Sell-out show Songs from the Canyon comes to Geelong for the first time since its inception in 2022.
Featuring renowned Australian singers and musicians such as Husky Gawenda, Dan Kelly, Charm of Finches, Hannah Cameron, Stephen Grady and Dan Challis, Songs from the Canyon is centred around the music that emerged from counterculture hotspot Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles during the 60s and 70s.
From Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Carole King to the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas, the show hearkens back to a golden age where vocal harmonies reigned and music had the power to change the world.
Gawenda, the show’s musical director as well as performer, has toured the world with his band Husky, opened for artists such as Neil Young and won international songwriting competitions.
He said performing Songs from the Canyon alongside his fellow artists was a “transcendent experience”.
“I’ve never had an experience like this before performing,” he said.
“There are some songs where all seven of us are singing together at once… I’m surrounded by these incredible singers, we’re singing some of the best harmony songs ever written in these beautiful theatres… it’s an experience beyond words.
“And I really feel that reflected from the audience, too. I can feel that they’re having that same experience.”
Gawenda said from the beginning Song from the Canyon’s central premise was an “ambitious enterprise”, given the quality of the artists whose material made up the show.
“They are some of the greatest songs of all time, performed by some of the greatest singers and musicians of all time,” he said.
“The voices, the harmonies, are always at the fore, and that’s probably the most challenging part of the show… so a lot of work goes into that.
“Before we started, I was not sure that we’d be able to do it, but I wasn’t prepared to do it unless we were really doing these songs and artists justice.”
Songs from the Canyon is at Geelong Arts Centre on Thursday, April 24. Visit geelongartscentre.org.au for tickets or more information.
