page_title: Australian country music
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Australian country music / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of THE OLD BUSH SONGS: Composed and sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days, edited by A. B. Paterson, Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson, 1906. Printed by Websdale, Shoosmith and Co., Printers, Sydney, Australia. Note: this is a 1906 edition, but this collection was first published in 1905.
context_page_description: Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad tradition, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include: outback life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and outlaws, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush. Early pioneers included Tex Morton, Smoky Dawson, Buddy Williams, Slim Dusty and Johnny Ashcroft all members of the Australian Roll of Renown.
context_section_description: Australia has a long tradition of country music, which has developed a style quite distinct from its US counterpart, influenced by English, Irish and Scottish folk ballads and by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Country instruments, including the guitar, banjo, fiddle and harmonica create the distinctive sound of country music in Australia and accompany songs with strong storyline and memorable chorus and lyrics.
  The style of Australian country music evolved under the influence of rock and roll forms. While some subject matter may be constant, musical styles differ between traditional and contemporary bush ballads. Exemplars of the traditional bush ballad style include Slim Dusty's "When the Rain Tumbles Down in July" or "Leave Him in the Long yard" which have strong narrative in verses plus choruses set to a Pick n' Strum beat. Contemporary bush ballads may employ finger picking and strumming rock styles as in Lee Kernaghan's later version of Leave Him in the Longyard, or in Keith Urban reworking of the Slim Dusty/Joy McKean classic "Lights on the Hill".
caption: A 1905 collection of old bush songs compiled by Banjo Paterson. Australian country music is heavily influenced by American country music, but grew also out of an Australian tradition of Bush ballads and poetry.
exif: {}