Sunday 25th April, 7.30pm

Ruby Lounge, Bond St

Paddy Burgin and the Wooden Box Band produce what music guru Nick Bollinger calls “handmade music of the finest kind”.Incorporating slide acoustic guitars, percussion and other instruments, they take you on a journey around New Zealand to meet the people and places that have inspired their songs and instrumentals.   Following the urge to discover his Liverpudlian roots, Cy moved to Lon- don in 2004 and reunited with Vanessa in 2007. Cy convinced Vanessa she could sing, and Her Make Believe Band was born. Her Make Believe Band's debut album AM Radio was released in the UK in November 2009 and has received great press. The Music Critic described it as a Òmasterful blend of Americana fused with jazz, soul and pop.

Reviewer Graham Reid (on elsewhere.co.nz) said of the band’s recent CD My Sweet Town: “This album - gentle but probing lyrics delivered somewhere between James Taylor, Ry Cooder and less cynical Loudon Wainwright - is an understated gem.”

“[Paddy’s] guitar playing is revelatory: with ease he traverses blues, folk, slide, suggestions of Hawaiian sounds and old time jazz, touches of country ...”

The CD is accompanied by a DVD of concert footage filmed by Costa Botes.

Recent gigs for the band have included opening the annual Organic River Festival near Levin, and appearing at the Ruby Lounge with Bob McNeil.

For the Acoustic Routes concert, Paddy will be joined on the “VIP stage” (the smaller stage in the corner) by Bruce McNaught on percussion and Joe Callwood from Little Bushman on guitar.

Paddy is a guitar-maker by day, so expect a stage littered with handmade instruments, and some discussion between songs about tone wood.

Opening the April 25 concert will be two more first-rate acts. Celia Briar and friends, including Duncan Davidson, will play “a mix of soul soothers and toe tappers, mainly from the Celtic traditions, on a variety of acoustic instruments including harps, flutes and mandolins”. And veteran singer and multi-instrumentalist Murray Kilpatrick will share some of what he’s been working up recently.