Acoustic Routes May concert review
Review—May concert: Alan Downes, opened by Downundermutts and Madillionette
(Review by Helen Dorothy)
NZ Music Month!! And what better way than to host some of our own musical members
in a concert that covered all bases—thought-provoking originals through to real mood-lifters, with a waft of ‘blue smoke’ and plenty of wit. All up, we had a “country good time” on a chilly evening in our “windy city nestling snuggly in the hill”.
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Our headline act, Alan Downes—always a treat! Making the trip down with his guitar from the Hawkes Bay back blocks for this concert was so worth it because we never tire of this ‘country boy’s’ take on rural life. Now several albums down the track since he first tentatively showed up at Mojo
Invincible Open Mic on Willis St all those years ago, he is on a roll, churning out his song-stories like nobody’s business.
Except it is our business…his collection is a treasure chest, and we hold each song up to the light to study, marvel at.
They are wistful. They are witty. Wonderful documentations of daily life in days gone by that we, somehow, all relate to.
Alan’s set bursts with songs about “stubborn old dudes” of horses, second-hand automobiles, ‘Diamond Nights’ in a Hastings bar, “that ol’ Shag dog” (it’s always his fault), and of course the ‘Neighbour’s Wife’.
There were poignant songs too: a soldier’s ‘Redemption’ (“a moment when the shadows bring the evening on and sunshine finds another place to fall”), and ‘Mother’s Beer’ providing a way for those who spend the day “sorting tricks of nature out” to share their heavy loads. Then it’s back to the quirky, a Christmas gathering wrapping things up with “who’s gonna take Mama home tonight”, and “dancing styles extended” in the Woolshed. His punchy ballads don’t need any musical embellishments.
He’s a master at his straight-up, as-it-is delivery. Brilliant!
More about Alan
Alan was a long-time country boy. He spent his first decades living in the backblocks of Hawke’s Bay, (New Zealand) hearing stories, and telling a few of his own, when the locals got together for a country dance or a party.
His heart is in Hawkes Bay. When he moved to town, he picked up a guitar and started writing songs to capture the memories.
His music is “poetic and in it’s own way romantic and it might be the closest thing to authentic New Zealand country music I’ve ever heard…….his songs capture the details of rural New Zealand life and those who have lived it…” (Nick Bollinger, The Sampler, Radio New Zealand 2013 & 2014)
Check out Nick Bollinger’s review of Alan Downes’ first CD the Best’ on
Check out Nick Bollinger's review of Alan's second CD Moving On The Sampler 8 July 2014 (it starts about 10 minutes in)
Alan's third CD was released in 2017, titled Road Trip. It has over an hour of original music.
His fourth CD No Going Back was finished just as New Zealand moved into lockdown for Covid 19. It was launched at the Wellington Folk Festival in October 2020.
Alan is full time writing and playing music at the moment, and if you have a spare $20 (+$4 pp) he can let you have a CD of his songs.