About the Duo
Lynne Wilkins and Michael Mackinnon are based in Raglan, New Zealand, a small west-coast town with a big reputation as a creative community. Their repertoire will have you singing along, laughing out loud, tapping your feet; it will tug at the heartstrings, draw you along the path of whimsy, cast light into a corner, and reframe a well-loved old favourite.
Seasoned performers, WilkieMac have been guests at a number of folk, acoustic, arts, and Celtic music festivals in New Zealand and Australia over the years, and they frequently tour parts of New Zealand.
WilkieMac have earned a well-deserved reputation in NZ's folk scene for their arrangement skills. Michael provides the solid backdrop on guitar, while Lynne brings a varied soundscape into the mix with flutes, whistles, guilele, harmonicas, and guitar. Topped with their blended vocals, a WilkieMac performance will leave you wanting more. Together they are a perfect example of music being another form of conversation.
WilkieMac released three albums (recorded with Robbie Duncan at Braeburn Studio) during 2022 and 2023, and these are available on CD from our online store, or we are happy to sell them to you, in person, at gigs. They are also available as digital downloads through Bandcamp and Apple Music. A fourth release is in the planning stage.
Lynne Wilkins…
The ebb and flow of tides, and ever-changing west coast beach provides singer-songwriter Lynne Wilkins with inspiration. Wilkins currently performs in the duo WilkieMac, the ceili band West of the Divvy, covers/originals band Every Day’s a Saturday, ukulele band the Blister Sisters, and sometimes appears with the Eagals when the stars align.
A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Wilkins refers tongue-in-cheek to the fact that she appears on old posters and various albums under different names (Lynne Thompson and Lynne Bradstock) as “rebranding”. But Wilkins has in fact been an active participant in the Aotearoa New Zealand acoustic music scene since the late 1970s, performing solo shows, appearing with various artists at festivals and folk clubs, and touring New Zealand multiple times.
Her discography includes credited and un-credited appearances, and Wilkins has participated in several recordings nominated for record industry awards, including one containing some of her songs (Together by folk duo Chris & Lynne Thompson) and the much-loved album by Mike Harding Time on the Road. After a solo contribution to the Spiralyrics compilation Acoustic Magic, releasing a solo collection of original songs on Limited Edition, and working as a guitarist for songwriter Anne Taylor, Wilkins recorded and released Bead of Glass in 2007. Working on this album with Waikato-based musicians, daughter Lora Thompson (guitar), and partner Michael Mackinnon (guitar, production), this album is perhaps best described as a folk-rock version of some of Wilkins’ songs, and it was a family affair. When the West Wind Blows, released in 2023, is a collection of some of Wilkins’ songs and compositions, performed by WilkieMac.
Music is a universal language. Each note is a step on a journey that we take together.
Michael Mackinnon…
…was born in Auckland into a family where singing was a big part of the interaction between siblings and parents, and this is one of his earliest and fondest memories. Opportunities to learn an instrument resulted in a short period of studying the violin at school, but the instrument that called to him was the guitar, which he first picked up in his early twenties. This was the beginning of life-long obsession with singing and playing music with others, that eventually brought the WilkieMac duo together in the early 2000s. At that time, Mackinnon had for many years only played in standard tuning, but attending a guitar workshop at Ceol Aneas in Nelson in 2004, started a passion for playing in the tuning of DADGAD. A regular Friday jam session with musical colleague and songwriter, Rene Andre, led to the formation of the band Twisted Timber, with Andre, Wilkins, and Redgie Valente on double bass. The band was a regular in Raglan venues for many years. Mackinnon’s wry sense of humour is reflected in some of the songs that have found their way into WilkieMac’s repertoire, providing the duo with not just a journey through space and time, but also a gamut of emotions. Mackinnon is also part of the Ceili band West of the Divvy, and plays in other line-ups when the opportunity presents itself.
To play well, you have to dance with the music.
