Australian country music is a part of the
music of AustraliaThe music of Australia is the music produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of modern Australia, including its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian music is a part of the unique heritage of a 40–60,000 year history which produced the iconic...
. There is a broad range of styles, from
bluegrassBluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, to yodelling to
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include:
outbackThe Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and
outlawIn historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush.
Notable musicians include:
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
,
Joy McKeanJoy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
,
Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
,
John WilliamsonJohn Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
,
Keith UrbanKeith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
,
Lee KernaghanLee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
and
Kasey ChambersKasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of steel guitar player Bill Chambers, and the sister of musician and producer Nash Chambers.-Solo success:...
. Others influenced by the genre include
Nick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
and
Paul KellyPaul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
. Popular songs include
Waltzing Matilda"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
(1895),
Pub With No BeerA Pub With No Beer is the title of a humorous country song made famous by country singers Slim Dusty and Bobbejaan Schoepen ....
(1957),
Lights on the HillLights on the Hill is an Australian country music hit song written by Joy McKean and made famous by Slim Dusty and which won the first Golden Guitar Award in 1973...
(1973),
I Honestly Love You"I Honestly Love You" was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-John's first number-one single in the United States and Canada, thus cementing her as a household name in North America....
(1974), True Blue (1981), and
Not Pretty Enough-Charts:-End of year chart:...
(2002).
Overview
Australia has a long tradition of
country musicCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, which has developed a style quite distinct from its US counterpart, influenced by English, Irish and Scottish folk ballads and by the traditions of Australian
bush balladBush songs or bush ballads are a folk music and poetry tradition in Australia's outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia, a young country. The lyrical tradition of bush songs was born of settlers and influenced by Aboriginal...
eers like
Henry LawsonHenry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
and
Banjo PatersonAndrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
. Country instruments, including the
guitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
,
banjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
,
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and
harmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
create the distinctive sound of country music in Australia and accompany songs with strong storyline and memorable chorus and lyrics.
The style of Australian country music evolved under the influence of rock and roll forms. While some subject matter may be constant, musical styles differ between traditional and contemporary bush ballads. Exemplars of the traditional bush ballad style include
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
's "
When the Rain Tumbles Down in July"When the Rain Tumbles Down in July" is an Australian country music song written by Slim Dusty. It has been covered by several other artists.-About the song:...
" or "Leave Him in the Long yard" which have strong narrative in verses plus choruses set to a Pick n' Strum beat. Contemporary bush ballads may employ finger picking and strumming rock styles as in
Lee KernaghanLee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
's later version of Leave Him in the Longyard, or in
Keith UrbanKeith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
reworking of the Slim Dusty/Joy McKean classic "
Lights on the HillLights on the Hill is an Australian country music hit song written by Joy McKean and made famous by Slim Dusty and which won the first Golden Guitar Award in 1973...
".
Early Bush Music
The distinctive themes and origins of Australia's bush music can be traced to the songs sung by the convicts who were sent to Australia during the early period of the British colonisation, beginning in 1788. Early Australian ballads sing of the harsh ways of life of the epoch and of such people and events as bushrangers, swagmen,
droversA drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves livestock, usually sheep or cattle, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for droving may include: delivering animals to a new owner's property, taking animals to market, or moving animals during a drought in...
, stockmen and
shearerA sheep shearer is a worker who uses -blade or machine shears to remove wool from domestic sheep during crutching or shearing.-History:...
s. Convict and bushranger verses often railed against government tyranny. Classic bush songs on such themes include:
The Wild Colonial Boy"The Wild Colonial Boy" is a traditional Irish–Australian ballad of which there are many different versions, the most prominent being the Irish and Australian versions. The original version was about Jack Donahue, an Irish rebel who became a convict, then a bushranger , who was eventually shot down...
,
Click Go The Shears"Click Go the Shears" is a traditional Australian folk song. The song details a day's work for a sheep shearer in the days before machine shears. The enduring popularity of this song reflects the traditional role that the wool industry has played in Australian life...
, The Eumeralla Shore, The Drover's Dream, The Queensland Drover, The Dying Stockman and Moreton Bay.
