Presented by the Illawarra Folk Club and the Teddy's Bar, North Gong Hotel, under the sponsorship of the Great Southern Nights

DARREN HANLON

The Darren Hanlon universe can be summed up in two words: human connection. He has built a self-sustaining career via his catalogue of songs alone and exhaustive traveling to sing them. His shows are built around his narrative songwriting and storytelling, and his intimate connection with the audience.

Over time he’s been hand-picked to tour with a lot of his musical heroes (Billy Bragg, Michael Hurley, The Magnetic Fields) but more importantly he has also inspired other younger musicians like Courtney Barnett, Jack Davies and Kate Dillon (Full Flower Moon Band) at formative times in their lives.

Over these past years Hanlon appeared in and sang the credits of the Slim Dusty biopic ‘Slim & I,’ wrote songs and acted in Mick Thomas’ critically acclaimed theatre show ‘Vandemonian Lags,’ garnered high rotation with his pandemic-themed song ‘We All Cope in Different Ways,’ and had a cameo in the TV show Bluey.

In 2024 he debuted ‘Songs Are Made of Air’ at the Mona Foma Festival in Tasmania. This was a commissioned collaboration with composer Bree van Reyk, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Support Act: Kay Proudlove

Emotional and witty, Kay is a Wollongong raised indie-folk singer-songwriter with a remarkably agile, engaging, honest, soul-bearing voice and a wry, dry-ice sense of humour. With a live performance style that is much like being invited into her lounge room, her songs are truly stories set to melody, by turns relatable, humorous and heartbreaking.

A fantastic chance to hear the legendary cult performer, Darren Hanlon, with his "urban folk" music and long list of quirky songs.

And the charm and joy of Kay Proudlove as well .....what's not to love!

Better get yourself down to the bar.......