Various Artists "2PK COUNTRY MUSIC JAMBOREE '74" (Strad Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Don McGuire)
This live set featured a slew of mostly-little known Australian artists, on a souvenir album recorded at a festival sponsored by radio station 2PK, in Parkes, New South Wales, roughtly a hundred miles west of Sydney. The 1974 2PK Country Music Jamboree was part of the station's eighth annual Labor Day celebration, held on October 6, 1974, with producer Don McGuire at the helm. The artists included George Anderson, Terry Bainbridge, Country Way, Coral Dasey, Double Dee, Lynette Guest, Ron Heycox, Karen Johns, Nettie Martin, Christine Niquet, Keith Pittman, The Red River Ramblers, Kim Sigg and the band Road Apple, who later condensed their name to Roadapple... (*Phew!* I got through it all!!) Some of these artists made albums that I already know about, others might be exclusive to this LP, or may have recorded stuff that remains off my radar, 7500 miles away... Many seem to have been clustered around a couple of smaller indie labels, and did not recorded elsewhere, or perhaps cut a few singles around the time this album came out.
Various Artists "ALL FIRED UP: THE LOST TREASURES OF AUSTRALIAN MUSIC, 1970-1990" (ScreenSound Australia, 2002)
Various Artists "BEFORE THE BOOMERANG CAME BACK -- MUSICAL ABORIGINALIA: 1949-1962" (Rouseabout Records, 2020)
Well, while we're at it, who could resist this set of "musical misappropriations of Aboriginal cultures, spanning the genres of jazz, pop, rock n roll, country music and art song, mostly recorded in Australia and by white non-Indigenous artists and composers"? Tie me kangaroo down, professor! Curated by Australian musicologist Michael Alexandratos, this set salvages a whole bevy of potentially-incorrect novelty numbers from records and soundtracks of a bygone era... No apologizing or acknowledging the use of native lands here... or, at least not back then. I'm all for exposing "un-PC" art from the past, in the theory that it all feeds into the historical era we now inhabit. My only regret is that this is a digital-only release... no physical object to cram onto my already overburdened shelf spaces!
Various Artists "THE BEST OF QUEENSLAND COUNTRY" (W&G Records, 1967) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Rumble)
Though Queensland was a longtime center of Australian country music, many of the artists on this late 'Sixties set will seem pretty obscure, even in retrospect. The lineup includes Lil' Mickey Finn, Terry Gordon, Johnny Greenwood, Johnny Jacobson, Ellie Lavelle, Paul Lester, with Johnny Greenwood later proving to be the biggest star of the lot, though his success really started a few years later when he recorded several full albums in the early 1970s. Same with Terry Gordon, who was known as a bush poet, and also started recording in earnest in the mid-'Seventies. The next runner-up would be cowgal Ellie Lavelle, who is pictured on the front cover, and is featured on three tracks, including a duet with Johnny Greenwood... She's one of several artists gathered here who proved to be singles/EP-only recording artists, cutting a string of singles on Columbia and Sunset Records; a couple of these guys were her labelmates on Sunset, which seemed to specialize in 7" releases. So, if you're looking for even more obscure, second-tier artists from Australia's 'Sixties era country scene, this disc might be fun to track down.
Various Artists "BURIED COUNTRY: 1.5" (Festival Records, 2015) (CD)
Various Artists "CAN I SLEEP IN YOUR BARN TONIGHT MISTER -- AUSTRALIAN HILLBILLY RADIO HITS: 1926-33" (Larrikin Records, 1996)
One of a handful of great archival country releases curated by Larrikin label founder Warren Fahey... The concept behind this collection was fascinating, and pretty eye-opening for country fans who may have despaired at the endless profusion of narrowly-themed regional novelty songs which dominate classic, old-school Australian country music, all those sheep shearing ditties, bush-ballads and place-name songs. According to the brisk liner notes, the first round of Australian country music was not so repetitive and monotonous, but followed the wider contours of popular music from abroad. (Indeed, Fahey lightly pokes fun at the ranks of Aussie singing cowboys who slavishly imitated western singers from the US, and often simply swapped out a few words from well-known songs in order to adapt them for hometown consumption...) In Fahey's telling, the early vaudeville roots of Australian country gave way to the more formalized, nationalistic brand of Down Under mythologizing during the 1930s, but before that, the musical frontier was more wide open. Although I enjoyed this set, I'm not sure this disc entirely makes that case, or at least I wouldn't necessarily categorize some of these tracks as "hillbilly," per se, but perhaps more country adjacent... There are some zippy Hawaiian guitar instrumentals courtesy of Mayo Hunter, a little bit of raucous harmonica tootling (P. C. Spouse covering Guy Massey's "The Prisoner's Song") some nice squeaky fiddle tunes, and a whole slew of novelty vocals, some of which I would say legitimately fall into the country music category ("Red River Valley," "Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister," "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and others) though many seem more like more generic comedic music-hall fare... Singer Len Maurice seemed particularly fond of Frank Crumit's work, and covers several of his songs, notably "The King Of Borneo" and the rather risque "Song Of The Prune," neither of which I could imagine the Carter Family including in their repertoire. Close enough, though. And definitely a good way to widen the lens and see an alternative version of Oceanic twang, spanning back to its prehistoric roots. Recommended... particularly for those who appreciate music hall records.
Various Artists "COUNTRY MUSIC JAMBOREE: PARKES, 1973" (Picture Records, 1973) (LP)
A pretty obscure set of mostly-locals recorded at a festival in Parkes, New South Wales... As far as I can tell these were the only known recordings for most of these musicians, with the most notable exception being honkytonker/country comedian Chad Morgan, who released a slew of albums dating back to the early 1960s. Two of the other artists, Lynette Guest and Claude Woodbridge, later released albums of their own in the 1980s.
