Le Tour de Trois

Le Tour de Trois: Marianne Dissard, Delaney Davidson and Flip Grater

Maiden Records will bring a little touch of musical Europe to eight New Zealand towns and cities this summer. The French-styled New Zealand tour will debut French singer-songwriter Marianne Dissard alongside New Zealand songwriters Flip Grater and Delaney Davidson.
The two kiwi songwriters have both recently spent time touring Europe and will showcase songs written in their favourite European cities.
Flip Grater says “All three of us have strong European influences as well as a love of Americana and alt-country so I think our show will reflect that in a live Euro-Country concoction. Delaney and Marianne are two of my favourite songwriters so I’m really excited about touring with them both.”

Marianne Dissard
Between Chanson and Americana, between Southwestern noir and acoustic French pop, L'Entredeux is Marianne Dissard's enchanting debut album, a moody, captivating album, with roots in Nick Drake's introspection, Francoise Hardy's romanticism and Nina Simone's drama. (Blurt).

Calexico fans will recognize Marianne as Madame to Joey Burns' lovestruck gold digger on Calexico's hit single, Ballad of Cable Hogue from their 2000 album Hot Rail. Marianne’s debut album L’Entredeux (produced by Calexico’s Joey Burns) has been voted one of the Top Ten French albums of the Decade by a world jury of Francophile music writers and DJs and now New Zealand audiences will be able to hear Marianne performing live for the very first time.

Delaney Davidson
Delaney Davidson has just completed his fourth solo tour of Europe, sharing the bills of such auspicious pairings as British underground legend Holly Golightly and the reclusive Lawyer Dave, as well as dark folk cult band Wovenhand, and completed his third tour of the U.S.A in October and November 2009 where he was invited to attend the Wisconson Steel Bridge Song Festival and to join the Reverend Beatman to tour the West Coast. This tour saw the pre- release of his long awaited Voodoo Rhythm solo album (number three). The album features songs written and recorded around the world, (Wisconsin, San Francisco, Wellington, Berlin and Italy). He expects to release the album titled Self Decapitation officially in March 2010, and plans a release tour including Switzerland, Holland, Germany, England, France, Italy and Romania. He will have a special pre release copy available for Le Tour de Trois.

Flip Grater
Over the past six years Flip Grater has firmly established herself as one of the most prolific indie-folk artists in the country. In that time Flip has released an EP, two albums and a book, toured New Zealand three times and performed in ten different countries including playing shows at SXSW in Austin, Texas and support slots for The Shins, Ben Lee and Hugh Cornwell. Flip’s songs have been featured on US TV series Brother and Sisters, NZ shows such as Go Girls and Outrageous Fortune, on animal rights ad campaigns, in art exhibitions and on documentary and feature film soundtracks. Since her European Cookbook Tour in 2008, Flip Grater has been writing her second cookbook and recording her third studio album (both due for release late 2010). On Le Tour de Trois she will be performing songs from her first two albums and new songs written while on tour in Europe.

While touring the United States in August, Delaney Davidson and Marianne Dissard met and got to talking about touring New Zealand. The pair then contacted Flip Grater who was back in NZ at the time, and asked if she would like to join in - hence Le Tour de Trois (The Tour Of Three).

Marianne Dissard, Flip Grater and Delaney Davidson on:
Le Tour de Trois
NZ Tour Dates 2010

15th January Leigh Sawmill Café, Leigh
16th January: Bacco Room, Auckland
21st January: Cabana, Napier
22nd January: Mighty Mighty, Wellington
23rd January: The Matterhorn, Wellington
24th January: Fairfield House, Nelson
27th January: Dux de Lux, Queenstown
28th January: Chicks Hotel, Dunedin
29th January: Harbourlight, Lyttelton (Flip Grater and Delaney Davidson only)
30th January: Sounday, Hagley Park, Christchurch (Marianne Dissard only)