Dawn Barrington is a contemporary folk singer-songwriter based in Melbourne VIC who is passionate about social justice. Woven throughout her songs are stories of Human rights abuses and social justice. She shares from the heart with warmth, compassion and even a bit of humour which always engages the listener. Dawn never fails to entertain, inform and more often than not inspire an audience to embrace the same desire for social change.
Regular tours have taken Dawn across Australia several times. Her grass roots approach and desire to connect with people, has taken her to audiences off the beaten track and to many communities across Australia and further afield to the refugees on Manus Is in 2018 and 2019.
To date Dawn has released 2 albums, 2 EPs and 6 singles with the most recent release being early this year. In 2018, Single “Fly Free Little Bird” was selected for the KISS my WAMi compilation CD by West Australian Music (WAM). She was subsequently nominated for Best Regional Act in 2019 by WAM. Single “We Live and We Die” 2020, is a collaboration with Kurdish Iranian refugee Kazem Kazemi, co-written on Manus. Her most recent release is “Pledge my Soul” (2022) which was recorded and released off the back of “He’s my Brother” in Dec 2021. Dawn’s tracks continue to be played on community radio across Australia.
Visit her web site.
The SunLoungers are a Northern Beaches trio consisting of Greg Thompson (guitar & vocals). Ali Holland (guitar & vocals) & Kim Short (bass guitar & vocals).
“Dawn’s last song was “Cross to Bear” about the powerful people in the world and their effects. Done with a Celtic rhythm there’s a sense of anger, passion and determination in the song. It’s almost like it’s built like an aural protest march, that’s striving to right some of the wrongs in society. A top performance Dawn, brining a bit WA music into the Society’s monthly Concert.” - G. Fitzgerald (The Songwriting Society of Australia Magazine Sept 2016)
“Inspired by a documentary on the women left behind by war, Great Southern Institute of Technology’s Dawn Barrington has released her single, Women of War…….Ms Barrington said the song was an important one for her and she wanted use her music to highlight other social issues. Ms Barrington will be playing at the Denmark Festival of Voice this weekend.” - T Wolfe (Albany Advertiser May 2015)
“Dawn Barrington is a folk singer from Western Australia and I became aware of her music in September of 2014 when I downloaded her track Voices from AMRAP. Early 2015 saw the release of the single “Women of War” to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli and put the war in a perspective not often acknowledged, that of the women who either took part directly or who stepped up to support the war effort from Australia as well as generally keeping the home fires burning.
I would describe Dawn’s music as a set of carefully crafted lyrics’ riding an original meandering tune to simultaneously arrive at a point.
A few months back, Dawn toured the east coast for the first time and I was lucky enough to have her as a guest on Rare Traxx & Eclectic where she sang live in the studio. Later that same week, I went to the Illawarra Folk Club to see Dawn perform live. I witnessed a very warm exchange between artist and audience which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I look forward to Dawns next visit and the possibility of seeing her perform live at a house concert venue.” - Michael Hayes (Producer, 2MCR 100.3FM)
