HELEN HENDERSON: Press

The Southland Times
Shoeless on Sunset Boulevard
(March 6, 2004)

The celebrity photographers weren't sure what to make of this one.

Amid the Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider cast members, New Zealand cinema notables, United States movie industry insiders and assorted diplomats swanning into the Beverly Hills Hotel for a pre-Oscar bash, came a face they couldn't put a name to.

Better safe than sorry, so flash-flash-flash-flash-flash went the cameras. And you are?

"Cinderella," Helen Henderson told them.

It certainly felt that way. In some ways she was more of a real Hollywood local than many on the carpet that night, years of performing in the area's small-but-vibrant local clubs had seen to that.

(click for complete article)

The Southland Times
A grassroots siren
(December 27, 2003)

Last year Helen Henderson and her band were whisked off to Austria to open for Rod Stewart "We were on a huge stage playing for thousands of people. I felt like a rock star for five minutes, then it was back to LA and stages the size of postage stamps. Back in the bloody trenches. It was a bit of a comedown," she smiles.

Still, after that first return gig, she did what musos are expected to do and showed up, tired and depressed, at a small club, verging on sleazy, called The Joint.

In the kitchen, an old musicologist saw her and his haggard face cracked into a smile.

Someone introduced them, and the educated old-timer grabbed her hands, announced a little loudly that he knew all about her, and gave her a hug. Then he took the stage and played a few songs in his own elegantly wasted style, guitar slung low and slinky.

Next morning Henderson called a friend, just to double check she hasn't been confused or kidded. That was Keith Richards, wasn't it? Yeah, the friend exulted. He wouldn't stop holding your hand.

(click for complete article)

New Zealand Musician
Helen Henderson - Rediscovering Her Roots
(February/March 2001)

When record company execs told Helen Henderson she had a great voice for country music in the early eighties, the then young wannabe rock star was horrified! Now she is embracing the twang and the change in focus her 20 year songwriting career has taken.

Most recently it has taken the Invercargill born and bred, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter back onto the stage. For the last three years Henderson has been playing regular gigs with her five-piece live band and has independently released a five-track EP, 'The Sonora Sessions'. Henderson was back in New Zealand recently with her five-year-old daughter, Lily, to visit family. While here she found a more receptive music climate and has subsequently secured distribution for the EP through Global Routes Music. (click for complete article)

Los Angeles Times
Waltzing Matilda in a ballroom
(February 2, 2003)

"We're a little country but we're making a lot of noise," said Kiwi siren Helen Henderson (now leader of an L.A.-based band) as the audience rose to hear her sing her country's national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand," in Maori and English.

The Listener
Music Reviews By Nick Bollinger
(March 17, 2001)

In this country, the EP is the musical equivalent of the short film. It may not be anyone's life's ambition to make these glorified singles, but for a new band it's a practical way of advertising your potential.

Southland-born Helen Henderson cut her EP The Sonora Sessions (Bad Minnie) in Los Angeles, where she's currently based. The bold American production leaps out from the opening bars. It has the kind of punch and presence that new country acts can rely on, but which has seldom been successfully emulated here. Henderson matches her powerful backing with confident originals and a convincing mid-American voice. But, in spite of the western trappings, it's the folk demons of her Southland childhood that she returns to in "The Ballad of Minnie Dean," the most distinctive of the disc's five tracks.

The New Zealand Herald
Helen Henderson: The Sonora Sessions
(February 2, 2001)

Herald rating: ****
(Bad Minnie/Global Routes)
Review: Graham Reid

With her impressive five-track, country-rock calling card, this former Kiwi who now divides her time between her new hometown of LA and songwriting in Nashville, comes on like a less world-weary Lucinda Williams or a more rootsy Shania Twain.

It's a good midpoint to be at because, while her voice might not be the most distinctive, she carries these songs on the strength of her songwriting, which is right out of the southern traditions. Her seasoned regular band have the guitar jangle, mandolin and accordion thing down perfectly.

And although she might sing about the desert under the stars she hasn't forgotten her Southland routes either: the appropriately dirge-like "Minnie Dean" here was used as the title track for a program in the Epitaph series. A highly convincing introduction to someone we could happily hear more from.

The Southland Times
Southern haunts: Old stories, new songs
(July 21, 2001)

In the late 1980s, [Helen Henderson] decided to throw the whole lot in and teach yoga but after a couple of years found she couldn't not follow her passion.

"As miserable as I was being a struggling singer-songwriter, I ended up being more miserable not doing it.

"I have to say that when I came back the second-time around, that was when my most authentic material started emerging."

Perhaps it's this authenticity that led to her being a finalist in last year's LA Music Awards in the Best New Female Singer-Songwriter category.

(click for complete article)

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