Sure, he sings, he plays guitar, he fronts his own band, but he’s a songwriter.

Songs that come from the heart, songs about life, songs about truth, songs you could call country.

Raised in the seaside Art Deco city of Napier, where the Pacific Ocean laps at the beaches of Hawke Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, Moffatt began doing so at the age of 10.

Quitting his job as a newspaper reporter, he moved to Auckland to pursue his musical ambitions and was soon singing in Red McKelvie’s new Cajun band Mumbo Gumbo. He also began making his mark in the city with his own country band.

He burst onto the national music scene with his debut album ‘Somewhere in New Zealand Tonight’ in 1995 and at the following year’s recording industry awards was a finalist in songwriter of the year, a title previously won by such luminary pop writers as Neil Finn, Dave Dobbyn and Martin Phillipps.

‘A Place To Play’ followed in 1998 and ‘If That’s What You Want’ (as the Glen Moffatt Band) in 2001, both including co-writes with Ritchie Pickett and Arthur Baysting, before Moffatt relocated to Brisbane, Australia.

As a performer, he has shared the stage with a diverse range of acts from American Cajun star Wayne Toups to Byrds sideman Earl P. Ball to Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh to Australian musicians Kasey Chambers and James Blundell.

His songs have been included on albums by Bill Chambers, Michael Muchow, Donna Dean, Ritchie Pickett, Kevin Greaves and Dennis Marsh.