sort of manifested itself. We raised support by playing music and collecting everything from couches to canned tomatoes."

His day jobs after New Orleans varied from busking in Chicago, waiting tables, and working eight-hour shifts in a warehouse. Then he decided to try music fulltime. "It is something that I feel 'called' to do. I've done many things in my life.

"Through my different occupations, nothing has ever given me the satisfaction of fulfilling what I believe I was created for; which is to be part of something that is bigger than myself.

"Playing music has been the one thing in my life that gives me a creative medium to express myself artistically for the benefit of other people."

Ernst, who has since recorded three studio albums and a double live album, said he met his American wife in New Zealand and they had roamed the South Pacific and Southeast Asia before heading to Africa and working three months as volunteers.

They returned Stateside and after winning NGO status for Journey4YOUth played 150 shows in 27 states, driving almost 56,000km in a vegetable-oil-powered former school bus.

They later performed throughout Europe before last year touring South Africa and the American Midwest.

Brian Ernst will play King Street Live, Masterton, from 8pm on Sunday. Tickets cost $10 at the door. His recorded material will be available at the show.