WHEN you watch some married couples team up for what is supposed to be a fun, creative pursuit it sometimes doesn't end well. Take playing Pictionary, for example.
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WIFE: "Agh! You are so frustrating. How could you not see that I drew a butterfly?!"
HUSBAND: "Well, I'm sorry dear, but underlining it repeatedly didn't make it any clearer!"
Not fun. Not creative. But I digress.
Sometimes married couples can team up on creative projects and discover they make beautiful music together.
Take Central Coast country musos Adam Eckersley and Brooke McClymont, for example.
Eckersley, who is front man for the Adam Eckersley Band, and MyClymont, who is best known as one third of the McClymonts, have teamed up to write, perform, produce and record their debut duo album, Adam and Brooke.
And what started out as a project to fill in time while their main bands were on a break turned into an ARIA chart-topper.
"We've always wanted to do it, ever since we've been together," McClymont said of the duet album.
"So while my sisters Sam and Mollie were off having babies, Adam and I jumped on the chance to make a record together.
"We'd had 10 years to think about it, then had just five weeks to write and record the album. So it was very fast."
Eckersley said a key to their songwriting partnership was being able to make frank assessments of each other's offerings, without risking offence.
"We've written together a lot over the years [for each other's bands], so we don't have to be polite with each other any more," he laughed.
"If it's a crap idea we can shoot it down really quick and keep moving forward."
They could do that because they "fully respected" each other musically, he said.
"Not having to muck around and be polite really helps. You can waste a lot of time being worried about people's feelings."
Eckersley said Brooke's brilliance in writing hooks and melodies complemented his love for penning a good lyric.
Nominated for Best Country Album at the 2018 Tamworth Country Music Festival, Adam and Brooke has spawned three singles - Train Wreck, So Smooth and Nothing Left to Win.
Eckersley said he was particularly satisfied with Nothing Left to Win, a "good old cheating song".
"I was really proud of how that song came together. It was inspired by a true story, and we've been finding that when we play that one live, a lot of people are coming up and saying 'Oh, that's my story' or 'That's what happened to my sister'," he said.
The couple has embarked on The Highway Sky tour of NSW and Queensland.
The tour will bring the couple to Mannering Park for a debut gig in their home town on Saturday, March 30.
"We've been living around Manno for 10 years. It's a great place to live, but we've never played here," Eckersley said.
The pair thought it would be fun to perform an all-ages show in the local community hall.
McClymont said the audience could expect plenty of laughs.
"You're gonna see what we like to call two fools on stools," she said.
"It's like coming into our lounge room."
The pair talk about the stories behind the songs, and recount tales of touring, and life as musos.
And the performance is whole-hearted.
"We'll play the entire record, and you'll hear some great songs," McClymont said.
The gig will start at 6pm with the 2019 Toyota Star Maker winner, Blake O'Connor, to open the show.
"Blake is 18 and he's brilliant," McClymont said.
"He's a very talented singer and songwriter and you're going to be hearing a lot about him."
See the couple perform an all-ages gig in their home town, at Mannering Park Community Hall, on Saturday, March 30. Tickets at adameckersleyband.com.