''Drylands'' is Mel Parsons' third album, released on 10 April 2015 on Cape Road Recordings. The album was recorded in engineer Lee Prebble's Surgery Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. One of the songs Parsons wrote was a duet, and she decided to cold e-mail

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

to see if he would perform the other half of the song "Don't Wait", and he agreed. Along with Ron Sexsmith, the album showcases local and international guest musicians

Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut album ''Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top ...

Vyvienne Long Vyvienne Long is a musician from Co. Dublin, Ireland. A classically trained cellist from the College of Music, Dublin and the Escola de Musica in Barcelona, she also sings and plays piano and writes music for her quintet which comprises 2 cell ...

, and

Trevor Hutchinson Trevor Hutchinson is a Northern Irish bass player and a founding member of Lúnasa. Born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, he played with numerous bands before Lúnasa, including The Waterboys and Sharon Shannon. Discography ; ...

. Another song on the album, "Get Out Alive", is the result of her writing about a dangerous car accident she was in where the car rolled four times and was totaled, but she walked out without serious injury, but found herself re-evaluating her life for a time.

Track list

Personnel

Musicians * Mel Parsons – vocals, guitar * Gerry Paul - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, lap steel guitar * Neil Watson - guitar * Aaron Stewart - bass *

- double bass * Craig Terris - drums * Nick George - drums * Ed Zuccollo - piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

- cello * Ron Sexsmith - vocals *

- backing vocals *

Andrew Keoghan Andrew Keoghan (born 6 October 1980) is a New Zealand musician and songwriter. Career Keoghan was classically trained in singing. He also plays guitar and violin. His first album ''Arctic Tales Divide'' was released in New Zealand in 2011. Keog ...

- vocals * Lisa Tomlins - backing vocals * Anji Sami - backing vocals * Lex French - trumpet * Ebony Lamb - choir * Anna Shaw - choir * Jamie Parlett - choir * Cameron "Dusty" Burnell - choir * Kim Bonnington - choir * Louis Thompson-Munn - choir * Imogen Holmstead-Scott - choir * Katie McCarthy-Burke - choir * Justin Firefly Clarke - choir * Manu Scott - choir Production * Mel Parsons - producer * Gerry Paul - producer * Don Bartlye – mastering at Benchmark, Sydney * Lee Prebble - engineering at the Surgery, Wellington, NZ, mixing *

- additional engineering * Don Kerr - additional engineering * Jeremy Toy - additional engineering * Oliver Harmer - mixing at The Lab, Auckland, NZ, additional engineering

Chart

Awards

*Best Country Music Song (Alberta Sun) –

2016 New Zealand Music Awards The 2016 New Zealand Music Awards was the 51st holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place in November 2016 at Vector Arena in Auckland and was hosted by c ...

. *Best Engineer ( Lee Prebble and Oliver Harmer) - 2015 New Zealand Music Awards

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Mel Parsons albums