Don McGlashan briefly played French Horn and Percussion in the Auckland Philharmonia (then called the Auckland Symphonia), then he went on to be part of From Scratch, Blam Blam Blam, and The Front Lawn. He fronted The Mutton Birds in the 90s, living in London with the band during that time, signed to Virgin Records UK. The band’s album “Envy Of Angels” made the UK Sunday Times ten best albums of the year list in 1996.

Since The Mutton Birds, Don has made four solo albums, “Warm Hand” (2006), “Marvellous Year” (2009), "Lucky Stars" (2015), and “Bright November Morning” (2022), the latter of which was his first NZ No. 1 album in a four decade career with top ten albums in each decade.

His 2006 gospel anthem “Bathe In The River” - sung by Hollie Smith - has become one of the biggest NZ singles of all time.

He has twice won the APRA Silver Scroll for his songwriting, for “Anchor Me” and for “Bathe In The River”; was made an Arts Laureate in 2001, and was inducted into the Aotearoa Music Hall Of Fame in 2023.

Along the way, he has scored 15 feature films, including Jane Campion’s “An Angel At My Table” and several TV serieses, including a recent project with his old “Front Lawn” friend Harry Sinclair: the worldwide children’s hit “Kiri & Lou”, which has been translated into dozens of languages, and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2022.

Although Don has worn many musical hats in his life, the core of his work has always been his songwriting.

Grant Smithies, (RNZ) said: “ [McGlashan is] able to articulate the complex relationship between people and place, fear and beauty, freedom and risk, memory and hope in a few deft lines over a freshly minted melody - [and] that is really something.”

Russell Baillie (Listener) said: “[McGlashan is] the great storyteller of New Zealand music”.