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LEE KERNAGHAN: I don't remember when the music started.

What the land is to a farmer,

that's what music's been to me.

They've both just been there.

And music is like the land.

Once it gets in your blood,

well, it wraps itself around your heart,

shapes your life.

It doesn't matter how many times you do it.

You walk out onto that stage

you're stepping into the unknown.

I've always believed being a big country fan

that if it sounds good, if it really gets you fired up,

if it puts the goose pimples up your arms,

or it brings a tear to your eye,

if you've got to play it over and over and over again,

it's a good chance it's country.

You know, I love to make records, I really do.

But, um, when I'm out in front of an audience

and I'm playing, the connection that you get

between the people and yourself

and the music, it's just...

it's almost like a spiritual thing.

With Lee's music, the thing that draws us all back to him

is the fact that it feels like he's telling stories

about our friends and family.

It feels like he's been a part of our family for what, 30 years?

Those people, country people and what they go through,

even today with the bushfires and the flooding,

they are a huge inspiration to me.

When he's talking about some of the bush life,

that's what it's like, it really is.

And that's so honest and open and it's something that people

need to hear and take on board.

This next bloke, he's a new country music star

on the horizon, we're told.

Lee Kernaghan.

Remember the name, Lee Kernaghan.

WOMAN: Genuine country boy.

- Australian country boy. - Yeah.

How do you describe what it feels like?

It's like... (LAUGHS)

I don't know if this is appropriate or not

but it's like you've just, uh...

fooled around with the most beautiful woman in the world

and been hit by a Mack truck

all at the same time. (LAUGHS)

He's a living legend of Australian country music. Yeah.

REPORTER: With more number ones than any other artist

of the past two decades,

Lee Kernaghan is Aussie country music's biggest name.

And the winner of this Golden Guitar Award is...

- WOMAN: Electric Rodeo, Lee Kernaghan. - (AUDIENCE CHEERING)

MAN: And the winner is...

Lee Kernaghan.

Lee Kernaghan.

The award goes to...

Spirit Of The Bush, Lee Kernaghan.

Singer Lee Kernaghan has cleaned up the top awards

at the Country Music Festival in Tamworth.

This is fantastic.

- The Outback Club, Lee Kernaghan! - (AUDIENCE CHEERING)

- Oh! - Yeah!

I'd personally just like to acknowledge

the farming families out there.

And I dedicate the album to you.

Lee has heart. He cares about his people.

I think he's, like, the king, like, the best.

The Australian of the Year

is Lee Kernaghan.

(CROWD CHEERING)

The greatest privilege on Earth

is to be an Australian.

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEE: The lyric.

The band.

The room.

It's going to write its own script.

Some people call it country music.

But I like to think of it as the music of our country.

(CROWD CHANTING)

And I love to get together with my mates and celebrate it.

This is our story.

These are our songs.

- (COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING) - (CROWD CHEERING)

♪ He works a 12-hour day from sun up till sun down

♪ He's doing what he can to make the wheels go round

♪ In a shed or down the track

♪ He knows how to bend his back

♪ He's a soul of the earth

♪ He's got a heart of gold

♪ He's a member of the outback club

♪ He don't back down and he don't give up

♪ He's living in the land he loves

♪ Born and raised He's a member of the outback club

♪ She rides the boundary fences with the blokes

♪ She's a match for any man alive when she works the mob

♪ Before the job is done There's another just begun

♪ Well, the kinda woman any man'd be proud of

♪ She's a member of the outback club

♪ She don't back down and she don't give up

♪ She's living in the land she loves

♪ Born and raised She's a member of the outback club

Let's go!

♪ He works the field or maybe just bringing out coal

♪ They're out there working their fingers to the bone

♪ They might be trucking the stock

♪ Or maybe working the mob

♪ They got one thing in common The country heart and soul

♪ They're members of the outback club

♪ They don't back down and they don't give up

♪ They're all living in the land they love

♪ Born and raised

♪ They're all members of the outback club

Who are we now?

♪ We're all members of the outback club

♪ We don't back down and we don't give up

♪ We're all living in the land we love

♪ Born and raised We're members of the outback

♪ We're all members of the outback club

♪ We don't back down and we don't give up

♪ We're all living in the land we love

♪ Born and raised We're all members of the outback club

♪ We were born and raised

♪ Members of the outback club

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEE: I was born in the High Country.

