Jamie Macphail at the Small Hall Sessions Pop Up Bar, with Finn Andrews on stage behind; Matapiro Community Hall, 27 April 2022. - Andrew Caldwell

The Small Hall Sessions are Jamie Macphail’s love letter to live music and rural Hawke’s Bay. Founded as the Sitting Room Sessions in the early 2010s, Macphail’s concept expanded during the pandemic into full-blown tours through the region’s country halls, boasting national and international acts alike.

The Kereru Hall

Although Small Halls is a collaborative project, it’s difficult to separate the sessions from the man at the heart of it all. Self-describing as the “curator” or “impresario”, Macphail sees Small Halls as a “vast organisation of audience and musicians”, amongst whom he is their only constant worker.

Adam MacGrath carving his name in Jamie's dining room table after a sitting room session, 2016. - Jamie Macphail

Macphail began working in music in the late 1980s, landing a job as production manager of RCA Records with no corporate background. Over the years, he worked on the ill-fated Neon Picnic festival, and marketed for the radio stations that became The Edge and The Rock. However, during his thirties – following the birth of his daughter and passing of his father in quick succession – Macphail stepped away into stone masonry, expecting his time in the arts to be a thing of the past.

Onga Onga Town Hall. - Andrew Caldwell

It wasn’t until his 50th that music would radically transform Macphail’s life and career. Around 2008, his sisters asked him what he’d like for his upcoming birthday gift. “I was listening to RNZ’s Friday afternoon live sessions, and they had a guy called Warren Love … Graham Reid did an amazing review of his album, so I contacted Graham and asked for contact details,”, Macphail says. Upon emailing, Love quoted Macphail a mere $50 for petrol to drive up from Wellington and play Macphail’s birthday party. Macphail’s sisters decided they could swing an actual offer of $500.

Macphail introduces Jenny Don't and The Spurs, Meeanee Community Hall, 28 October 2023. - Paul Taylor

As Love’s campervan pulled up to around 60 people on the day, Macphail suddenly realised the odd juxtaposition. “This was a folk musician, and people are expecting a party.” Gathering everyone in a room to shut up and listen seemed daunting, but at the end of the day, it was his party, and what he said went.

“I can still remember every minute. It was one of the ultimate musical experiences of my life,” Macphail says, with a smile. “It was just the nature of being in a small room with quite a crowd, all people that I loved and that made the difference, having Warren sing and talk about his songs, and all of us utterly mesmerised. It was just at a time that I was getting a bit tired of going out to venues to hear bands and having people talk … He totally cast a spell on that room”.

Greg Fleming with Jamie Macphail, Napier, 2014. - Greg Fleming collection

After Warren Love’s magical living room showcase, Macphail looked into the house-concert movement, which was experiencing an international resurgence. In the UK, networks such as the European House Concert Hub created circuits for performers to work during gaps while on tour between larger shows. Aotearoa’s own promoters across the country took note. Smaller regions such as Greytown and Northland offered secretive networks, and Macphail also discovered prominent hosts including Murray Aitken in Wellington, Simon Burt and Pip Steel in rural Wairarapa, and the Te Pahu Sound Lounge in the Waikato. Beneath the surface, these underground shows were thriving, supporting tour itineraries from artists in every style; they all sharing a desire for a “listening room” environment which financially and emotionally supported visiting musicians. Craving a local version catered to his tastes, Macphail began formulating his own version in the Bay.

The events would take place in his own home, purposefully including breaks for snacks and conversation so that the crowd stays focused during the set. Macphail introduced acts with personal takes on their work, giving the sessions an intimate welcome.

Sam RB, accompanied by Mike Chunn, play the first Sitting Room Session, 17 May 2013.

It took a couple of years but eventually another Graham Reid review led to Macphail’s second private gig, with Auckland songwriter Sam RB. As would become a common theme with Macphail’s performers, Sam noted how the devoted room of only 50 attendees made her far more nervous than an audience of thousands. The setting encouraged her to think more about her set list and to share stories behind the songs.

Julia Deans in her Green Room. - Floyd Pepper

Tiny Ruins followed, then Macphail’s first international performers, The Handsome Family from New Mexico. Gradually, his promotions built up steam, as artists expressed interest despite their unfamiliarity with playing in someone’s home for a market-rate fee. It became clear there was an appetite from audiences and artists alike, establishing the gigs as something Macphail loved running.

