English folk singer Grace Petrie has become a regular visitor to Australian shores in recent times – she tells us at one point this is her third time here in the last six months. She has obviously developed a dedicated fanbase here, so dedicated in fact that a whole room full of folkies were willing to brave the unfamiliar territory of the Valley Mall on a Saturday night to watch her play at the Black Bear Lodge.

First we are serenaded by Grace’s supporting act and onstage musical sidekick Ben Moss. While in her set Ben’s fiddle and mandolin playing brings a new layer of energy to her singalong folk-pop anthems, his own solo material is much more minimal and melancholy. His songs also explore social issues, but in a more abstruse, metaphorical way. The crowd is hushed and appreciative.

When Ben returns alongside the evening’s headliner though, the response is certainly not hushed. Grace starts off with The Best Country in the World – one of many songs off her newly released album Build Something Better that she will play through the night.

“I only have two songs” she jokes, “the one about hating the Tory government and the one about being heartbroken”. But since I was last here the Tories have been voted out and I’ve got married!” Still, she finds enough subject matter to play for well over an hour, of course with plenty of humourous banter between songs as you would expect of any good folk singer. There’s plenty of politics of course, and a little heartbreak, but her current state of marital bliss is reflected in a song dedicated to her wife and one each for her two nieces – one of whom also got a filmed happy birthday cheer from the audience.

One of the things about protest folk music, when it is done well, is that even when it sings about frustrations and terrible injustices, the act of bringing people together enjoying the collective release of music leads to a joyful and life-affirming experience. And so it is with this show – even songs of anger and political impotence (The Losing Side and Start Again are two of the best and most positive songs about political impotence in memory) become cathartic, while anthems of change and hope fill the room with a tangible sense of joy.

Of course the set ends with Black Tie, one such anthem sung to Grace’s younger self “in a year 11 hell”. To be honest, most of us whether we fit into gender norms or not can probably relate to the relief that our teenage years are over. But this queer anthem is both a banging singalong tune and a microcosm of the good things about working for social change – for one, the dramatic transformation in the social status of trans folk since Grace’s time in high school is a reminder that change does happen. And sometimes in ways we can’t predict – like a teenager caught in the complicated life struggles of that age, sometimes all you can do is make it through to the next day and hope that some day things will be different if we keep doing what we can. And there’s joy to be found in it all – pride in who we are, a community to love and inspire us, styles and art to love and music to sing along and dance to.

And so another night of protest folk encourages us to get out and keep trying while Grace Petrie moves on to the next city. This world may be a fixer-upper, as she sings, but with tunes like this we might we might still build something better after all.

Words and Photo by Andy Paine