The DeSotos - Your Highway For Tonight Album Launch Tour

The DeSotos – the band you never knew you knew so well.

The DeSotos are the Kiwi band you hear every week but never realised you knew so well.

They’ve been visiting New Zealanders’ lounges on Sunday nights for weeks, having penned the theme music to Marcus Lush’s TV One hit shows, North and South.

Hearts In One Place, a track off The DeSotos' brand new second album, is the title music to North while Greedy Men, from their debut album Cross Your Heart, was the theme music for South. Tracks off both albums also featured as continuity music in the two series.

Fronted by former Wellingtonian Paul Gurney (lead vocals and guitars) and fellow songwriter Stuart McIntyre (bass, vocals) The DeSotos’ new album is called Your Highway For Tonight, which has special meaning for Gurney.

Named after an advertising slogan used to promote the Wahine ferry service in the 1960s, the title relates to one of the new songs called In The Harbour.

“It’s a song about loss, set against the backdrop of the Wahine disaster on April 10, 1968,” says Gurney.

“I was a child on the beach at Seatoun that day and I still vividly remember the sight of the stricken ship and the lifeboats washing up on the beach in the heaving, boiling water.”

Comprising 14 original tracks, Your Highway For Tonight was released in early May, and the album also received a US release through New Orleans label Mystery Street Records.

Gurney and McIntyre have been regular attendees at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in recent years and much of The DeSotos’ songwriting reflects their love of the Louisiana region and music.

The DeSotos’ country blues style has been compared to the likes of Tom Petty, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen and their first album received great critical acclaim in New Zealand and northern Europe, with National Radio’s Manu Taylor picking it as the 2008 NZ album of the year.

Along with Gurney and McIntyre, the other members of The DeSotos are Ron Stevens on Hammond and keyboards, and Mike Burrows on drums.

Having just returned from successful appearances at the Fiji International Jazz and Blues Festival, The DeSotos are kicking off their New Zealand album launch tour with an appearance at the San Francisco Bath House on Thursday 9 June, The Lounge Bar, Carterton June 10 and The Belgian Bar, Rotorua for tonight's performance.

Event listed by narleykiwi

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