Later themes which endure to the present include the experiences of war, of droughts and flooding rains, of
AboriginalityAustralian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and of the railways and trucking routes which link Australia's vast distances. Isolation and loneliness of life in the Australian bush has been another theme. For much of its history, Australia's bush music belonged to an oral and folkloric tradition, and was only later published in print in volumes such as
Banjo PatersonAndrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
's
Old Bush Songs, in the 1890s.
Waltzing Matilda"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
, often regarded as Australia's unofficial
National anthemA national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
, is a quintessential early Australian country song, influenced more by Celtic folk ballads than by American Country and Western music. The lyrics were composed by the poet
Banjo PatersonAndrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
in 1895. This strain of Australian country music, with lyrics focusing on strictly Australian subjects, is generally known as "bush music" or "
bush bandA bush band is a group of musicians that play traditional Australian folk music or contemporary folk music played in a traditional Australian style...
music".
Country and folk artists such as
Tex MortonTex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
,
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
,
Rolf HarrisRolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, The Bushwackers,
John WilliamsonJohn Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
, and
John SchumannJohn Lewis Schumann is an Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist from Adelaide. He is best known as the lead singer for the folk group Redgum, with their chart-topping hit "I Was Only 19 ", a song exploring the psychological and medical side-effects of serving in the Australian forces during...
of the band
RedgumRedgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals and Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were soon joined by Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at Flinders University and...
have continued to record and popularise the old bush ballads of Australia through the 20th and into the 21st century - and contemporary artists including
Sara StorerSara Storer is an Australian country music singer. She won seven Golden Guitars in the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2004 awards in Tamworth, the most awards ever won in one year in the 32-year history of the awards. As of the 2010 Golden Guitar awards, Storer has won a total of eleven...
and
Lee KernaghanLee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
draw heavily on this heritage.
Development of modern country
Pioneers of a more Americanised popular country music in Australia included
Tex MortonTex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
(known as
The Father of Australian Country Music) in the 1930s and other early stars like Buddy Williams,
Shirley ThomsShirley Thoms-Bystrynski , was an Australian country music singer and pioneer of Australia's country music industry. She was known as Australia's Yodelling Sweetheart.-Biography:...
and
Smoky DawsonSmoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
. In 1932, Tex Morton arrived from New Zealand, aged 16, and humped his swag around outback stations where he began to earn a name as a performer. In 1936 he cut his first commercial records in Australia. He went on to establish a distinctly Australian
bush balladBush songs or bush ballads are a folk music and poetry tradition in Australia's outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia, a young country. The lyrical tradition of bush songs was born of settlers and influenced by Aboriginal...
style, shifting from American songs to songs about Australia. He attained national popularity in the 1930s and formed a traveling "Rodeo and Wildwest Show" in the 1940s. In 1949 he travelled to North America and Europe enjoying great success as a stage hypnotist, working in film and with artists such as Hank Williams. He returned to Australia in the early 1960s, by which time a generation of performers had carved a place for the Australian themed country music he pioneered.
Smoky DawsonSmoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
cut his first recording in 1941: “I’m a Happy Go Lucky Cowhand”. In 1952, Dawson began a radio show, and went on to national stardom as a yodelling, whip cracking, knife throwing, singing cowboy of radio, TV and film.
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
(1927–2003) was known as the
King of Australian Country Music, and helped to popularise the Australian
bush balladBush songs or bush ballads are a folk music and poetry tradition in Australia's outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia, a young country. The lyrical tradition of bush songs was born of settlers and influenced by Aboriginal...
. His successful career spanned almost six decades and his 1957 hit "A Pub With No Beer" was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, the first Australian single to go
goldMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
, and the first and only 78 rpm record to be awarded a gold disc. Dusty remains Australia's most successful and prolific performer, and won more Gold and Platinum albums than any other Australian artist. Dusty recorded and released his one-hundredth album in the year 2000 and was given the honour of singing
Waltzing Matilda"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
in the closing ceremony of the
Sydney 2000 Olympic GamesThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. Dusty was accorded a
state funeralA state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
upon his death and with over 7 million Australian record sales he remains Australia's most successful domestic music artist.
