Gray Bartlett "Hits Country Style" (Mercury Records, 1974)
A prolific session guitarist and music producer, Auckland's Graeme Bartlett first entered show business as a rocker, playing guitar music in a vaguely Cliff Richards & The Shadows-y style. He scored a huge hit (in Japan!) with the instrumental "La Playa," and soon found work backing Australian pop star Rolf Harris, a five-year gig that ended in 1973, just before this album came out. In the 1970s and '80s Bartlett focussed on country music, recording several solo albums and producing many more by other artists. One of his most notable collaborators was Brendan Dugan, a singer featured throughout this album who recorded and toured extensively with Bartlett for years to come.

Gray Bartlett "We're All Alone" (Regal Records, 1978)

Gray Bartlett "Hot Guitars" (Music World Records, 1982)
Oh, my! Are all the men in your country so rugged and virile? I guess when they say hot guitars, they mean "hot"! Bartlett shares the stage here with fellow pickers Red McKelvie and Gerry McGee

Gray Bartlett/Brendan Dugan/Jodi Vaughan "Together Again" (Festival Records, 1990)
(Produced by Larry Killip, Gray Bartlett & Brendan Dugan)

Jan Cooper "No Looking Back" (EMI Records, 1985)
(Produced by Dick Le Fort)

Jan Cooper "If I Didn't Love You" (EMI Records, 1985)
(Produced by Peter Dawkins & Tim Field)

Jan Cooper & Michael Roycroft "Good Friends" (RCA Records, 1991)
(Produced by Alwyn Aurisch, Jan Cooper, Steve Newton & Michael Roycroft)

Peter Coulton "Southern Man" (Unicorn Productions, ---?) (CD)
(Produced by Chris Copping & Andy Parsons)

Jan Cooper "State Of Mind" (Larrikin Records, 1996)
(Produced by Steve Newton)

Peter Coulton "Hard Road, Tough Country" (Bear Family Records, 1996)

Peter Coulton "Raining On The Rocks" (Bear Family Records, 1999)

Michael-Roy Croft "Holding Things Together" (RCA Victor, 1984)

Michael-Roy Croft "Slow Burnin' " (EMI Records, 1984)
(Produced by Tim Fields & Don Goodman)

Maria Dallas -- see artist profile

Doug Eckert "Our Lives Fit Together For Awhile" (Ode Music, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Hurley & Terence O'Neil-Joyce)

Tracey Gardyne "Kiwi Country Girl" (Music World, 1980-?) (LP)

Rusty Greaves "Country Calling!" (Viking Records, 1970) (LP)
(Produced by Barry M. Coburn)
A country singer with a career spanning back at least to the early 1960s, Trevor Francis Greaves (1931-1998) hailed from Hamilton, New Zealand, a city just south of Aukland, on the North Island. In the 1950s he and his wife Gladys started the Auckland Country Music Club, at a place called Pakuranga Hall -- said to be the first country music venue in New Zealand. He later became a regular on a television variety show called The Country Touch, and successfully toured the United States, appearing at the Grand Ole Opry, the Palomino Club, and other notable venues. Rusty Greaves recorded a long string of singles during the 'Sixties, though this album appears to be newly recorded material, and if his earlier work is anthologized somewhere, it hasn't come to my attention yet. The album is a mix of old cowboy tunes and more modern country hits such as "Love Bug," "There Goes My Everything," "Oh Lonesome Me" and the inevitable cover of "Green Green Grass Of Home" all American stuff, though, no regional songs or sheep shearing ballads on this one. Rather confusingly, the liner notes tell us that this album was "recorded live with the musicians and singers of the Auckland Country and Western Club" (who are not identified, alas) and also that it was recorded at Barry Coburn's Mascot studio... My guess is that "country club" was a pretty flexible term, and they could be "at" the club pretty much anywhere they durn well pleased... At any rate, this is about as classic a set of kiwi country as you're likely to hear, provided you can track down a copy.

Rusty Greaves "Three Decades Of Rusty" (Mascot Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Doug Jane)

Kitten "Yodelling Sweetheart: 16 Favourites" (Music World Records, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Gray Bartlett, Dave Hurley & Peter MacInnes)

Ken Lemon "This Hombre Called Lemon" (Viking/Roulette Records, 1965-?) (LP)
(Produced by Ron Dalton)
Mister Lemon was an English expat living in New Zealand... He covers a bunch of late-1950s/early '60s country hits, including Roger Miller's "King Of The Road," which might place this disc somewhere around 1965-66

Ken Lemon "The Second Album" (Viking/Roulette Records, 1966) (LP)
(Produced by Ron Dalton)

Ken Lemon & Maria Dallas "Face To Face" (Viking Records, 1967-?) (LP)
Lemon worked as one of the acts in the road show of Maria Dallas, one of New Zealand's hot new country stars, as well as a TV star, acting (and singing) on the kiwi-teen show, Golden Girl. Sadly, this doesn't seem to have been a duets album, after all -- just separate tracks by each of the artists. Oh, well.

Ken Lemon "A Slice Of Lemon" (Zodiac Records, 1972) (LP)
(Produced by Barry Clewett)

Ken Lemon "The Best Of Ken Lemon" (Viking Records 1966) (LP)

Ken Lemon "Greatest Country Hits" (Fontana Records, 1972) (LP)
Also issued on Music For Pleasure as Great Country Hits, with the same tracks and the same sequencing.

Patricia Lennon & Danny McGirr "My Elusive Dreams" (Master Records, 1971) (LP)

Danny McGirr "The Best Of Danny McGirr" (Master Records, 197--?) (LP)

Tex Morton - see artist discography

Noel Parlane "Country" (Music Word Records, 1979-?) (LP)

Noel Parlane "Country Heartaches" (Music Word Records, 1979-?)

