John Ray reckons that banjo players find each other – and, coming from the other side of the world, he would know.
The Motueka doctor will soon be finishing up his two-year contract at Greenwood Medical Centre and heading back to Texas with his family, but he has found some kindred musical spirits here in the Tasman region that he is sorely going to miss.
Early in his stay, John placed an ad on Facebook asking if there was anyone out there who enjoyed the “porches, backyards and campfires” vibe of musical collaboration, and local musician Clayton Taylor responded. John recounts that the first jamming session started at lunch time, and before they knew it, “we looked up and it was dark outside”.
John says that Clayton is obsessed with the same obscure Texan country music as himself and, even though the duo grew up 12,000 kilometres apart, he has never met anyone with the same amount of musical overlap.
John plays the banjo and the slide guitar or dobro, picking the instruments up in middle school. He says he chose them because they were a little bit more specialised.
“If you take a guitar to a party, it seems like everyone there can play it better than you,” he summarises with a smile.
Clayton has been part of groups Cutty Wren and The Early Bobs, and together with John and well-known local musician Nathan Torvik, the trio formed The Nelson County Playboys.
“You’re going to have some songs that you don’t know, and you’re going to hear some songs that you do know,” he says.
The group (with Copperhead Junction bassist Sue Ware standing in for Nathan) is giving a fundraising performance for the Motueka community swimming pool project next weekend. An afternoon of “toe-tapping entertainment” has been promised, and this will be one of Dr John’s last performances before heading back home in May.
The Nelson County Playboys will be performing at the Motueka RSA on Saturday, 29 March, at 2pm, with doors opening at 1.45pm. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased from the Motueka RSA.
