Shorty Ranger "The Man From Nulla Nulla" (Hadley Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Eric W. Scott)
An early bush ballad singer and aspiring country star, Edwin Haberfield (1925-2007) was born and raised along Nulla Nulla Creek, in rural New South Wales. Slim Dusty was one of his closest neighbors, and they worked together in the 1940s as buskers, radio singers, and circus performers. In 1951, Haberfield came in second place in a talent show held in Sydney (Reg Lindsay won) and this success was enough to land him a contract with Rodeo Records, where he cut about an album's worth of material as "The Singing Wanderer." A family man, early on Shorty Ranger hung up his traveling boots, quit touring, and settled down, although he continued writing country music, and was quite prolific, placing songs with stars such as Buddy Williams, Rick and Thel Carey, and his old pal Slim Dusty. This latter-day recording was his first "comeback" album, a jaunty set of bush tunes, with perky, cheerful picking by the Hadley house band -- Lindsay Butler (guitar), Bob Clark (guitar), Geoff McCann (bass) John Minson (harmonica) and Jerry Ward on drums, with some particularly lively, well-textured steel guitar passages by Norm Bodkin. This relentlessly upbeat album was surprisingly engaging -- Mr. Haberfield has one of those odd little voice, but he really sings with gusto and was clearly enjoying himself; the band was, too. Definitely worth a spin!

Shorty Ranger "Sugarloaf Mountain Country" (Hadley Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Eric Scott)
Well, once he got back in the studio, Shorty Ranger was hooked. Following his 1976 comeback, he went on to record around three dozen more albums, not all of which are listed here... yet.

Shorty Ranger "From Bullock Teams To Diesels" (Hadley Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Eric Scott)

Shorty Ranger "A Tribute To Wilf Carter" (Hadley Records, 1982) (LP)
(Produced by Eric Scott)

Shorty Ranger "Thirty-Eight Years of Country Music" (Hadley Records, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Lindsay Butler)

Shorty Ranger "Heaven Country Style" (Wildwood Records, 1984-?) (LP)
An all-gospel set, including a tune Haberfield wrote for Buddy Williams, "Who Can Make A Flower," and many others that will be "new" to country gospel fans outside of Australia. The backing band was called The Sugarloaf Mountain Boys, and though they aren't individually named on this album, they are on subsequent LPs. Worth noting: this appears to have been the first album on Lindsay Butler's Wildwood label, which went on to become an Aussie country powerhouse; indeed, the bulk of Wildwood's early releases were devoted to Shorty Ranger... I guess Butler really dug his stuff!

Shorty Ranger "The Land Where Time Stands Still" (Wildwood Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Lindsay Butler)

Shorty Ranger "I'm In Love With The Country" (Wildwood Records, 1987) (LP)
(Produced by Lindsay Butler)

Shorty Ranger "Driftin' Along With A Song" (Wildwood Records, 1988) (LP)
(Produced by Lindsay Butler)

Digger Revell "Alive And Kicking" (Country Man Records, 1982) (LP)
(Produced by Bruce Brown, Terry Hearne & Peter Walker)
Beatles-era teenpop rocker Digger Revell (akaGary Benjamin Hildred) formed his first bands in the late 1950s, and recorded a string of singles from 1963-72 that made him a top pop star in Sydney during the early 'Sixties. He appears to have retired at the start of the 'Seventies but reemerged a decade later, alive and kicking after a decade out of the game, now as an ex-rocker "gone country." Among those backing him on this venture was guitarist Terry Hearne, a former rocker himself, who played lead guitar for the fab-centric Allusions up until 1968, when he took a gig playing in Revell's band. Mid-career, Hearne set himself up as a combination studio picker/record producer, mainly working with country-oriented artists, often with a fairly consistent set of house musicians.

Digger Revell "You Just Get Better All the Time" (RCA Victor, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Jon Kennett)

Digby Richards -- see artist profile

Joan Ridgway "Queensland Country Style" (Queensland Country Style, 19--?) (LP)
A collection of early hillbilly-era country tunes from Joan Ridgway (1932-2008) a Patsy Montana-ish yodeling cowgirl from Rockhampton, Queensland. Ridgway established herself as a regional artist in the late 1940s, and made her first records in 1950. She started up her own touring company, which included guitar picker Jim Ferricks, who accompanies her on some of these songs. Apparently the original masters, which were spread out over several labels, have long been lost, and this album was mastered using old 78 singles as the source material; the liner notes admit that the sound quality is a bit rough on some tracks... But, hey, sometimes you gotta make due with what you've got.

Joan Ridgway/Various Artists "DOWN THE TRAIL OF ACHIN' HEARTS" (Recurrent Records, 1999) (CD)
A collection of tunes from three pioneering Aussie cowgals, Lily Connors, Joan Ridgway, and Jacqueline Hall, whose careers spanned the 1950s and early '60s. There are only four of Ridgway's songs on this disc, and all four were included in the more comprehensive LP above, though possibly the mastering is better on this digital-era release, which was sponsored by the National Sound And Film Archive. According to the liner notes, though Joan Ridgway's heyday was in the hillbilly era of the 1940s and '50s, she continued to write, tour and record right up through the late-'Nineties release of this CD.

Roadapple "Take A Bite" (Bunyip Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Ian B. MacLeod, Vaughan Hillier & Peter Richardson)
A bluegrassy set recorded in Sydney, by a band comprised of fiddler Kornel Banks, Andy Grant (bass), John Harty (mandolin), Greg Louttit (bass), and Rainor Webb on banjo. They also thank fiddlers Marcus Holden and Stuart Watson for playing on their album, as well as Bunyip label owner Ian B. MacLeod, a prolific recording artist himself, with a career spanning back to the the early 1970s. Although the Roadapple band seems to have been together for a couple of years before cutting this album, a couple of the guys -- Kornel Banks and Rainor Webb -- had previously played on Mike Fox's Bunyip albums.

Lionel Rose "I Thank You" (Festival Records, 1970) (LP)
(Produced by John L. Sayers & Johnny Young)
Professional boxer Lionel Rose (1948-2011) was the first indigenous Australian to win a world title -- holding several bantamweight titles from 1968-69, and then spent the next few years trying to get them back. Along the way he indulged in a brief fling at country music, recording two albums and scoring a couple of solid singles, most notably with the song "I Thank You," which nearly topped the Australian charts in '69. That was one of several tracks from producer Johnny Young -- also included are "Guitar Pickin' Boy," "Please Remember Me," as well as a couple by Lionel Rose, "Bicycle Song" and "Old Pinto." Some American tunes as well: "Sea Of Heartbreak," "Act Naturally," and "Last Train To Clarksville," and a version of "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" that was the B-side of his big hit single. Rose only pursued the singing career for a few years, and retired from Boxing not long after, although he did record an album with the Howie Brothers many years later, in the digital era.

Lionel Rose "Jackson's Track" (Festival Records, 1971) (LP)

Lionel Rose & The Howie Brothers "Getting Sentimental" (Glenample Records, 20--??) (LP)

Hick Music Index