‘You can’t sign an mp3’: The music legends still topping the charts with CD sales

Alex Casey meets a curious outlier from last year’s local music charts.

At the end of last year, Aotearoa’s 2024 listening habits were revealed and some clear trends were observed: the proliferation of country music, the domination of the “pop girlies”, and the unwavering popularity of L.A.B. But there were also some big surprises, including that ensemble crooners NZ Highwaymen cracked the top 10 local album charts – above the likes of DARTZ and Fat Freddy’s Drop – despite having only 200 monthly listens on Spotify. 

The first question to unravel this mystery: who are NZ Highwaymen? “We’re just four good buddies from way, way back, who all sing very, very well,” Brendan Dugan laughs down the phone. With a music career spanning over half a century since he won New Faces in 1968, Dugan is the youngest highwayman at 73 years old. For the last three years, he’s been touring the country alongside fellow music legends Frankie Stevens, Gray Bartlett, and Dennis Marsh. 

Quite possibly the oldest local band still touring Aotearoa, NZ Highwaymen play the hits of Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash and other popular American country artists, along with New Zealand classics and songs from their own extensive catalogues (Dennis Marsh, for example, has 30 albums to choose from). “I’ve always had a saying when we are on tour: ‘if you haven’t got the people singing within the first two songs, you’ve got a problem’,” says Dugan. 

Playing everywhere from Invercargill’s Civic Theatre to Northland’s Opononi Hotel, it’s what happens after the NZ Highwaymen live shows that has boosted them into the top 10 album charts alongside the likes of L.A.B, Stan Walker, and Home Brew. “Afterwards, we always come out and sit at a desk, and it’s really cool because everyone queues up all the way out the door,” says Dugan. “And they all buy a CD, because they all want to get an autograph.” 

The signings after the show can last for hours, says manager Aly Cook. She once advised security at Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton that she would need backup getting the Highwaymen through the throng to the table. “They looked at me funny, but when it came to the end of the show, there was a huge crowd trailing after them. The security guys went, ‘Oh my gosh, you weren’t joking, were you?’ And I said, ‘No, it’s like this every night’.”

Cook has also observed many Highwaymen fans buying a CD while openly acknowledging that they don’t have a CD player anymore. “They’re buying it because they want something physical from them,” she says. “Also, you can’t sign an mp3.” For Dugan, that speaks to the devotion of country music fans. “Country music fans are very loyal, especially when you’re looking at 50 years in the business. You’ve got a lifetime with some of these people.” 

That loyalty also keeps the band afloat in a way that Spotify cannot. As James Milne aka Lawrence Arabia revealed last year, even above average success on the streaming platform does not amount to a living wage. Cook agrees. “When you buy an artist’s CD, that’s 20 bucks in their pocket. For these guys to make 20 bucks [on Spotify], they’d need thousands and thousands of streams to get anything close to the money they’d get from a single CD.” 

Beyond paying for “the fuel in the car”, the Live From James Hay Theatre CD (also available to purchase at gigs as a live concert DVD) has extra significance for the band. Not only was it the home of TVNZ’s That’s Country, where they performed early in their careers, but it was the last performance before their original Highwayman Eddie Low fell ill and pulled out of the tour, later passing away in 2024. “That’s a very special, special recording for all of us,” says Dugan. 

Even with seemingly all the world’s music streaming at your fingertips, Dugan is happy to still fly the flag for physical media. “They’re memories, and memories are important,” he says. “You’re taking a memory home to carry that on and play it in your car, or in your lounge.” He also admits to having a sizeable CD collection himself. “I’m trying to downsize in my office that is full of CDs and records, but I just can’t get rid of any. They’re all memories, they’re all great memories.” 

When he’s not wrestling with Kondo-ing his own large CD collection, Dugan is preparing for the next big NZ Highwaymen tour which kicks off in May, and will bring their number of live shows to an astonishing 56 over the last three years. “This next one’s going to be hard, because the first part of the tour is 11 days straight,” he says. “And of course, I always drive because I have the main coach for touring, so by the time it’s all over, you’re pretty tired.”

As tiring as it may be, the magic of live performing and meeting their audience keeps them going. “It’s really special because you’ll look out and often see three generations of a family in the audience, including grandma from the old person’s home out for the night,” says Cook. “I’ve always got a pile of walkers in the corner, and I’m always unbolting chairs at the venue to fit in more people who use wheelchairs. I think that’s really special to see.” 

All the while, Live From James Hay Theatre CDs will continue to fly off the signing table and keep them in the album charts, even if their Spotify plays dwindle in the low hundreds. “I don’t worry about any of that because I’m old school,” says Dugan. “Me and Spotify? I wouldn’t have a clue.”