On Mum's side, the family line goes back to the Maddisons,

pioneers who ran cattle across these plains.

It's a powerful place,

full of old stories.

Mum's people were dairy farmers.

My father came from a droving family.

When they built the Snowy Hydro Scheme,

Dad used to drive trucks, working day and night

carting rubble down the steep, narrow tracks.

Dad taught me about mountains.

You get over one and another rises to meet you.

You might take small steps

but you just keep going,

like the mighty Murray

making its way down and rolling across the land.

But it all started here

in the High Country.

I was really lucky to grow up in a musical family

and whenever there was a wedding, an anniversary or a divorce...

(LAUGHS) We'd find a reason in the Kernaghan household

to have a bit of a party.

And that would always revolve around, you know,

the piano and the guitars and us singing some songs.

When I got a little bit older...

I actually got to join Dad's band

and spend some time out on the road with Dad.

I also loved country music

but I didn't want to sing about crying in my beer

in some, you know, honky tonk in Nashville.

I wanted to...

I wanted to sing about where I came from.

(GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)

♪ Honey, pack your bags grab your old blue jeans

♪ We're gonna go fishin' in a mountain stream

♪ I know a little shack way up in the hills

♪ Twenty-five miles from Harrietville

♪ In the High Country

♪ Honey you should see all the stars up there

♪ They shine so bright through the cold night air

♪ I'm gonna build you a fire that'll burn real hot

♪ I'll stay with you at the old camp hut

♪ In the High Country

♪ I've got a four-wheel drive and I'm ready to roll

♪ I wanna go flying up an old dirt road

♪ Up in the hills where the brumbies roam

♪ This land must surely be God's own

♪ In the High Country

♪ In the High Country, yeah

♪ In the drought of 1882

♪ The Maddisons brought the cattle through

♪ From Mountain Creek to the Staircase Spur

♪ We'll follow the tracks where they pushed the herd

♪ To the High Country

♪ And I got a four-wheel drive and I'm ready to roll

♪ I wanna go flying up an old dirt road

♪ Up in the hills where the snow gums stand

♪ You can see forever across this land

♪ In the High Country

♪ That's where I wanna be

♪ Walkin' with you by a mountain stream

♪ High Country that's where I wanna go

♪ Got my bags packed I'm ready to roll

♪ I've got my four-wheel drive and I'm ready to roll

♪ I wanna go flyin' up an old dirt road

♪ Up in the hills where the snow gums stand

♪ You can see forever across this land

♪ I'm headin' for the High Country

♪ Headin' for the High Country

♪ We're going to the High Country

♪ I'm headin' for the High Country

♪ My bag's packed I'm ready to roll

♪ High Country

♪ Headin' for the High Country

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEE: The outback.

It's epic.

I feel something out here you don't feel anywhere else.

You push on towards where the road meets the sky

and it just keeps getting bigger.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

And it's more than a setting.

It's a character in our shared story.

You trace the dust rising up from behind a tractor on a paddock.

Or a ute on a lonely road.

And it all changes from a scene to a story

where you find a family,

a farm,

someone's life.

You meet these people and you never forget them.

How long do you hope to get out of a rig like that?

MAN: Oh, you can...

especially with a Kenworth, a good solid truck,

you can rebuild them a couple of times.

- They go forever, really. - Yeah.

There's a lot of old Kenworths still getting around.

There's only one of us normally on shift so it's...

you do what you can do.

We have emergency drivers as well we can call upon.

You need somebody with you to drive you back in

so you're in the back with the patient.

LEE: Small moments that stay with you.

Friendships that began with a handshake,

that gather around campfires.

Crossing deserts.

Spanning the miles

and the years.

There’s just so much history here

and it's from these little country towns

that I draw most of the inspiration for the songs that I record on record.

I always keep coming back to them because every time I do

I'll find a new idea for a song.

I keep tracing the dust.

And every now and then,

if I'm lucky,

those mates and places and stories

become a song.

And that's the quest.

Just to sing it the way it is.

