Storytelling through song is craft according to songstress Lucy Peach, who hopes to share her skills with budding artists this Saturday in Busselton.
Peach will play two shows in the South West this weekend and will also facilitate a songwriting workshop with fellow award-winning songwriter Helen Townsend.
The workshop is part of the Act-Belong-Commit Fairbridge Festival Quest, a competition Busselton’s Sarah Strahan and The Broadbent Brothers have been successful in.
Peach, who cites Paul Kelly as an influence, encouraged young musicians to participate in the learning opportunity.
“Writing is really fun because you can use your own experience but also pick and choose from other stories and make up your own ending,” she said.
“With songwriting, it is never too late or too early to learn.
“It is very rewarding – people act like it exists in this mysterious land and only certain people can do it but that’s not the case. It’s a craft that you can learn.”
In her South West shows, Peach will perform tracks off her latest release, which she recorded with Joel Quartermain of Eskimo Joe fame.
The album features stories of her familial ancestry and songs written under the influence of her menstrual cycle.
Peach isn’t your average singer-songwriter, her wit and fondness of musical theatre resulted in her using her experience as a sex-ed teacher to create a stage show for the 2017 Perth Fringe Festival.
Her acclaimed show, My Greatest Period Ever, had a sell-out season and won the Martin Simms Touring Award – an award for the best new WA work in the festival that was destined to succeed on the world's stage.
This foray in to the theatre world leaves it hard to define Peach, whose music has been dubbed ‘feminist folk’.
Regardless of genre, storytelling is at the heart of what Peach does – whether she is making people laugh in a one-woman theatre show or performing in a pub with a full band.
“It is really hard to put a label on what I do,” she said.
“I’ve won an award for best folk act, and I guess that would be a genre I still fit in to as it is about storytelling and that’s what I do.
“I just like telling stories and connecting with people.”
Peach said she was excited to perform in Busselton for the first time, and connect with the region’s young talent.
“As a solo artist you spend a lot of time alone so you thrive on connection and being able to give back to people at that young age is amazing,” she said.
“I remember at that age I had no idea what to do or how to start so to be part of that process and see their light bulb moments is really exciting.”
The workshop will teach writing methods, techniques and performance delivery.
The workshop will be held on Saturday, January 20 from 9am to 1pm at the Busselton Youth Precinct.
To book a place visit trybooking.com/TKUJ and for more information contact Leanne Casellas on 0449020536.
Lucy Peach will perform at the Fire Station in Busselton on Saturday, January 20 from 7pm and The River Hotel in Margaret River on Sunday, January 21 from 4pm.
