Dave Dobbyn - You Got Heart

When planning his November theatre tour, Dave Dobbyn’s first call was to Warren Maxwell (TrinityRoots and Fat Freddy’s Drop) to invite Maxwell’s new band, Little Bushman, to open the show, having been ‘blown away’ by some early mixes of Bushman tracks.     

The ‘You Got Heart’ tour sees Dobbyn adding to his solid rhythm section of Bones Hillman and Ross Burge with the addition of Christchurch singer/songwriter, Mark Vanilau on guitar and piano. And it will be a busy tour for Maxwell, who will also join Dobbyn on-stage to recreate the tracks they performed on Dobbyn’s ‘Available Light’ recording. The album has sold nearly 25,000 since its mid-June release. Welcome Home from the album has been nominated for a Silver Scroll songwriting award.

A Little Bushman performance combines elements of jazz improvisation, soul and psychedelic rock textures.

"We hope to take people on a sonic journey that is both captivating and exhilarating" says drummer Rick Cranson. "It’s quite a mission to explain our sound but we feel it is uniquely Aotearoa, a reflection of life right here, in the now, in New Zealand"

Prior to Little Bushman, all the members of the band have been working hard on original New Zealand music for some years.  Warren is known for both Trinity Roots and Fat Freddy's Drop and double bass player Tom Callwood recorded bass tracks for both those acts’ albums. Guitarist Joe Callwood leads his own ensemble including both Tom and Rick as the rhythm section.    
 
The band members list a diverse range of individual influences: Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Buckley, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Shuggie Otis.  

 

Tues Nov 8th Tauranga Baycourt Theatre

Sat Nov 12th Wellington Opera House

Wed Nov 16th Invercargill Civic Centre