As the old saying goes, “red sky at night, shepherd’s delight”. Sunset, that image of imminent darkness which, when clouds turn red, becomes a portent of good things to come. Hope and light. Themes at the heart of this new Bic Runga (Ngāti Kahungunu) album, her first full original collection in fifteen years (since Belle, 2011).
Just as disdain for developments in the U.S. reaches a new peak here, so does interest the ‘Americana’ as a music genre. Venues at this month’s Auckland Folk Festival, for instance, were packed out for bands like Butter Wouldn’t Melt and members of You, Me, Everybody joined them on stage.
Are we bluegrass? YES. Folk? YES. Americana? YES. So say Della Mae. What are genres anyway but to box artists in. So here we have Magic Accident, their sixth album, a gorgeous celebration of life underwritten by a plea for a better world.
Just occasionally an album is released that taps into the times with laser accuracy. Lucinda Williams’ 18th studio album, World’s Gone Wrong is such a release: striking from first listen for its relevance to these angst-riven times.
Some concerts leave you talking in superlatives. This show by Andrew Keoghan also leaves me in silence such is its beauty, surprise and vision.
Towards the end of her generous set, Nadia Reid spoke of her studio in Salford and how it takes two buses and over an hour to get there from her new home in Manchester. But, said a close friend, it’s all about the journey.
Its two-and-a half years since their Covid-delayed show amid the monsoon-like storm of January 2023 and the Cowboy Junkies never expected to be back so soon.
From the opening chords, Beanpole, the debut album from Georgia Knight, is something special. For starters, how many writers play autoharp as their central instrument?
C. W. Stoneking sings us songs of spells, fraught love and odd occurrences. Deft finger work on a 1957 Gretsch guitar and vocals that hail from the Delta, not Australia’s Northern Territory of his birth.
Kaylee Bell has just released Cowboy Up and the 13th Floor’s Robin Kearns gives it a spin (or two).
Basque Park Summer Series: Latin Flavours
Saturday 21 February | Basque Park, Auckland
