The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of indigenous and Western styles are exemplified in the works of Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Christine Anu, and mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music.
A is the 13th studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on 29 August 1980 in the UK and 1 September of the same year in the United States.
Eric Bogle is a Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25, to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of topics and have been performed by many artists. Two of his best known songs are "No Man's Land" and "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", with the latter named one of the APRA Top 30 Australian songs in 2001, as part of the celebrations for the Australasian Performing Right Association's 75th anniversary.
Goanna is an Australian rock band which formed in 1977 in Geelong as The Goanna Band with mainstay Shane Howard as singer-songwriter and guitarist. The group integrated social protest with popular music and reached the Top 20 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart with "Solid Rock" (1982) and "Let the Franklin Flow". Their debut album, Spirit of Place, peaked at No. 2 on the related albums chart. They disbanded in 1987 and briefly reformed in 1998.
The Angels are an Australian rock band that formed in 1974 in Adelaide as the Keystone Angels with Bernard "Doc" Neeson on lead vocals and bass guitar, John Brewster on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, his brother Rick Brewster on lead guitar and backing vocals, and Peter "Charlie" King on drums. In 1976, King was replaced by Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup on drums, Chris Bailey took over bass duties so Neeson could focus solely on vocals, and they changed their name to just 'the Angels'. Their studio albums that peaked in the Australian top 10 are No Exit (1979), Dark Room (1980), Night Attack (1981), Two Minute Warning (1984), Howling (1986) and Beyond Salvation (1990). Their top 20 singles are "No Secrets" (1980), "Into the Heat" (1981), "We Gotta Get out of This Place" (1987), "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again", "Let the Night Roll On" and "Dogs Are Talking".
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.
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.
A bush band is a group of musicians that play Australian bush ballads. A similar bush band tradition is also found in New Zealand.
Weddings Parties Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Australian rock debut since Skyhooks' Living in the 70's.
"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it. This is exemplified in the song by the account of a young Australian serviceman who is maimed during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. The protagonist, who had travelled across rural Australia before the war, is emotionally devastated by the loss of his legs in battle. As the years pass he notes the death of other veterans, while the younger generation becomes apathetic to the veterans and their cause. At its conclusion, the song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of the 1895 song "Waltzing Matilda" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson.
The National Folk Festival (NFF) is a longstanding, Australian family friendly celebration of all aspects of folk music and culture. It is held every year at Easter in the national capital, Canberra.
William Bruce Field is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has run his own recording studio and has worked as a producer. His solo first album, Bad Habits, reached No. 1 on the Kent Music Report. His top-20 hit singles are "Bad Habits", "You Weren't in Love with Me" and "True Love".
Margret RoadKnight is an Australian singer-guitarist. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has sung in a wide variety of styles including blues, jazz, gospel, comedy, cabaret, and folk. In January 1976 she released a cover version of Bob Hudson's album track, "Girls in Our Town", as a single, which reached the Kent Music Report Singles Chart Top 40.
The Badloves are an Australian R&B, soul band that formed as DC3 in 1990 by founding mainstay member Michael Spiby on guitar and lead vocals. They changed their name after a year. Their debut studio album, Get on Board, was issued in July 1993, which peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 they won Best New Talent and Breakthrough Artist – Album for Get on Board and Breakthrough Artist – Single for its first single, "Lost" (1993). The Badloves' second album, Holy Roadside, reached the top 20. Their highest-charting single, "The Weight" (1993), is a cover version of the Band's 1968 single and features Jimmy Barnes on co-lead vocals. It reached the ARIA singles chart top 10.
The Groove was an Australian R&B, pop group which formed in early 1967 with the lineup of Geoff Bridgford on drums, Jamie Byrne on bass guitar, Tweed Harris on keyboards, Rod Stone on guitar and Peter Williams on lead vocals and guitar. In December 1967 their single, "Simon Says", peaked at No. 17 on the Go-Set National Top 40 Singles Chart. They followed with "Soothe Me", which peaked at No. 14 in April 1968. Also in April they released their self-titled debut album. In July that year they won the national final of the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds competition with the prize including a trip to London. They relocated there in March 1969, and early the following year they changed their name to Eureka Stockade, they disbanded in 1971. On 13 October 2004 Tweed Harris died of throat cancer, aged 63.
Arnold Martyn Wyndham-Read is an English folk singer, who was a collector and singer of Australian folk music. He lived and worked in Australia from 1958 to 1967 and was subsequently a regular visitor to the country.
Australian folk music is the traditional music from the large variety of immigrant cultures and those of the original Australian inhabitants.
Gregory Raymond Quill was an Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter and journalist. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and was an entertainment columnist at the Toronto Star newspaper from the mid-1980s until his death in May 2013. In Australia he came to popular fame as a singer-songwriter for the country rock band Country Radio (1970–73). Their biggest hit, "Gypsy Queen", co-written by Quill with bandmate Kerryn Tolhurst, was released in August 1972 and peaked at No. 12 on the Go-Set National Top 40. After getting an arts grant, Quill travelled to Toronto in 1974 and by the mid-1980s had become a journalist with the Toronto Star. By 1983 he was married to Ellen Davidson, a public relations executive. Greg Quill died on 5 May 2013, at the age of 66, from "complications due to pneumonia".
Hugh McDonald was an Australian musician. Active from the 1970s to 2016, he performed and recorded with the Bushwackers, the Sundowners, Banshee, Redgum, Des "Animal" McKenna, Moving Cloud and the Colonials.
Shane Michael Howard is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist, he was the mainstay of folk rock group Goanna which had hit singles with "Solid Rock" and "Let the Franklin Flow" on the Kent Music Report and their album, Spirit of Place. After their disbandment he pursued a solo career.