♪ It's a plume of dust down an old dirt road

♪ Hangin' off the rails at the rodeo

♪ Back veranda with creaking boards

♪ And the dark rage of a thunderstorm

♪ Stockman's bar at an old bush pub

♪ Chasing mickeys though the scrub

♪ It's planting seed and praying for rain

♪ And red dust running through your veins

♪ Just the way it is

♪ It's the way it goes

♪ When my wheels hit the gravel road and it feels like home

♪ It's the way of life

♪ It's the life I live

♪ And I'm right where I want to be that's the way it is

♪ Corrugated iron shed

♪ Work boots on a backdoor step

♪ Scones in the oven and preserves in jars

♪ They're talking prices at the saleyards

♪ There's long straight roads and one horse towns

♪ Sheep dogs bringing the mob around

♪ It's "she'll be right" and having a go

♪ It's "good on ya, mate" and "what do ya know?"

♪ Just the way it is

♪ It's the way it goes

♪ When my wheels hit the gravel road and it feels like home

♪ It's the way of life

♪ It's the life I live

♪ And I'm right where I want to be

♪ That's the way it is

♪ The eerie still in the grey of dawn

♪ Fields of wheat and rows of corn

♪ A rusty tank with flaking paint

♪ And a weary digger on Anzac Day

♪ Dreamtime land and Uluru

♪ Aborigine, didgeridoo

♪ The battered hats The calloused hands

♪ The spirit of a hard won land

♪ Just the way it is

♪ It's the way it goes

♪ When my wheels hit the gravel road it feels like home

♪ It's the way of life

♪ Oh, it's the life I live

♪ And I'm right where I want to be

♪ A patch of ground and you and me

♪ That's the way it is

♪ Oh...

♪ It's just the way it is

♪ Oh...

♪ That's the way it is

♪ That's the way it is

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEE: From the age of five, my dad would join Pop on the droving trails.

In the bush, you learn soon enough

hard work is something you're born into.

Most of it is unremarkable,

often mundane faces and places

that don't ask for a second look.

It's rolling weeks of rusty wire,

skinned knuckles

and diesel smoke,

in the gate, out the gate,

dawn to dusk, day in, day out.

And then Friday arvo rolls around.

And the beer's cold, front bar's full

and they're rolling in,

still wearing the week's work on their boots.

- Good luck, eh? - MAN: Mmm-hmm.

Here's looking up your kilt.

It's not pretty,

it's not flash,

but it's where a song was born.

Everyone knows.

The boys from the bush are back in town.

Yeah, the old piano.

Um...

You know, I learnt to play the piano first

and then I went on to guitar after that.

Piano's probably my main instrument.

In fact, a lot of people don't know this

but Boys from the Bush was actually...

The tune was written on a piano.

- (PLAYS NOTES ON PIANO) - (CHUCKLES)

♪ Been shearin' the sheep

♪ We've been mustering stock

It's not quite the same as on guitar, though, is it?

Ho!

♪ We've been shearin' the sheep

♪ We've been mustering stock

♪ We've been cullin' out roos

♪ We've been sprayin' the crops

♪ We've been drovin' cattle up an old stock route

♪ And now it's Saturday night

♪ We pile in the ute

♪ 'Cause we're the boys from the bush and we're back in town

♪ Well, the dog's in the back and the foot goes down

♪ We're life members of the outback club

♪ We're the boys from the bush come in from the scrub

♪ We've been out in the heat

♪ We've been loading the trucks

♪ Fixing fences

♪ Been choking on dust

♪ We curse the rain

♪ We curse the drought

♪ And now it's Saturday night

♪ And we're all in the shout

♪ 'Cause we're the boys from the bush and we're back in town

♪ We get high when the sun goes down

♪ We're life members of the outback club

♪ We're the boys from the bush come in from the scrub

♪ We work the land

♪ Through fire and flood

♪ It's in our hearts

♪ It runs in the blood

♪ 'Cause we're the boys from the bush and we're back in town

♪ Yeah, we raise hell when the sun goes down

♪ We're life members of the outback club

♪ We're the boys from the bush come in from the scrub

♪ Yeah, we're the boys from the bush and we're back in town

♪ We get high when the sun goes down

♪ We're life members of the outback club

♪ We're the boys from the bush come in from the scrub

♪ We're the boys from the bush come in from the scrub

(CROWD CHEERING)

- Howdy, stranger. - LEE: How are you, mate?

