Last week I spoke to Aussie icon John Williamson and was happily surprised when he greeted me with ‘Hey hey Paula’ as he’d recently heard the version made famous in Australia by Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale on ABC radio.
It’s nice to be made to feel special by the person you interview and I suspect John has been making people feel special for most of his career with his down to earth personality and his true blue nature.
There is an old saying to be fit as a mallee bull and in the case of John Williamson to be as fit as a mallee boy. To grow up in the contrasting dry and wet land that is Australia you need to be strong in spirit and so comes a man who brings to those dry spells a spring of creativity.
John will be visiting Tasmania as part of his tour next year and he explains to me although its been a couple of years since he visited, he believes this is a good thing as it allows him as an artist to come up with fresh material to share with his audience and indeed this time John will be highlighting his new album ‘Red’ as well as revisiting the favourites that have become part of Australia’s soundtrack, and his fans wouldn’t allow him to leave off his play-list.
It’s a fact that John is considered by many as the voice of Australia, whether it be in times of celebration or in time of national sadness it is his voice that is the one that Australians feel is representative of them and speaks for our country.
John’s connection to the country is close, from growing up on a farm with parents who were also versed in Gilbert and Sullivan. John first came to our notice with his humorous or as he calls it ‘silly’ song old man emu. This song went platinum and was followed by a number of songs that have put into words how we feel as Australians and resonates for us as a people, songs like ‘Mallee boy’ and ‘True blue’ have become authentic Australian songs and its this authenticity that John values so much. He tells me a little about his creative process and how a song can find it’s genesis in the simplest thing such a his song ‘Honest people’ being inspired by the image of a man with smiling wrinkles he observed.
John is concerned that that with today’s ‘new’ country music and the exodus of young singers to be part of the Nashville experience, we are moving away from the true values of country music and somehow that authentic Australianess has become diluted. John strongly believes in the song being meaningful storytelling and not necessarily the ballads of modern country. There are of course many country artists who are still authentic in their representation of Australian country music and he gives Sara Storer the thumbs up as being such an artist.
As an example of what he is talking about John cites a song in the form of a letter from a father to his daughter who has gone off to agricultural college, its poignant storytelling makes us realise the daughter will return to follow in her father’s footsteps on the land. These stories emphasis that close connection with the land.
In spite of his fierce love and defence of pure country music John has experimented and adapted his music on occasion, an example being a series of concerts he did with Australia’s symphony orchestras, including one that was filmed in Sydney opera house and one performed with our very own Tasmanian symphony orchestra.
John is respected for the way he interprets a song but a while ago this great icon was celebrated with an album of his songs interpreted by people like Russell Crowe and James Reyne known as the ‘True Blue project’.
John’s fans will be happy to know he is presently working on his autobiography.
You can see John when he performs in Tassie; in Burnie Town Hall on Thursday the 28th February, Launceston Country Club on the 1st March, Wrest Point Casino on 2nd March and possibly another Launceston date on March 3rd and maybe in that time John will have a chance to meet up with his friends in Tassie, including one Charles Woolley with whom he has been trout fishing and Charles would probably attest to how he was impressed by John’s fly fishing, but that’s another story and maybe the makings of another song from this fine storyteller.
Paula Xiberras
