Rising Kiwi Country Music Star Arun O'Connor Releases "Too Far Gone", First Single Off Debut Album

Arun O'Connor's super catchy, melodic, soaring-chorus and toe-tapping country song "Too Far Gone", the first single off his anticipated debut album Songs from the Reading Room, is an upbeat tune about a tricky situation that will make its way to the top of your summertime playlist.

"Too Far Gone" was written earlier this year by Arun and Nashville writers Ryan Sorestad, Brittany Knott and Taylor Nash. Because of Covid travel restrictions, the backing tracks were recorded at Pentavarit Studios in Nashville with sought-after producer Jay Tooke on drums, Billy Justineau (of Brothers Osbourne and Eric Church) on keyboards, Brad Sample (Randy Houser) on guitar and Lee Hendricks (Eric Church) on bass; Arun then recorded his parts at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. The result is "Too Far Gone" - a track that grabs your ear and doesn't let go.

Arun says, "'Too Far Gone" is a song about the mistakes we make in life, with all the bad choices that lead us down the roads we don’t want to go down. It is a song that will hopefully make us question our own intentions and reevaluate what is most important in our lives. Maybe we deserve that second chance. Maybe we can change and be the person we had always set out to be. "Too Far Gone" speaks of a seemingly never-ending cycle of mistakes and regrets but with a stubbornness of not wholeheartedly wanting to change."

Arun O'Connor comes from a family of award-winning country musicians, so it seems only natural that he would follow suit. The lone wolf guitar player in a line of drummers, Arun swept the 2018 Gold Guitar Awards in the Vocal and New Country categories, winning Southland Musician of the Year and sending him on the road to recording his debut album with industry greats in Nashville. Having never previously written his own songs, the two self-penned singles from his Stateside stint reached the top of the NZ charts.

Growing up in the small city of Invercargill at the southern tip of Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island, Arun’s musical sensibilities were shaped not only by his dad and brothers, but also by the American country music his parents played – Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, et al. These influences - and Arun's fascination with Eagles musicianship - are evident in the infectious melody and chorus of "Too Far Gone".

"Too Far Gone" is available via all good streaming services from Friday 29 October on a/b Records.

About Arun O'Connor:

The multi-talented singer-songwriter Arun O'Connor has been on the music scene in Southland for 15 years, or about half his life – he’s continuing a dynamic family legacy that includes his dad, Southland Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Dave O’Connor, and three older drum-playing brothers.

Arun has built a stellar rep as a session and touring musician and musical director for internationally renowned New Zealand country greats Jody Direen, Kayla Mahon, The Heartleys and more. Arun took home the prize for Southland Entertainer of the Year in 2020, and he won the 2018 Southland Musician of the Year Award.

The singer’s recent success as a solo artist – and discovery of his latent songwriting talents – was a serendipitous result of his sweeping triumph at the 2018 Gold Guitar Awards, where he won the Senior Overall Award as well as the Open Vocal Group, Senior Male Vocal, Senior NZ Song and New Country Category award. The prize package for winning for Senior Male Vocal for his rendition of Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” was, as he says, “more of a career starter than a cash prize, a new guitar and kudos.” He earned the opportunity to record a single in Nashville with Jay Tooke, former drummer of the country band The Steel Woods who’s become one of the most sought after producers in Music City for indie artists.

Drawing on a lifetime of experiences and keen observation of the lives of family and friends, he took to songwriting naturally, emerging with the killer country-blues and vocal harmony laden ballad “Following the Line.” In addition to over 132,000 Spotify streams, the track hit #2 on the NZ iTunes Country charts, #3 on the NZ iTunes Overall chart and #11 on the official NZ music NZ Hot New Singles chart.

The singer scaled even greater heights with his follow-up single, the rollicking, original “Let Go of My Heart,” whose instrumental tracks were recorded in Nashville while Arun tracked his vocals and guitar back home. The song went to #1 on the NZ iTunes Country charts and #3 on the NZ iTunes Overall charts.

Arun wrote a whopping 16 new songs from October 2020 to March 2021 to lay the foundation for his Tooke-produced, Nashville and New Zealand recorded (due to COVID travel restrictions) full length debut album Songs from the Reading Room. The collection’s title is a riff on a story about a kid in his grade school class who was dragged from class to the “reading room” next door to be reprimanded. Though he assesses much of his personal and observational songwriting as laid back and somewhat dark and melancholy in nature, his choice for lead single “Too Far Gone” features up-tempo music contrasting with poignant, hard hitting lyrics.

Growing up in the small city of Invercargill, Arun's musical sensibilities were shaped not only by his dad and brothers, but also by the American country music his parents played – Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, etc.. Fascinated by the musicianship of the Eagles when he watched their classic “Hell Freezes Over” performance, he was inspired to be the one kid in the family who instead of drums chose guitar – which he began playing at age 11. By 15, he was playing weekend pub dates, weddings and corporate functions. While pursuing his musical endeavors, he worked a few day jobs (wool room labourer, mechanic’s apprentice) but the combination of his skills and diversity (bass, electric and acoustic guitar, singing) quickly led to a full time career both leading bands and working as a sideman for others – most prominently Jody Direen, who opened for Kenny Rogers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, LeAnn Rimes and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery in NZ and played at CMC Rocks, Australia’s largest country music festival.

“After so many years making a living playing with other artists and singing cover songs, it’s definitely been a challenge to perform my own material for people,” Arun says. “It’s honestly something I never expected to do, and I am so grateful for the encouragement I’ve received, not only with streams and chart success, but from fans who come to see my shows. I’m looking forward to more opportunities to share my newfound passion for songwriting with everyone.”

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