I am dead dangerous. It's been way too long.

- Good to see you, mate. - You too, mate.

- You drive all the way? - I did.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

You know, mate, we've written a few songs together

over the years but one that I'll never forget

is the night before we wrote Goondiwindi Moon

and that turned out to be quite an epic...

JAMES BLUNDELL: Union Station Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

And it was a fun night.

We talked a lot about music

and we were smack in the middle of Nashville.

But the next morning... 'Cause we'd committed to writing.

That's why you and Garth were in Nashville, to write,

and I was one of the sessions, which is a labour of love.

There's nothing better than writing with fellow Australians

while you're dislocated, 'cause that really sharpens your focus.

♪ These hands can turn timber

♪ Into good stockyard rails

♪ This back knows the burden of toil

JAMES: I remember going to your apartment

lying on my stomach on the floor, with my head on my forearm

and you were talking about Goondiwindi Moon.

It looked like I was just paying no attention at all

but I could see it all.

♪ Never knew I had feelings like this

♪ So much could change with a kiss

♪ It's just me and you

JAMES: I remember just making the effort

to get my head off my arm going,

"'These hands can turn timber into good stockyard rails."

And you go, "That's it!" And that's where we started.

And then the rest of it... 'cause you had all the stuff about the...

being alone, living a life alone and having it...

It was written on a monumental hangover,

that song, like a really good one.

I'd never seen such good song writing

from anyone laying on the floor in the foetal position.

- (BOTH LAUGHING) - JAMES: pretty much.

♪ These hands can turn timber

♪ Into good stockyard rails

♪ This back knows the burden of toil

♪ Between fixing up fences

♪ And falling behind

♪ Well, I reckon

♪ I've been through it all

♪ Never knew I had feelings like this

♪ And so much could change with a kiss

♪ It's just me and you

♪ And the Goondiwindi Moon

♪ All at once the world was standing still

♪ With the moonlight in your hair

♪ And the softness of your skin

♪ Taking me somewhere I've never been

♪ Goondiwindi Moon

♪ I've spent all of my life

♪ Out on these black flood plains

♪ I've wandered these paddocks so long

♪ With the moon on my shoulder

♪ Silent old friend

♪ I lived in a world of my own

♪ But there's a new light in my life

♪ And I can't help this feeling inside

♪ It's just me and you

♪ And the Goondiwindi Moon

♪ All at once the world was standing still

♪ With the moonlight in your hair

♪ And the softness of your skin

♪ Taking me somewhere I've never been

♪ Goondiwindi Moon

♪ Never knew I had feelings like this

♪ And so much could change with a kiss

♪ It's just me and you

♪ And the Goondiwindi Moon

♪ All at once the world was standing still

♪ With the moonlight in your hair

♪ And the softness of your skin

♪ Taking me somewhere I've never been

♪ Goondiwindi Moon

♪ Goondiwindi Moon

(CROWD CHEERING)

SOUND TECHNICIAN: One, two.

Is it true that you actually road test your songs

- in a Land Cruiser? - I do.

Every single song on all my albums,

uh, when I... when I finish mixing it in the studio,

I stick it in the Land Cruiser, listen to it

and, um, if it sounds good in the Cruiser,

it makes it onto the market and out to Australia.

I came in tonight

and I saw more Land Cruisers assembled in one place

than I've ever seen before in my life.

And you know what? It felt like family.

It felt like us.

(ENGINE ROARING)

LEE: The bush is full of machinery.

Tractors, combines, dozers,

road trains and utes.

Mate, this is my pride and joy. I love this baby.

Well, you better show me that speaker.

Righto, mate. Have a listen to this. I'll show you.

(MAN LAUGHS)

LEE: Beaten and bruised,

dinged and dust-coated.

Hay bales in the back,

bullet holes in the roof,

bugs smashed across the bull bar.

Back in the day, I remember telling a mate,

"I think I need a song about a ute."

We wrote it one afternoon on tour in Goulburn.

Ute rock was born.

But it's not just about the machine.

It's about all the people.

They were already there,

turning clapped-out bangers into five-poster,

exhaust-stacked, mud-flapped, amped-up, dust-spitting beasts!