Slim Dusty's wife
Joy McKeanJoy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
penned several of his most popular songs including “Indian Pacific”, “The Biggest Disappointment” and “
Lights on the HillLights on the Hill is an Australian country music hit song written by Joy McKean and made famous by Slim Dusty and which won the first Golden Guitar Award in 1973...
”. Their daughter
Anne KirkpatrickAnne Kirkpatrick is an Australian country music singer. She is the daughter of country singers Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.Kirkpatrick has released thirteen albums. She won Golden Guitar Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 1979, 1991, and twice in 1992. She also won an ARIA Award for...
is also a successful singer-song writer. The family began annual round Australia tours in 1964 - encompassing a 30,000 mile, 10 month journey which was the subject of a feature film,
The Slim Dusty MovieThe Slim Dusty Movie is a 1984 Australian feature film directed by Rob Stewart and starring Slim Dusty, Joy McKean, Jon Blake and Mary Charleston.-The Film:...
in 1984.
Although himself an accomplished writer of songs, Dusty had a number of other song writers including Mack Cormack,
Gordon ParsonsGordon James Parsons is a first class cricketer . A burly medium fast bowler, he was born in 1959 in Slough and played most of his cricket for Leicestershire, although he also appeared for Boland, Buckinghamshire, Griqualand West, Orange Free State, Orange Free State Country Districts and...
,
Stan CosterStan Coster OAM was an Australian country music singer-songwriter. His songs were regularly performed by Slim Dusty and other singers. He is the father of country music singer Tracy Coster.-Life and career:...
and Kelly Dixon who were typically short on formal education but big on personal experience of the Australian bush. Coster wrote popular Dusty bush ballads including "The Cunamulla Fella" and "Three Rivers Hotel" based on his own experience of working as a sheep hand and railway construction worker. Drawing on his travels and such writers over a span of decades, Dusty almost inadvertently chronicled the story of a rapidly changing post-war Australian nation. Nevertheless, the arrival of
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music saw major metropolitan music radio stations abandon support for country artists like Dusty and despite record sales in the multi millions, he and other successful Australian country artists were rarely heard on air outside regional centres in Australia until the new cross-over pop-country styles of the 1990s began to be heard again on city airwaves
In 1951, country singer-songwriter
Reg LindsayReginald John Lindsay OAM was an Australian country music singer who won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty-year music career....
began broadcasting on Sydney radio and remained on air for 12 years. In 1964 he took over
Channel 9The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
's "The Country & Western Hour", which was networked around Australia and ran for seven and a half years. Soon after the show was replaced with "Reg Lindsay's Country Homestead" from Brisbane. The show gave hundreds of young artists a boost and helped to boost the Australian country music industry.
Another enduring talent of Australian country music has been
Chad MorganChadwick William "Chad" Morgan is an Australian singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording he is known as The Sheik of Scrubby Creek.- Biography :Morgan was born in...
, who began recording in the 1950s and is known for his vaudeville style of comic Australian country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording he is known as "
The Sheik of Scrubby CreekThe Sheik of Scrubby Creek is the debut album of country singer Chad Morgan.-Track listing:#"I'm the Sheik of Scrubby Creek" – 2:23#"You Can Have Your Women, I'll Stick to My Booze" – 2:17#"The Bachelor's Warning" – 2:27#"The Shotgun Wedding" – 2:27...
".
Johnny AshcroftJohnny Ashcroft is an Australian country music entertainer, songwriter, recording artist and musician.- Early roots :...
had an early country-rock chart success in Australia and New Zealand while
Frank IfieldFrancis Edward Ifield is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963....
achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Charts.
Reg LindsayReginald John Lindsay OAM was an Australian country music singer who won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty-year music career....
was one of the first Australians to perform at Nashville's
Grand Ole OpryThe Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
in 1974. His international hit
Armstrong, a tribute to the historic 1969
moon landingA moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
Neil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
is now included in a
time capsuleA time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Ted EganEdward Joseph Egan AO is an Australian folk musician, and was a public servant who served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007.-Early life:...
began recording in 1969 and has released 28 albums, mostly themed around
outbackThe Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
life, history and Aboriginal affairs.
Eric BogleEric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.-Career:...
's 1972 folk lament to the Gallipoli campaign "
And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it...
" recalled the celtic origins of Australian folk-country.
