Wish You Were Mine
Spiegeltent at the Garden of Unearthly Delights
Mon 3 March, 2026

Hosted by Brian Nankervis of RocKwiz fame and featuring the critically acclaimed RocKwiz Orkestra as the house band, Wish You Were Mine brings together two Australian songwriters to talk about their craft and perform songs that they wished they had written themselves.

A delayed start came with some benefits; our effervescent host Brian Nankervis came outside and walked along the serpentine line of patient punters waiting in the cool evening air stopping and chatting with us until the soundcheck inside was complete. We also got to see the beginning of the blood moon eclipse whilst bats flew above our heads. What a wonderfully unique city Adelaide is.

We entered the famous tent to the sounds of the Rockwiz Orkestra warming up. Brian's first guest is Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans) of Jebediah. Kevin has an appreciation of the work that must be put into the process of composing as much as finding inspiration. A couple of stories revealing his wife as a major source of his inspiration also reveal Kevin to be a thoughtful, sensitive soul. Kevin had much to say and indeed Brian had to tactfully reel him in to keep the show moving towards its goal.

Kevin chose You and I by Wilco and Imaginary Friend by Ron Sexsmith as the two songs he wished he had written. Superbly backed by the RocKwiz Orkestra, it was easy to see why Kevin chose the songs and at one point if you closed your eyes it almost sounded like Ron Sexsmith up on the stage.

Adelaide's own Queen of Country Beccy Cole was Brian's next guest. Beccy’s journey into songwriting was a gradual one, beginning her career playing country standards, heavily influenced by Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, but also by her own mother (who still gets up on stage with Beccy at her Wheatsheaf hotel family jam) before finding the confidence in her own voice. It was after a tour of the Middle East that she was inspired to begin expressing her own feelings and telling her own stories through song. Listening to Beccy you get the sense of a real country life lived by a real country legend with a wonderful sense of humour intact.

Beccy chose Angel from Montgomery by John Prine and Two More Bottles of Wine by Delbert McClinton (the Emmylou Harris version), to be on her wishlist. Again two perfectly chosen songs with Angel of Montgomery silencing the room with its melancholic soulful groove and the honky-tonk of Two More Bottles of Wine suiting Beccy down to the ground.

The show's finale sees the two guests come together for some last words on songwriting and revealing their choice of Greenville by Lucinda Williams to duet together on.

A wonderfully entertaining show full of charm and insight into the art of two fabulously talented songwriters.