Ute rock is a four-wheeled, long-horned,

Aussie-flagged circle working party

and everyone's invited.

(CROWD CHEERING)

♪ Kickin' past the dealers on the edge of town

♪ I saw a lot of pretty pickups not a ute to be found

♪ Well, tinfoil cars A bloke'd be nuts

♪ Give me a six or an eight a four-wheel, mate

♪ The dents and the dust and the grasshopper guts

♪ She's got holes in the muffler and a gear-box clunk

♪ I cursed her and called her a piece of old junk

♪ The work's been done at the end of the day

♪ She's my ute I'll keep it that way

♪ She's my ute and she's here to stay

♪ Well, you can see them blow-ins in their four by fours

♪ Jumpin' up and down about a scratch on the door

♪ But I've got a yarn for every dent

♪ A big red roo A pig or two

♪ A hole in the roof that Col shot through

♪ She's got holes in the muffler and a gear-box clunk

♪ I've cursed her and called her a piece of old junk

♪ The work's been done at the end of the day

♪ She's my ute I'll keep it that way

♪ She's my ute She's here to stay

♪ Well, I had a girl but she laid down the law

What'd she say, girls?

♪ She said, "You can't keep that dirty old ute any more"

♪ But there comes a point when a man's gotta choose

♪ So I told her straight I'll stick with my mate

♪ She's been gone a year but the ute's still here

♪ She's got holes in the muffler and a gear-box clunk

♪ I cursed her and called her a piece of old junk

♪ The work's been done at the end of the day

♪ Yeah, she's got holes in the muffler and a gear-box clunk

♪ I cursed her and called her a piece of old junk

♪ The work's been done at the end of the day

♪ She's my ute I'll keep it that way

♪ She's my ute She's here to stay

♪ She's my ute

♪ Ooh...

♪ She's my ute

♪ Ute

(CROWD CHEERING)

On the couch, a bloke who certainly needs no introduction

for a heck of a lot of Australians.

We've been talking this evening about country life

and the different meaning it takes on for different people.

So who better to talk about it

than the singing bush boy himself, Lee Kernaghan?

- Lee, good to see you. - G'day, George.

What is it about the bush for you?

Well, I love being around the people.

Um, it's... it's laid back, it's real, it's fair dinkum.

There's a sense of freedom in the bush which I love.

How are people in the country at the moment?

You must be there most of the time?

I mean, they seem to be hurting pretty badly at the moment.

Everybody knows that, you know, the drought that we've had

has been one of the toughest in the history of our country

and, uh, there's people out there in western Queensland

and other parts of Australia

that will probably never ever recover from the loss of stock

and the financial loss that went with that.

Devastating stuff.

Last year was the worst year on record for rainfall.

It was half the previous bad year.

Extremely dry, yeah. probably as dry as we've ever had.

Jumping from next last option

to next last option at the moment, so...

This is another one of those essential jobs during the drought.

Carting water.

Never ever dreamt of it being like this.

I've been growing wheat for 57 years.

We've been successful on many occasions

but three years in a row has been unprecedented in my lifetime.

(SHEEP BLEATING)

WOMAN: Last week, I think there were three major dust storms.

And you're just, like, "Oh!"

I mean, nobody likes housework at the best of times

but when you're just trying to live...

(CHUCKLES)

I just can't believe we live like this sometimes.

The ongoing thing is not to dwell and get down too much.

One needs to focus elsewhere.

(CHILDREN CHATTERING)

You know, I'm an optimist and I think, you know,

most country people, no matter what you throw at them,

if it's a drought or a flood, or economic hard times,

they'll find a way to get through.

LEE: Every hat has a story.

- Bernie, how are you, mate? - G'day.

Every hat's got a name or a brand on it.

LEE: They're all hard-working hats. (CHUCKLES)

Yeah, they are.

LEE: You see those work-worn Akubras

and they tell you something

about the people who wear them,

the way of life in the back blocks,

in the far-flung towns.

About hanging in and holding on together

through good and bad.

And it's in the tough times

that the hat comes off and the hat goes round.

It's always been the Australian way.

In times of drought...

MAN: I've been here all my life.

And it's the worst I've ever seen in 58 years.

LEE: ..bushfires...

