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MUSIC FEATURE

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The incredible SingYou Over has its origins in the moments before your mum Agnes was ready to pass; it must have been an extraordinarily personal decision to have a second vocalist record it with you! Why did you decide to do so, and why Paul Kelly? This song was also inspired by Uncle Archie Roach. I heard through the Koori community and music community that Unk had his band around his bedside when he passed. It brought me back to when I was there with Mum, and singing to her before she went. It’s an important time to invite and send the word out to close friends to come close, and pay respects. In honour of that I invited PK, because I knew he and Unk were close friends. You did a lot of inward thinking to craft the style of this album, and came back to your ”country family music ways.”What would 16-year-old Emma have thought of this album – is it the kind of ”daggy” country she didn’t like? I think I was more embarrassed at the cousins my age and friends around that time; country music wasn’t that popular, as it’s getting today. It it was more R’n’B that my friends and cousins loved. So when my mum dressed me in silk tassels and sequins, sending me to busk in Tamworth’s Peel Street, it was bit of a moment! I loved how country made me feel, singing it, inside. I love all kinds of old country: Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette. I loved Coal Miner’s Daughter more than Grease . There’s an awesome pub rock feel to Liquid Gold , which is a love letter to ”where it all began.”Tell us about your shout-outs between the sung lines in the bridge? I’m sharing a big story of my grandmother and grandfather. My Nanna was promised to my grandfather from 14 years; she came from south of Perth (Wardandi and Bibbulmun country), and my grandfather came from Moonie Mia (Northampton). I’m yelling out all their names, and making reference to my father’s story. It’s where it all began for the family bloodline. The album cover is such a cool throwback – it reminds us of Dusty Springfield. Which artists were you thinking about when you chose this style for the record’s artwork? Mostly Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. I just love them so much; me and Mother spent hours together singing all their tunes…

On Country, On Song Comprising individually gorgeous tracks which plait together into a breathtaking country collection, Til My Song Is Done is soul queen Emma Donovan’s manifesto on family, legacy, and the power of music to both propel you forward and return you home.We put some questions to the revered singer-songwriter. Words Zoë Radas

the good, to make good and right decisions and choices. There are also people in this world that need to see or feel change to help make their choices. Change Is Coming is a song about hoping for change in movement,

The concept of change is at the forefront of so many important cultural movements. But it’s also something that happens within our own personal journeys. Do you think that ”people changing their minds/ Opening up their hearts” (from Change Is Coming ) happens first from inside, or when they see things changing around them? I think a bit of both. People that have come from a good place and

Til My Song is Done by Emma Donovan drops April 19 via Cooking Vinyl.

moving forward for the rights of my people in this country. The amount of racism and injustices my people face in this country is appalling and horrible still today. I hope that by writing songs like this I can help change the minds of people that are negative.

intention first obviously want to make change, like myself; I’m all for change, changing for

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In April 1994, the effects of Boyz II Men’s hit End of the Road (released two years earlier) were still reverberating through romantic hearts, which were yearning for the next crooning a cappella anthem. Enter Cali four-piece All-4-One, who were initially hesitant to re-record Kentucky country artist John Michael Montgomery’s 1993 hit I Swear . That’s correct: I Swear was originally a twangin’ ballad by a guy in a big cowboy hat. But All-4-One went for it, and ended up with one of the most memorable love songs of the century; I Swear spent 11 weeks at number one on the US charts, and nabbed a Grammy. Yee-haw!

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Detail from the CD single release of All-4-One’s I Swear (1994)

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10 APRIL 2024

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