Gina Malcolm Releases New Album ‘First Rodeo’

Leanne Malcolm has changed her tune in recent years. Known across New Zealand as a radio and television journalist and as the presenter of TV3’s Nightline in the 90’s, she has had a radical shift in career since 2021.

Under her artist name Gina Malcolm (Leanne’s middle name) she’s been recording and releasing original music, fulfilling a dream that started in her 20’s.

Music has always been a huge part of Gina’s life. At 11, she got her first guitar, inspired by her mum’s piano playing and country music passion, and her dad’s love for rock ’n’ roll and blues. After moving to Queenstown with her young son and partner in 2002, Gina sang in Queenstown covers bands. However, it wasn’t until the pandemic that she found the courage to start recording and releasing her own material.

A collaboration with Arrowtown’s respected alt-country artist Tom Maxwell led to a recording studio session at Sublime in Waitaki. Tom’s band Killergrams played on five new songs and Malcolm was hooked.

A willing collaborator, Gina drew on the experience of musician and producer Matt Joe Gow and pulled artists such as Adam Hattaway and his band The Haunters into her orbit, bringing her songs to life through their inspired direction and playing. Songwriting often involved long-distance calls, emails, and sharing of demos, yet the range of contributors and the way the album came together worked perfectly. Such is the sonic cohesiveness and overarching atmosphere of the record.

Continuing a prolific run of single releases, In 2025, Gina has released two lead-in singles to the new album First Rodeo.

The first is the pure alt-country and Americana sound of Travellin’ Heart, which received strong airplay on NZ and Australian radio and was featured on The International Americana Music Show. The song has an evocative and retro feel— reminiscent of Van Morrison with a classic Americana melancholy.

Most recently, Gina released the hypnotic and atmospheric sound of Blood Left. The song, which Gina describes as “heavy, and packing a lot of attitude”, is about release, relief, loss, conflict, and toxic relationships. It is built around Gow’s beautiful guitar line that establishes the melancholic mood, the surrounding instruments creating a kind of brooding, dark alt-country noir.

Across the album’s 11 tracks, Gina takes stock and delves into emotional terrain such as romantic connectivity (Outside of You), anxiety and depression during the pandemic (Dark and Still), nostalgia for young love (In the Night), and the pain of loss, in a heartbreaking tribute to her late mother, on Shadows.

There’s the 70s laid-back groove, across seven glorious minutes, of Tumblin’ In, the Iggy Pop-inspired Traps, the true country strum of Hopeful Moon, and the catharsis of singing about sadness in the raw and bluesy closing track Knee Deep.

“It’s been a journey, but one of the best times of my life,” Gina says of the writing and recording process. “This is a very different Leanne Malcolm who used to read the news. I like being Gina, as it indicates my life has shifted in radical ways, and I’m not a one-trick pony. It’s taken courage to put myself out there, but life is all about courage, especially when you’re engaging your passion. It’s always been all about the music. I live for it.”

First Rodeo is out now on Bandcamp and streaming services.

Gina Malcolm and The Hollow Souls
First Rodeo album launch

November 5
Big Fan Studio, Morningside, Auckland

Tickets