Winners of the New Zealand Music Award for Folk Album of the Year 2014, Tattletale Saints are led by guitarist/vocalist Cy Winstanley and double bassist/vocalist Vanessa McGowan.
Fresh off the back of their Tui win in January 2014, Tattletale Saints relocated to Nashville Tennessee to embark on a 50-date tour of the United States. This time spent in the vibrant Nashville music scene inspired a change in the band’s sound, and they welcome the addition of celebrated NZ drummer Tom Broome for this, their 5th New Zealand tour.
Performances on the tour will include songs performed as a duo, re-imagined versions of songs with drums, and brand new material off the band’s forthcoming full band album, due for release in 2015.
Described as a “intelligent, entertaining and thoroughly captivating” (Sing Out! Magazine, 2014) debut album How Red Is the Blood was recorded in January 2013 in Nashville, TN alongside Grammy winning producer and multi instrumentalist Tim O’Brien.
Press for Tattletale Saints - How Red Is the Blood
“There is a timeless quality to the Tattletale Saints music, simultaneously classic roots and modern revival, placing them alongside the more notable artists of today's scene. There are elements of folk, good old Appalachia style music, and a splash of country in their sound, too, which they do exceedingly well. And this all comes together to create well-written songs with stirring vocals.” No Depression August 2014
How Red Is The Blood is the Nashville recorded effort of two New Zealander’s who describe the pleasure and plight of a people, addressing modern societal rifts with acerbic, beguiling wit... I don’t know what the answers are to many of the questions How Red Is The Blood asks, but I do know this: folk music lives, and this is it.
American Standard Time, September, 2014
“beautiful organic folk songs… shimmers like an Indian summer after noon… their knife edge still hews to folk’s clarion call to challenge injustice, and it still cuts to the bone.” Acoustic Guitar Magazine, September 2014
sensitively understated folk and subtle simplicity…memorable, lyrically considered and melodically engaging … a very emotionally engaging album Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz
“Cy Winstanley has the rich voice and lyric instincts of a Paul Simon and his foil, the equally talented Vanessa McGowan adds lovely punctuation harmonies and the sort of swinging bass lines that you'd expect from a jazz musician. 4.5/5 Mike Alexander, Sunday Star Times 17/04/13
