Live Review: Wayward Johnson & The Adjustment, The Jaycos, Ralway Bell

The week of festivities that was WAMfest 2016 sadly came to an end when WAM joined with Parlour to present a series of intimate gigs hosted at various houses around town.

For the uninitiated, Parlour have been described as "the Airbnb of live music" giving fans the opportunity to host their favourite bands in their own homes, and if the relaxed vibe and excellent set-up of this alt-country event was anything to go by, we can only hope to see more of these happening in the future.

The first band to take to the stage were Ralway Bell, who started out in cut back trio mode for their first two songs, including a new track called Caught In The Crossfire. The band showed why they were deservedly named Best Group at the Western Australian Country Music Awards earlier this year as they continued on with a set that included I Am A Superhero, the title track from their 2014 EP and the crowd favourite Bullrider Bobby Stone - a song which, as singer Ben Wilson explained, was written in honour of his cousin. Ralway Bell have a polished sound with Wilson's strong vocals (and huge hat) perfectly complemented by the rest of the band, notably the swirling pedal steel of Jeremy Threlfall.

Long a staple of the local alt-country scene, The Jaycos were the next band up and, as always, did not disappoint.  With the crowd getting into favourites such as Erase A Debt and Days Are Up, The Jaycos showed their further evolution as a band, debuting three new songs - Gold, Seizures and Algo Nuevo. Vocalist/guitarist Andrew Powell's honest, insightful songwriting has long been admired since his days in seminal '90s outfit Bucket and his new offerings did not fail to impress.

With just the right amount of twang from guitarist Grant Ferstat, Powell's unmistakable vocal style and a tight rhythm section, The Jaycos delivered another standout performance showing once again why their forthcoming release is so eagerly awaited.

As the sun went down and the crowd took in the smooth country tunes provided over the day by DJ Ivan Borgnino, it became time for the host, Wayward Johnson, to take the stage. Make no mistake. Wayward Johnson is not alt-country. He's country.

Starting out solo, Johnson was joined by wife Claire on backing vocals for a song written about the evils of poker machines, Broken Dollar Dreams. Johnson was then joined for the rest of the set by his new band, The Adjustment which included Kim Siragusa on keys and The Jayco's Ferstat pulling double duty on guitar among other notable local musos. Despite, as Johnson admitted, having only been rehearsing for two weeks, for the remainder of the evening Johnson and The Adjustment delivered an impressive set of heartfelt, honest country gems between which Johnson kept the crowd amused with funny stories of misunderstood song lyrics and harmonica issues.  The standout songs of the evening were Two Song Rule, in which Johnson swapped his guitar for a banjo and the final song, State We're In. 

Overall, the intimate backyard setting and laid-back, friendly atmosphere made it a great evening for everyone in attendance. With the success of this and the other WAM/Parlour shows, hopefully we can look forward to more of them soon.