WOMAN 1: We went out to fight, Mick turned the pump on

and it went from flames this high

- in a second, to flames this high. - Yeah.

LEE:..flood...

WOMAN 2: This is the only home we've known.

I've lived here for 24 years.

My parents have been here for 29, so...

It's all we've ever known, so...

It's very sad to see it all underwater.

LEE:..to dig deep,

reach into the pocket and help someone doing it tough.

It's a tradition that started in the bush

and it's an Australian tradition.

You know, come times of trouble, of crisis,

it doesn't matter whether you live out in the country or live in the city,

Australians have got a very generous heart

and they look after their mates.

That's what I saw up close and personal

on the Pass the Hat tours.

Hits and Memories 2WG with Scott Levi

and a huge night coming up tomorrow night.

Make sure to get those tickets at the 2WG booking office

for the Lee Kernaghan pass the Hat Around concert.

The Wagga Music Bowl's the place.

LEE: I saw it in Wagga Wagga

when the town came together to help country kids

battling with cancer.

I saw it in the sunburnt Wimmera Mallee

when 23,000 people turned up

for drought stricken farmers.

MAN: We think it's the greatest thing that, um,

this country could ever imagine wanting to happen.

I think Lee Kernaghan should be knighted for what he's doing.

LEE: And I saw it in Yaraka, population 23,

that thousands came from all over to raise funds

for the bush medical clinic and the local school.

Look, it's more than exciting, yeah.

The whole place is just abuzz.

I was very amazed. I was very excited

and quite overwhelmed that Yaraka was noticed.

Mate, it's a humbling experience actually for me to go out there

and play to such a terrific bunch of people.

It's what music's all about and I'm lucky

because I feel that I've been given a gift

and a very special privilege

to be able to take these shows out on the road

and, uh, as long as there's breath in my body,

I hope to be out there and joining forces

with these people and having a go.

Over the years and all over Australia,

the tours raised millions of dollars.

They might have been big events, but...

...in the end all we really did

was pass the hat around.

Because...

that's what you do for each other

in a hat town.

♪ I was born in a hat town Raised on the Warrego

♪ Well, it's hot out here but we tough it out

♪ Like an old brigalow

♪ From the back of the Channel Country

♪ Across the western plains

♪ The roads are straight and dusty

♪ And the folks are much the same

♪ Roots run strong and deep out here in a hat town

♪ And we'll carry on down through the years

♪ In a hat town

♪ And it might be Thargomindah It might be Barkly Downs

♪ There's a pub and a store and not much more

♪ You're living in an old hat town

♪ Stuck out in the heat haze on a half mile 60 zone

♪ Just a ragtag bunch of buildings made of wood and tin and stone

♪ But there's a swag of stories

♪ Most of them are true

♪ Of how the locals pass the hat around

♪ And pull each other through

♪ Roots run strong and deep out here in a hat town

♪ And we'll carry on down through the years in a hat town

♪ And it might be Thargomindah It might be Barkly Downs

♪ There's a pub and a store and not much more

♪ You're living in an old hat town

♪ Well, we're roustabouts and drovers

♪ We're bushies tried and true

♪ And we're out here for the long haul

♪ We're not just blowin' through

♪ Roots run strong and deep out here in a hat town

♪ And we'll carry on down through the years

♪ In a hat town

♪ From the back of the Channel Country

♪ And across the dusty downs

♪ There's a pub and a store and not much more

♪ You're living in an old hat town

♪ Ooh...

(VOCALISING)

♪ We're livin' in a hat town

♪ Livin' in an old hat town

(VOCALISING)

♪ We're livin' in a hat town

♪ Livin' in an old hat town

(CROWD CHEERING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(FILM REEL ROLLING)

(INAUDIBLE)

LEE: Country music has its prophets and heroes.

Goes right back to Lawson, Paterson.

And then along came Tex,

Buddy,

and Slim.

We all climb on the shoulders of those who come before.

They put in the miles, paying their dues,

blazing their trails,

taking their music to showgrounds and country halls and tray bed trucks.

Before TV and the internet,

it was caravans, canvas and sawdust.

A town a day,

dirt tracks and blowouts,

broken stub axles,

bogged and battered

but unstoppable.

Slim Dusty sang his way

to become the king of Australian country music.

