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Bio: I live in Auckland, New Zealand and have been writing songs and playing guitar for longer than I care to say. My roots are in London, south of The River, but have been in New Zealand since 1986. I have spent my life, my day-job, working in universities, teaching and research, mostly medical statistics. The songs in the albums at this site represent those mostly written since about 1995.
Songwriting: My hope is that anyone who listens to these songs finds something to engage them. I find it interesting how a song, its tune and lyrics, develop, morph and mature (hopefully) over time. And some just fall by the wayside. I find it harder and harder to write lyrics. There are some great lyricists to inspire, Dylan, Cohen and Waits, of course. Fraught angst, cliches, and preaching lyrics are best avoided – at least I don’t care to hear them - though I am guilty myself.
Music: Feel free to listen and download from the site (they are MP3 files). Also, you can buy tracks of the albums at Bandcamp, and listen on Spotify and iTunes. I have CDs of all the albums, if anyone wants please contact me – Situation Normal has a nice lyric booklet. Sorry no vinyl as yet!
Lyric booklet, album cover and disc
for Situation Normal.
The Ministry of Folk are cooking up another evening of intimate alt-folk in a lovely old hall in Mt Eden. BYO drinks.
Roger Marshall will play classy, topical songs from his new album Kingsland Hill - Roger's last album enjoyed a 5 star review from NZ Musician magazine.
Songs: Over There, Shifting Sands, Man, Situation Normal
Roger Marshall and Jono Lonie play "Yours and mine" at the Thirsty Dog, Auckland, New Zealand from the album "Over there".
Roger Marshall and Jono Lonie play "Outside your window" at the Thirsty Dog, Auckland, New Zealand from album "Over there".
Roger Marshall performing "Downland" at the Jiang Jin Jiu Bar in Beijing.
Roger Marshall performing "Over There" at the Jiang Jin Jiu Bar in Beijing.
Montage done by David Warder.
"It's not often that you stumble upon an artist who makes you stop and listen, really listen openly and wholeheartedly to every word, every phrase and every breath. Roger Marshall's new album does just that, making Situation Normal anything but normal"
"..he has a voice and a vision which is all his own. These are sharp, observational and thoughtful songs of experience."
"...Don't Leave and What If? are the two softest songs. They are short and stripped down and honest and when they come on, the world seems to disappear"
"Over There is the latest in his growing catalogue of albums exploring the acoustic end of the country and blues spectrum, evoking the vast lush landscapes of Aotearoa, with just a hint of Americana. It is country music of sorts, but a sort born out of life experience, not misguided fads and popularity."
".. a beautiful rant"
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