Up against some strong competition from violin-loop fusionist Graeme James and songwriter Luke Thompson, it was the highly experienced Guy Wishart who took home the 2017 Folk Tui Award at the Auckland Folk Festival last weekend.

Wishart’s ‘West By North’ was recorded at Roundhead Studios with engineer Jordan Stone. An Auckland biology teacher by day, it is his third solo album, coming after a long break following his 1990 debut ‘Don’t Take Me For Granted’ and 1998’s ‘Circus’.

The artist was taken by surprise by his win, and wasn’t shy to praise his competitors.

“It was an honour in the first place to be included as a finalist with Graeme James and Luke Thompson whose albums are so good,” he said on his Facebook page.

Read Pedro Santos’ NZM review of the album here.