Gig Review: Jenny Mitchell @ Old St Pauls, Wellington – 17/08/2025

I first stumbled across Jenny Mitchell a couple of years ago, supporting Kendall Elise at Moon Bar in Newtown. I was struck by the purity of her voice, unvarnished by commercial treatments. Mitchell was based in Wellington at that time, but her heart, it was clear was always in the deep south, where she was from.

On that night I heard songs that were about to be released on her third album, 2022’s Tug Of War; songs which were clearly personal and integral to her identity. That album featured the 2022 APRA NZ Best Country Song Trouble Finds A Girl (a duet with Tami Neilson). Mitchell’s relationship with her twin sisters, Nicola and Maegan, and her country music loving father, Ron, is clearly made evident both on stage and throughout her recordings. No surprise, as Mitchell grew up in musical home, and she often tours with her sisters, The Mitchell Twins, and her dad. Whānau is the secret sauce in much of her music.

And it’s paid off too. Even back then, Mitchell had already played the huge Tamworth Country Festival in Australia multiple times and would go on to win NZ Best Country Artist, be nominated for 2 Golden Guitar awards and have her music included in TV shows like The Brokenwood Mysteries.

After the show, Jenny told me that she’d recently up sticks to Melbourne and was looking forward to settling in and becoming more of a local once all the touring settles down. That not only includes her national tour in support of her new drop Forest House, but also a recent 32 date tour with one of her idols, Kasey Chambers. The story goes that the album was recorded in a house up in the Wairarapa, centered on themes of warmth, truth and family harmonies. I read the sound is a little bit of The Chicks, and a little bit of Norah Jones, with a big smile and a strong Kiwi accent prevailing. The 12 tracks span experiences both personal (such as a nostalgic and loving duet with her father, Ron – Daffodils) and the observed (such as Dirt, about her family’s farming life).

And tonight we were blessed with some of the musicians that made that record – Mikey Muggeridge (mandolin and electric guitar), Ryan Fisherman (bass); Joe McCallum (drums) and Michell’s little sister, Nicola, with whom she co-wrote some of the songs when they were living “over the hill” in the bushy Pōneke suburb of Wilton.

All that said, I was looking forward to re-uniting with her sound. And enjoying the experience in the iconic Old St. Pauls. The place is so welcoming of all styles, warmly wrapping the sound and the audience around the glowing hospitality of her amber native timber rafters. Those gigs were lit with dark, moody, wintery lighting. But tonight, the place was considerably brighter, more open, gave the event more of a town hall vibe.

Kicking everything off was special guest Katie Thompson. Now she was a bit of a hoot. West Coast born and bred, she had the goods. Just the lady and her guitar, and a big Hokitika gal presence. She even had a song about the coast, which included lines about gold mining, white bait and how good it is down there “even when it’s p***ing down. Yeah, I’m a West Coaster!” “Whoo Hoo”, came the reply. “Yup. There’s always one!”

Thompson is not only a bit of a dag, but a damn fine singer and songwriter. It’s just her with a guitar “and a bit of reverb on the who-sie-what-sit” – btw, that’s her technical term for her amp. She opens with a beautiful reflective number called Time Is A Thief and gets welcoming applause from the room.

“Another really lovely Jenny Mitchell audience”, she compliments, “I love it. How many people have heard me before?” A few hands go up. “I got a lot of people to convert.”

And I reckon after her short set, she did. Including myself. I loved her voice, and obviously her bravado. Her vocals and writing are unpretentious, a little bit dangerous, strong but vulnerable, and full of conviction. That was clearest on her aching break up song Do You Think Of Me. It felt personal, raw, blade deep.

“I got a lot of messages from friends about this song. But it wasn’t about me. I also got offers of dinner and drinks”, she jokes, “which I referred to my husband to deal with. Ha ha”.

It Ain’t Easy was apparently inspired by self-help videos and a studio recording deadline. But if this was written in a hurry, you can’t tell. It’s a bittersweet, yet buoyant piece, with a great chorus. There’s a quick thank you to The Warratahs and local legend Barry Saunders for sourcing a 9-volt amp battery at the last minute. “Turns out the airport security won’t let you take these on board”.

With a day job as a music festival marketer and a musician, Thompson said she felt in the right place to write about the highs and lows of being in the industry on self-affirming foot-stomper The Best Is Yet To Come. For her that’s about to come true as she heads off to Nashville to connect and make more music as soon as the Mitchell tour is over.

With barely enough time to replenish my wine glass, Jenny Mitchell and her band come entering down the stage runway, between the pews of the choir stalls in front of the nave, to the small makeshift stage, to the sound of twittering bird calls. That’s a bit of a theme as Mitchell reminds us that until recently, she lived locally up near the Botanical Gardens, with all that native bush. Her sister, Nicola still does.

After the gig she told me that playing at Old St. Pauls had been on her list for some time, ever since she saw Mel Parsons play one wintery night, with the roof leaking and a trail of water running from the ceiling. Appropriate, we agreed, for Parsons’ often moody, broody musical style.

