Advertisement
Listen to insightful lyrics and melodies to lift your spirit with soulful story-telling Singer songwriters Fiona Lee Maynard and James Lomas. Playing a diverse and alt hybrid of acoustic and melodic folk rock. Fiona’s rhythmic finger picking guitar provides a launching pad for James’ mesmerizing and inspired guitar playing weaving between their soulful and singular voices. They deliver dynamic performances to dig into the memories and hearts of those gathered.
Enjoy the warmth of an evening together as they render songs from their combined repertoire spanning 30+ years at The Tap Room on Sunday 8 December. 5pm - 7pm
Music is filled with love stories, from big ballads to remarkable relationships. But when it comes to music’s greatest love story, it’s hard to top the story of Singer songwriters Fiona Lee Maynard and husband James Lomas.
Fiona Lee Maynard met guitarist James Lomas in early nineties, they performed as an acoustic duo after Fiona’s band Have A Nice Day wound down. The couple relocated to the US in 1995 where they started a band called In Vivo, releasing a self-titled album produced by Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano. An LA Weekly review stated, “James Lomas is brilliant and broody and a chap you’d like to call mate.”
After coming home at the end of the ’90s, they became mainstays of the Melbourne music scene in bands such as Dalicados, Fiona & Her Holy Men and Tijuana Souvenirs.
Jack Howard wrote about Maynard and Lomas in his autobiography, Small Moments Of Glory. “Fiona is a dynamo – a brilliant and sexy figure onstage, a gun bass-player and an expressive singer. James is a brilliant guitarist, a fine songwriter and is one of the rudest and most foul-mouthed men that I’ve met – in an endearing way … born performers both.”
Then, in late January 2021 – as the world continued to battle COVID-19 – Lomas was confronted by his own personal battle. A rare autoimmune condition led to sudden onset kidney failure: his kidneys shut down in just ten days.
He was placed on dialysis and the deceased donor transplant waiting list. As he lay ailing at Melbourne’s Monash Hospital, Maynard was struck by the thought: her husband may never play the guitar again.
With things looking grim, Maynard discovered that she was, remarkably, a suitable match.
In July 2023, Maynard gave her husband her left kidney. “I gave my heart to James in 1993,” she smiles. “And in 2023, I gave him my kidney.”
“The power of music is certainly something that gets us through the more traumatic things that have happened, we love the comfort music offers.”
Every gig is a triumph.
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Taproom - Shedshaker Brewing, 9 Walker St, Castlemaine VIC 3450, Australia,Castlemaine, Victoria
