Greytown musician Barry Saunders is set to hit the road again in support of his latest album released yesterday.
The album, Zodiac, features 10 new songs from The Warratahs frontman and is his fifth solo outing since New Zealand first heard of him in 1987 with the release of the hit
Warratahs' song, Hands Of My Heart.
Saunders has been for years now the face and voice of The Warratahs, producing five studio albums, a compilation album and tours and TV shows in New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
In 1995 he recorded his acclaimed solo album, The Weatherman, which was well received at home and across the Tasman, with Beat Magazine in Melbourne describing the solo debut as "Springsteen in Tom Joad mode".
Saunders last year won the 2007 APRA Best Country Music Song for Pale Sun, a tune he penned in Wairarapa that features on the sixth Warratahs album, Keep On, released in 2006.
David Long produced his latest album after a successful collaboration on Saunders' fourth album, Red Morning.
"For me, he's an artist in his own right and he brought along all sorts of new colours, brass, steel, strings. I felt like I had really extended things while still remaining with the songs.
"On the strength of that album I was invited to the South X South West music festival in Austin Texas, where I did a show with Tom House at a little theatre called the Hideout on 6th Street, not unlike Wellington's Bats Theatre. I played under a dim yellow exit sign. It was like a place in a Tennessee Williams film.
"Zodiac was originally meant to be four songs toward a 'best of' album, but the baby started to grow and we ended up with a new album.
"I loved the raw feel of the band and once again felt like the songs were moving somewhere," Saunders said.
"I have a version of The Phoenix Foundation's Going Fishing. I love the lyrics and have turned it into pretty much a country ballad."
Saunders said he played piano for the first time on the album, along with substantial lashings of electric guitar.
"The album has a good, played feel to it and I'm looking forward to taking these songs out for a ride."
Zodiac was released on Mana Music through Ode Records and features players including Craig Terris, Jules Desmond and Stephen Gallagher.
Greytown musician Barry Saunders is set to hit the road again in support of his latest album released yesterday.
The album, Zodiac, features 10 new songs from The Warratahs frontman and is his fifth solo outing since New Zealand first heard of him in 1987 with the release of the hit
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