08 July 2022 - 0 Comments

It's taken 30 years, fifteen albums, three divorces, five children, one heart attack and numerous tours but Tauranga blues & roots band Kokomo have finally made the great album they've been promising:

10 songs, songs about identity, songs about New Zealand, songs about life's choices, all presented with the lightest of touches, playful and heartfelt, with not a wasted minute.

“Some people come out of the gate with a bang. I figure we're just slow learners.” says singer/songwriter Derek Jacombs. “But I do reckon we're getting somewhere. Better late than never...”

Recorded at Tauranga's Boatshed Studio, Workhorse sees Kokomo welcome new guitarist, Santiago Rebagliati. It was originally planned for a mid-2021 release but was derailed by Covid-lockdowns and tour cancellations. Par for the course these days. In its place, last year the band released A Little Something From The Attic, a retrospective album of demos, rarities and outtakes, which received excellent reviews and scattered airplay.

Kokomo's last studio album (2019's Sunset Claws) was a full-on mash-up of Kokomo electronica, a “kitchen sink” album with everything thrown at it. Workhorse returns to purer sounds, featuring just the band musically, and two guest keyboard players: Grant Winterburn on organ and Alan Norman (The Warratahs, Windy City Strugglers) playing accordion.

The Bay of Plenty blues 'n' roots outfit originally formed in the 1990's under the name 'Kokomo Blues', an acoustic trio dedicated to playing early pre-war blues. As the current millennium arrived the band grew larger and switched to playing their own songs, striving to create an original style for Kiwi blues, derived from but independent of its American model.

Workhorse is the culmination of this journey and is being released by Boatshed Records for sale on Limited Edition CD and through Bandcamp. It can be streamed on all the usual digital platforms.

With ten tight songs informed but not bound by blues styles, this is not your ordinary blues album; these are not reductive “woke up this morning” retreads. This is Kokomo at its finest.

Listen on a platform of your choice: https://bfan.link/KOKOMOworkhorse

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