Various Artists "DOWN THE TRAIL OF ACHIN' HEARTS" (Recurrent Records, 1999) (CD)
A collection of tunes from three pioneering Aussie cowgals, Lily Connors (1931-2018), Joan Ridgway (1932-2008) and Jacqueline Hall, whose careers spanned the 1950s and early '60s, and who each seem to have only released a few singles back in the 78rpm era. Sponsored by the National Sound And Film Archive, this disc offers nine songs from Lily Connors, six by Ms. Hall, and only four from Ms. Ridgway (though she recorded many more than that over the span of the 1950s.) All three women started their professional careers as pre-teens; each was a solo star for a while, and eventually quit touring as the country scene moved away from its old-school roots. Lily Connors tried her luck in America and was offered a gig with Spade Cooley in LA, but eventually chose to return to Australia, and toured nationally as a solo artist and later as part of Slim Dusty's road show. Joan Ridgway was also offered work in the United States, as a movie actor, but chose not to emigrate and instead concentrated on her musical career at home. Lily Connors also emerged from the world of regional talent contests and became a recording artist in the 'Fifties, leading her own band for several years and cut a total of a dozen songs. She was a member of Reg Lindsay's road show in the early 'Sixties, but eventually retired in 1965. This compilation does not include all the recordings of any of these three gals, but it sure is a cool resource for fans of this era in country music.
Various Artists "KIWI COUNTRY GIRLS" (Music World Records, 1982) (LP)
Various Artists "MOVIN' OUT WEST" (CM/Country Music Records, 1973) (LP)
This three-artist sampler was the first full LP from CM ("Country Music") Records, an indie label based in Dubbo, New South Wales that was an ancestor of Opal Records. CM started in in 1969 and released a few dozen albums along with numerous singles. All three of the guys on this disc -- Terry Gordon, Alec Saffy and New Zealander Dusty Spittle -- went on to record solo albums, with Mr. Saffy being perhaps the most obscure of the three. The back cover lists three separate studio crews for their various sessions, though it's the same basic set of Tamworth-affiliated pickers, with a few variations -- folks like Norm Bodkin, Lindsay Butler, Hec Davies, and Ken Kitching, as well as a few less well-known musicians, such as pianist Valda Ross and bass player Ralph Tribe.
Various Artists "SILVER ROADS: AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY-ROCK & SINGER-SONGWRITERS OF THE '70s" (Warner/Festival Records, 2013)
A fascinating and richly rewarding plunge into Australia's homegrown 'Seventies country-rock, with plenty of slick stuff emulating the sounds coming out of Los Angeles, as well as some unique, eclectic material that will be unfamiliar to most country and pop fans worldwide. There is a tilt towards what many might call AOR or soft-rock material, but also plenty of legitimate twang and dozens of "new" bands to explore. If you enjoy well-researched compilations that can point you in multiple directions, this one's a doozy. Highly recommended!
Various Artists "WANDONG COUNTRY" (AMCO/Wandong Country Music Festival, 1979) (LP)
A spiffy double-LP set commemorating the Wandong Country Music Festival, held March 10-11th, 1979 in microscopic Wandong, Victoria, a tiny town due north of Melbourne. This was a charity album, sponsored by the Wandong Lion's Club, and they rounded up a real who's who of late 'Seventies Aussie and kiwi talent, including big stars such as Cash Backman, Lee Conway, The Hawking Brothers, Ray Kernaghan, John McSweeney, Col Millington, Tex Morton, Reg Poole and Kevin Shegog. Perhaps more significant, though, is the slew of lesser-known performers, including indie twangsters and country-rockers such as 1901, The Cobblers, Country Limited, The Country Outcasts, Gene Fisk, Gunslinger, Homestead, Indian Pacific, Lenore Somerset and about a dozen others... a real wealth of off-the-beaten-path Down Under twang.
Various Artists "WEST MORETON COUNTRY, v.1" (SBR/South Burnett Recordings, 1977) (LP)
Another one of these hyper-local, obscuro Aussie country sets, this time from an independent label from Nanango, Queensland. A couple of these artists seem to have had a song or two elsewhere, but most of them seem to have only been on this one record... The lineup includes The Country Kin, Gary Graham, Kevin Heise, Jean Hogg, Anne Laurie (who also sang on a folk/country EP back in 1973), Ken Lawrence, Shirley Muller, Sel Munt, Mal Regeling, Earle Townsley, Judy Townsley, and Bob Watling. Any information about these folks is welcome!
Various Artists "YODELLERS FROM DOWNUNDER" (Birubi Records, 199--?) (LP)
Unless there's some researcher in Antarctica who put out an album I don't know about, Australian country music is literally the type of twang most distant from where I live, and among the hardest to track down. I am not an expert on the genre, but I'm learning. Australian country has a long pedigree, spanning back to the Great Depression, and was largely dominated by the "bush ballad" genre, a resolutely old-fashioned style that emphasized local and regional themes, and shares a common musical structure to pre-honkytonk American country. Although it has changed over the years, Australian country music was remarkably parochial and resistant to change, and shrugged off outside influences for much of the 1950s, '60s and to a lesser degree, the '70s and '80s. This included the gritty dynamism of honkytonk and the swank pop excesses of the Nashville Sound, though by the 'Seventies many Aussie artists made a concerted effort to keep more up to date. At any rate, the Australian country scene is pretty huge, and certainly deserves to be celebrated in its own right. I'm pretty sure I'm only scratching the surface here, and welcome any recommendations, additions or corrections.
