The Bushwackers Band, often simply the Bushwackers, is an Australian folk and country music band or Bush band founded at La Trobe University in Melbourne in 1971.
The Bushwackers | |
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The Bushwackers at the 2010 National Celtic Festival, Portarlington, Victoria, Australia | |
Background information | |
Origin | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Genres | Bush band, Australian country |
Years active | 1971–present |
Labels | Astor Records, EMI |
Members | Dobe Newton Roger Corbett Mark Oats Clare O'Meara Michael Vidale Ben Corbett Andy Gatus Liam Kennedy - Clark Gabi Louise |
Website | The Bushwackers |
Originally calling themselves The Original Bushwhackers and Bullockies Bush Band (spelling later changed to "Bushwackers"), the three founding members were guitarist Dave Isom, tea-chest bass player Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky and lagerphonist Bert Kahanoff. The band was conceived at La Trobe University in Melbourne when the founding members, in order to qualify for a grant to travel to the Aquarius Arts Festival 1972 at the ANU in Canberra, had to register as a formal act, consequently taking their name from the title of an album by the English folk singer Martyn Wyndham-Read. They were later joined by various players, including accordion and concertina player Mick Slocum, and fiddlers Tony Hunt and Dave Kidd, and in 1974 the band went full-time with their first tour to the British Isles, and Kahanoff was replaced by lagerphone player Dobe Newton. With an ever-changing line-up, and adding tin whistle, harmonica, concertina, 5-string banjo, bodhrán, bones, spoons, electric bass and guitar and drums the band worked throughout Australia and Europe.
Roger Corbett joined the band in 1980 and remains the principal songwriter, producer and manager of the band. Other members have included Fred Kuhnl, David Brannigan (The Colinails), drummer Gregory Martin, Steve Groves, Pete Farndon, Dave Mattacks, Pat Drummond, Michael Harris, Louis McManus, Eddy van Roosendael, Freddie Strauks (ex Skyhooks), drummer Pete Drummond (currently with Dragon) and world-renowned Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
AUS [1] | ||
The Shearer's Dream |
|
- |
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda |
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- |
Murrumbidgee |
|
- |
Bushfire |
|
37 |
Dance Album |
|
35 |
Faces in the Street |
|
54 |
Beneath the Southern Cross |
|
57 |
Down There for Dancing |
|
97 |
Warrigal Morning |
|
- |
Billy of Tea |
|
- |
Oz Rock Salutes |
|
- |
No Nuts 'Til Monday |
|
- |
Australian Songbook 30th Anniversary Edition |
|
- |
Ned |
|
- |
Australian Songbook Volume 2 |
|
- |
The Official Dance Album |
|
- |
Australian Songbook Volume 3 |
|
- |
The Lawson Project (with Dobe Newton) |
|
- |
The Hungry Mile |
|
- |
Dyed the Wool |
|
- |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
AUS [1] | ||
Lively! |
|
94 |
Jubilee 25th Anniversary Concert |
|
- |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
AUS [1] | ||
The Bushwackers Collection |
|
- |
Waltzing Matilda |
|
43 |
Celebration |
|
- |
The Very Best of Redgum & The Bushwackers Band (with Redgum) |
|
61 |
So Far... 1974-1994 |
|
- |
The Great Bushwackers Band |
|
- |
The Very Best of the Bushwackers |
|
- |
Australian Songbook Collection |
|
- |
Title | Details |
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Original T.V. Themes (with Brian May and The ABC Showband) |
|
Shores of Botany Bay |
|
Bushwacked |
|
April 25 |
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Year | Title | Peak chart positions |
Album |
---|---|---|---|
AUS [1] | |||
1973 | "When the Rain Tumbles Down in July"/"instrumental | - | |
1979 | "Annie"/"Fanny Bay" | - | Bushfire |
1980 | "Flying Pieman"/"The Kangaroo Hop" | - | The Dance Album |
"Waves of Bondi"/"Flying Pieman" | - | ||
1981 | "Les Darcy"/"Weevils in the Flour" | - | Faces in the Street |
"Marijunana Australia"/"Ned Kelly's Tunes" | 77 | ||
1982 | "Waltzing Matilda"/"Beneath the Southern Cross" | - | Beneath The Southern Cross |
"1234"/"Coney Island" | - | Down There for Dancing | |
1983 | "Warrigal Morning" (Theme from Bush Christmas)/"Goanna Stew" | - | Warrigal Morning |
"When Britannia Ruled the Waves"/"Hanging Rock" | - | Lively! | |
1984 | "Lime Juice Tub"/"Marijunana Australia" | - | |
1989 | "Shoalhaven Man"/"The Butterfly" | - | non-album single |
1996 | "Battler's Ballad" (with Broderick Smith) | - | non-album single |
2016 | "Leave it in the Ground"[9] | - | The Hungry Mile |
2017 | "Another Trip to Bunnings"[10] | - | |
2018 | "Oh How Memories Have Flown"[11] | - | non-album single |
2019 | "Stroke the Government's Pen" (with James Stewart Keene)[12] | - | non-album single |
"Marijuana Australiana Rehashed"[13] | - | Dyed the Wool | |
The Country Music Awards of Australia (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards and originally named Australasian Country Music Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wales, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. The Bushwackers have won three awards (wins only).[14]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | "Flying Pieman" | Instrumental of the Year | Won |
2010 | "The Road to Thargomindah" (written by Colin Buchanan) | Bush Ballad of the Year | Won |
2012 | "I Am Australian" | Heritage Track of the Year | Won |
2022[15] | The Bushwackers | Australian Roll of Renown | inducted |
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. The Bushwackers have won three awards (wins only).[16]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Themselves | Best Country Group | Won |
1986 | Themselves | Best Country Group | Won |
1988 | Themselves | Best Country Group | Won |
General | |
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National libraries | |
Other |
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