Not many singers can boast they set up the stage for their own show, and then pull a beer for the punters afterwards - but Mel Parsons isn't your typical diva.
The Kiwi songstress is about to tour the North Island with her comedic mates, Amelia Guild and Emma Newborn, who act out a dog's tale - The Bitches' Box.
Woolsheds the length of the North Island are the unlikely venues for the trio, who arrive with one roadie, two cars and and a couple of trailers.
"We turn up with 150 chairs, the backdrop, bar and everything we need to turn a woolshed into a great venue," Parsons says. "After the set-up we have a sound check and we are on stage. It was the only way to make the show viable.
"Amelia and I grew up on farms so there was a nostalgic pull towards taking it rural."
Parsons sings and Guild and Newborn perform a comedy about life as a dog on a New Zealand farm in the 20 shows throughout the North Island farming communities.
The show's title, The Bitches' Box, is inspired by the crates used for female dogs on heat and made famous by sheepdog Jess in Murray Ball's long-running Footrot Flats cartoon strips.
The tour starts in Martinborough at Lagoon Hill Farm this Wednesday.
Tickets are $33 through eventfinder.co.nz.