Here at Black Magazine we're partial to a bit of alt country/pop/folk and have listened to Jenny Lewis's wonderful Acid Tongue about nine thousand times. Ok, maybe 29 but you get the drift - we put music like that on because it is easy, and lovely, to work to. Mel Parsons is a native of the West Coast of Aotearoa's South Island and her tunes exude a fresh naturalness which makes you want to sit on the deck of a ramshackle pub, eat whitebait fritters and sip on the local ale while she croons somehwere nearby. Over My Shoulder the debut album by Parsons and band The Rhythm Kings is more than easy though. Parsons has a voice that could work any night in Nashville yet sounds somehow intrinsically New Zealand - and the songs are good, very good. We're converted...
Mel Parsons and The Rhythm Kings are on tour now round NZ - in fact you can catch her tomorrow night at the Buller Workingmens Club in Westport so all you West Coast Blackloggers get along! The debut album Over My Shoulder is out now on Border Music.
