She Had the Dumplings - Released 2021
Trick in the Box - Released 2022
No Worries - Feb 14 2024 release

Produced by Cy Winstanley

Recorded & mixed by Brandon Bell at The Cabin in Nashville, TN
Mastered by Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering

All songs written by Cy Winstanley

Cy Winstanley: Lead vocals, electric guitar
Ryan Connors: Piano, Keyboards
Owen Biddle: Electric bass
Matty Alger: Drums, programming
Laura Holloway: BGVs on 'Trick in the Box'

Photography by Natia Cinco

The new release by Nashville-based New Zealand musician Cy Winstanley moves easily between frivolity, sensuality, and groove, much like it’s creator. With an underlying humor and joy, the collection showcases Cy’s breadth as a songwriter, and gives an exciting introduction to a new sonic chapter in the work of this diverse and life-loving musician. 

‘Trick’ is the first solo outing for the three-time New Zealand Music Award winner. Named for the single ‘Trick in the Box’, this three song collection is a vivid window into Winstanley’s world. While the songwriting takes a similar approach to Tattletale Saints, Cy’s band with long time collaborator and bassist Vanessa McGowan, it strays sonically from  folk and bluegrass, moving into distinctly danker sonic territory. 

Recorded at The Cabin Studio in Nashville with Grammy winning engineer Brandon Bell, Cy enlisted good friends Matty Alger on drums (Eminem, Albert Lee), Owen Biddle on bass (The Roots, Mr Barrington) and Ryan Connors on keys (Yola, Devon Gilfillian, Parker Millsap) to form a small, but righteously grooving ensemble. 

Cy is an in-demand side man with a range of artists from Brandy Clark, Lori McKenna, Peter Bradley Adams, Brit Taylor and more.

‘Trick in the Box’ is Cy’s homage to long time idol Whitney Houston (his first date at age 10 was to see ‘The Bodyguard’). The line ‘we’ve been foolin’ for a long time / ripe fruit on a high vine’  opens this tale of nascent love, just out of reach. The arrangement is spacious and lilting, the band steady but light as Ryan Connors’ Moog solo snakes in after the 2nd chorus, reminiscent of 90’s R&B stylings. Never one to shy away from a plot twist, Cy’s chorus lyric flips to reveal that the ‘trick’ he’s holding onto is in fact a declaration of love. 

‘She Had the Dumplings’ ruminates on sensations missed while stuck at home during quarantine. This fantasy night out begins at a Chinese restaurant, listing a variety of dishes and the feeling of fullness, before moving through the subway, to the club, to a music venue to witness the spirit moving power of a live band, only to be told that it was all but a dream. Venturing at times into the psych-folk realm, the song is an anthem for this out-of-body era we have been living through.

It is a common notion among musicians and traveling people that estrangement from one’s spouse can lead to a divide upon returning home, necessitating an ‘ice breaking’ event to get back on the same wavelength.  Need I spell it out? Well, Cy certainly does in ‘No Worries’, a NSFW jam that takes shape as a Waylon-esque country rocker. The message is wholly positive and one of learned necessity after many years on the road.  

Growing up in New Zealand, Cy was first introduced to guitar at high school.  Obsessive by nature, he dove in headlong practicing guitar 7+ hours a day, quickly resulting in stress injuries to his hands so severe that he was unable to pick up a pen. Forced to take a step back from technical guitar practice, his focus shifted to the craft of songwriting, a passion which stuck with him long after he recovered from his injuries. Cy spent 7 years in London working primarily in the jazz scene and launching roots duo Tattletale Saints before relocating to Nashville, TN to further pursue his love of Americana and Roots music. In Nashville, he has quickly become a sought after session and touring musician for artists such as Grammy-nominated Brandy Clark, Peter Bradley Adams, and Rachel Baiman.

Cy Winstanley lives life in extremes, with an acute desire for beautiful sensations.  He runs long distances for the mental high and the emotional vulnerability of fatigue; he thrives on travel and relocation for the smells, the people, the mystery and enchantment of life in flux.  The Dumplings EP unpacks these experiences for all to witness, capturing the colour and essence of a variety of scenes, imbuing them with relatable realism.