Cowboy Junkies – Auckland Town Hall, November 4, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
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.
Robin Kearns
About Robin Kearns
Posts by Robin Kearns:
Georgia Knight – Beanpole (13th Floor Album Review)
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 & Greta O’Leary – Tuning Fork: October 29, 2025
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.
Cowboy Up – Kaylee Bell (13th Floor Album Review)
Kaylee Bell has just released Cowboy Up and the 13th Floor’s Robin Kearns gives it a spin (or two).
Folk Bitch Trio & Georgia Knight – Tuning Fork: Sept. 26, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
It’s a truism but beauty dwells in simplicity. Nothing fancy as Folk Bitch Trio walk on. Three musicians. Grace Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington, and Heide Peverelle, close friends from school days. From Naarm/Melbourne. They sound – and say they feel – like siblings.
Wunderhorse – Powerstation: September 17, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
To the sound of Jumpin’ Jack Flash Wunderhorse take the stage. All sound and energy like a wave crashing in from the craggy coast of Cornwall. All four band members clothed in black and bathed in red light.
Paul Kelly & Reb Fountain – Auckland Town Hall: Sept. 12, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
The bard is back. When Paul Kelly walks out, it feels like seeing an old friend: the long-time lyrical laureate from across the ditch. The next most well-known Kelly after Ned, toting a guitar not a gun. Legendary in his own way.
Rhian Sheehan & Arli Liberman -Traces (Loop) (13th Floor Album Review)
Sweeping, layered sound panoramas prevail on Traces, a collaboration between Rhian Sheehan and Arli Liberman. It’s all a wonderfully other-worldly journey: music to take us places beyond the usual.
Butter Wouldn’t Melt – Where the Roots Grow Deep (Old River Records)
Kiwis may not be enamoured by what’s going on in the U.S. these days but many do have an enduring love affair with American music traditions.
The Response – Novel Idea (13th Floor Album Review)
The depth of music in this land is extraordinary. A month ago I hadn’t heard of The Response, yet here they are on repeat in my head, playing on he inner jukebox in the most delicious way.
