If you’re a Fanny Lumsden fan or even just a live music fan, get excited.

The likeable Australian singer/songwriter is performing at Kurow Memorial Hall, with her band The Prawn Stars at King’s Birthday Weekend.

Fanny is the winner of two Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards and nine Golden Guitars.

She is celebrating more than 10 years of her Country Halls Tour, by bringing four more shows to New Zealand after her success here last year.

The Country Halls Tour began in three halls in the Riverina, New South Wales in 2012, to raise money for Blazeaid. 

Since then, the reception they have received, means Fanny and her band have performed their original live music in more than 200 halls all over Australia and New Zealand, raising funds for communities, and ‘raising the roofs’ of halls with their “all-in-community-nights-out”.

Waitaki Valley School Friends of the School chairperson Philippa Cameron says having Fanny bring her band to Kurow will be an “epic fundraiser” for the school.

“It's exceptionally cool that she's chosen us,” Philippa says.

The reason Fanny ended up booking Kurow, is purely down to two degrees of separation. Philippa knows somebody who knows her.

A friend called Jackie Elliott in Australia has been the driving force behind a Rural Women's Day event, which has taken off over there. 

“She holds 10 events throughout Australia every year and it's a really cool thing and it's just bringing rural women together,” Philippa says.

Jackie recently visited New Zealand and stayed with Philippa and her family on Otematata Station.  

Fanny had performed at one of the Rural Women’s Day events.

“She got in touch with [Jackie] and said, ‘hey, you don't happen to know, or have any contacts in New Zealand, we want to do a rural hall night’, and Jackie put her in touch with me.”

The hall concerts on Fanny’s tours have been “application-based” - hall committees apply to host, and use the concerts as fundraisers.

“I am blown away every year by the sheer number of halls who apply to host original live music,” Fanny says.

“To every community that has showed up and showed off their hall, thank you. To every person who has cooked the BBQ, run the bar, put out chairs, to every kilometre my team has driven with me, to every person who has told me stories of their halls - thank you!” 

While most of Fanny’s hall concerts are for all the family, the Kurow gig will be licensed, and only for those aged 18 and over.

The concert is on Saturday, June 1, and doors open at 7pm. Tickets are limited and on sale now. 

As well as a cash bar, there will be an auction and raffles to help the fundraiser along.

“But we're really putting a lot of effort into supporting our local businesses,” Philippa says. “So we've obviously approached local businesses for prizes and what-not, but a little bit different from normal, is that we've actually offered to purchase them.

“We're just really aware of how everyone is feeling at the moment economically, and a lot of them actually have been quite appreciative of us offering to pay, because they just get hounded so often. So, that's had a really positive response.” 

They are also planning food trucks for outside the venue, so the stress of having to prepare food does not add to the load of already busy mothers, and means they get to enjoy the night too.

Tickets are limited to 250 and can be brought through iTicket.