About The Weeping Willows

After six momentous years, Melbourne Alt-Country duo, The Weeping Willows celebrate the release of long-awaited third studio album,

You Reap What You Sow 

As The Weeping Willows, decorated storytellers Andrew Wrigglesworth (guitar, ganjo, lead vocals) and Laura Coates (lead vocals) have long turned their attention to the dim-lighted byways of a fallen world: places haunted by ghosts and jilted lovers alike; by the lost and the lonely, the heartsick and the harried—by the dying, the desolate and the doomed.  It’s a fascination scored to singular perfection by the pair’s unmistakable vocal harmonies and timeless country-folk instrumentation.  With hotly-anticipated third studio outing You Reap What You Sow, The Weeping Willows weave their singular tapestry with career-defining mastery. 

Since sweeping onto the stage with the celebrated Till The North Wind Blows (2012), The Weeping Willows have firmly established themselves as songwriters of captivating power and poise.  Following in the footsteps of the luminous likes of Gillian Welch and The Secret Sisters, The Weeping Willows continue to lead the way in Australia’s bustling Alt-Country/Americana scene. 

The Weeping Willows have performed everywhere from AmericanaFest (USA) to Folk Alliance International (USA), Maverick Festival (UK), Port Fairy Folk Festival and Queenscliff Music Festival.  They’ve supported Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (USA), Iris DeMent (USA), Hayes Carll (USA), Eilen Jewell (USA), Kevin Welch (USA), Shane Nicholson, Bill Chambers and Lachlan Bryan. 

The Weeping Willows took out the 2021 CMAA Golden Guitar for Instrumental of the Year and have picked up ten Golden Guitar nominations to date.  They were awarded Best Country Act at the 2021 Music Victoria awards and Duo/Group of the Year at the 2021 Australian Folk Music Awards.  They’ve also been finalists for the APRA AMCOS Australian Independent Country Music Single of the Year and Live Act of the Year (Country) at the National Live Music Awards (NLMA), as well as nominees for four Country Music Channel (CMC) awards.  The Weeping Willows boast three Tamworth Songwriters Association (TSA) awards and were shortlisted in the APRA Professional Development Awards in 2017, 2019 and 2021. 

You Reap What You Sow tails expansive, critically-lauded sophomore outing Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’ (2016) and 2021’s darkly gorgeous Southern Gothic EP.  Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’ garnered four-star reviews from Rolling Stone, The Australian and The Music. 

You Reap What You Sow boasts an all-star line-up of guest players, including David Piltch (Mary Gauthier, Willie Nelson, Don Henley) on upright bass, multi-instrumentalist Luke Moller (Hayes Carll, Kasey Chambers) on fiddle and mandolin, Kevin Breit (Rosanne Cash, Lindi Ortega) on banjo, Tommy Detamore (Jim Lauderdale, Robert Earl Keen) on pedal steel, rising name James Church (Montgomery Church) on dobro, Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne) on piano accordion and Chelsea Allen and Megan Bird (Great Aunt) on backing vocals. 

You Reap What You Sow was recorded, engineered and mixed by 5 x Grammy award winning engineer, Ryan Freeland (Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Bonnie Raitt, Aimee Mann) at Los Angeles’ world-beating Stampede Origin Studio, with additional instrumentation and overdubs by Australia’s own Roger Bergodaz (Raised By Eagles). 

Opening the album’s proceedings is the earthy ‘House of Sin’, with its sinuous fingerpicking and ominous note of warning.  Couched in zephyrs of piano accordion, ‘Singin’ the Blues’ is a delicate folk plaint with the soothing cast of a backwoods lullaby. 

True to the Weeping Willows’ enviable back-catalogue, there’s ample, shivering disquiet in ‘Black Crow’, a frenetic show of fingerpicking and slide guitar that soundtracks a condemned man’s desperate flight from the gallows. 

The heartworn ‘Lonesome Now I’m Gone’ reflects on the strange silence attending separation from a loved one, while country-folk jaunt ‘Wheels Won’t Roll’ ponders the fate of the inveterate traveller stuck in time and place. 

A hymn to faded romance and a heart growing cold, prairie waltz ‘Fall Out of Time’ casts a wistful glance back at happier times.  An arresting study in longing, the track boasts a career-best turn from Laura on lead vocals, while deploying strings and accordion to high-romantic effect. 

