The Cattlestops

Kapiti country-rockers The Cattlestops celebrate 20 years at St Peter’s Hall in Paekakariki on 19th January 2025.

The band originally coalesced around Hamilton County Bluegrass Band fiddle player Colleen Trenwith when she moved to Otaki in 2004. She was gently but firmly integrated into the local music scene by guitarists Andrew London and Dave Berry, and bass player James Cameron. Both London and Cameron were on the periphery of the Wellington jazz scene at the time, London collaborating with Terry Crayford in Hot Club Sandwich and Cameron with the Velox Brothers. Drummer Evan Williams was added, a repertoire of country, bluegrass and western swing covers was hastily compiled, and the first rehearsal took place in Dave Berry’s garage in Ames St, Paekakariki in the Winter of 2004.

Their first album ‘Cattlestoppin’ was a rollicking selection of standards that leant on Trenwith’s pedigree as a fiddle player of international class, but also provided a platform for London and Cameron’s increasing songwriting confidence. The album opens with Cameron’s ‘Fine Blue Suit’, a western swing-style romp with a light-hearted romantic theme, complimented by fiddle and acoustic guitar solos, and a signature Dave Berry electric guitar riff at front and back.

With Cameron and London hitting their straps, the second album ‘Back To Rosetta Road’ (2007) featured entirely original material, and was picked up by the producers of locally-shot feature film ‘Second Hand Wedding’ for use in the soundtrack, and was nominated as a finalist for Country Album of the Year.

In a classic example of Kiwi cultural cringe, the album was savaged by a critic for ‘playing the local card’ too prominently, referencing Cameron’s anthemic ‘Back To Rosetta Road’, London’s poignant ‘Emily Bay’, and the playful instrumental ‘Raumati Rag’, as if songwriters should not be influenced by their local geography. Lines like ‘Wellington Harbour to the Tongariro River’ were apparently too much, despite Don McGlashan’s ‘Dominion Road’ being popular a dozen years previously, and The Fourmyula’s ‘I’m going down to Otaki’ being a hit as far back as 1970 (coincidentally penned by Wayne Mason, a current member of the Cattlestops).

Cameron, particularly, refused to shrink back into the safety of western swing standards about Texas, blues from Mississippi and jazz standards about New York or Chicago. He initiated the recording of a third album in 2016 entitled ‘Dance in The Rain’, which featured his lilting ‘Martinborough Morning’ and a thumping minor blues entitled ‘West Coast Sunsets’ which, while stylistically evocative of B. B. King or Muddy Waters, has it’s lyrical feet firmly rooted in the sands of Raumati Beach. Wellington session guns Nick Granville (guitar) and Lance Philip (drums) were enlisted, along with local legend Wayne Mason (keys). Through the miracle of file-sharing technology, Trenwith was able to contribute fiddle and vocals from Johnson City, Tennessee, where she was teaching Americans how to play bluegrass music, and studio engineer Ross McDermott added deft and tasteful guitar and keyboard flourishes.

To celebrate 20 years since that first shed rehearsal, Cameron and London have reunited with original drummer Evan Williams and keyboard player Wayne Mason, to present their favourite western swing and Americana-influenced originals cherry-picked from their three albums, with a smattering of R’n’B and country rock classics.

It's dinner time - Bring nibbles!