The Return of the Lonesome Buckwhips is smart, sharp and viciously funny: the pick of the comedy I’ve seen so far by a country mile.  Country being the operative word, as they sing songs of good old fashioned heart break and of ‘grief beyond belief’. 

The banter between members of the band adds to the enjoyment, while you listen to songs about beans, from mung to string, about the (dubious) benefits of smoking and a number about the starving children of Africa that would send Sir Bob Geldof into a total spin.  Looking forward to the return of the Return of the LB’s.

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At last – a group that has proven Kiwi Country music can be sung in a Kiwi voice! The Warratahs, eat your hearts out. They might not have scored the Interislander TVC but The Lonesome Buckwhips have beaten you on that score, mates, hands down. As for the number they offered up for that gig … but more of that later.

I can’t say I’d ever heard of the Dunedin suburb Corstorphine (which Google suggests is mostly taken up by the St Clair gold course) until this show claimed it as the sometime home of the Buckwhip family, when they’re not residing at Her Majesty’s pleasure, that is. But the Buckwhip boys are doing their best to put it on the map.

“If you think you know pain then think again,” is their refrain. “The tragedies that befall each and every one of us” is their stock in trade as The Lonesome Buckwhips. It was just the three boys – Arty (Arthur Meek), Benny (Ben Hutchison) and Gary (Gareth Williams) – until Arty hit it off with a prison warden called Miri (Miriama Ketu), who has slipped into the line-up with her fiddle while Gary’s been doing time …

And now, as the show starts, Gary turns up, sentence served. So as well as the planned show, they have a bit of a catch up. Which makes for a few hairy moments. Hilarious too. Not that they believe in humour any more. It’s all too painful. Except for the heart-warming song about how Arty and Miri got it together.

Also they’re nothing if not pragmatic. Having a woman on board and incorporating some kaupapa Mâori will, they know, help their applications for funding from Creative New Zealand. And they’re not above accepting sponsorship from Marlboro too, blatantly advertising their product with ‘The Life And Non-Smoking Death Of A Smoker’.

Things have moved on since Gary went away and his song about ‘Precious Betty’ is especially poignant in the light of what he discovers tonight. But Benny is at least off the grog and into God now, inspiring us all with ‘Jesus Surely Is Your Strongest Steed”.

Of course the old favourites can’t be ignored so we get ‘The Bean Song’ too. And their song for Africa, ‘The Price of Hope’, tells it like it is like no other band has dared. Then, at last, they unveil the song that should have won them fame ahead of the Warratahs: ‘The Wahine Was A Once Off’.

Conceptually the format is not unlike a Flight of the Conchords show, with their characters emerging and stories unfolding between in within the songs. The musicality is great too and so are the lyrics, which are crystal clear.

It’s very idiosyncratic yet totally recognisable fare that deserves to build a cult audience.
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