Noel Parlane "Old Time Country Music" (Music Word Records, 1979-?)

Noel Parlane "Trucks And Trains" (Music Word Records, 1981)
(Produced by Eric Johns)

Noel Parlane "Drinking Them Beers" (Viscount Records, 1982-?)
(Produced by Gary Daverne & Tim Field)

Noel Parlane "Let's Sing A Country Song" (RCA, 19--?)

Noel Parlane "Stepping Out" (RCA-Ariola Records, 1987-?)
(Produced by Murray Wood)

Ritchie Pickett & The Inlaws "Gone For Water" (RCA, 1984)

Ritchie Pickett "All Strung Out In A Bunch" (Boatshed Records, 1998)

Suzanne Prentice "Country Girl" (W&G Records, 1974) (LP)

Suzanne Prentice "Suzanne Prentice" (Music World, 1975) (LP)

Suzanne Prentice "Country Dreams" (Music World Records, 1982) (LP)

Janice Ramage "Back To Back Country" (RCA Records, 1984)

Jeffrey Rea "First Steps" (Golden Editions Records, 1982)
(Produced by Eric Jones)

Patsy Riggir "True Country Music" (Capitol Records, 1980)
(Produced by Frank Le Fort & Frank Douglas)

Patsy Riggir "Lay Down Beside Me" (Epic Records, 1981)

Patsy Riggir "Are You Lonely" (Epic/Sony Records, 1982)

Patsy Riggir "You'll Never Take The Country Out Of Me" (1984)

Patsy Riggir "You Remind Me Of A Love Song" (1985)

Patsy Riggir "Patsy Riggir Country" (Epic Records, 1986)

Patsy Riggir "Close To Thee" (1987)

Patsy Riggir "The Best (Plus Four)" (CBS Records, 1987)

Patsy Riggir "Liberated Lady" (1990)

Patsy Riggir "Moonlight And Roses" (1992)

Patsy Riggir "My Little Corner Of The World" (1993)

Patsy Riggir "Very Best Of Patsy Riggir" (Tristar Records, 2001)

Patsy Riggir "Never Ending Songs Of Love" (Rajon Records, 2008)

Patsy Riggir "Beautiful Lady: The Very Best Of Patsy Riggir" (Sony Music, 2013) (CD)

Tom Sharplin "Rock Around The Clock" (Music World Records, 1978)

Christine Smith "Country Lady" (Philips Records, 1972)

Celine Toner "You'll Remember Me!" (Music World Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Hurley & Ritchie Pickett)

Lynne Toner "Here's Lynne Toner" (Music World Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Gray Bartlett, Dave Hurley & Peter MacInnes)

Jodi Vaughan & Brendan Dugan "Fairweather Friends" (CBS Records, 1982) (LP)
(Produced by Dick Le Fort)

Jodi Vaughan "Rodeo Eyes" (EMI Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by James Hall)

Jodi Vaughan "Touch Your Heart" (EMI Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by James Hall & Ian Morris)

Jodi Vaughan "Straight From The Heart" (Festival Records, 1986) (LP)

Jodi Vaughan/Gray Bartlett/Brendan Dugan "Together Again The Reunion" (BMG Records, 1995) (LP)

Jodi Vaughan "Kiwi Country: From Auckland, New Zealand To Texas, U.S.A." (Challenge Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Andy Bradley & Jerry Walton)

Garner Wayne & The Deaconaires "Country Style" (Viking Records, 19--?) (LP)

Garner Wayne "Garner Wayne Rides Again!" (Viking Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Kevin Newcombe)

Garner Wayne & His Saddle Pals "South Island Country" (Master Records, 1972-?) (LP)

Buck Williams & Dawn Williams "Country Hall Of Fame" (Horseshoe Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Gray Bartlett, Dave Hurley & Peter MacInnes)
Western-themed twang by Auckland yodeler Dawn Garmson, who formed her first band, the Twilight Ramblers with her brothers, back in the era of 78rpm singles. A bazillion year later in 1974 she cut a novelty number called "New Zealand Needs A Country Hall Of Fame," a patriotic plea that bore fruit in 1981 when, indeed, a hall of fame was opened in Wairekei, near Lake Taupo in the center of North Island. She married western singer Buck Williams and cut this album with help from producer Gray Barlett, who also plays lead guitar throughout. I'm not sure if the Country Hall Of Fame is still around, but you can track this album down if you really try.

Cole Wilson "Country Songs, Volume Three" (Viking Records, 1959) (LP)

Various Artists "KIWI COUNTRY GIRLS" (Music World Records, 1982) (LP)

Various Artists "NEW ZEALAND COUNTRY: 20 GREATEST HITS" (Lucky Records, 1984) (LP)
While the Chills, the Bats and the Clean were revolutionizing Tuataran indierock, some of their fellow New Zealanders were dreaming dreams of Nashville glory days. These kiwi country singers include Gray Bartlett, Brendan Dugan, Tracey Gardyne, Danny McGirr, Noel Parlane, Suzanne Prentice, Lynne Toner and Jodi Vaughan... As far as I can tell, they were all backed by the same studio band -- at least the songs all generally sound the same: basic, low-key, mid-tempo country with a mildly outdated, mid-'70s production style. (Thankfully, the tinkly-piano keyboards and synths of Judds-era Nashville had not yet reached the folks at Lucky Records... Whew!) Several of these artists have albums of their own, and apparently further research is required -- anyone have any resources on NZ country to recommend?

Hick Music Index