So when I was a young bloke

and Slim sat down next to me

on a cross-country flight,

well, that was something I knew I'd never forget.

Thirty thousand feet above the Nullarbor Plain.

And all these years later,

we're all still flying with the king.

♪ It was Ansett 603

♪ He sits down next to me

♪ We were flyin' out across the Great Divide

♪ Bound for WA

♪ He shook my hand and said g'day

♪ There I was, Slim Dusty by my side

♪ I was flyin' with the king

♪ Ridin' on the wind

♪ A small town boy from nowhere

♪ My head up in the clouds

♪ All the times I heard him play

♪ And here I was today

♪ I was flyin''

♪ I was flyin' with the king

♪ Was Trumby ridin' slow

♪ Thirty thousand feet below

♪ Way down there round a fire of Gidgee coal

♪ With the desert stretchin' on

♪ Home to countless Dusty songs

♪ He was the man who walked a country mile

♪ I was flyin' with the king

♪ Ridin' on the wind

♪ A small town boy from nowhere

♪ My head up in the clouds

♪ All the times I heard him play

♪ And here I was today

♪ I was fiyin'

♪ I was flyin' with the king

♪ And before I knew, The wheels touched down

♪ He smiled and said, "I'll see you round"

♪ There was so much more to say

♪ But he was gone

♪ And now he's gone

♪ I was flyin' with the king

♪ Ridin' on the wind

♪ A small town boy from nowhere

♪ My head up in the clouds

♪ All the times I heard him play

♪ And here I was today

♪ I was fiyin'

♪ I was flyin' with the king

(CROWD CHEERING)

Slim's music really struck a chord with so many people

and I think it was not only the music

but it was the man that struck a chord.

He was, you know, a superstar.

He was the biggest star that Australian country has ever seen

and one of the all time greats of Australian music.

But he was still a decent, good man

a great bloke who'd, you know,

once you met him, you'd never forget the day

that you shook hands with Slim Dusty.

(ORGAN PLAYING)

(PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

VIDEOGRAPHER: Don't you have to do the crossing of the glasses?

You know, the entwined?

Oh, I'm getting a close-up.

I've always liked that in the movies.

No, we do a shortcut. You want to see it?

WOMAN: Oh, no...

MAN: Aww.

(PEOPLE LAUGHING)

We wouldn't have done that.

VIDEOGRAPHER: Oh, that's just out of control.

You can tell we're almost in the year 2000.

LEE: Love's a mystery.

It can elude you, confuse you.

You can wonder if it's ever going to happen at all.

That's right where I was.

Then I met Robyn McKelvie,

a farm girl from Wyrallah in northern New South Wales.

I knew it the moment we met.

She was beautiful,

she could play the piano,

write songs

and she could sing.

It's been a full and blessed journey.

Two sons and a shared adventure

of albums, gigs,

tours and songs.

And I've never doubted it for a second.

Wherever the road leads me,

wherever she is,

that's where I want to be.

♪ It's been a long road down a dirt track

♪ A lost highway to a neon city

♪ Done a red-eye flight to LAX and on

♪ Well, I walked the streets of London Town

♪ Seen the Paris lights when the sun goes down

♪ And every step just led me closer to

♪ Where I wanna be and all I wanna do

♪ Is ride this road with you

♪ Wherever you are No matter how far

♪ Anywhere it leads

♪ Well, you might be on some old backroad

♪ Or far across the sea

♪ Baby, where you are Where you are

♪ Is where I wanna be

♪ I went my own way did my own thing

♪ Sang my own songs with the windows down

♪ Along the freeway in the fast lane to the coast

♪ With my feet in the sand and the big wide blue

♪ I felt the waves just roll on through

♪ Saltwater in my eyes but I could see

♪ Where I wanna be all I wanna do

♪ Is ride this road with you

♪ Wherever you are No matter how far

♪ Anywhere it leads

♪ Well, you might be on some old backroad

♪ Or far across the sea

♪ Baby, where you are Where you are

♪ Is where I wanna be

♪ Baby, where you are Where you are

♪ Is where I wanna be

♪ Wherever your heart beats I'll call home

♪ We're under the same stars never alone

♪ And every step has led us closer to

♪ Where I wanna be and all I wanna do

-♪ Oh, baby -♪ Is ride this road with you

♪ Wherever you are No matter how far

-♪ Anywhere it leads -♪ Anywhere it leads

♪ Well, you might be on some old backroad

♪ Or far across the sea

♪ Baby, where you are Where you are

♪ Is where I wanna be

♪ Baby, where you are Where you are

♪ Is where I wanna be

(CROWD CHEERING)

This is LK here backstage at Townsville Entertainment Centre.

