Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, 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.
Notable musicians include: Steve Eales, Adam Brand, Adam Harvey, McAlister Kemp, Jasmine Rae, Troy Cassar-Daley, Davidson Brothers, Slim Dusty, Steve Forde, Joy McKean, Olivia Newton-John, John Williamson, Chad Morgan, Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, Peter McWhirter, Forever Road and Kasey Chambers. Others influenced by the genre include Nick Cave and Paul Kelly. Popular songs include Waltzing Matilda (1895), Pub With No Beer (1957), Lights on the Hill (1973), I Honestly Love You (1974), True Blue (1981), Boys From the Bush (1992), Not Pretty Enough (2002) and Drive It Till The Wheels Fall Off (2006).
Read more about Australian Country Music: Overview, Awards and Festivals
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“The Australian mind, I can state with authority, is easily boggled.”
—Charles Osborne (b. 1927)
“Rulers, who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,—
A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“There was never yet such a storm but it was Æolian music to a healthy and innocent ear.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)