Instrumental ‘Prelude’ heaves with ominous feeling: fiddles and banjo sighing like the misty exhalations of a pine barren dank and dripping, while ‘Bells are Ringing in the Churchyard’ is a study in the Weeping Willows’ signature sound: the track’s titular bells tolling an ominous note of warning and foreboding as children weep and lost souls pray for the intercession of the heavenly host.  Happily, hope still chimes in the darkness. 

‘Turning to Stone’ is an exquisitely poised song of weeping and a hymn to the pangs of love and loss, before a cappella closer ‘North Wind’ champions the Weeping Willows’ incomparable two-part vocal harmony, casting a lingering spell and rounding out the album (and the three LP trilogy) with the promise of shelter and warmer days ahead. 

With You Reap What You Sow, the Weeping Willows light a path through the thickets and brambles of a fraught world, excavating and illuminating profound human truths in signature, ageless style.

★★★★ “What's not to love? The velvety allure of vocal harmony, Bluegrassy instrumentation drizzled like honey, engaging Gothic narratives that both worry and warm. In the tradition of Johnny and June, Gillian and Dave, the Melbourne-based couple captivate the listener as a fine-tuned unit...” Rhythms Magazine (AU)

“…stunning acoustic guitar work, heavenly harmonies, and a haunting melody rooted in American gothic.” Pop Matters (USA)

“…performed with brilliance & expressiveness.” Americana Highways (USA)

“This is the best of acoustic music, whether it be Folk or Country, Indie-Roots or Blues. Their simple instrumentation, heavy harmonies, and overall gothic vibe is a full and welcome Roots-music package.” The Alternate Root (USA)

“What makes The Weeping Willows sound quite distinctive is their impressive dual vocal lines that start to weave from the opening ‘House of Sin’ to the closing ‘North Wind’ ...they are on the way to making some serious waves in Americana circles with ‘You Reap What You Sow’.” AmericanaUK (UK)

“The Weeping Willows are Laura Coates, a vocalist of outstanding ability – her voice is utterly enchanting – and Andrew Wrigglesworth, who plays guitar and ganjo in a way that you’ll have seldom heard before and contributes to some of the sweetest, most spine-tinglingly awesome vocal harmonies that you’ll ever hear – in this world or probably even the next...” At The Barrier (UK)

“Australia's The Weeping Willows are doing Americana as good as any American band out these days.” / “a rich, deep feel that's unlike anything else out there as of late.” If It’s Too Loud (USA)

“…they stir the sounds of melody and melancholia through the beguiling beauty and serene sensitivity that have been their calling card since the very beginning…they've made an album that underscores those successes, courtesy of a dozen songs flush with sublime sensitivity and, perhaps equally importantly, purpose and precision.” Lee Zimmerman for Goldmine Magazine (USA)

“It's engaging, timeless and safely in the hands of the core pieces - namely the all round musical wizardry of Andrew Wrigglesworth and the melting vocals of Laura Coates. Together they skilfully deliver sumptuous harmonies and pay due homage to the traditional sound of bluegrass and old time roots... Andrew and Laura have framed a sound and delivered a folk/Americana album as strong as you are likely to hear all year.” Three Chords and the Truth (UK)

“The Weeping Willows have crafted a unique and remarkable sound over the last decade, and their exquisite vocal harmonies and powerful lyrics are at their absolute best on this stunning album. This album is beautiful, moving, superbly produced and world class in both content and style. Watch this duo take the world by storm in the years to come.” Country Music Capital News Magazine

“What makes them so special is that they take you all the way back to the heyday of the sixties folk revival. The extremely precise, almost stately harmony vocals of Andrew Wigglesworth and Laura Coates instantly evoke memories of legendary acts like The Weavers and The Seekers… They take that classic sound but add an almost ethereal dimension…” Slim Chance Is Back (NLD)

“Attention fans of the albums of Robert Plant & Allison Krauss! With the third album by the Australian duo The Weeping Willows you have an album that is of the same high quality as the Plant/Krauss duo. Equally dark, melancholy, tender and beautiful...” Bluestown Music (NLD)

“For a duo that seems immersed in matters rather somber and dark – murder, foul deeds and decomposition, The Weeping Willows have been surrounding themselves with glitter lately – Award wins and nominations a-plenty in not just one genre but many... Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth have, with their highly-anticipated third studio outing, You Reap What You Sow, undoubtedly upped the ante, blending multiple genres into their singular artistic vision. Andy is one of the finest guitarists in Australia (e.g. “Lonesome Now I’m Gone”) and the harmonies and solo vocals from both are a treat. A masterful and entrancing release.” Listening Through The Lens (AU)