A sellout crowd heard Fanny Lumsden play in her namesake town last week.
The award-winning Australian country singer took to the Lumsden Town Hall stage on the first night of her New Zealand Country Halls tour. ‘‘Our first band show in New Zealand felt like it had to be in Lumsden and in a hall,’’ she said.
During the tour she has performed in more than 200 halls across rural Australia.
The idea was to take family-friendly music to remote rural areas, Lumsden said.
‘‘I was raised on a farm in rural New South Wales and it’s great to bring concerts to people who might not otherwise get to go.’’
That feeling was reiterated by Northern Southland farmer Rosie Hore who attended Wednesday’s gig.
‘‘It was packed and an amazing community event — it would be really good to see more of it.’’
The singer has a slew of accolades to her name including several Aria nominations, eight Golden Guitar awards and an Aria award for her 2020 album Fallow.
The album was about the wildfires which had devastated the area near where she lived and the loss associated with that, she said.
‘‘It was focused on finding hope in harder times.’’
Joining her on stage for her five-gig New Zealand tour is her partner and bass player Dan Freeman, who describes the Country Halls tour as the bread and butter of what they earn.
‘‘It’s a never-ending tour.’’
The couple have two young boys, Walter (4) and Rupert (1), who often join them on the road.
‘‘They sleep while we are on stage — the crew and band help raise the kids. They will put them to bed.’’
Though the children are not on the New Zealand tour they will be joining the couple on the next one which will take Lumsden to one of the world’s biggest stages — the Glastonbury musical festival in England — later this year.
‘‘It is so exciting playing such a gig, but playing in Lumsden is exciting, too,’’ she said.