Now, the Sitting Room was officially in session, running shows through a private email guestlist for only $20 a ticket. “It was never a thought of doing it as a business, it was just a way of giving the artist something,” Macphail explains. His strict policy was to negotiate a set fee and guarantee to fill the room. “I never wanted to bring people here on the understanding that it would only be viable if I sold enough. Because I was curating them, I felt it was my responsibility to sell tickets, and to this day that’s the template that I work to.”

The audience gathering outside the tiny Mangakuri Chapel for a Sitting Room Session in 2018.

Moving out to Crab Farm Winery, 10km north of Napier, Macphail held at least 50 concerts throughout the 2010s. Acts that would later explode, such as Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding, passed through. The sessions occasionally expanded to unusual venues after Ebony Lamb asked to play in the Haumoana Hall; it was an offer which originally bewildered Macphail. “Why would you want to do a grungy country hall?” He asked, but Lamb – who grew up in Hawke’s Bay – insisted these were the best gigs. Somewhat begrudgingly, he agreed to assist. Not only would Lamb’s event be the triumphant predecessor to Small Halls, but involve Macphail’s first engagement with liquor licensing laws.

Ebony Lamb and Andy Anderson just before their session together in the Mangakuri Chapel, January 2020

“We promoted it as BYO and a couple of hours before, got a phone call from the police to say that was illegal,” Macphail says, with a sigh. The home sessions had avoided this battle as private events not advertised to the general public. Contrastingly, the Haumoana Hall was a community venue without a liquor license. Luckily, there was no ban on the public domain it sat on, meaning attendees could drink on the verandah and lawn. Volunteers wrote in pen who owned which bottles, and drinks littered the front steps for the evening, with a do-it-yourself attitude.

Julia Deans, Small Halls

Around 2018, Macphail moved from Crab Farm to Napier’s old AMP building. He lived in the upstairs office structure, hosting travelling musicians so they could use the showers and kitchenette then play shows downstairs. The sessions thrived here until a council worker knocked on Macphail’s door unexpectedly one afternoon and insisted the building was not fit for human habitation. They unceremoniously kicked him out. After another brief stint hosting shows at the Beach House Wines tasting room – which survived six months before the owners sold the property – it became clear Macphail needed a more stable setting to provide the experience long-term.

Ebony Lamb sound checking in the Sherenden Hall, November 2022

Reimagining the sessions as the world shut down in 2020, Macphail received an anonymous email that simply asked, “Why is what you do so elitist?” It was a question he’d never considered before. “It really perplexed me, and then I thought, maybe it is. It’s pretty much a people-like-me kind of audience.”

Meanwhile, political discussions of community resilience were taking place. Macphail thought back to his childhood in Central Hawke’s Bay, where the community hall had something going on every day of the week. A visit to the Hastings council website revealed the district housed 42 halls, over half of which he’d never even heard of. On a whim, he emailed several custodians asking to book their halls. While the request confused many of them, they agreed, provided with modest hire fees.

Tami Neilson’s Small Hall Session in the Pukehou Church, 16 January 2022. 

Macphail spent six months working on the first three Small Hall tours, with an initial formula of artists playing five different halls on five consecutive nights. He would cover the cost of accommodation and food, as well as travel fees wherever possible. Hot on the heels of their first releases as a duo, Barry Saunders and Delaney Davidson committed as his first Small Halls performers.

Although not all the first shows sold out, they got pretty close for such an obscure new idea. Urban dwellers weren’t used to driving out of town for events, and rural citizens were sceptical, perceiving the tours as potential scams because of the big names on board. “Blokes especially would get a beer and be down the back of the hall standing up with their arms folded,” Macphail recalls. But eventually, the emotional responses were so amazing, word travelled.

Marlon Williams and Delaney Davidson play a Sitting Room session in the cottage at Crab Farm Winery, 21 Feb 2014.

