The Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust could see its coffers grow if a new CD planned for release by an Oamaru folk singer proves a hit.
Singer-songwriter Phil Powers, who spent two years recording a new album inspired by the town's rich history, will hold a fundraising concert at the North Otago Club on Itchen St today.
The former New Zealand Music Awards finalist said, while funds from the concert would be used to pay post-production costs, profits from the sale of CDs would go straight to the trust.
Powers, who was nominated for a national folk music award in 1989, said the fact that he had made previous commercial recordings proved a major stumbling block in financing the Whitecity CD, as access to government and council arts funds was denied.
"Even a small-scale recording project such as this costs a good few dollars to attain the product I envisage."
The project had been inspired by the story of the drownings of members of the Baker and Louden families in the "Great Storm of 1868", but had grown the more he heard of Oamaru's history, he said.
"It will be a musical, visual, educational and enticing snapshot of the history of this part of New Zealand."
