3 x CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’, 2 x Australian Folk Music and Music Victoria Award winners, The Weeping Willows (Laura Coates & Andrew Wrigglesworth) are a couple of old souls, steeped in Bluegrass tradition and draped in Gothic Americana imagery. They regale their audiences with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay. Real music.
2017-2023 has seen The Weeping Willows nominated for 14 x CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’ awards, 7 x Australian Folk Music Awards (AFMAs), 4 x Country Music Channel (CMC) awards, 2 x National Live Music Awards (NLMAs), performing an Official Showcase at AmericanaFest (USA) and appearing at Folk Alliance International (USA), Maverick Festival (UK), Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Out On The Weekend and the Australian Americana Music Honours. In recent years they have supported Lukas Nelson & POTR (USA), Hayes Carll (USA), Iris DeMent (USA), Willie Watson (USA), Eilen Jewell (USA), Cory Branan (USA) and Kevin Welch (USA) and completed national and international tours in support of their three LPs, including sophomore album, Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’, which received four-star reviews in Rolling Stone, The Australian and The Music.
A Weeping Willows performance, whether live on location or caught on tape will always delight!
Visit their web site.
“Australian alt. country at its near-finest...” / “Australian Gothic-Country is in good hands.” - Rolling Stone
“What's not to love? The velvety allure of vocal harmony, Bluegrassy instrumentation drizzled like honey, engaging Gothic narratives that both worry and warm. In the tradition of Johnny and June, Gillian and Dave, the Melbourne-based couple captivate the listener as a fine-tuned unit...” - Rhythms Magazine
“…right up there with the finest Americana music you'll hear this year...” - The Music
“The oppressive weight and consequences of living and loving are laid bare with a surgeon’s precision in 10 songs filled with power and beauty. They sound like they could have been written anytime in the past century.” - The Australian
“…a mature, courageous and beguiling experience.” - No Depression (USA)
“…stunning acoustic guitar work, heavenly harmonies, and a haunting melody rooted in American gothic.” - Pop Matters (USA)
“…performed with brilliance & expressiveness.” - Americana Highways (USA)
“This is the best of acoustic music, whether it be Folk or Country, Indie-Roots or Blues. Their simple instrumentation, heavy harmonies, and overall gothic vibe is a full and welcome Roots-music package.” - The Alternate Root (USA)
“What makes The Weeping Willows sound quite distinctive is their impressive dual vocal lines that start to weave from the opening ‘House of Sin’ to the closing ‘North Wind’ ...they are on the way to making some serious waves in Americana circles with ‘You Reap What You Sow’.” - AmericanaUK
“The Weeping Willows are Laura Coates, a vocalist of outstanding ability – her voice is utterly enchanting – and Andrew Wrigglesworth, who plays guitar and ganjo in a way that you’ll have seldom heard before and contributes to some of the sweetest, most spine-tinglingly awesome vocal harmonies that you’ll ever hear – in this world or probably even the next...” - At The Barrier (UK)
“Australia's The Weeping Willows are doing Americana as good as any American band out these days.” / “a rich, deep feel that's unlike anything else out there as of late.” - If It’s Too Loud (USA)
“It's engaging, timeless and safely in the hands of the core pieces - namely the all round musical wizardry of Andrew Wrigglesworth and the melting vocals of Laura Coates. Together they skilfully deliver sumptuous harmonies and pay due homage to the traditional sound of bluegrass and old time roots... Andrew and Laura have framed a sound and delivered a folk/Americana album as strong as you are likely to hear all year.” - Three Chords and the Truth (UK)