Singer-songwriter
John WilliamsonJohn Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
began to build his reputation as an iconic Australian entertainer with his 1970 performance of his first song "Old Man Emu" on
New FacesNew Faces was a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, Birmingham...
(influenced by novelty works of
Rolf HarrisRolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
such as Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport). It was the first of many popular songs employing
Australian slangAustralian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
. In 1981 he released True Blue and subsequent works including Mallee Boy, the lyrical Galleries Of Pink Galahs and reworkings of Australian bush ballads and folk songs earned him a permanent position as leading exponent of Australian country and folk music.
In 1970, Tamworth's Radio 2TM organised the landmark
Bicentennial Concert to mark the 200th anniversary of the voyage of Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
along the coast of Eastern Australia. The pioneers of Australian country music
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
,
Joy McKeanJoy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
,
Barry ThorntonAir Marshal Sir Barry Michael Thornton KCB, MSc, CEng, FIMechE, FCMI, FRAeS, RAF was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force.-RAF career:Educated at Baines Grammar School and the University of Nottingham, Thornton joined the Royal Air Force in 1976...
, "Smiling" Billy Blinkhorn,
Smoky DawsonSmoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
,
Shirley ThomsShirley Thoms-Bystrynski , was an Australian country music singer and pioneer of Australia's country music industry. She was known as Australia's Yodelling Sweetheart.-Biography:...
and Buddy Bishop all featured in the concert which contributed to a revival of interest in Australian country music which had struggled for airplay since the arrival of rock and roll in Australia. The
Tamworth Country Music FestivalThe Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia and is a celebration of Australian country music culture and heritage. The festival lasts for two weeks during late January and during this period the city of Tamworth comes alive, with...
began in 1973 and now attracts up to a 100,000 visitors annually.
In 1974,
Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
received the
Country Music AssociationThe Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
's Top Female Vocalist award in the USA, despite protest from American country purists. Her popular hits have included
I Honestly Love You"I Honestly Love You" was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-John's first number-one single in the United States and Canada, thus cementing her as a household name in North America....
and Tenterfield Saddler by Australian singer-songwriter
Peter AllenPeter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
as well as country classics such as
Banks Of The Ohio"Banks of the Ohio" is a 19th century murder ballad, written by unknown authors, in which "Willie" invites his young lover for a walk during which she rejects his marriage proposal. Once they are alone on the river bank, he murders the young woman....
and Take Me Home Country Roads
Contemporary
In 1992, The
Country Music Association of AustraliaThe Country Music Association of Australia is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry...
was launched in
Tamworth, New South WalesTamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
to encourage, develop and promote Australian Country Music.
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
was its first Chairman,
John WilliamsonJohn Williamson is the name of:* Jack Williamson , American science fiction writer* John H. Williamson , American, North Carolina politician and newspaper publisher* John N. Williamson , American, U.S...
its Vice Chairman,
Joy McKeanJoy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
was Treasurer, Max Ellis Secretary and Phil Matthews Public Officer. After negotiations, Tamworth's Radio 2TM agreed to hand over responsibility for the
Golden GuitarThe Big Golden Guitar is one of the many "big" attractions that can be found around Australia. Located in Tamworth, New South Wales, the monument is one of the best-known points of interest in New England New South Wales...
Awards to the new body.
In recent years, country music has consolidated its position as a popular genre in Australia, with well attended festivals and a large number of top-selling albums and songs. By the 1990s, Country music had attained cross-over success in the pop charts with artists like
James Blundell-Music:He won a Golden Guitar Award for best new talent of 1987.Blundell's eponymous first album, in 1989, followed up by "Hand It Down", which was released in the United States in 1990 following its success in Australia. Successive albums were This Road and Touch of Water. This Road included the...
,
James ReyneJames Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
singing "Way Out West", and country star
Kasey ChambersKasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of steel guitar player Bill Chambers, and the sister of musician and producer Nash Chambers.-Solo success:...
winning the
ARIAThe Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
for Best Female Artist in 2003.
Alternative countryAlternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
star Chambers is the daughter of steel guitarist
Bill ChambersWilliam Joseph "Bill" Chambers was an American football offensive lineman in the All-America Football Conference. He played two seasons for the New York Yankees . He played collegiately for Alabama, Georgia Tech and UCLA....
