The recipient of multiple APRA and Tui awards has recorded and performed with the likes of Willie Nelson, Kasey Chambers, Jimmy Webb, Paul Kelly and Don McLean, and wrote the title track to Rhonda Vincent’s 2010 Grammy-nominated bluegrass album, Destination Life.
Auckland-born Dean released her latest album, Kisses & Other Things, last September, featuring instrumental work by experienced bassist John Dodd and multi-instrumentalist John Egenes, both of Dunedin — the latter also produced the recordings.
The album also features vocals by Kiwi singers Liv Cochrane, Kylie Price and Anna Bowen, and American songwriter and multiple Grammy nominee Eliza Gilkyson.
Along with being Dean’s touring band, the Johns act as bus drivers, roadies and serve as the opening act.
As Egenes puts it, "if they don’t rush us, we work cheaper".
Dodd: "When you come to see a Donna Dean show, you don’t have to pay extra to see Dodd & Egenes — Professional Musicians."
The duo will be serving up their own brand of home-grown original tunes, along with the occasional cowboy poem, a few tall tales and "some outright lies".
Their 2024 South Island tour, ‘Butterflies & Bees’, coinciding with Dean’s Kisses & Other Things album release, stops at Te Atamira next Friday from 7.30pm.
Tickets cost $20, via Humanitix
