Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music and hospitality entrepreneur Chris Priestley (co-founder of Auckland’s Real Groovy Records and landmark cafes Atomic, Java Jive and Kerouac’s) has had a musical career spanning more than 30 years. His early work was with folk group Acoustic Confusion and latterly he has recorded as a solo artist (with a revolving cast of high-profile guest artists).

His latest project, Unsung Heroes, is a series of songs and stories from New Zealand’s distant past. While Chris was researching for his forthcoming album he discovered many amazing and interesting characters this country has and how little people know about them. He scoured old book shops and public libraries hunting out old newspapers and publications. He came across colourful characters like Little Biddy and Captain Moonlight, Kimble Bent and Darling Jennie: heroines and magicians, balloonists and guitarists, moonshiners and prospectors.
Each clipping has inspired a song, and the accompanying book includes a fascinating facsimile of each.

This is a very special album, a collection of new folk ballads documenting snippets of our history. Fellow contributors include Nigel Gavin, Cameron Bennett, Emily Roughton, Jess Hindin, Neil Billington, Bryan Christianson, Robyn Kamira, Te Auripo Kamira and Kirsten Taylor.