He has played with Manhattan Transfer, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Vanessa May and Slim Dusty but guitarist Graham Wardrop is just as happy performing solo to a small intimate audience.
Over his 50-plus-year career he has done plenty of both, having started out playing in bands at the age of 14 while at high school in Dunedin.
"It’s involved in a huge variety — from being solo, through to backing to all sorts of artists, collaborations, travel, concerts and festivals, play in restaurants and bars — you have to do a bit of everything to survive."
His musical education began when his father, who played piano, got him and his sister to sing harmonies for him from an early age.
"I just loved music right from the word go. I learnt the piano for a couple of years and then we got ukuleles."
He was 10 years old when his auntie gave him a guitar and he has never looked back.
"I fell in love. I’m a guitar nut, I’ve got a house full of guitars. I’ve never really done anything but play music, it’s how I’ve made my living."
While it was the folk music of the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary that he played on the ukuleles, it was The Beatles which "really sparked me".
"My sister and I learnt the songs. Because we sang harmonies together we could play The Beatles songs and sing them in harmony. It just all led on."
He played in many bands including Lutha (1971-73) and did two albums with EMI, a good 10 years before Flying Nun Records and the Dunedin Sound came about.
"We were the first Dunedin band to record original music."
Wardrop then headed to Australia where he played 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 — she is the daughter of the late Slim Dusty. He wrote sheet music books and played in clubs too.
"When I worked with Slim Dusty we did a huge amount of touring. He’d get in his big purple Ford. He reckoned it was a way to get out and see all his mates, play a bit of music. And I feel the same. It is work but it’s a pretty nice way to earn a living."
When he returned to New Zealand with a young family he began to play solo — something he had not thought of doing previously.
"It was a matter of necessity. I had two children and a mortgage so I had to make some money. So I went out and played the songs I used to sit around the table playing."
While he played electric guitar in those early days, he moved to playing acoustic and adopting fingerstyle technique, which has its basis in classical guitar. Solo he plays a mix of folk, jazz and classical. He was lucky to learn from Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel whom he describes as his "hero".
"It requires a lot of intricate finger work. I wanted to sound as much like a band without drums and bass as I could but I never wanted to use backing tracks. I love the purity of sound you get from an acoustic guitar.
That love has led Wardrop to learn how to make his own guitars. He has built more than 30 instruments.
"It was a fascination with how you get these beautiful sounds out of wood and strings.
"So I got a couple of old guitars that were useless and pulled them apart just to see what was on the inside."
With advice from professional guitar makers, he learnt how to build guitars himself by doing it.
"You can’t really explain the feeling you get from playing music you’ve written on instruments you’ve built. It’s a unique thing."
His career has led to a lot of travel over the years with 11 tours to Canada alone as well as regular tours to Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea as well as Australia and Europe.
The travel came to an end with Covid. Wardrop has realised his love for New Zealand and lost the urge for "rushing around the planet".
"Now I’m back in the South Island, it’s my home. I’m grateful and happy to be living in this part of the world."
His upcoming tour to Otago with Christchurch musicians Mary Dunne and Elizabeth Braggins is a wonderful opportunity to get back to his old stomping grounds.
"I love travelling around the South Island. I’ve decided I’d learn to learn to say no and just do what I really want to do like this series of concerts. We can really concentrate on three-part harmonies. It is so lovely to work with two people you respect and have great ideas."
It is even more special as it is Dunne’s last concerts before she goes back to Ireland to live. They have also recorded a CD of their music.
"She’s a beautiful singer and has become a very dear friend so this will be the only concerts we do with her in Otago."
However, he hopes to continue performing with Braggins, who he has worked with in "some form or another" for 30 years.
"Elizabeth and I have a natural rapport which is rare.
"While we occasionally get together to learn a new song we can almost just sit down and play, it just works."
Having spent many holidays in Central Otago where his grandfather had an orchard and his family had a crib, Wardrop sees the region as his "spiritual home".
"I’m really looking forward to playing for the people down there."
The last time he played in the South was a concert a few years ago at Best Cafe in Dunedin.
"When I’m playing solo I really like small intimate settings where it feels more like a conversation with a group of people rather than me playing a concert."
He has also been a regular attendee and performer at Cardrona Folk Festival.
"It’s a lovely little festival."
Next month he is looking forward to returning to Dunedin to perform with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra on the All You Need is Love tour featuring The Beatles’ greatest hits orchestrated by Christchurch-based arranger Tom Rainey, who will also conduct the concert.
He has performed acoustic guitar in it many times with orchestras in Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch and Wellington enjoying the experience of working with consummate musicians.
"The Beatles were a huge part of my life and still are.
"I still listen to their albums and hear stuff I’ve not heard before."
Other big influences on Wardrop’s music have been James Taylor and Paul Simon.
"I’m on the softer side of music rather than rock’n’roll."
TO SEE
Braggins and Wardrop and Dunne In Concert, Cardrona Hall, Feb 9, Earnscleugh Hall, Feb 10; Hanover Hall, Dunedin, February 11; All You Need Is Love, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, March 11, Dunedin Town Hall.
