The Greatest Australian Country Songs
Here at timwindsorsteel country music HQ we are on a mission. We have serviced the fax machine and a back-up carrier pigeon is in training because we need to get a message to Tamworth!
Something is missing from the Hall of Fame. The Golden Guitar (anyone else wondered why it is modelled after a hollow-bodied jazz looking guitar not a Telecaster? But back to the point…), stands ready for action, but what country classics are to be played on those strings of gold? If only there was an appropriate list of Aussie country classics to accompany the Golden Guitar. Something along the lines of … a Silver Set List!
You can see why this cause needs urgent action, but before I fax the Lord Mayor of Tamworth we need to come up with a suitably definitive list. Here I propose 10 songs in no particular order, to get the ball rolling. Include your nominations in the comments so we can get this list together and get the job done.
Reg Lindsay - Empty Arms Hotel
This is just a corker with steel rides, rough but righteous backing vocals and a key change to boot. From the opening there is an insistence to the beat that tells you Reg is fair dinkum. If you walked in on this recording session you know the studio would have been full of smoke with a few tinnies scattered around and a bunch of seasoned session men and women with short shorts, long socks and big attitudes.
Slim Dusty - The Biggest Disappointment
Slim is King and this Joy McKean penned beauty might just be the best of His Highnesses’ huge catalogue.
Graeme Connors - A Little Further North Each Year
Graeme Connors has written a lot of songs. Some are not good (G’day G’day). Some like this one are very good
Troy Cassar-Daley - Shadows on the Hill
A powerful song from a powerful contemporary voice.
Megan Laurie - Light at the End of a Bottle
This hidden gem was recorded during Megan’s time in Texas. Do we really need another drinking song about a broken relationship? Yes we do, and this is the proof.
Casey Chambers - The Captain
The Mount Gambier girl’s debut somehow blended hillbilly yearning with 1990s grunge-infused alienation. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did- big time.
Jimmy Little - Are You the One That I’ve Been Waiting For?
From 1999s nspired “Messenger” album, the great Jimmy Little does a Nick Cave classic. Jimmy had one of those rare voices that hearing it made you feel like you knew he was a kind and wise man. Not a country song, but Jimmy was a country artist, so it makes the list.
Nev Nicholls - Truck Me Dead
On the short list for every self-respecting Australian’s final send-off. If it had a key change it might be the perfect trucking song. Missed opportunity.
Anne Kirkpatrick - Cradle of Love
It’s interesting comparing Anne as an artist with her once ubiquitous Dad Slim. One thing Slim never portrayed in his public persona was vulnerability. He was the tough but warm Aussie everyman who loved the outback, life on the road, and would meet every challenge with a wave of his hat and “she’ll be right”. Hearing Anne’s voice on Paul Kelly’s brilliant Cradle of Love is all about vulnerability. She perfectly walks that fine line of sounding unpolished yet justified in her delivery. A tasteful arrangement rounds out the case for putting this track firmly on the list.
Lee Kernaghan - Boys From the Bush
We’ve been shearing sheep. We’ve been mustering stock. We’ve been cullin’ out ‘roos. We’ve been sprayin’ the crops… The first big hit to successfully marry the contemporary Nashville sounds of the 1990s with an unashamedly Australian rural perspective. Hugely relatable.
