John Williamson

Over the course of 30 years John Williamson has carved himself a unique place in not just Australian music, but Australian culture, writing songs which like his heroes - poets Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson - capture the Australian character of John's own day with pathos and humour. The humour set him apart first.

In 1969 John Williamson wrote an infectious novelty song called 'Old Man Emu', and visiting Melbourne he was encouraged by friends to perform his song on TV's 'New Faces' program. That performance set in train a chain of events which ended in John being offered a contract to record his song on the Fable label. Almost immediately he was transformed, from a farmer's son who sang at various functions in his area, into a professional entertainer.

For the next few years he lived off 'Old Man Emu's success and appeal and also tried to shrug off the one-hit wonder shadow that song cast over the rest of his songs and career. But he loved what he was doing, and had the confidence to persevere. In the back of his mind was always the thought that the day might come when he would give up songwriting and go back to the farm.

In 1981 John Williamson finally put 'Old Man Emu' behind him, with a "serious" song 'The Breaker' performed with actor Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, and written the movie about 'Breaker Morant'. It was all the opening John Williamson needed. His long apprenticeship flowed into an apparently endless set of songs charming Australians with stories and images about themselves and their country.

He had won the freedom few songwriters and performers ever gain - his audiences willed him to just be himself, right down to his characteristic Australian drawl. John Williamson took that freedom and ran with it, delivering 'Mallee Boy', an album filled with storytelling that spanned from his own beginnings on that farm in the Victorian Mallee to every corner of the nation. It was a Top 10 selling album, and remained in the best sellers charts for a year and a half. John Williamson had become one of the few performers in the "country music" idiom embraced by rural and urban Australians alike. They could all hold their hand to their hearts as they sang along to the patriotic 'True Blue'. He followed a live album called 'Singin' in the Suburbs' with another live album, 'The Smell of Gum Leaves'.

In 1989 John showed that with the freedom to express oneself comes responsibility to oneself. He dared to write a song critical of the woodchip industry, no way to keep endearing himself to the rural people depending on woodchipping for their survival. Amid the applause for his courage came howls and angry words, but in the end what everyone recognized was John's honesty. This was a songwriter who would tell them like it is, at the same time as making them nostalgic about the Australia disappearing in front of their eyes, and also giving them a laugh with songs like 'Boogie With M'Baby'. In January '97 John was inducted to the 'Roll of Renown' at the Country Music Awards of Australia in Tamworth.

Since 'Mallee Boy' every John Williamson album effortlessly achieves platinum sales, and he has established a sizeable following in the UK which has fallen in love with John's passion for this exotic country Australia. At home 'True Blue' has become the unofficial anthem of the Australian Cricket squad. His songs are used and listened to when Australians want to be inspired and moved. At the Sydney Olympics he was given the charter to just wander through the crowds with his guitar.