- By PJ Taylor
Renny and Jenny Hantler have sung sweet harmonies throughout their four decades of marriage, yet it’s taken until recently to record something together.
The couple, who are members of the much-respected family band The Harmonic Resonators, have produced as a duo a CD, Making Memories, with the encouragement of their loved ones.
Sleeve notes on Making Memories read: “Music has been the glue that has bonded our family for life.
“What began as a gift of studio time to record some music for the grandkids has evolved into several sessions to produce an album of tracks, all of which hold treasured memories from our life together.”
The results are wonderful, two experienced singers who know each other’s vocal abilities intimately, with the only instrumentation being Renny’s acoustic guitar.
“We thought we’d throw a few songs out there that we’ve come to know and love down the years,” says Renny.
“I’ve got one that I sing on my own, and Jenny’s got a couple that she sings on her own.”
Renny and Jenny Hantler are special guest artists at the next Eastern Districts Country Music Club concert, one of east Auckland’s great musical institutions.
It’s on at its usual venue Bucklands Beach War Memorial Hall on Wednesday, August 21, with other performers Patty Masterton, Huru Rakete, Cay and Millie, and Shaun Ryland.
“We’ve done a lot of harmonies together over the 42 years we’ve been married,” says Renny.
“We’ve both come from musical families. We met through the country music scene and it’s just carried on from there.”
Renny’s continued to play in music groups down the decades and for 18 years he’s been a regular at the annual country music festival in Gore as a backing musician for other performers.
Once the family was established and their children got older, they showed interest in getting involved in the country music scene, Jenny says.
“For the next 20 years we were involved with our children going around competing everywhere.
“The odd time they’d say, ‘Mum, you need to enter.’ And I’d say, ‘no, no, no, it’s not my thing’. We did enter a few times as a family.
“We were playing in Gore and one year I decided to enter myself, instead of being the pack-horse for everyone else. I was very fortunate to win the 40-plus age-group overall, which was amazing.
“A couple of decades later, they had a 60-plus section, decided to enter, and was fortunate to win that. So, my competing days are over,” Jenny says.
Their son Jeremy Hantler is the very charismatic frontman of The Harmonic Resonators, a group known for their championing of te reo Maori language in their feel-good country-bluegrass style of songs.
