Former Moruya High School student Josh Cunningham and Felicity Urquhart are partners in life and music. Photo: Supplied.
“It really is lovely to have someone in your life to make music and write songs with – it keeps stoking the fire with new things to be excited about.”
Back in 1991, a young South Coast school-leaver called Josh Cunningham earned a place at the University of Wollongong to study Economics. He decided to defer, first for one year and then a second, while he saw how far his passion for making music could take him.
A long way, as it turned out, as audiences at the Illawarra Folk Festival at Bulli Showground on 16-18 January will discover when he performs there with his life and music partner, Felicity Urquhart, and their band.
As a key member of the internationally-acclaimed Aussie Indi band The Waifs, Josh has forged a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost guitarists and songwriters. Felicity is one of Australia’s most acclaimed country singers, and a former host of ABC Radio’s national program Saturday Night Country.
The Waifs have been regular visitors to the Illawarra, most recently as part of the Red Hot Summer Tour with Crowded House at Berry Showground in October.
At the Illawarra Folk Festival music-lovers will see a different side of Josh’s musical talent, as he combines with Felicity to perform beautiful, heart-felt songs about life and love – in particular finding each other in 2020 when Felicity was still reeling from the death of her husband and father of her two daughters, aged six and eight.
As their relationship blossomed, Josh and Felicity recorded two albums, with a third due for release in March. Together they have won three Golden Guitar awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Josh and Felicity’s early shows were notable for the obvious chemistry between the pair, which they are happy to say hasn’t waned. If proof is needed, consider this verse from their new single Lifeline:
Standing on a faultline,
Clinging to a lifeline.
Standing in your sunshine,
Sign me for a lifetime.
“Things are going pretty well. I think we’ve settled into our groove,” Felicity said. “Being able to combine a relationship and a career (in music) is pretty special. It really is lovely to have someone in your life to make music and write songs with – it keeps stoking the fire with new things to be excited about.”
Josh is happy to balance his life and musical partnership with Felicity with his on-going commitment to The Waifs.
“It is a matter of keeping everything balanced. Felicity and I were in the middle of recording our new album when the offer came through for The Waifs to be part of the Red Hot Summer Tour with Crowded House and all these other great acts,” he said.
“It was too good an opportunity to pass by, so it was a case of revolving doors, in and out of the studio between shows.
“It was a great tour to be part of, and Felicity and the girls were able to come to some of the shows (including the one at Berry Showground) which was great.”
Felicity said watching Neil Finn and Crowded House perform at Berry reinforced for her what live performances should be all about.
“Neil Finn is such a superstar, but when he’s performing he is so relatable with the audience,” she said. “That’s what we try to be in our shows – two people giving of ourselves in our live performances, sharing our experiences and connecting with our audience.”
Felicity and Josh will be performing their two shows at the Illawarra Folk Festival with long-time musical collaborators Matt Fell on bass and Josh Schuberth on drums.
“Matt is a mainstay in the Australian Country Music scene and Josh is a wonderful drummer,” Felicity said. “They have played on all our album tracks, so the show will literally be the live version of our recordings.”
Felicity and Josh have performed together in Wollongong twice previously, but not in a festival setting.
“We’re really excited to be playing the Illawarra Folk Festival, and grateful that our local agents CRAFT connected us with the organisers,” Josh said. “We’ve got quite a few connections in the Illawarra. I have family in Wollongong, and of course I nearly enrolled at the University of Wollongong.”
Thirty-four years after that Year 12 graduate of Moruya High School first deferred his university studies, Josh has only been to UOW when he has played concerts there with The Waifs over the years. But he has no regrets.
“At high school it was clear that playing music was what I loved to do but everyone, even my music teacher, tried to persuade me to go to uni because music wasn’t a ‘career’,” Josh said.
“I deferred uni for two years in a row while I travelled around Australia playing music. I was enjoying making music more and more, and in the end I knew what I had to do …”
It is one of the celebrated stories in Australian music folklore that The Waifs started in 1992 when Josh – on his “gap year” before UOW – met West Australian sisters Donna Simpson and Vicki Thorn while the three were busking in Broome. They started playing music together, travelling the country in on old Kombi.
The Waifs have since produced eight studio albums, two live albums, and built a global fanbase with extensive touring, including a US tour supporting Bob Dylan.
“I am so glad that I have made a life out of music, a good life,” Josh said.
There will be plenty of fans at the 39th Illawarra Folk Festival (and around the world) who will agree that he made the right decision all those years ago.
The Illawarra Folk Club conducts the Illawarra Folk Festival each year. Tickets and full program details are available here.
