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An award-winning US double bass player dubbed as “absolute royalty” in bluegrass circles will be playing in Whangateau on Wednesday, October 30.
The Missy Raines Trio, consisting of Missy on bass, ex-pat Kiwi George Jackson on fiddle and banjo and Ben Garnett on acoustic guitar, will be at the Whangateau Hall from 7.30pm playing a blend of jazz-tinged bluegrass and Americana.
Hailing from West Virginia, Missy Raines was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year award in 1998, and went on to win the same title six more times – more often than any other bass player in the history of the organisation, male or female.
She was a member of Alison Krauss’ first all-female bluegrass band and has played with greats such as Claire Lynch, Mac Weisman, Kenny Baker and Peter Rowan. Her singing voice is described as a “smoky and seductive alto”.
Missy Raines recently released her third album, Royal Traveller, where she has stepped into the spotlight as a songwriter for the first time. The album digs deep into Raines’ family life and her upbringing in West Virginia and is the first produced by renowned banjo player Alison Brown.
“I went into this project with Alison with the mindset that I wanted to stretch myself and see what I could do,” Missy says. “I think we achieved what I was looking for, which is something further-reaching and bigger than what I would have accomplished on my own.”
Tickets for the Whangateau show cost $23 in advance from eventfinda.co.nz or 0800 BUY TIX (289 849), or $25 on the door.
