Des and Juliet Rainey’s calling to folk music began in the late 1950s. The couple met in a church choir and married in 1956, and Juliet, a proficient pianist with a teaching diploma, gave Des a guitar in 1957. Their musical direction found its focus when USA-born Swedish balladeer William Clauson played the Auckland Town Hall, an event that Des describes as an inspiration not just to him, but to many others in the audience.