Folk Tui finalists announced 2008

The finalists for New Zealand’s Best Folk Album of 2008 include an enduring crooner, a celebrated bluegrass band and a trio of relative new kids on the block.

Cardrona-based singer-songwriter Martin Curtis is joined by the evergreen Hamilton County Bluegrass Band and Dunedin trio Delgirl in the finalist line-up announced today 22 December by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).

Curtis’ ninth album of New Zealand folk songs is titled ‘Sea To Summit’ and features a range of new songs, several of which have already attracted local and offshore interest. ‘Sir Ed’ has been picked up by Kiwi Kids Songs for inclusion in its next release and the album is airing regularly on BBC Radio in Cardiff and Gloucester.

Currently Curtis’ main focus is on school work, presenting a programme for primary children about New Zealand history, wildlife, conservation and way of life. The work has also spread to regular visits to schools in the UK, where he illustrates his ‘Kiwi’ show with posters and pictures of New Zealand.

Formed in the 1960s, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band continues its legacy of authentic bluegrass music with a Kiwi twist. The band’s fifth and latest album is ‘Way Down South’ which features 13 tracks. The title song is a Paul Trenwith original, recounting his first appearance at American festivals where he was accepted as true Southerner and ‘bluegrass musician.’ The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band is still the first and only New Zealand band to play The Grand Ole Opry in theUSA. Compared to Curtis and the Hamilton bluegrass quintet, the Delgirl trio is a relative newcomer.

Formed eight years ago the girls admit to playing “skiffily, folky, country, jazzy, bluesy roots music with a Pacific edge bordering a swamp”. ‘Two, Maybe Three Days Ride’ is the debut album from Delgirl’s Deirdre Newall, Erin Morton and Lynn Vare. ‘Ride’ from the album has been selected by NZ Trade & Enterprise to feature on a music placement export disc entitled New Zealand-New Music which is distributed to music supervisors in TV/Film worldwide.

Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) CEO Campbell Smith likes the spread of folk styles across the finalist artists. “Folk music has wide appeal in New Zealand across many different styles,” Smith says. “And, it’s great to see that we have three finalists with quite different approaches”. The Folk Music Tui for the best album of 2008 is to be presented on Sunday 25 January at the final concert of the Auckland Folk Festival. The Auckland Folk Festival is held in Kumeu (West Auckland) from the 23 to 26 January 2009 (http://www.aucklandfolkfestival.co.nz/)

NOTE TO EDITORS:The Tui for Best Folk Album 2008 is for recordings released between 16 November 2007 – 15 November 2008The Folk category was introduced to the awards in 1984. Recent previous winners of the Tui for Best Folk Album

2005 - Lorina Harding for the album ‘Clean Break’

2006 - Ben the Hoose (Kenny Ritch and Bob McNeill) for ‘The Little Cascade’

2007 – Phil Garland for his 18th album ‘Southern Odyssey’.Or refer to http://www.nzmusicawards/ (see history section).

Finalists’ websites

Martin Curtis: http://www.martincurtis.co.nz/

Hamilton County Bluegrass Band: www.myspace.com/hamiltoncountybluegrassband

Delgirl: http://www.delgirl.co.nz/

2007 Country Music Award finalists announced.

News release May 4,
Two relative newcomers and one of New Zealand’s favourite country duos are the finalists for the Best Country Music Album of 2007. Perennial Kiwi country favourites The Topp Twins join Wellington’s Warren Love Band and Johnny Possum’s Good Time Hootin’ Band from Christchurch as the three to compete for this year’s Tui award. The winner is to be announced at the Gold Guitar Awards in Gore in June and will also be acknowledged at the New Zealand Music Awards in October.Jools and Lynda Topp have been selected as a finalist for their album “Flowergirls & Cowgirls”. The Waikato-born and Auckland-based duo aren’t strangers to the music awards stage after winning the best Country Album Tui in 2001 for their highly successful ‘Grass Highway’ album.

Former busker Warren Love’s debut album “Warren Love Band” comes off the street, teaming up with some of country’s leading New Zealand musicians. They include Warratahs’ accordionist Al Norman and local music icon Wayne Mason, writer of ‘Nature’.Formed in 2005, Johnny Possum’s Good Time Hootin’ Band’s debut CD “Tickets” features old and new country favourites as well as an original single called ‘Bluegrass Saved the Earth’. Taking their cue from traditional country music roots, the band has included several standard tunes with new arrangements whilst also digging deeper into 19th century blues to apply the special Possum treatment.

