Something new from Bourke’s favourite singer/songwriter
It’s been a decade since one of Australia’s most successful, and well-liked, country artists has released an album, but Colin Buchanan has a swag of new material and is already back on the road and touring the countryside.
Despite not having been in a recording studio for a few years, tens of thousands of Australian households have a classic Colin Buchanan album that’s dusted off every festive season - his Aussie Christmas Carols album is one of the industry’s top sellers.
Colin’s versatility – his Aussie bush songs, children’s songs, and Christian music – span a vast and prolific career, but his beginnings were far from ‘showbiz’.
He was a primary school teacher when Colin travelled to Bourke with his wife Robyn, to work at the Pera Bore Christian Community School on Darling Farms.
Packed in the back of the car with his books and belongings was his acoustic guitar, and Colin credits this life-changing experience of the outback with igniting his creative drive and launching his musical career.
“I moved out to Bourke in 1988, to Pera Bore on the Wanaaring Road and it changed my life, especially as I grew up in the city” Colin said.
In between a few chuckles, Colin told Rod Corfe on 2WEB, that most country musicians credit their musical beginnings to Nashville or Tamworth.
“But mine was in Bourke,” he laughed.
“Radio 2WEB was a big part of that – the late Di Tyson, Ian Cole, Paul Roe – and it was the first station to play my songs, which I think were ‘Galahs in the Gidgee’ and ‘Toorale Station’.
“I had the chance to turn that outback experience into classic Australian music but when you walk around Central Park you realise you’re not the first to turn that experience into words and song, it’s the shared experience of Lawson, Ogilvie and Frank Brown.
“The landscape and the people still influence my music and when I’m song writing and collaborating with artists like Lee Kernaghan, I realise I put myself into that imaginary space when I’m writing about the bush.
“If it’s not authentic you can hear it in a song,” Colin said.
It was Colin’s down-to-earth character that saw his career take another right turn. After saying goodbye to his students at Pera Bore school and packing up the six string to follow the footlights on the country music stages, the door to a career in television opened.
“I moved into television and was a presenter on Play School and part of my success in that was my background as a teacher,” Colin said.
“Teaching is a very common job - and very important one too - and I loved the relationship with kids and the excitement of learning.
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