Merv Webster
It’s Tough To Be a Kelly

Available from users.tpg.com.au/thegrey
YouTube videos youtube.com/user/bushballader

Multi Award winning Ballad writer Merv Webster brings you a compilation of nine original ballads along with tracks of Australian bush verse by his multi award winning poet wife, Chris Webster. Merv expresses his thanks to Buddy Thomson of Outback Studios for engineering the album It’s Time To Stop The Rumours Lads and playing rhythm & electric guitar along with percussion. Lynne Bennett for harmonies, bass guitar and percussion. His thanks also to Buddy Thomson for engineering The Storyteller and playing rhythm guitar, also Lynne Bennett for playing bass and backing vocals. Kelvin Nolan for playing electric rhythm and lead guitar.

Bushwackers
Ned

Available from bushwackers.com.au
Contact rogerc@pnc.com.au or 02 4751 7099

In November 1980 the Bushwackers were an integral part of the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival in Winton, Victoria. For three days many legendary artists, including Redgum, and Johnny Chester, came together to celebrate the life and times of Ned Kelly. The Bushwackers produced this album as a celebration and acknowledgement of the special place Ned holds in the hearts of all Australians. Songwriters who contributed to this collection include John Williamson, Ted Egan, Tim Freedman, Shane Howard, and many anonymous authors who first sang and wrote of Ned.

01. Kelly In Our Hearts Roger Corbett
02. Devils Boots John Williamson
03. His Story The Bushwackers
04. Glenrowan, Farewell traditional
05. Ned Kelly Was Born In A Ramshackle Hut traditional
06. Beechworth Gaol Shel Silverstein
07. Poor Ned Trevor Lucas
08. Kate Kelly Tim Freedman
09. Poor Ned Kelly Smilin Billy Blinkhorn
10. Stringybark Creek traditional
11. Our Ned Kelly Grant and Lee Millar
12. Farewell Dan and Edward Kelly traditional
13. Such Is Life Ted Egan
14. Heart Of Australia Roger Corbett

Various Artists
100 Years a Hero

Available from ironbark.info
PO Box 3603 Weston Creek ACT 2611

This four track EP, including a four page song book, was released to celebrate the Ned Kelly Centenary Festival held at Winton, Victoria on November 8 and 9, 1980. Produced in 2000 by Bail Records the song list includes:

01. The Kellys Wouldn't Run Carl Myriad
02. Stringybark Creek The Bushwackers Band
03. Poor Ned Redgum
04. Ned Kellys Letter Bluetongue

Manjo Jam
Roaring Jelly

One such Irish band banging out a tune is Northern Queensland's Mango Jam, who have released a CD titled Roaring Jelly. Track one from this collection of modern and traditional tunes is none other than Poor Ned. Here is a review of that song by none other than singer / songwriter John Schumann from Redgum:

"It's a great compliment when other musicians record your own compositions or songs you have made famous. This is especially the case with Mango Jam's version of Poor Ned. The new CD, Roaring Jelly, declares Mango Jam to be very fine band - clever harmonies, tight but interestingly idiosyncratic rhythmic structures and above all, energy and passion.

Their version of Poor Ned is a case in point. I know how difficult it is to capture enthusiastic, passionate performances on record. With Poor Ned, Mango Jam has succeeded in doing just this. I love the harmonies, I love the lazy meandering fiddle part and I love their different approach to the verse by J S Manifold. Redgum made Poor Ned a folk standard. Mango Jam have taken it and recreated their own version in their own voice. Ned would have been very proud. I know I am".

POOR NED by Mango Jam is available for download as a .wav file. The file size is only 1.3 meg and well worth the download time. Once you have sampled this track feel free to check out the Mango Jam website and see the band in all their glory. More importantly, you can order their new CD!

John Memery
Granite, Guns and Gold

From the heart of Kelly Country comes a CD full of soul. Actually its a mixture of Irish folk and country music, with a focus on stories concerning the Kelly Gang and their kin. All 11 tracks were written and performed by John Memery A brief description of three songs lifted from the CD jacket include:

THOSE DINGO EYES Ned and Joe speak from the grave. Most of these words are from the Jerilderie and the Cameron letters with a few of my own thrown in. These two had a remarkable gift for language; a very Irish, vituperative gift to be sure but no less remarkable for that. The more I read about these two, the more I admire them.

FOUR BRAVE MEN Bushrangers used to hold people up for their watches and wallets. Not the Kelly Gang. Here they took over an entire town. Had the locals wanted to, they could easily have shot it out with them. Instead, they joined them for a drink in the Royal Mail Hotel. The boys actually managed to impress even the bank manager, the police and the Reverend Gribble!

KATE KELLY’S FAREWELL A strange farewell because she is saying, “Hello”, rather than “Goodbye”. The wild-child dead, aged thirty-nine, found drowned in a billabong off the Lachlan River. It may well have been in defending Kate from the attentions of Fitzpatrick that the real trouble started for the Kellys. Now here she is by that billabong; she had borne five children and she drank a lot. There had indeed been lots of rain.

To learn more about John Memery look no further than Tamara Whitsed's report. If you would like to listen to one of John's tracks Kate Kelly's Farewell click on the link above to download a .wav file. It is 2.29 meg and worth every k. Granite, Guns and Gold is available by phoning 03 5728 2032 or via email at johnmemery@hotmail.com

Bob Browne and Kelly's Heroes
Stand And Deliver

Fresh from the studios of Pinewood Records at Emu Plains in New South Wales comes a CD well worth adding to your Country n’ Western collection. Entitled Stand And Deliver, the album consists of Australian bushranger material including a song about Ned Kelly and a great picture of his Iron Mask astride a map of Australia on the cover.

The full track listing is as follows: Bushranger; The Overlanders; Ride The Wild Stallion; Nearly Forty; The Lachlan Tigers; Brisbane Ladies; Freedom On The Wallaby; Ned Kelly; A Gold Digger's Life; Dancing Lady; Fair Dinkum I Love Ya; They Dig Gold Don't They

NED KELLY is track eight from the Bob Browne and Kelly’s Heroes album Stand And Deliver. You can listen to a sample from the song saved as a 108k .wav file. The album is available for purchase in LP or cassette ($AUS10.00 each) or CD ($AUS15.00) online at Pinewood Records.