Last time I recommended music at Tauranga Art Gallery there were complaints. I knew there would be. There wasn't exactly a stampede, but the audience's discreet rush towards the doors at the end of the Ezza Rose Band concert meant only one thing – complaints coming.

That I thought the concert was great barely matters. It wasn't what most people were expecting, the band from Portland having ignored their earlier acoustic years, ditched the revivalist folk and rock ‘n' roll, and concentrated solely on their most recent material, electric indie country closer to Wilco than Alison Krauss.

So – belatedly – sorry, y'all. I did say that Americana was a broad church and hard to define. They just played a different bit of it than expected. However, there won't be the same confusion next week.

No confusion

Next week Joel Fafard is coming to the art gallery. He's from Canada and plays and sings acoustic blues. No confusion. And on a new mission not to lead anyone astray ever again, rather than offering my opinion I'll tell you exactly what Joel wrote in an email last week after I'd asked for a description:

'Award-winning guitarist Joel Fafard performs Southern roots and blues classics with the soul of a purist and the showmanship of a seasoned entertainer.

He sings with the sexy, sandpapered-sounding vocal style of the new-generation bluesman.

He tells his hilarious between-song stories with the confidence of a late show host delivering his monologue. And when he lets rip a solo on his resonator guitar, it's easy to hear how he once earned both a Juno nomination and a Western Canadian Music Award for his skills on the axe”.

Okay. All clear then? Joel is a bluesman and with his most recent albums, Cluck Old Hen and Borrowed Horses, has been exploring the world of traditional folk/blues songs such as ‘Ain't No Grave', ‘Sitting on top of the World', ‘Spoonful' and ‘Long Black Veil'.

But don't just take my word for it. Joel has a YouTube channel with a pile of his music on it: www.youtube.com/user/joelfafard. ‘Nuff said.

Joel Fafard plays at 7.30pm on April 16, tickets are $25, support set from Mike Garner. See you there.

Indie pop spot

And, over at the Mount, Major Toms – the little venue that could – seems to be becoming the default spot for quirky indie pop and during the next couple of weeks are hosting two excellent bands from Auckland.

The first are coming next Friday, April 17, and have been here before. I know because I missed them and then kept getting emails from people telling me how good they were and what a great night I missed. I hate that. But next week Paper Cranes are back.

They're a bit hard to pin down; indie pop, like Americana, covers a lot of ground.

The core of the band are the husband-and-wife team of Fraser and Naomi Browne.

Because of her upbringing in Japan they have a decidedly Japanese influence: the ‘Paper Cranes' of their name is usually written with the equivalent Japanese characters following the English though, due to the limitations of newspaper type, we've skipped that.

Not Japanese

However, lest you think the music is in some way Japanese, it's not. It sounds like folk-leaning indie pop, piano based, with catchy choruses, well-written lyrics and all the other stuff you expect from good songs. He sings (mostly). Attractive harmonies happen. She plays shakuhachi and flute, but that's about it for the Japanese influence musically.

This tour is to support the just-released album ‘The Road Home' which is their second. Most importantly, if this sounds even vaguely interesting – and I certainly recommend them –then you can head to their website and hear the whole new album.

It's www.papercranes.co.nz Tickets for Major Toms are $10 and an outfit called Little Brother will play support.

Then, the following week, Model Train Wreck are playing at Major Toms on April 24. Since they're the band who released my official Number One Favourite Album of 2014 you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there.

Hunt down their music wherever you can – everything is online somewhere. You won't regret it. More about them next week.