"Two classy musicians coming together in perfect harmony."
- Fatea Magazine 2024
I had the pleasure and the privilege of attending We Mavericks show at the Beehive Folk Club in Harthill Village Hall (near Sheffield) in early October. It was the final show of this year’s UK tour and they played to a capacity crowd of around 100 people. It was my first opportunity to see a whole show, and my goodness what a show! I know it sounds bonkers to say it was the first time I’d seen their whole show because – well – I am their UK agent, but sometimes you have to take things on trust when you’re talking to a duo from halfway around the world, so when they approached me to book a tour for them, we did all the arrangements on email and skype, and I watched their Youtubery endlessly. They are great on Youtube, but even better live.
Before you read the rest, here's a short live set from Australia's National Folk festival
We Mavericks are a duo from Australia, Victoria Vigenser and Lindsay Martin. Vic plays driving guitar and takes most of the vocal leads. Lindsey plays mandolin and fiddle, sings mostly harmonies. The instruments are joyous. Vic’s driving guitar holds the rhythm while Lindsay’s fiddle and mandolin soar in and out, dazzling, sweet, or intricate, and always dbrilliantly played. I find it hard to believe that Lindsay only has five fingers on each hand because some of those notes trip by so fast you can hardly take them in, but it’s not show for show’s sake. It’s all very appropriate to the well-crafted arrangements.
The singing is utterly magnificent. Vic’s voice is strong and raunchy yet sweet and clear where it needs to be. Lindsay’s voice is softer, but true – a perfect instrument for creating dynamic vocal blends. And dynamic is really the word for this duo. Their arrangements soar with full-throated abandon and then pull back with a restrained delicacy that lets the song shine through, all the time, keeping up the energy.
And the songs matter. Songs about life, shaded from dark to light, all ways through the emotional spectrum, written individually or together. Thrown into the mix is the occasional traditional song, beautifully arranged in their own style.
They’ve completed their first UK tour, fourteen dates altogether, and audiences have loved them. Four people turned up to their last show in Harthill because they’d seen We Mavericks in York the night before and wanted more, more, more. They are already building up their fan base and mailing list here in the UK, and their next two tours are already booking.
They’ll be available in July, August and September in 2025 for festivals clubs, and venues. They have a new album out, Heart of Silver, to go with their current album, Grief’s a Gardener. They'll be saupporting the tours with social media and a publicist.
"The glorious harmonies and touching melodies of We Mavericks…Together they craft exquisite folk music, evoking spirits originating from Appalachia to Alba” - Ambient Light, New Zealand 2022,
“He has a familiar soft folk tenor. She has a strong ringing tone with muscle behind a clear crystalline voice… The violin cries for her and the harmony vocals are divine… We Mavericks are a serendipitous pairing…” - 13th Floor, New Zealand 2022
A certain trademark tightness and their gritty, evocative performances have seen them on a steep and fast rise to the big stages in both home countries, coupled witrh a welter of awards nominations.
Spotlight Showcase Artist - Folk Alliance International 2022
Nominated “Te Kaipuoro Taketake Toa | Best Folk Artist” 2022 Aotearoa (New Zealand) Music Awards
Nominated “Best Contemporary Duo/Group/Ensemble” 2021 Australian Folk Music Awards
Nominated again for Artist of the Year in the Australian Folk Music Awards, Duo/Group/Ensemble category 2024