. Her hits include "
Not Pretty Enough-Charts:-End of year chart:...
" (2002), "
True Colours"True Colors" is a song written by songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, additional lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. It was both the title track and the first single released from Cyndi Lauper's second album. It was the only original song on the album that Lauper did not help write...
" (2003) and "Pony" (2004) which all peaked in Australia's
Top TenThe Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
.
The cross-over influence of Australian country is also evident in the music of successful contemporary bands
The WaifsThe Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by Josh Cunningham , and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson...
and The John Butler Trio. Singer-songwriter
Paul KellyPaul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
whose music style straddles folk, rock, and country is often described as the
poet laureate of Australian music.
Eclectic rocker
Nick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
has been heavily influenced by the American country music artist
Johnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. Cave has recorded a number of country covers including several on his 1986 album
Kicking Against the PricksKicking Against the Pricks is the third album released by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of cover versions...
, which has such American country classics as "
By the Time I Get to Phoenix"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is the title of a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was made famous by American country music singer Glen Campbell, appearing as the opening track on the latter's 1967 album of the same name. Campbell's version reached #2 on...
", "Long Black Veil" and "The Singer" (aka "The Folksinger"). In 2000, Cash, covered Cave's "The Mercy Seat" on the album
American III: Solitary ManAmerican III: Solitary Man is the third album in the American series by Johnny Cash released in 2000. The album was notable for being Cash's highest charting solo studio LP since his 1976 One Piece at a Time , an album that reached No. 2 Country based on the title cut...
. Subsequently, Cave cut a duet with Cash on a version of Hank Williams' "
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard...
" for Cash's
American IV: The Man Comes AroundAmerican IV: The Man Comes Around is the fourth album in the American series by Johnny Cash, released in 2002. The majority of songs are covers which Cash performs in his own spare style, with help from producer Rick Rubin...
album (2002).
Country music has been particularly popular among the
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Dougie YoungDougie Young was a singer and songwriter from South West Queensland. Young had a white father and a Gurnu mother.Earlier in his life he worked as a stockman, during which he learnt the guitar and started writing songs. A riding accident later ended his working as a stockman...
and
Jimmy LittleJimmy Little AO , is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene...
were pioneers and
Troy Cassar-DaleyTroy Cassar-Daley is a multi-award-winning country musician from New South Wales, Australia.He released his first EP, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994 and was nominated for his first Golden Guitar for Best Male Vocalist the same year...
is among Australia's successful contemporary Indigenous performers. Aboriginal artists
Kev CarmodyKevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
and
Archie RoachArchie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...
employ a combination of folk-rock and country music to sing about Aboriginal rights issues. The documentary, book and soundtrack
Buried CountryBuried Country is a highly regarded documentary film, book and soundtrack. Buried Country tells the story of Australian country music in the Aboriginal community, focusing on important musicians to tell the story. The book Buried Country: The Story of Aboriginal Country Music is written by Clinton...
showcases significant Indigenous musicians from the 1940s to the 1990s.
Popular and emerging contemporary performers of Australian country include:
Lee KernaghanLee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
(whose hits include the contemporary country classics "
Boys From the BushBoys From The Bush is a British television series produced by the BBC. It was created and written by Douglas Livingstone. Two series of ten episodes each were made between 1991 and 1992...
" and "
the Outback ClubThe Outback Club is the debut album by Australian country musician Lee Kernaghan. It won "Best Country Album" at the ARIA Music Awards of 1993.-Track listing:# Boys From The Bush# High Country# She Waits By The Sliprails...
") and sister
Tania KernaghanTania Maree Kernaghan is an Australian country music singer.She is the sister of Lee Kernaghan and daughter of Ray Kernaghan-Career:In 1992 Kernaghan released her first single, "I'll Be Gone"...
,
Melinda SchneiderMelinda Schneider is an Australian country music performer and the daughter of yodeler Mary Schneider. Schneider performed with her mother on the album The Magic of Yodeling at the age of eight. She studied dance as a child and made her acting debut on the popular Australian drama A Country...
,
Gina JeffreysGina Jeffreys is an Australian country singer. She was born on 1 April 1968 at Toowoomba, Queensland. She has often been called Australia's "Queen of Country" and has won numerous Australian country music awards....
