Bush Ballad
tagStarted 1890sPeak 1950s-1980sLast big hit still activeFrom Australia
Located in 1 route
Australia's narrative folk-country: strongly metered story-songs about drovers, shearers, bushrangers and the outback, set to a simple pick-and-strum beat with verses and singalong choruses. Plain bush vernacular, often adapted from 19th-century poetry, delivered in a flat Australian drawl with fiddle or accordion color.
History
Rooted in colonial folk verse collected in Banjo Paterson's 'Old Bush Songs' (1905), with Paterson and Henry Lawson supplying the canon. Slim Dusty became its great recording voice from the 1940s, setting bush poems to music and scoring with 'A Pub With No Beer' (1957). John Williamson and Lee Kernaghan keep the tradition alive.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Wikipedia: Bush ballad
- Australian Geographic: Top 10 iconic Banjo Paterson bush ballads
- Wikipedia: Slim Dusty