Jeff Brown - Wanderin' Man
In this week's episode, we're featuring an all-Aussie release from Queensland's Jeff Brown: "Wanderin' Man" (2016). This is the first time we've featured an exclusively Aussie album in over seven years of the show's existence - so let us know if you do or don't like it! Email westernred@ifthataintcountry.net - your feedback will dictate if we do it again! Anyway - Jeff Brown is a tall, laconic Queenslander who was born, raised and still resides on the Darling Downs. Brownie's household growing up was one of traditional Aussie bush balladry - from the great Buddy Williams and Tex Morton to Slim Dusty, Stan Coster and Gordon Parsons - and his own music carries on that tradition into the 21st century. "Wanderin' Man", like his previous six albums since a 1997 debut, speaks of the land, the people and life outside Australia's major centres. And as a truckie half the year hauling for farmers across the region, Brownie knows what he's singing about. Highlights from this magnificent piece of Australiana include the hilariously accurate "Kamikaze Kangaroo"; the story of the Aussie Army's forgotten dead-eye sniper in "Ballad Of Billy Sing"; the beautifully sad "The Bed He'd Never Leave" and an Aussie version of "Murder On Music Row" in "Old Country's Clothes". A bloody good album.