Donna Dean set for Wairarapa debut

SHOW TIME: Donna Dean, award-winning singer/songwriter, brings her distinct brand of Kiwi Americana country music to King Street Live tomorrow. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Award-winning singer songwriter Donna Dean - armed with her Kiwi Americana tunes and temperament - hits Wairarapa tomorrow for a debut show in the region.

Dean, Ngati Porou, is set to play at King Street Live in Masterton tomorrow night as the tailend of a transtasman and US tour in support of her seventh and latest album, Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts.

The album won her a nomination in the 2013 RIANZ Best Country Album Award and some tunes from that 12-track offering could feature in her Masterton show.

Dean, who has been based in Melbourne for the past two years, is looking forward to playing a solo setlist in Wairarapa after months on the support tours.

She is also to play solo dates in Napier, Wellington, Picton, Blenheim and Golden Bay.

"Even before I use the words 'country music' I call myself a singer/songwriter and people can expect songs about real life and the people that I've met along the way - some I've been involved with personally and others are just personal observations," she said.

Dean captured national accolades for her recorded work when she took the APRA Best Country Song Award and the RIANZ Best Country Album Award in 2004 (for Money) and 2011 (for What Am I Gonna Do?).

The daughter of seamstress-musician Joan McLean and merchant seaman-truck driver James Kouka, Dean comes from a long line of musicians and singers and "a family whose cohesiveness was deeply rooted in music", her website says.

Her grandfather, Neil "Banjo Mac" Mclean was a banjo player who doubled on lap steel and was a member of the Neville Carlson Revue which entertained with dancing troupes, magicians and comedians in Auckland in the 1930s.

Donna Dean plays at King Street Live tomorrow night. Presale tickets cost $15 each and limited door sales also will be available. For tickets call 06 370 4332.