,
Felicity UrquhartFelicity Ann Urquhart is an Australian country music singer-songwriter, sometimes seen as Felicity . Her single "Big Black Cloud", co-written with Randy Scruggs, reached No. 1 on Country Tracks National Top 30 Singles Chart in 2007. She has won numerous awards including a Centenary Medal...
,
Shannon NollShannon Noll first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. Since then he has released five Top 10 albums and ten Top 10 singles. His first two albums That's What I'm Talking About in 2004 and Lift in 2005 debuted at No...
,
Tracy CosterTracy Coster is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. She was born on 12 April 1966. Her father Stan Coster was an acknowledged songwriter.- Early life :It is hard to determine the time Tracy Coster started her career...
Sara StorerSara Storer is an Australian country music singer. She won seven Golden Guitars in the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2004 awards in Tamworth, the most awards ever won in one year in the 32-year history of the awards. As of the 2010 Golden Guitar awards, Storer has won a total of eleven...
, and brother
Doug StorerDoug Storer was a radio producer, talent agent, and writer responsible for creating and producing radio programs from the 1930s to the 1960s, including Ripley's Believe It or Not and Renfrew of the Royal Mounted.-External links:...
.
Sara Storer's award winning second album
Beautiful CircleBeautiful Circle is the second album by Australian country music singer Sara Storer released in November 2002. It won a Golden Guitar award for Album of the Year at the Tamworth Country Music Awards in January 2004.-Making of the album:...
prompted Melbourne's
The AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper to report that "As we lament the death of
Slim DustyDavid Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
, here is evidence that authentic, yet contemporary Australian bush country has not died with his passing". Her Australian accent, song subject matter and collaborations with established balladeers
John WilliamsonJohn Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
and
Paul KellyPaul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
link her to the oldest traditions of Australian country music.
In the United States, Australian country music stars including
Sherrié AustinSherrie Veronica Krenn is an Australian actress and singer, known professionally as Sherrié Austin. Active as a singer since her teenage years, Sherrié initially recorded as one half of the duo Colorhaus, which also featured Phil Radford...
and
Keith UrbanKeith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
have attained great success. In 1991, Urban released a self-titled debut album
Keith Urban and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992 going on to chart more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones.
Awards and festivals
The
Tamworth Country Music FestivalThe Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia and is a celebration of Australian country music culture and heritage. The festival lasts for two weeks during late January and during this period the city of Tamworth comes alive, with...
is an annual country music festival held in
Tamworth, New South WalesTamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
(Country music capital of Australia). It celebrates the culture and heritage of Australian country music. During the festival the
Country Music Association of AustraliaThe Country Music Association of Australia is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry...
holds the
Country Music Awards of AustraliaThe CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They are wholly owned and staged by the Country Music...
ceremony awarding the
Golden GuitarThe Big Golden Guitar is one of the many "big" attractions that can be found around Australia. Located in Tamworth, New South Wales, the monument is one of the best-known points of interest in New England New South Wales...
trophies.
Another important Country festival, the
Gympie MusterThe Gympie Music Muster is an Australian country music festival held in Gympie, Queensland. It was started as a community fundraiser in 1982 and has grown to a six-day festival attracting musicians from Australia and elsewhere. The 2011 Gympie Muster attracted a crowd of 60,000....
began in near
GympieGympie may refer to:* Gympie, a city in Queensland, Australia** Gympie Airport** Electoral district of Gympie** Gympie Region, its local government authority* Gympie Gympie , a stinging plant...
,
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
in 1982. The non-profit community-based festival raises funds for charity and attracts around 25,000 fans to listen to stars and new talents alike. As well as mainstream Australian country the event showcases the breadth of contemporary Australian country: from folk and bush poetry, to
alternative countryAlternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
.
Indigenous country music is in evidence at
The DeadlysThe Deadlys are an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. Vibe Australia hosts the awards, which for have been held at the Sydney Opera House since 2001. The first Deadly awards were held in 1995...
, a celebration of Indigenous musicians and their music.
The
Mildura Country Music FestivalThe Mildura Country Music Festival is an annual Australian country music festival based in Mildura, Victoria. In 2005 it was sponsored by Telstra Countrywide...
celebrates the
Australian Independent Country Music Awards every October.
