A life in song: Barry Saunders returns to Tussock Country

There are some songwriters whose music feels woven into the back roads of New Zealand.

Not because they set out to write “rural” songs, but because they have lived that life. They have travelled the country, watched people closely, and learned how to tell a story the way New Zealanders talk. Straightforward, observant, and quietly reflective.

Barry Saunders is one of them.

This May Saunders returns to the Tussock Country Music Festival with The Warratahs, bringing decades of songwriting and touring experience back to a region he says he has always loved.

Alongside the main festival performance, Saunders will also take part in a much smaller and more personal event: a lounge session hosted at musician Jenny Mitchell’s family home.

The contrast between those two settings suits him just fine.

“I enjoy them both,” he says. “The bigger gigs have that rock and roll energy. But the smaller ones are lovely because people really listen to the songs. It’s a great way to communicate.”

A life shaped by land

Saunders grew up first in Taranaki, before his family moved south to the Lincoln College farm in Canterbury.

That rural upbringing, he says, has always shaped how he sees the world and, inevitably, how he writes.

“I’ve always felt connected to the land,” he says. “If you live in New Zealand, you see that in a lot of the songwriting. There’s a sense of space here. New Zealand has a lot of space, and that finds its way into the music.”

While not every song is directly about the physical landscape, Saunders says the connection still runs deep.

“I don’t write only about the land. It’s tied up with inner landscapes as well. But that’s the way I grew up.”

His early influences were largely shaped by the music his parents played.

“I heard a lot of Hank Snow, Hank Williams, early Johnny Cash and Elvis,” he says. “Then folk music came along, and later I played in pop bands and blues bands. It all mixes together, but it tends to lean toward that country edge.”

A sound that belongs to New Zealand

Despite those American influences, Saunders believes musicians inevitably absorb the place they come from.

“When you grow up in the country and you tour around New Zealand, you can’t help being influenced by it,” he says. “There’s something about New Zealand that’s hard to define, but it’s special.”

That sense of place has been part of The Warratahs’ sound since the band formed in the 1980s.

Returning to Tussock Country

For Saunders, festivals like Tussock Country are more than just another stop on the tour calendar.

“It’s really important,” he says. “It’s a focal point for a certain type of music, and it’s something that’s developed over many years. We’ve had a relationship with it going right back.”

The Warratahs’ set will span the band’s long catalogue.

“We’ll play some of the well-known songs, and we’ll play some material from our latest album,” Saunders says. “It usually includes things from our very first album right through to the most recent one, and sometimes a couple of covers.”

The smaller lounge show will have a different feel altogether.

“I’ll play songs from my solo albums, some covers, and some songs I’ve written with other people,” he says. “It’s a chance to talk about the songs a bit more and make it interesting for people.”

The excitement of the early days

Looking back across his career, Saunders still remembers the moment he realised the band had truly found an audience.

“Our first tour was incredibly exciting,” he says. “We had ‘Hands of My Heart’ out, but you have to remember there were no mobile phones then. We had no idea we were getting airplay around the country.”

When the band finally hit the road, the response surprised them.

“It was exciting to be accepted like that and to realise how popular the band was.”

The Warratahs then spent years touring before eventually reaching a point of exhaustion.

“We toured for about eight years and eventually burnt out,” he says. “We ran out of steam and needed to rethink what we were doing.”

The band later reformed with new members and new musical textures, including accordion player Alan Norman and, more recently, drummer Caroline Easther.

“She’d played with me in my solo work for years,” Saunders says. “When our drummer passed away, I suddenly realised the answer was right in front of me. I asked Caroline to join and she said yes straight away. It’s been great.”

Sharing a stage with legends

Saunders’ long career has also placed him alongside some of music’s biggest names, including Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

“They were really grounded people,” he says. “Johnny Cash had enormous charisma, but he was also a very good conversationalist.”

The experience left a lasting impression.

“They were old-school country. Very straightforward and genuine.”

The industry today

Like many musicians who started long before the digital era, Saunders has watched the music industry transform.

“It’s instant now,” he says. “But it’s also instantly gone. Music flashes past your eyes these days.”

That doesn’t mean he has lost faith in the future of New Zealand music. Far from it.

“There’s been a huge wave of creativity in the last few years,” he says. “People like Jenny Mitchell and Jackie Bristow. A lot of young women are writing incredible songs.”

For Saunders, that creative cycle is simply how music evolves.

“The music people hear when they’re young stays with them,” he says. “Their parents played records, and the kids hear them. That’s how it goes.”

Old songs, still alive

For an artist whose catalogue stretches back decades, Saunders says he never tires of performing the songs audiences know best.

“They’re old friends,” he says. “I never get sick of singing songs like ‘Hands of My Heart’. They’re part of me.”

That connection between songwriter and song is what keeps audiences coming back.

And when Saunders takes the stage at Tussock Country, whether it’s the festival crowd or a living room full of listeners, it is the same simple idea that keeps him going.

“You just keep doing what you do,” he says. “And every now and then the circle comes back your way.”