Country Music Goes To Church

In the seventh year of The Church Tour initiative, Civic Events’ Brent Eccles and Campbell Smith are experimenting with country music. Singer-songwriter Delaney Davidson, honky-tonker Tami Neilson, Waratahs frontman Barry Saunders and country rocker Marlon Williams will perform – both solo and in different combinations – in eight cathedrals in six cities Oct. 1-10.

Williams, who started out aged 17 fronting alt-rock outfit The Unfaithful Ways before a solo career scored him a country album of the year award, says, “Playing churches is actually going back to my roots. I was a choirboy. I joined the Christchurch Catholic Cathedral choir in high school, around the same time I started playing in bands. The acoustics of these places are stunning, they were after all built so you could hear a whisper.”