Graham Wardrop

Graham has been acclaimed as New Zealand's finest finger style guitarist. After thirty years in the professional arena, he is regularly called upon to give concert performances, to play on television and studio recording sessions, to hold workshops in advanced fingerstyle techniques for steel string guitar, along with providing atmospheric music in sophisticated dining situations. Graham has performed solo and alongside some of the world's finest musicians, dazzling audiences at countless festivals, concerts and corporate functions. He has toured with Australia's Slim Dusty and Anne Kirkpatrick and New Zealand's Billy T. James. He's opened shows for Manhattan Transfer, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Vanessa-Mae, Michael Crawford, Joshua Kadison, Icehouse and Jasper Carrot. He's played alongside Tommy Emmanuel and Gray Bartlett, and played on shows with Martin Taylor, Leo Kottke and Michael Fix. His warm stage manner puts an audience at ease while he enthralls them with his mastery of a huge range of guitar styles. Not only does Graham maintain a busy performance schedule, but he also handcrafts the instruments on which he performs. His ambition 'to play music I have written on instruments I have built' reached fruition with the recording of his CD 'Signature'. Steel string guitar, electric and bass guitars, lap-steel, 12-string soprano guitar and mountain dulcimer all feature on this album. The past few years have been busy with travel to many destinations around New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Asia, especially Hong Kong, to play to a wide range of audiences. Most of the time he plays solo, but occasionally Graham works with different artists in various combinations - he's even featured as a soloist with orchestras from time to time. "I don't use backing tracks, midi files, sequencers or karaoke backings in my solo shows - I leave that to everyone else. Every note that you hear, I have played. I think it's important to state this fact these days. A comment I get time and again, always in a very relieved tone, is 'It's so good to hear an instrument actually being played!'" Graham is a musician of great versatility. His love of beauty, harmony and precision culminates in his richness of sound and a unique style of performance. recent highlights - how do I fit in all the highlights? So, so many! Here are a few… • shows in Hong Kong playing with Suzanne Lynch ( ex 'Chicks', ex Cat Stevens backing vocalist ) and keyboard whiz Steve Larkins • solo shows in Hong Kong at beautiful venues such as the Hong Kong Country Club and Cathay Pacific's Headland Hotel • shows in Guangzhou, China with Gray Bartlett • concerts in Papua New Guinea, both solo and in duo with Elizabeth Braggins. • due to popular demand, a return to Hong Kong to play New Year's Eve and New Year's Day 'Lunch on the Lawn' at the exclusive Hong Kong Country Club. • engineering and playing various guitars on Martin Curtis' CD 'Beyond a Climber's Moon'; engineering and playing various guitars on Mark Apperley's CD 'Standing at the Door'; playing acoustic guitar on Radha Sahar's CD 'A Pace of Grace'; playing various guitar parts on Sheryl Higgs' CD 'Don't You Think' • musical director of the Kiwi Club Ball in Papua New Guinea, plus various solo concerts around PNG • opening the show for Manhattan Transfer in Christchurch and Wellington • reunion gig with the Anne Kirkpatrick Band in Sydney • feature spot at the 'Waipara Wine and Food Celebration' • concert spot with good friend Martin Curtis in Wanaka's inaugural 'Festival of Colour' • concerts at the Haven Amphitheatre, Castlecrag, Sydney. • The 30th Cardrona Folk Festival. • April '06: fantastic concert tour around NZ with Canadian folk singing, songwrting legend Valdy, culminating over Easter in a huge weekend of music at the Canterbury Family Music Festival. • 'Songs of the Salish Sea' tour. The Salish Sea includes the Gulf Islands between the mainland coast of Canada and Vancouver Island. Graham toured this area in May '06 with Valdy and Kathy Stack, playing ten islands in twelve nights. Musically the combination was a great success and many concert attendees have expressed a strong interest in Graham returning to the area to play more concerts. The sympatico between Graham and Valdy is a rare and beautiful thing - opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean are linked musically and standing ovations have been the standard response. Add Kathy Stack and her great original songs to the equation and the blend is irresistible. This tour has been a huge highlight in Graham's career. ancient history Born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand, Graham started playing music at a very early age. Like so many of his generation Graham was inspired by the music of the Beatles and on a guitar gifted to him, a lifetime passion was born. He played in many bands while at high school and university, the most notable being 'Lutha' (1971-'73). A good ten years before 'Flying Nun Records' and the so called 'Dunedin sound' Lutha had recorded two albums of original music, 'Lutha' and 'Earth' for HMV/EMI Records. Graham composed about half of the songs, the remainder being penned by lead vocalist Garry MacAlpine and his good friend Gordon Spittle. Both albums enjoyed local success and are now regarded in some parts of the world, especially in Europe, as collectors items. Singles 'Then I Saw Her Face' and 'Stop:the Music Is Over' were very popular and Graham's song 'I Really Only Want to Be With You' was a finalist in TVNZ's songwriting programme 'Studio One'. During his time at University Wardrop was heavily involved in writing music for Capping Concerts, folk club events and countless other musical events - sadly to the detriment of his academic studies! The guitar was his focus then, as it still is now. Leaving 'Lutha' in 1973 he moved to Sydney and continued to pursue a musical career by writing songs and playing guitar in recording sessions, television shows, stage shows and live gigs. Being asked to play guitar for Anne Kirkpatrick led to a long association with the 'Dusty' family - Anne is the daughter of the late and great Slim Dusty. Touring Australia and recording with Slim and Anne and some of the finest country players of the day remains a great highlight in a long career. The Anne Kirkpatrick Band rocked country music in Australia in the late seventies and lifelong friendships were forged. Since moving back to New Zealand in 1984 a solo career has been pursued. Graham has continued to write songs, to compose instrumental guitar solos and to record in his home based studio in Christchurch. He now has five solo CDs to his credit and a live CD 'Live Takes' with long time friend and one of New Zealand's great piano playing vocalists, Elizabeth Braggins. His passion for the guitar also extends to the craft of luthiery and most of the instruments he plays these days he has built himself.