The Bitter Brothers

How-dee! Check it out, we've just had some Bitter Brothers t-shirts made! Come check us out at our upcoming show in Ohau this Sunday and get yourself one of these stylish numbers. :-)

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Happy 80th Birthday to the brilliant Robert Crumb.

Roll up roll up, the Bitter Brothers are at it again. After being banned from playing at Gloriavale, these boys and girls just won’t quit!

If you missed us at the Undercurrent earlier in August, or if you caught us and want to hear even more, we’ll be playing a full two set show coming up on the afternoon of September 10th at the Ohau Community Hall just outside of Levin.

Along with other family commitments, we’ll be spending some time in the recording studio after this, so this will likely be our last show in 2023. By all means don’t miss out on this golden opportunity; bring a partner, bring a friend, bring your kids, and have a fun filled Sunday afternoon with the Bitter Brothers family, just no dancing!

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The Bitter Brothers The Bitter Brothers are a musical family. Sometimes comic, sometimes deadly serious, playing traditi

Hey there folks, just dropping you all a line that after a short hiatus, while our brother Bully toured Europe with one of his many other bands, the Bitter Brothers are now together once again and we have a brand new show coming up at the beginning of August at the newly minted, cosiest, most comfortable and relaxed Wellington performance space, the Undercurrent. There will be comfortable seats, food, beverages, a plethora of used books to browse and buy, some lovely art on the walls and shelves, and of course we’ll be there to provide some of our finest musical comestibles for your aural pleasure.

We’ll be kicking off the night with Peter and Cathy Dyer’s latest incarnation, the Downundermutts, with their always entertaining original and vintage country music. The Bitter Brothers will be following after with our eclectic conglomeration of genre bending old time, new time, good time Americana.

That’s August 5th, Saturday from 7pm til 9pm. Check your diaries, mark your calendars, and make an appointment to come check it out, it’ll be a night to remember!

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Well alright, that was such good fun playing at the Wellington Bluegrass Society this Friday last! Such a great venue, great crowd, and such lovely floor spot musicians who came on after us. Big shout out to Ratproof, you were all so so good!

Thanks to Andrew and the WBS for the opportunity, we all had a blast!

Here is a little video that our friend Wade shot on the night. Hope to see you all at our next rodeo. 🤠

The Bitter Brothers - Darlin Corey Live at the Wellington Buegrass SocietyHere is an old time tune that we often play with a bit of improvisation and never the same way twice.

Howdy folks, everyone here in the Bitter Brothers family are super excited to play at the Wellington Bluegrass Society this coming Friday night on May 19th. We shot this little video in my backyard of one of our original songs to give you all a little taste.

The Bitter Brothers Burn It All Down A nice little backyard jam of this Bitter Brothers original song.

Howdy All, hope this year is turning out to be one of your best ones yet!

The Bitter Brothers are still jamming up a storm and looking forward to playing more music for you all in the months ahead.

Just wanted to let you all know that we’ve just recently been reunited with another long lost brother, Bully Bitter, who happens to play upright bass, or what we like to call a Bull Fiddle! It's been a real pleasure finding another estranged brother and watching our musical family grow.

Welcome home and welcome to the family Bully!

Sitting here on my last day in Melbourne and the last day of 2022, I can’t say it’ll be sad to see the year go, although it has been an especially good year for the Bitter Brothers family, playing some super fun shows with our newly found sisters, Holly Jean and Alex Bitter. In any case it’s time to make my way back home after a lovely holiday. Missing the animals and all of your smiling faces! Lots of love to you all and a very happy new year!

Yours truly, Little W***y Bitter

The Bitter Brothers - Stars In My Life The Bitter Brothers at Anne and Roy's House Concert in Plimmerton Sep 2022The Bitter Brothers play a tribute to this great Flatlanders song written by Joe El...

𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦:

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Keep skunks, bankers, and politicians at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

If you don't take the time to do it right, you'll find the time to do it twice.

Don't corner something that is meaner than you.

Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

Don't be banging your shin on a stool that's not in the way.

Borrowing trouble from the future doesn't deplete the supply.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Don‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin' you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin’.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.

If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Most times, it just gets down to common sense.

Howdy everyone! Hope all of our friends in the Northern Hemisphere are gently easing into winter, while those of us in the Antipodes are starting to celebrate the oncoming summer. (Here in Wellington it lasts about a day maybe two, but we still love it) Anyway, just wanted to say hello. We don't have any shows booked in the near future, taking a short break for the holidays and looking forward to making some bookings from the end of January 2023. In any case, we had a great practice last night workshopping a couple of new original songs and it's all very exciting! Come see us next year and you may get to hear them. :-)

In the meantime, here is a fun cut from our last show, led by our lovely and amazing sister Holly Jean Bitter.

The Bitter Brothers - Les Yeux Noirs The Bitter Brothers at Anne and Roy's House Concert in Plimmerton Sep 2022The Bitter Brothers play a version of this classic French Gypsy Jazz standard inter...

Hey there folks, hope everybody is healthy, happy, and content these days. School holidays are finishing up now and Summer is bang on the horizon ahead! Anyway, here is an original Bitter Brothers song that we recently performed at the Plimmerton Up Close and Personal house concert last month.

This one definitely comes to mind for me when I think of the upcoming Midterm elections in the US. Good night and good luck!

The Bitter Brothers - Burn It All Down The Bitter Brothers at Anne and Roy's House Concert in Plimmerton Sep 2022A Bitter Brothers original.

Well boy howdy, we had super fun time playing at Mainly Acoustic last night opening up for the Downunderdogs! Here's video of us doing an old favorite. :-)

The Bitter Brothers - In The Pines The Bitter Brothers at the Mainly Acoustic monthly show at the Mayfair Cafe - Sep 2022Performing their version of ye olde classic In The Pines.

LOOK OUT!
The Bitter Brothers are back and we’re feeling bitter as ever!
After another year fighting plague, locked up and shut away in silent quarantine, we have had enough! Finally coming through to the other side, we’ve been released, ready for more musical shenanigans.
Reunited once again with dearly missed Bitter family relations we are headed back to the hallowed halls of the Thunderbird Cafe in the heart of downtown Wellington, once again to spin our tales of woe, darkness, death, and redemption through our idiom of original and traditional American music. There will be keening howls of loss, nostalgic reveries, astonishing recoveries, joyous manifestations, and good old fashioned toe-tapping fun. Come on down and soak it up, you won’t regret it!

It is with great sadness I have to announce that we have recently lost our dear brother Johnny Bitter aka Lawrence O Aotearoa. About 16 or 17 years ago we created the Bitter Brothers together. Johnny was always an inspiration and a guiding star for this musical family. Sharing all of our love with you now that you’ve gone back home on the other side, you will be so missed my dear dear brother!

Fantastic show this past Friday night at the Thunderbird! And a very special thanks to all these lovely musicians and new found family members. And, oh what a night it was!!!

So good to see everyone who came out to catch our show and we hope to see you all at the next rodeo. Big love to you all and happy holidays from the Bitter Brothers family!

Super fun last Sunday playing at the NZ VES Christmas party. It was a real shame that we couldn't have Bobby Joe with us on drums or Rosey on fiddle, but a fine time was had by all and we kept you both in our hearts. ❤

Hey now, check us out on page 10!
https://www.flipsnack.com/regionalnews/regional-news-issue-162-december-7th-2021.html

Regional News Issue #162 - December 7th 2021 We are Greater Wellington’s arts and entertainment publication, covering what’s on, where to go, and what to do throughout the region.