Champion of the bush Author: Fran Metcalf Source: Courier Mail Date: June 02, 2007
LEE Kernaghan may have chalked up another four Australian Country Music Award Awards this year but that doesn't mean the country crooner is resting on his laurels.
He's already recording a new song, Spirit of the Bush, which he wrote to raise money for drought-stricken farmers across Australia.
And he's preparing for Stampede a mega one-day concert to be held at Dreamworld on June 23, at which Kernaghan, pictured, will join an impressive country music line-up that includes Troy Cassar-Daley, Sara Storer, Tania Kernaghan, The Wolverines, Felicity Urquhart and The McClymonts.
Then there's the Gympie Muster in August a must-do annual hallmark in the calendar of all country music fans not to mention the hundreds of other gigs, concerts and appearances that Kernaghan squeezes into a year.
But the boy from the bush has a lot more on his mind these days than writing, recording and performing country music.
He wants to see changes. Big changes. And he has a plan about how to do it.
Speaking from his Gold Coast hideaway last week, Kernaghan was passionate about his belief in Australian music, Australian jobs and Australian industry. He spoke softly but with determination.
"I would like to see the government really get behind Australian music not just country music but all Australian music so that there's stations out there that play just Australian music," he says.
"Or let's have a statutory requirement to play a certain amount of Australian-made music more than what is played now.
"They did that in Canada and Shania Twain is an example of it.
"The only thing that's holding us (country musicians) back is the scarcity of radio stations that play country music in Australia.
"In the US, their country stations number in the hundreds while we only have a handful."
Note from poster: There are 2500 country music stations in the United States out of 10,000 radio stations. Country is the most popular format.
Kernaghan's first performance was in 1969 when he sang the Rolf Harris song Two Little Boys on the Chickadees radio. He won the Starmaker quest in Tamworth in the 1970s and, a few years later, performed at Fanfair in Nashville.
But in 1990, after 10 years of playing to empty country halls, Kernaghan gave up his dream of being a country music star and began looking around for a day job.
Soon afterwards, however, Boys from the Bush hit music stores and the rest is history.
Now, at the age of 43, Kernaghan is not only one of Australia's most popular and influential country music singers and songwriters, he's also an ambassador for his industry. Recently elected secretary of the Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA), he intends to use his newfound position to propel his industry to record heights.
"The No.1 item on the list is to raise the production standards of what we do and make it comparable to what's happening in the US," he says.
"When you look at an awards show, for instance, it comes down to the sound, the way it's recorded and a talent bank that's the best in the business right across the board.
"That means bringing people in from outside country music."
Despite Kernaghan's plans for future improvements, there's little doubt country music has surged in popularity in Australia in recent years.
In a market where record sales are declining, country music is holding firm as artists like Kernaghan pass the one million mark and festivals such as Tamworth and Gympie are drawing massive crowds.
"They became rock shows wrapped around country songs," Kernaghan says. "Outdoor events now attract up to 60,000 people over the course of the festival.
"There's always a fantastic atmosphere doing outdoor shows too people tend to let their hair down a bit more. And you can see a difference in the audience too.
"I remember playing back in my early 20s and most country music shows played to an older crowd.
"There were no songs being written by my generation back then but in the 1990s along came people like Keith Urban and Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks and the whole thing began to change."
Since Kernaghan's career hit its straps with the release of Boys from the Bush, he has sold more than one million records, won 24 Australian Country Music Awards as well as three Aria Awards, had 22 No.1 hits and released eight albums, his most recent being The New Bush. Throughout his career, he has always drawn inspiration for his music from his own life experiences and the country in which he lives.
Though he was born in Victoria on the foothills of the Snowy Mountains high country, Kernaghan grew up in the Riverina country of southern New South Wales.
He was the son of a truck driver and multi-platinum recording artist Ray Kernaghan as well as being the grandson of a third-generation drover of sheep and cattle.
His childhood memories of country life have formed the basis of much of his music and, even now, as a husband and father of two who lives between Sydney and the Gold Coast, Kernaghan retreats to his country home in the Numinbah Valley when he wants to write music.
Next month's Stampede at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast will be the first chance for many Queensland country music lovers to see Kernaghan perform songs from his latest album, including the haunting Listen to the Radio about a midnight drive on a lonely road and the ballad I'll Remember You which was inspired by a 19th-century sonnet on the subject of undying love.
Stampede, Dreamworld, Saturday, June 23. Tickets at ticketmaster.com.au, oztix.com.au and stampedefestival.com.au