Other significant country music festivals include the Whittlesea Country Music Festival held north of Melbourne in February, Boyup Brook Country Music Festival held in Western Australian in February, Bamera Country Music Festival held in South Australia in June, the National Country Muster held in Gympie during August and the
Canberra Country Music FestivalCanberra Country Music FestivalThe Canberra Country Music Festival is a 3-day event held during November with a focus on all sub-genres of country music, dance and workshops. The event was first held in 2009 at the Tuggeranong Homestead in southern Canberra. In 2010 the Festival relocated to...
held in the national capital during November. Some festivals are quite unique in their location: Grabine State Park in New South Wales promotes Australian country music through the Grabine Music Muster Festival; Marilyns Country Music Festival is a unique event held in South Australia's Smoky Bay annually in September and is the only music festival in the world using an oyster barge as a stage.
Along with the festivals above, there are also event that include country music such as Musters, Field Days and rural shows.
Notable musicians and music groups
Recording artists, entertainers and musicians
- Paul Costa
-See also:*Other American Football League players...
- 8 Ball Aitken
8 Ball Aitken is an Australian country, blues & roots musician who is notable for his fusion of country music with the genres of Australian blues and roots music....
- Johnny Ashcroft
Johnny Ashcroft is an Australian country music entertainer, songwriter, recording artist and musician.- Early roots :...
- Sherrie Austin
Sherrie Veronica Krenn is an Australian actress and singer, known professionally as Sherrié Austin. Active as a singer since her teenage years, Sherrié initially recorded as one half of the duo Colorhaus, which also featured Phil Radford...
- James Blundell
-Music:He won a Golden Guitar Award for best new talent of 1987.Blundell's eponymous first album, in 1989, followed up by "Hand It Down", which was released in the United States in 1990 following its success in Australia. Successive albums were This Road and Touch of Water. This Road included the...
- Adam Brand
Adam Brand is an Australian musician who sings country music. Active since 1997, he has released seven studio albums and thirteen singles. His first three albums are all certified platinum in Australia...
- Catherine Britt
Catherine Britt is a country music artist who has had success in both her native Australia and in the United States. She was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, United States in 2004...
- Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
- Kelly Cooper
- Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley is a multi-award-winning country musician from New South Wales, Australia.He released his first EP, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994 and was nominated for his first Golden Guitar for Best Male Vocalist the same year...
- Kasey Chambers
Kasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of steel guitar player Bill Chambers, and the sister of musician and producer Nash Chambers.-Solo success:...
- Graeme Connors
Graeme Connors is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and performer, born in Mackay, Queensland. He is best known for the hits A Little Further North and Let The Canefields Burn. Throughout his music career Graeme has released over fourteen albums and to date has received fourteen Golden...
- Tracy Coster
Tracy Coster is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. She was born on 12 April 1966. Her father Stan Coster was an acknowledged songwriter.- Early life :It is hard to determine the time Tracy Coster started her career...
- Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
- Shea Fisher
Shea Fisher is an Australian-born country singer. She has moved to the United States to begin a career in country music, signing to Stroudavarious Records that year...
- Steve Forde
Steve Forde is an Australian country music artist and host of Rollin with... on the Country Music Channel. Forde split from his band The Flange late 2006/early 2007.-Biography:...
- Adam Harvey
Adam Harvey is an Australian country music singer. Harvey has been nominated three times for an ARIA Music Award and is a multiple CMAA Award winner.-Biography:Adam Harvey got his start musically learning country classics on the guitar as a small boy...
- Wayne Horsburgh
Wayne Horsburgh is an Australian country music entertainer. He was born 11 June 1955, in Benalla, Victoria. He currently lives near Sydney, Australia, and Branson, Missouri, United States....
- Jedd Hughes
Jedd Hughes is a country musician born in Australia. Hughes grew up in Quorn, where he grew up listening to his father's country records. He won a local country music contest at the age of eight and began playing guitar from age nine, taking lessons from his father...
- Gina Jeffries
- Gay Kayler
Gay Kayler is an Australian country music entertainer and recording artist. Gay used her maiden name in her professional career until 1978, when she changed the spelling to Kayler to maintain a consistency of pronunciation.- A blossoming career :Gay comes from a musical family...
- Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
- Anne Kirkpatrick
Anne Kirkpatrick is an Australian country music singer. She is the daughter of country singers Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.Kirkpatrick has released thirteen albums. She won Golden Guitar Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 1979, 1991, and twice in 1992. She also won an ARIA Award for...
- The Legarde Twins
The LeGarde Twins are a pair of identical twins, Tom and Ted , from Australia who play country music.-Career:...
- Reg Lindsay
Reginald John Lindsay OAM was an Australian country music singer who won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty-year music career....
- Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little AO , is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene...
- Joy McKean
Joy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
- Chad Morgan
Chadwick William "Chad" Morgan is an Australian singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording he is known as The Sheik of Scrubby Creek.- Biography :Morgan was born in...
- Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
- Shane Nicholson
Shane Michael Nicholson is an English retired professional footballer who played as a left back. He is now the rehabilitation and fitness coach at Chesterfield, after he announced his retirement from professional football in 2007.In his 21-year career Nicholson played for 8 clubs, played in 523...
- Jamie O'Neal
Jamie O'Neal is a contemporary country singer and songwriter who has had success in the United States. She was born Jamie Murphy in Sydney, Australia, to parents Jimmy and Julie Murphy, who were also professional musicians...
- Jasmine Rae
Jasmine Rae is a classically trained Australian Country singer and songwriter who is best known for her song "Country Singer" and for winning the Telstra Road to Tamworth in 2008.-Early life:...
- Archie Roach
Archie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...
- Mary Schneider
Mary Schneider is an Australian performer, renowned for yodelling works of classic composers. Her daughter Melinda Schneider is also an Australian country music singer and yodeller...
- Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
- Jean Stafford
- Sara Storer
Sara Storer is an Australian country music singer. She won seven Golden Guitars in the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2004 awards in Tamworth, the most awards ever won in one year in the 32-year history of the awards. As of the 2010 Golden Guitar awards, Storer has won a total of eleven...
- Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
- John Williamson
John Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
Musical groups
- The Bushwackers
The Bushwackers Band, often simply The Bushwackers, is an Australian folk and country music band or Bush band founded at La Trobe University in Melbourne in 1971....
- Carter & Carter
Carter & Carter Group plc was a British based company that provided outsourced training services and apprenticeships on behalf of various international companies and UK government organisations, such as the Learning and Skills Council....
- The Donovans
The Donovans is an Australian Aboriginal country band. It comprises the Donovan brothers and Troy Russell. They won a Deadly Award in 2004.They are members of a large musical family who were profiled in an episode of ABC's Dynasties television series...
- The Flood
The Flood is an Australian roots music band led by Kevin Bennett. They won the Tamworth 2006 Golden Guitar Award for Vocal Group with their song "Hello Blue Sky"...
- Karma County
Karma County is an Australian music group who formed in 1995. They consist of Drummer Stuart Eadie, who also creates and co-ordinates the band's visual imagery , singer/guitarist Brendan Gallagher, who also produces the music, and bassist Michael Galeazzi.-Melody deal:In early 1999 the band signed...
- The McClymonts
The McClymonts are an Australian country music trio comprising sisters Brooke Maree McClymont , Samantha Kate McClymont and Mollie Therese McClymont , originally from Grafton, New South Wales...
- Redgum
Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals and Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were soon joined by Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at Flinders University and...
- The Robertson Brothers
The Robertson Brothers is an Australian band of brothers who are probably most famous for their song that was the theme song for Home and Away from 2000 to 2006.-Home and Away:...
- The Sunny Cowgirls
The Sunny Cowgirls are an Australian country music group formed in 2005. They have released a total of four studio albums since 2005. Their debut album, Little Bit Rusty, was released in 2005. Their latest album is entitled Summer and was released early 2010.-Biography:The Sunny Cowgirls, Sophie...
- Women in Docs
Women in Docs is an Australian independent folk music band. The group has several releases and has toured throughout Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Europe, and Asia.-History:...
- O'Shea
O'Shea is a surname , originating in the Kingdom of Corcu Duibne in County Kerry, and could refer to:*Alicia O'Shea Petersen , Australian suffragist...
External links