Along with opening the doors to the wider community, Small Halls also expanded upon the Sitting Rooms by providing professional food and drink. Macphail believes a quality meal is essential for a good night out, especially for the rural families whose opportunities for such events are rare. He consults on the menu with fellow foodie Ian Thomas, starting each night off by expanding audience palettes with innovative flavours. Later, attendees can grab a drink from the unique circus-themed bar, designed by Isaac McCormack. With its bright red paint job and theatrical lighting, the bar commands you to order up a local wine or cider. Look closely and you’ll see Macphail among the art, eccentrically but lovingly reimagined  by fellow local Hawke’s Bay dweller Connan Mockison as a rat.

Nadia Reid plays the smallest of the halls on The Small Hall Sessions Circuit, the Poukawa Hall, seating just 40, 8 November, 2023. - Andrew Caldwell

Since kicking off in 2021, the Small Halls have built up a committed following and grown to feature major artists, among them Amanda Palmer, Nadia Reid, Louis Baker, and Reb Fountain. They have grown far beyond Macphail’s initial community of friends and family, bonding Hawke’s Bay music lovers with a real spirit and passion for the arts.

Nonetheless, Macphail admits the biggest problem has always been getting the audience to actually listen. “I will always provide time for conversation, but while the music is playing, to honour the artist and the people sitting around you, you shut the fuck up and listen. That’s probably cost me potentially most of my audience, because most people’s version of live music is going out to a pub and having a band playing in the corner while you have a good time with your friends … I respectfully ask that you don’t do that. People are really offended by that, but I’ve stuck with it.”

Reb Fountain and Dave Khan receive a standing ovation in the Ongaonga Town Hall, 16 June 2021. - Andrew Caldwell

Moreover, some Hawke’s Bay performers feel excluded by Macphail’s focus on out-of-town acts. While he offers locals opening slots whenever he can, insistent they get paid rather than work for exposure, the reality is that it’s hard to book constantly working locals to headline shows with increasingly high entry prices ticket prices.

Queuing to get into a Small Hall session at the Maraekakaho Community Hall, Feb 2025.

Some may also feel the sessions distract from the standard gig circuit, but Macphail wisely observes his initiative as “cross-pollination”. “I’m not in competition with anybody in Hawke’s Bay. Hopefully people who hadn’t been to a gig in 20 years because they’re stuck on their farm start coming along and go ‘Wow, this is fun!’ ... The more live music there is, the more vibrant the industry is”.

The entire Small Hall Sessions crew after the very first Small Hall Sessions Tour. Taken in the Omakere Community Hall, 30 May 2021.

One of Macphail’s proudest Small Halls experiences is still 2023’s Hawke’s Bay Music Month. The Small Halls team co-opted New Zealand Music Month to run 16 gigs over four weeks throughout that May. Although the initiative lost money significantly, it was a beautiful celebration of music in the Bay, especially as it provided locals with a night to escape, following the region’s devastating cyclone less than three months prior.

The Wallingford Hall

Currently, Macphail is determining the sessions’ future as he ages. He’s established a governing body of three valued supporters to be their guiding light, defining the sessions as a charitable trust to insulate them against the notorious music promotion trend of going bust. They’re figuring out more opportunities for funding, and recently developed the Long Hallers Club subscription model, where supporters can financially aid the business.

Grant Haua on the steps of the Wallingford Hall, 2022.

Many other regions have reached out about bringing the sessions their way, but logistical costs are too high, and Macphail doesn’t want the Small Halls name used without his involvement guaranteeing quality in the initial stages. For now, Small Halls uniquely belongs in the Bay. It’s only right, given how entwined the sessions are with not only the local rural culture and community, but with Macphail’s own vision. He notes that although house-concert networks have their similarities, “I can’t find a model like the Small Hall Sessions anywhere in the world”. Unique are these sessions, and long may they reign, in a community whose musical scene is coming to life more than ever before.

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The Poukawa Hall

Almost ready for doors, Onga Onga Town Hall, 2021. - Andrew Caldwell

CW Stoneking and Jamie have a cuppa in the doorway of a woolshed in Te Awanga where CW performed a Sitting Room Session in 2019. - Ebony Lamb

The Haumoana Hall

Mel Parsons' perspective from behind the microphone, Maraekakaho Hall, October 2024.

Flemington School and Community Hall

The crew get to experience an aurora after a session in Ashley Clinton, October 2024.

Standing room only to watch Dave Khan play the tiny Poukawa Hall, September 2024. - Andrew Caldwell

The Waimarama Hall

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