John Williamson - the Aussie Ballader
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Untold thousands of residents of the British Isles, like us, have relatives living in Australia. Over two hundred years of emmigration to Oz mean that millions have long lost family over there. John's music is one of the ways we try to get "under the skin" of Aussies and try to understand the lifestyle over there.
Even if you have no connection with Australia, if you enjoy national ballads, comedy, romance or country life -
| Have a look at our review of John's Music | View the history of the Australia's greatest Ballader. | try malleeboy for John's official web site |
Wednesday 15/11/2000 Birmingham. England
Quite cold and drizzly and just about dark by half past four. Wouldn't it be nice to be somewhere warm, somewhere where the brightness of the light would make you squint.... So we went to the Alexandra Theatre to meet John Williamson. Just an ordinary bloke in ordinary clothes - how come he has got the magic to transport people to the land of his birth just with a guitar and a voice? Perhaps the answer is in the words. A few simple words that contain so much feeling, so much from the soul of someone who has spent a life on the land.
"... breaks your heart when rain won't come...."
"... a mother curses dusty floors ..."
"... sunburnt country, wisely named ..."
but also happily "... never seen it so green 'round Tubbo Station ..."
V1.3 - 25 November 2001.
© David John Hodgkinson 2000-2001. All rights reserved.