STACK #246 April 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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Aussie icon John Williamson releases his 21st studio album. TRUE BLUE LEGEND THE NAME GAME John Williamson is also known as “the Mallee Boy”.

He even called his 1986 album Mallee Boy.

J ohn Williamson was born in 1945 in Kerang, but his heart remains in his nearby Victorian hometown. “I have to put Kerang on my passport,” he notes, “which

of Australia, after ten years, complaining that the annual Golden Guitar awards had become too American, citing the nominations of Keith Urban, and Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey’s The Great Country Songbook , “an album with 90 per cent American covers”. “If we are not respected as a legitimate organisation to promote original Australian country music, I cannot be associated with it

irritates me because before that, my mum carried me around in her stomach for nine months in a great little Mallee town called Quambatook. My heart still warms at the sound of the name Quambatook: ‘resting place beside a river’. That’s what I’d like on my passport.” Williamson even wrote a song called Dear Little Quambatook , singing: “My little town hasn’t disappeared yet/ Dear little Quambatook, hometown to me.” When it comes to writing and singing about Australia, John Williamson is the real deal. He provided one of the few Aussie accents on the radio, and he has always stood up for local voices. In 2013, Williamson resigned as president of the Country Music Association

How Many

Songs by John

Williamson is out Apr 4 via Warner

any longer,” he declared. “We should be nurturing what Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson started.” Williamson’s new album, How Many Songs , opens with a song called If You Wanna Be an Aussie . In his autobiography Hey True Blue , Williamson explained: “My life has not really been about music, more a continuing love of the Australian character and especially the bush. “This country is what makes me tick.” Jeff Jenkins

John Williamson

Quambatook is a tiny town in the Mallee, home to only 230 people. But it also gave the world another music legend – Ian “Molly” Meldrum.

FUN FACT

THE CRUX OF THE MATTER Joe Keery – Djo – goes from a hitTV show to the pop charts.

Djo

Photo credit: Neil Krug

W hen Joe Keery was cast in Stranger Things , the show’s creators didn’t have big plans for his character, Steve Harrington. In fact, they intended to kill him off at the end of season one. But the producers fell in love with Keery’s work, and Steve has become a much-loved part of the show. After also starring in the movie Free Guy and the TV series Fargo , Keery is now returning to his music career,

Joe Keery is a big fan of Tame Impala, loving how they switch genres and refuse to repeat themselves. “I remember when Currents was released and there was a big uproar about him [Kevin Parker] shifting his sound so much, and now the album is a classic.” AUSSIE LINK

a member of Chicago psychedelic rock band Post Animal. He then released his debut solo album, Twenty Twenty , in 2019, followed by 2022’s Decide . Keery kicked off his Back on You World Tour with his first shows in Australia, including acclaimed appearances at the Laneway Festival in February. In The Crux ’s first single, Basic Being Basic , Keery sings: “I don’t want your money, I don’t care for fame/ I don’t wanna live a life where that’s my big exchange. “I want simple pleasures, friends who have my back.” Jeff Jenkins

CHART FACT

Djo is yet to have a Top 40 album in Australia. His

highest-charting album in the US was his second release, Decide , which reached number 56. His breakthrough single, End of Beginning , hit number three in Australia in 2024.

releasing his third album, The Crux . Before joining the cast of Stranger Things , Keery was

THE NAME GAME

The Crux by Djo is out Apr 4 via Rocket

Joe Keery releases his music under the name Djo. “It’s like my name, but it’s different – it looks different,” he explains. “It is me, but it’s also a disguise.” And Joe points out that it’s pronounced “Joe”, not D-Jo.

28 APRIL 2025

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