New Zealand Music Awards spokesperson Campbell Smith says the finalists represent a cross section of country music in New Zealand.“Jools and Lynda are New Zealand’s icons, superb songwriters and entertainers.“Johnny Possum and Warren Love bring a fresh new perspective to country music with their modern interpretations and wonderful story lines.

Country music is very much alive and well in New Zealand as the standard of these finalists shows,” Campbell says.“It’s fantastic to see our Country artists producing great music, and when they come together in Gore at the biggest Country music festival in New Zealand, it makes for a very special occasion. ”The winners are announced at the New Zealand Country Music Awards on Friday June 1 in Gore as part of the Gold Guitar celebrations. Attracting more than 5,000 country music fans during the festival, Gold Guitar week is in its 34th year. For more information visit: http://www.goldguitars.co.nz More information about the Country Music Album of the Year Award is available at http://www.nzmusicawards.co.nz

About RIANZ: The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Inc (RIANZ) is a non-profit organisation representing major and independent record producers, distributors and recording artists throughout New Zealand. RIANZ works to protect the rights and promote the interests of creative people involved in the New Zealand recording industry.endsIssued for the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) by Pead PRRIANZ Best Country Music Album (Tui award)For more information including award criteria and history, and finalist information please contact:
Pead PR ContactBonnie Smail, Pead PR, Tel: 0-9-918 5581, Mob: 021 722 276, E-mail: bonnie@peadpr.co.nz Bonnie Smail( bus +64 (9) 9185581 mob 021 722 276Level 2, Carlton DFK Centre, 135 BroadwayPrivate Bag 99911, Newmarket, Auckland

NZ Music Awards: The Folk Tui

A few years ago the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) decided in its wisdom to drop a number of categories in its prestigious awards event, The Tuis. This for no better reason than there was no time to award them in their overblown, self-congratulatory, pop-music focussed awards ceremony. Among the categories dropped were Folk and Country causing consternation in both camps. After a bit of lobbying it was decided that these awards would still be facilitated by RIANZ but that the award would be announced at (for Country) the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards in Gore each June and (for Folk) at the Auckland Folk Festival in January. These awards were reinstated about a year after they were initially dropped and have been running satisfactorily for the last 4 years.

There was much discussion on the nz-folk list at the time about the worth of the award, about turning folk music into a competition, about the commercial imperative that underpins the awards and more. The testimony of those that had won the Tui in the past was that it was of considerable value in promoting themselves and their music, both nationally and internationally and was worth persuing. Anything that was good for folk music was good for folk music, no matter how cynically it was regarded. There certainly is an element of prestige associated with it.

Recently the discussion hit the fan again as the three finalists in the Folk category for 2006 were announced. The award will be made next weekend at the end of January (at the Auckland Folk Festival). Each year five 'appropriate' people are approached in confidence by RIANZ and asked to be a judge for the category. Upon acceptance, they are sent all the albums that have been submitted for that category and a bare set of outlines for judging (which are largely irrelevant for folk music: commercial viability, radio friendliness etc.) basically asking them to be rated in order of preference. The top three (and, presumably, the winner) are selected from collation of the judges' returns.

This year the finalists were announced as follows:

"Scottish-born duo Ben The Hoose are Kenny Rich and Bob McNeill, a finalist with the album ‘The Little Cascade’ while Birmingham-born Bob Bickerton gains a finals berth for ‘The Likes of Us’. Third finalist is evergreen Kiwi folksters The Warratahs with the quintet’s seventh album ‘Keep On’."

The somewhat heated discussion arose around "evergreen Kiwi folksters The Warratahs" who have always been regarded as a Country music band. Indeed they performed at the Gold Guitar Awards when they started about a hundred years ago. What are they doing in the Folk category? And finalists to boot!

The RIANZ rules of engagement state that an album can be nominated in only one category. It stands to reason that an artist will place their album in the category where they think they will get the fairest hearing. The Warratahs, based largely around the country-style songwriting of Barry Saunders, have been around for 20 years and are without a doubt, a great, shit-kicking country band. The fact is, they've never fared well in country music circles, possibly because they don't wear big hats, sing with an American accent or play The Gambler. Country music buffs have stayed away from them in droves (speaking as one who has organised a couple of concerts for them) because they're a bit too clever, too original and don't fit the C&W mold.

Their strategy has paid off; they're finalists. There was indignation expressed from some who had their "proper folk album" nominated and nudged out by these folk pretenders - resulting in another unhealthy round of "What is folk?" discussion that just went to show that nobody can agree but we know it when we hear it. And the end of the day, five folk-friendly judges chose the finalists and all the best to all of them! I for one see it as a vote of confidence in the eclecticism of the folk scene that The Warratahs took a punt on us.