Lil' Band O' Gold

Lil' Band O' Gold serve up an irrepressible gumbo of swamp pop, blues, country, cajun, soul and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll. Lily Allen loves them so much she flew them all over to play at her wedding, and their songs have featured in the hit TV shows 'True Blood' and 'Treme'.

Comprised of a revolving line-up of some of Louisiana's most respected musical exponents, the current line-up features the venerable Warren Storm - 75 years young and widely considered to be the 'godfather of swamp pop'. He has toured with such luminaries as Elvis and Johnny Cash and still sports an impressive helmet of coal black hair.

On sax is Dickie Landry, a whipper-snapper at 73 who has played extensively with the likes of Laurie Anderson, Phillip Glass, Talking Heads, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.

The collective's nominal leader CC Adcock paid his dues playing with Bo Diddley and Buckwheat Zydeco and is the band's young upstart at 40. When not working with the Band o' Gold, he is a highly sought-after producer and composer of TV and movie soundtracks.

On keys is songwriting legend David Egan who has written songs for a veritable who's who of first-class vocal talent. Solomon Burke,

Percy Sledge, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Mavis Staples and Irma Thomas are just a few of the artists who have recorded his material.

Rounding up the line-up are 'accordian prodigy' Steve Riley, saxophonist Pat Breaux, funk pioneer and renowned blues guitarist Lil' Buck, token Australian Lucky Oceans (pedal steel) and bass man extraordinaire Phillipe Billeaudeaux.

Their forthcoming album 'Lil Band o Gold Play Fats' is, unsurprisingly, an album of Fats Domino covers, however the heavyweights featured on vocals include Robert Plant, Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams, alongside Down Under heroes Jimmy Barnes and You Am I's Tim Rogers.

Their ramshackle rock and soul revue has reminded more than one critic of The Band on their best nights and their last visit to NZ in 2010 made them a whole mess of new fans.

THE EASTERN will join the tour playing all shows. The Eastern are a string band that roars like a punk band, swings like a gospel band, drinks like a country band, works like a bar band, hopes like folk singers, and sings love songs like union songs, and writes union songs like love songs, and wants to slow dance and stand on tables, all at the same time.