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Alan Downes
Alan was a long-time country boy. He spent his first decades living in the backblocks of Hawke’s Bay hearing stories, and telling a few of his own, when the locals got together for a country dance or a party.
His heart is in Hawkes Bay. When he moved to town, he picked up a guitar and started writing songs to capture the memories. Following the traditions of country and folk music, Alan's songs are narratives on the ordinary and extraordinary people that don’t make the history books.
Alan sings lyrical ballads about the New Zealand that we need to remember, the good times and how the bad times can give you the best yarns. They are (mostly) true stories of people and places told with careful observation, a good dollop of humour and a little nostalgia. He only performs his own original songs.
Check Alan out on Spotify or YouTube
His music is “poetic and in it’s own way romantic and it might be the closest thing to authentic New Zealand country music I’ve ever heard…….his songs capture the details of rural New Zealand life and those who have lived it…” (Nick Bollinger, The Sampler, Radio New Zealand 2013 & 2014)
Check out Nick Bollinger’s review of Alan Downes’ first CD the Best’ on
Check out Nick Bollinger's review of Alan's second CD Moving On The Sampler 8 July 2014 (it starts about 10 minutes in)
Alan's third CD was released in 2017, titled Road Trip. It has over an hour of original music.
His fourth CD No Going Back was finished just as New Zealand moved into lockdown for Covid 19. It was launched at the Wellington Folk Festival in October 2020.
Alan is full time writing and playing music at the moment, and if you have a spare $20 (+$4 pp) he can let you have a CD of his songs.
To buy a copy of any of his recordings, or to contact Alan, email him at alangdownes@gmail.com
Alan Downes Music
To contact Alan please email alangdownes@gmail.com or phone or text him on 021 032 9897
(The dialing code for New Zealand is +64)