American Music down under part 1:
Australian Country Music. A love story.
pic coming soon
What does it take to fall in love? Sometimes it' s finding an album in a second-hand record shop. Anne Kirkpatrick came to me in 1981 when I found her greatest hits album ANNIE' S SONGS in Amsterdam, Holland for little money. I fell for her divine , distinguished voice right away and at the same time I thought that she' s Australian and that' s so far away that I' ll probably never see her. I never understood why someone would sell such a great album. to a second-hand store. Because you can' t get better than that. She' s one of three extra ordinary voices , one of three singing Godesses, one of three singers that can make me laugh and cry, voices that lift me for a moment and put me in musical heaven.Anne Kirkpatrick is one of them. The others are Sandy Denny who died in 1978 and was England' s First Lady of Folk Rock and Claudia Appling Williams of Montana Rose.
This story was originally written for Australia's Capital News Magazine.
Sandy Denny
So I played Anne Kirkpatrick on my radio shows and that was it. I had heard of Slim Dusty thinking he was some old fashioned singer not worth mentiong as my shows are pretty progressive. And it took me a long time to learn and appreciate the music of Slim Dusty, Gordon Parsons, Stan Coster and Smoky Dawson. But I learned fast and I seemed to like these bushballadeers more than many Aussies.. That started in 1994 when I , again in a second-hand record shop, found Lee Kernaghan' sThree Chain Road. I guess Lee had been in Nashville and the albums he spreaded around ended up at Phonoluxe which is the finest record shop in Nashville. That' s where they always end up. Or do you really believe that Americans who invented Country Music think they can learn from people who live upside down? What Kernaghan did to me was simple; he made me listen to lyrics again. Check out the great stories on this album. Really worth listening. You can't seriously think that lyrics written by frustrated guys like: My wife left me at midnight but I couldn't get drunk while all bars were closed... can make me listen? Or about standing in line for the next heartache. Hey guys, I'm now married for 38 years and I don't need all that.
You can get no, but it was worth trying so I wrote Libby Jones at ABC Australia asking if there was more high quality stuff overthere. (Ever since Libby is my favorite wake up sound, always in a good mood. Because of the time difference I have to wake up early to catch her before she goes back home from work) So I got acquainted with The Bushwackers, Jane Saunders, Gina Jeffreys and all the other recording artists on the label
Gina
Jeffreys
Going on from there I got material from other major labels and independant artists as well. One of them became a good friend Impressions of an Australian Trip . His name? Ian Betteridge, well respected singer/ songwriter. He told me about Troy Cassar-Daley. Troy is one of the many Aussies I' ve met in Nashville. He was accompanied by his manager and perfect gentleman Doug Trevor who also manages Gina Jeffreys. Others were keith urban then with his band Four Wheel Drive later renamed The Ranch. Producer Mark Moffatt who got a lot of credit for producing my favorite Anne Kirkpatrick album Out Of The Blue and taking care of talent Mark O'Shea
I found out that Aussies were very friendly people with a great sense of humour and the Australia itch came up. When Ian Betteridge told me he came to Europe as part of the Tamworth On Parade Tour I invited him to come over for a week. Although I only knew Ian would come one week in advance I managed to get him on Holland's national radio where Ian played live and I got Kernaghan,Kirkpatrick & Co some airplay. Good exposure for a potential of over 30 million listeners covering Holland, Belgium, parts of Germany, England and France. And what normally never happens was that people called during the show saying they liked very much what we were doing. That may be common in Australia but not overhere because we do play for a passive audience.
Anyway, Ian did a gig in Belgium backed up by Belgium's premium group The Black Hills Country Band and almost got on German TV but we lacked the time to go there. Then two years later when Ian and his wife Phyllis were back in Europe and invited me to come over to launch his upcoming album at the Mildura Festival.
At first I felt a little uncomfortable because he squared me to death with his stories about all the dangers Australia suffers from. I had the idea that Australia was an open Zoo and couldn' t imagine that you could go outside and come back in one piece and alive.. Stories about Funnel Webs, snakes, Redbacks,sharks, Stone Fish, crocodiles even in the sea and what more. But my wife kept pushing me and I finally agreedin site of my bad bac, high temperatures, probably no good food and not seeing all my friends in Nashville including Kim Richey. I'm not going for the music recorded by the major labels because that' s only plastic city music. Everybody looks and sounds alike. How different is Australia; not only soundwise and you also don't have to be young and good looking to make it. Good music is good music no matter who does it. Or does the Dead Ringer Band sound like Troy, Lee, Beccy or Slim?
Lee Kernaghan
Australia is paradise for country music because of it' s versatility in sound and lyrics, Labels are still looking for good singers and not only marketing products.But if too many people listen only to what Nashville dictates it' ll be all over in probably five years. Sales drop from one sound and mainstream country music. The labels wanna change that but are tied by what music directors from the major radio stations want to play. They think to know what there listeners want to hear so nothing is more boring than country radio in the States. So cherish the bushballadeers and yodellers along with Lee Kernaghan and such.. Treat Jeff Brown with respect. A young artist whose first album is a tribute to
Gordon Parsons ( the writer of Pub with no beer) My wife who' s a big Lee Kernaghan fan has played his album fifty times this week. Only because she has an open mind and good music is good music. What can you learn listening to the big names from Nashville? Not much I guess, but listening to the words I learned a lot about Australia listening to th words of songs about the people and the history; songs like Poor Ned, Mad Dan Morgan, Three Rivers Hotel.
Keith Glass, Mick Hamilton, Gary Young.
Unidentified playing Objects with
Mad Dan Morgan
with Poor Ned..
With Stan Coster' s Three Rivers Hotel by Reg Poole.
Lee Kernaghan Rules of the road with Days of old Khancoban.
Still, all lot of new artists do have respect for the pioneers. John Vaughn wrote The Last Of The Bush Balladeers, a song that'll stay a fantasy because Stan Coster and Gordon Parsons will live on in the music of young singers and good old Slim is still alive and kickin'. They all will keep the candle burning..Of course lovesongs are part of country music but bush ballads are as well.I hope the CMAA will never drop the Golden Guitars for Bush Ballad and Heritage Song of the year; it would make the awards show a Nashville replica and that would be sad. But Slim will keep those awards from vanishing.
How do I handle all this? My shows are called American Music because the roots of country, folk, rock and blues are American. I' ve got probably the only prime-time show of it' s kind in a thousand miles. It' s a succesful combination and commercial too. It' s just finding the balance between all these genres. And I do play Nashville stuff because that' s where I get it for but mainly alternative and Australian.
Every year I line up my 50 favorite albums and that' s the only charts I care for. A four hour prime-time show. Copies go to everyone involved.
And each year it' s partly broadcasted on Ian Betteridge' s show Heroes and Friends from Gosford, Central Coast on 2CCC.
And I go to other radio stations to play Australian country music with very positive reactions. For a very simple reason: My love for Australia and it' s music.
More about my favorite country in: Impressions of an Australian trip.
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ON THE PHONE
(Ian Betteridge)
