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A must for lovers of genuine Australian music. Ted Egan's 26th
Album.
It's too long, ten years, since I recorded an album
of songs. With this collection I fulfil two aims.
While the individual song I.O.U is
written for my beloved Nerys Evans, I dedicate this
new album, I.O.U, to my many
mates who have put up with me and supported my
various projects. You know who you are. You know
you will always be treasured. You will never be
forgotten. As my song says: “IOU for every
little thing you've ever done for
me......”
Here's the second aim. I have always loved the
genuine old North American "cowboy" songs. Gems
like Bridle Hanging on the Wall, and
Home on the Range. I have met the
people in the USA and Canada who still love and
sing those songs. As a keen student of Australian
history, I am aware that my country has a parallel
tradition to that of North America. In this album I
present some songs in the hope that I can establish
and reinforce that counterpart.
The biggest movements of cattle ever known in the
world took place in Australia in the years 1880 to
1950. Overlanders like Nat Buchanan, the Duracks
and the McDonalds ventured from the southern states
north and west with hundreds of thousands of
cattle, and established the big cattle empires that
we call "stations". Victoria River Downs Station,
affectionately called VRD, or "The Big Run" was, in
its heyday, 50,000 square miles in area. In
subsequent years the progeny from those stations
were walked back thousands of miles, across the
driest continent in the world, to the southern
markets. The drovers were men and women, black and
white, and they put up with absolute privation and
hardship as they challenged the tyranny of distance
and battled the elements. Australians can be
justifiably proud of the deeds of those
working-class pioneers. In this album I pay tribute
to many of them.
For what I call the "outback" songs on this album I
am fortunate to work principally in collaboration
with my old mate Bruce Simpson, a legendary cattle
drover himself, and one of Australia's finest ever
bush poets. Bruce thinks I am smart because I
occasionally put tunes to his poems. The listener
will spot that my voice and my simple tunes are
enhanced totally by the power, the beauty and the
authenticity of his words. Nobody has ever
represented the Australian outback as accurately as
Simmo.
And then to give a bit of variety I have included a
few "different" songs. I hope they please the
listener. I am thrilled that I release this album
for 2002, The International Year of the Australian
Outback. And I intend also to release it in North
America, for my cowboy mates. Cheers!
Ted Egan
Old Ned |
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