Country with a Tex Mex spin

Ebony Lamb and her band Sparrow will play at the Tauranga Art Gallery, Thursday, September 17. Photo/Kate MacPherson

Eb & Sparrow is a genre-defying, five-piece folk band that has been gaining attention across the country from city bars to folk clubs, festivals to house concerts. They may be based in Wellington city, but their heart is set firmly in the country.

Slowly making their way to each and every town that'll have them, the band have been winning over New Zealand audiences not only with their songs, but also with their cheeky wit, hilarious tales and dynamite performances.

With their pastoral, expansive ballads, rollicking good-time songs, and a few tear-inducing torch-burners thrown in for good measure, the band - led by singer/songwriter Ebony Lamb - has been travelling up and down NZ for the past three years.

Known for her strong vocal presence, which sits somewhere between country and old-time soul, Lamb's authentic songwriting abilities and incredible talent have given the band a glowing reputation within the music community.

Her impressionistic lyrics are imbued with a simple strength that comes from both heart and heartache. Her voice is unique - a cross between Cat Power and Gillian Welch and seems to resurrect an old-time soul into the here and now.

The songs are proudly soaring and grounded, dark and bright, dreamy and direct, country and Spanish, 1850s and 1950s, delicate and propulsive, all the while lamenting and laughing.

"We cast aching crescendos of a time long gone into a modern landscape," says Lamb.
Expect lap-steel, trumpet and electric guitars moving effortlessly between a country shuffle and a Tex-Mex croon.

the fine print
What: Eb & Sparrow
Where: Tauranga Art Gallery, cnr Wharf & Willow Sts
When: Thursday, September 17, at 7pm
Cost: $25 general admission or $20 for Friends of the Gallery/students