Music News - A Meeting Of Two Of New Zealand’s Best Songwriters - Delaney Davidson & Barry Saunders
22 March 2019 - 0 Comments
Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders met in a church. They were soundchecking for the Churches Tour with Marlon Williams and Tami Neilson. Barry playing old gospel songs and Delaney chugging out his signature blues trance thump.
The connection was immediate.
Barry joked about being fused together by lightning in a deal made in blood forever. Davidson's ears pricked up.
Since then they have toured NZ a few times together and produced an album of songs.
“It felt like something that just needed to happen. It felt right.” Says Saunders about the songwriting push these two have wrought into being. “I was just throwing these words and ideas at Delaney and watching them bounce off his head.”
Davidson agrees, “Yes it was all pretty quick, these songs just started appearing out of the kitchen air and we were grabbing them as fast as we could. It has a realness and truth to it. An immediacy that is hard to find in music. Real songs about real things.”
Saunders is a master of localizing the subject, and you can relate to the songs. Guitars in hallways, people on the street, dark smoky parties. These aren’t about some lofty ideal or rooted in glossy production. It’s blood on the floor. Davidson's production brings his trademark immediacy to the game, and gives these songs a sparkle and grain.
The result? “It's a manic and barnstorming balance, at times when we were singing we couldn’t tell whose voice was whose, it all just melded together, I’d be singing in Barry’s voice and he in mine..” Says Delaney. “it must be that deal in blood we made.. “
This balance is a constant on the album both artists strongly represented by their work and values. It has the rocking strength and dark power of Davidson previous work naturally paired with the heartfelt, straight dealing and traditionalism of Barry’s past. The fact that we are both heavily into songwriting provides a classic feel and a thread throughout these 9 songs.
Word Gets Around is out on April 26th.
Word Gets Around Tour
May 3 Auckland. Wine Cellar with Band May 4 Wine Cellar as Duo
May 5 Leigh.Sawmill Café with Band- Matinee
May 10 Paekakariki. St Peters Hall with Band
May 11 Wellington. Meow with Band
May 17 Christchurch with Band at Blue Smoke
May 18 Dunedin. The Cook with Band
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Delaney Davidson
Singer-Songwriter, Noir Protagonist, Promotional Coyote, One-Man Band, Production Svengali. Part wandering minstrel, part traveling salesman, one foot on the stage and one in the road. 8 solo albums out and always one on the way. Over thirteen years of tireless touring across oceans and continents. Awards here. Collaborations there. A non-stop whirlwind.
One of the most distinctive figures in the NZ musical landscape is Delaney Davidson. Over a series of albums and compelling live performances he has presented his often jarring yet beautiful songs like some strange spook outlaw phantom, more at home walking through the pines at midnight under a full moon.
NZ Arts Foundation Laureate Recipient 2015, Winner of the 2013 New Zealand Music Awards Country Album of the Year, Three-time winner of the APRA New Zealand Country Music Song Of The Year, 2012, 2013, 2014, Voodoo Rhythm One Man Band World Champion Zurich 2011, Saddest Song World Champion Berlin 2010.
Barry Saunders
Barry Saunders has had a distinguished career as both lead singer and songwriter with The Warratahs and as well as with his own solo work. He has made a more-than considerable contribution to New Zealand’s musical history and songbook.
As writer and broadcaster Chris Bourke once wrote, ‘The Warratahs earned their reputation by playing … what seems like a tiny wooden hall down the end of every gravel road in NZ… like the main trunk line and the Edmonds Cookbook the place wouldn’t be the same without them.’
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