The track list //

Poor Ned

Flash Jack From Gundagai

When The Rain Tumbles Down In July (Slim Dusty/Lee Kernaghan/Tommy Emmanuel)

Beneath The Southern Cross (Graeme Connors)

Ballad of 1891 (Tommy Emmanuel), Past Carin’ (Shanley Del)

Battlers Ballad (Brod Smith)

Henry’s Men

Woolloomooloo Lair (Greg Champion)

Billy Of Tea (Ted Egan)

Fannie Bay

1-2-3-4 (Crosby Sisters/Michael Fix)

When Brittania Ruled The Waves (Mark O’Shea)

Waltzing Matilda

Ned Kelly’s Tunes.

THE BUSHWACKERS STORY

For the record //

There are only a few Australian artists who manage to enjoy an extensive recording career. One reason is the relatively small home market in which locals compete with one another and a huge international catalogue for a share of the consumer’s discretionary music dollar. Another is that it requires a significant amount of luck to maintain positive relations with labels where personnel come and go on a regular basis. The loss of their label ‘champion’ often spells the end of the artist’s relationship.

In the folk (later country) market in which the Bushwackers operate, the numbers are even smaller - about 10% market share by most estimations. The bush music/trad market is a much smaller part of that again. Given that, most Australian artists identifying as folk/roots usually manage just a handful of commercial releases across a career and those often - by necessity, self-funded.

To have managed to release 40+ commercial recordings across a career, all of which have recouped costs for the issuing label, is notable. Indeed unique.