13th floor - Album review

“Kiwis may not be enamoured by what’s going on in the U.S. these days but many do have an enduring love affair with American music traditions.

Witness the sell-out shows by country singers like Chris Stapleton.  And the affinity for American traditional styles stretches way back. As a youngster, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band had a weekly TV show and I recall when kiwi country stars John Hore and Brendan Dugan came to Whangarei Town Hall.

These days a new generation is more tightly tuning the dial into Americana traditions: You, Me, Everybody with bluegrass and Butter Wouldn’t Melt for their fusion of country and folk. With, of course, Kiwi-Canadian Tami Neilson’s fulsome voice taking her all the way to the Ryman in Nashville.

And now Butter Wouldn’t Melt have released their second album Where the Roots Grow Deep recorded at Old River Records in Papakōwhai near Porirua. Last time I saw them, they were a duo: Andrea Reid (vocals and rhythm guitar) and  Nick Burfield (vocals and lead guitar). Since then, just as the price of butter has doubled, so has the size of the band. It now includes Cara Brasted (fiddle and vocals) and Marz Connelly (double bass and vocals). In quartet form, the sum is most definitely greater than the parts.”

• Robin Kearns

Link to the full review here: https://13thfloor.co.nz/butter-wouldnt-melt-where-the-roots-grow-deep-old-river-records/