First on the set is Little Less Lonely, which we all do in this warm room of aroha, from the new album, followed by If You Were A Bird. I’m quick to notice how the prominence of the mandolin, played by Muggeridge added a lovely warm folky tone to the track. Smatterings of floor tom from McCallum also give it a bit more vibrancy than the original acoustic versions I once heard back in its earlier days.

The concept of the album, Mitchell told us, was that all things, good, happy, sad, even violent could happen within the confines of a house. That was the drive idea. “I listened to a lot of heartbreak songs growing up, so I channeled Patsy Cline,” she says by way of introduction for Square & Plain. That said, I’d recognised it as a Nashville style country song. It’s more appealing than that.

The raucous Wives Who Wait benefits from a bit of slide ’n’ twang from Muggeridge’s guitar adding a super nice honky-tonk element, especially in the solo to the bridge. Whānau has always been a strong theme, along with the countryside, so it’s no surprise there would be a song about lambing, called Dirt recalling Mitchell’s earliest memories of her dad and the farm down south.

Then we get a backstory about her guitar strap. Which is apparently made from leather, imported to Australia from Hamilton. The makers, two friends of Kasey Chambers gave her the strap and introduced her music to Chambers who asked her on tour. After sneaking into a show. “I saw her in the back and had to sing facing the other wall because I was so taken aback. But when I looked – there she was singing all my lyrics! So, when she asked me (to go on an extensive tour), I had to say yes!”

That was the opening to a simple and delicate cover version of Chambers’ song Pretty Enough with just Mitchell on guitar. If that wasn’t special enough, we were all asked to sing along, raising the chorus to the rafters and filling the roof cavity with crystal notes of joy and harmony.

Mikey and Nicola pop back to do the nostalgic Daffodils, written with her dad, Ron around a kitchen table, about father daughter memories of fishing, horses, and guitars. Apparently, he was extra proud of the whistling he does on the original album track. It only took 27 takes to get it right. It’s really wonderful to hear songs like these, occasionally. Not every song of growing up has to be about abuse or neglect. There are some good ones out there. And some great childhoods. As a parent myself it was heartwarming to share in that moment, for one. Shame Ron couldn’t make the trip from Gore. I think he showed up in Dunedin, though – that would have been special.

In a nod to the support she has received from people like Tami Neilson, Mitchell takes the opportunity to return the favour by introducing Sophie Toyne who helps out with Make Peace With Time, from Tug Of War. Toyne’s voice is strong and confident (even if she was a little understandably nervous), laying down beautiful vocals and harmonies. If she keeps it up who knows where she could go. Check out her new release Orange Skies for more.

While Mitchell sneaks off, Thompson pops back. “Right everyone, let’s take Jenny’s band for a whirl!” And then they plough into a barnstorming, train chuggin’ rendition of her own Straight Talking Woman with Katie in full attitude and holla whilst Mikey’s adding some sweet-as-cornbread Southern twang to round off the journey. There’s a nod to Gore’s secret moonshine brewing in Where The Water’s Cold before we come to the centrepiece of the Forest House album, Heart Like A House, which was also co-written with Tami Neilson and a B Side to Trouble Finds A Girl.

As Tami wasn’t available, Nicola Mitchell jumps in and the combination of the Mitchell sisters’ harmonies brings goose bumps and chills down the spine. Nicola and Katie Thompson help lead clap-along-swinger Up To The House, followed by Muggeridge singing and playing that gorgeous mandolin again. And Jenny Mitchell surrounded by harmonious sound and aroha. Appropriately the Mitchell siblings join for Sisters, a duet they wrote over in Wilton.

Recently, Nicola Mitchell took out the Country Music Honour for the MLT Songwriting Award with Wā/Time, co-written with Em-Hayley Walker (Theia/Te Kaahu) & Byllie-Jean. Bursting with pride, Jenny Mitchell can’t help pushing her little sister forward to play it for us. And it’s really nice, looking at the marching of time, a female character who can’t stop and a reflection into what makes us stressful – do we do it to ourselves sometimes? I hope this gets released soon. I’d definitely be keen to hear it again. It’s gorgeous, especially the third verse, which is in Te Reo Māori. Nicola is as equally talented as her big sister. This song deserves top charting – billing no doubt about it.

All too soon the show comes to an end with another big strumming number, Snakes In The Grass – sisterly advice and a warning against dodgy men.

It was so great to see how far Jenny Mitchell has come since those early shows I saw her at and photographed not so long ago. Mitchell, and her sister, Nicola, is already a big star, deserving of real recognition and praise. She’s genuine, honest and that voice is still pure. Here’s hoping Melbourne goes well. But not too well that she forgets to come back. Soon!

A quick footnote: Jenny Mitchell’s Forest House Tour has teamed up with Women’s Refuge to give her audiences the opportunity to give back through the national Safe Night Programme when they buy some of her merchandise that contribute to 1 x Safe Night – a night of security, shelter and food for a woman and children escaping domestic violence. You can support too, by going to the link.

 

Photo Credit: Morgan Dysart for Muzic.NZ