Okay. The cruelest month has passed, which means we're into May and New Zealand Music Month.

With that in mind I will endeavor to spend the time writing about New Zealand music. So nothing new there really.

I still vaguely question the whole concept on NZMM. I can't help but wonder whether the glut of albums that people save to proudly release in May doesn't actually result in artists getting less, rather than more, publicity. And, let's face it, when you release an album you need publicity there and then. It's pretty much the only chance to let people know that the album exists unless you are lucky enough to get sustained airplay. When it's released, it's new and hot, six months down the track it's just one of the 2000 Kiwi albums released each year.

So this week we have a review of Dave Roy's latest CD, just in time as it happens since the prolific artist/songwriter is already back at the Boatshed Studio recording a follow-up. Since I had a bit of input during the making of this, guest reviewer Ken Usmar will do the honours.

Before that I wanted to give you a head's up about a very exciting project about to come to fruition coutesy of the Bay's top indie radio station, the Mount's 88.1 Kiss-FM.

During May, Kiss-FM will be releasing a compilation album featuring music from Bay of Plenty (and a few Waikato) musicians.

It's called ‘Kiss-Picks' and sation owner Max Christoffersen describes it as 'a music collection that's been 25 years in the making.”

In keeping with the times, it's not a CD but a flash drive in the shape of a Gibson Les Paul guitar, containing 14 tracks as MP3 and WAV files, with liner notes, album covers and a crossfade mix so the songs sound as they would on Kiss-FM.

Max says: 'Kiss-Picks features music produced between 1986 and 2011. Hearing these songs go to air every day on Kiss-FM had me thinking the music is too good to stay hidden between the beaches of Mount Maunganui and thermal valleys of Rotorua and Taupo.”

Artists picked include Brilleaux, Hard to Handle, Enercia, Kokomo, Luke Thompson, Kaimai Cowboys, Aaron Saxon and Ritchie Pickett. I'll provide updates and more news on this as the month progresses, or you can check progress at www.kissfm.co.nz (and request a few songs at the same time!).

DAVE ROY – NO PLACE TO HIDE

Dave Roy is a storyteller telling his stories through artworks and music. However, Dave possesses his fair share of musical talent and he also has some of Tauranga's finest musicians playing here.

But what makes Dave Roy's albums fun are the great yarns he weaves out of the mundane juxtaposed with his emotional insights into the human condition. You will find humour, pathos, and nostalgia here as Dave and his sidemen, this time called ‘The Fugitives', romp through a mixture of country, blues and jazz.

The disc begins and ends with a very blue country ballad called ‘Sweet Angel of Mercy'. Dave is very frank about his feelings and this song evokes the insecurities and fears we all experience to a greater or lesser degree. The opening version is more up-tempo featuring banjo and fiddle while the slower finale uses clarinet and bassoon.

Space dictates I just concentrate on my favourite selections on this disc so here goes.

‘Rude Things' has it all: very funny lyrics, five-string banjo, a distorted vocal chorus and some absolutely filthy sounding wah-wah guitar (played by Derek Jacombs). Dave has a knack for putting stuff into songs others think but dare not speak.

‘Tip-Toe...' is a trip down Nostalgia Drive, wistfully recalling simpler times. Built around ‘Tip Toe through the Tulips', it is given a cowboy jazz feel with an enchanting pairing of Derrin Richards' banjo and Robbie Laven's fiddle.

‘Red or White' is about drinking. I love the roll call of wines complete with tasting notes such as: ‘And there's heaps of truly appalling stuff only fit for washing feet' – great stuff.

And ‘Born A Gun' has Dave imagining himself as a firearm. He speculates he could be any make, calibre, or gauge but his lyric reminds you guns are dangerous and they kill. A truly cool idea on a very enjoyable CD.

Ken Usmar