This is the scene.

- Boys. - Hello.

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

LEE: (VOCALISING) The rhythm of the highway.

When it kicks up, we're about to go.

Bonds is back there being very, very quiet.

(ALL LAUGHING)

LEE: Should we bring everybody into the huddle tonight?

- Let's do it. - I think it's all right.

LEE: Into the circle.

BAND MEMBER: Are you getting ready?

ALL: Hey. (LAUGHING)

LEE: It's on. It's on tonight with the Wolfe Brothers.

BAND MEMBER: Here we go.

Whoo! Here we go!

Time to go, everyone. We're off.

♪ You're drivin' back home down Route 56

♪ You almost hit a roo You end up in a ditch

♪ You can't pull forward and you can't back out

♪ You're sittin' there thinkin' whatcha gonna do now

♪ You'd be a little nervous if a cop showed up

♪ You drank a little, maybe just a little too much

♪ Waitin' on a tow truck takes too long

♪ It's two in the mornin' who you gonna call?

♪ Mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ Half an hour later they're pullin' you out

♪ You know the ones I'm talkin' about

♪ Mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ You can count 'em all on one of your hands

♪ Got a hundred friends and a couple of damn good mates

♪ So you're all shootin' pool on a Saturday night

♪ This little brunette keeps givin' you the eye

♪ So you buy her a drink and before too long

♪ You're out on the floor in the middle of a song

♪ Well, about that time her ex shows up

♪ He's starin' you down gettin' all bowed up

♪ He's a big ol' jacked up SOB

♪ Well, that's all right He's about to meet

♪ Your mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ A few seconds later He's startin' to see

♪ It ain't one on one It's one on three

♪ Mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ Well, they do it for you 'cause you'd do it for them

♪ You got a hundred friends and a couple of damn good mates

♪ They're there even when you don't see 'em as much

♪ 'Cause you moved away or you fell in love

♪ But they're wearin' a tux when you're sayin' your vows

♪ And if you crash and burn you can crash on the couch

♪ Mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ They love you like a brother there ain't no doubt

♪ You know the ones I'm talkin' about

♪ Mates

♪ Damn good mates

♪ You can count 'em all on one of your hands

♪ You got a hundred friends and a couple of damn good mates

♪ Oh, damn good mates

(CROWD CHEERING)

- BAND MEMBER: Cheers. - LEE: Cheers, boys.

(PATRIOTIC MUSIC PLAYING)

NEWSREADER: The Anzacs march again throughout Australia

and as they march,

the very spirit of Anzac is rekindled in a nation's heart.

In Melbourne, more than 25,000 veterans,

led by Sir John McCauley marched through streets

lined by 200,000 spectators.

The men of the First AIF,

the women who nursed the wounded or released men for active duty.

Old soldiers and younger ones

marching side by side to the shrine

to pay homage to cobbers who did not come back.

Melbourne remembers Gallipoli, Flanders Fields,

Tobruk, the Kokoda Trail,

Korea.

The Flame of Remembrance burns in Brisbane too,

for Anzac Day is a day of nationwide memories.

The young lay wreaths and the old recall their comrades.

(PATRIOTIC MUSIC PLAYS)

LEE: Every town has a cenotaph.

Silent stones,

large and small,

in main streets and parks.

Memorials that speak of valour,

sacrifice,

loyalty

and loss.

Long lists of names,

the boys from the bush

and sometimes their sisters

who left, served, fought,

died.

Sons,

fathers,

brothers,

grandsons.

Waved off,

many never to return.

The flags are raised every day.

Guns sit in the park.

Honour rolls.

Memorial halls.

Silent,

powerful reminders that resonate to this day.

Lest we forget.

♪ He's a drover drifting over western plains

♪ He's a city lad

♪ A clerk on Flinders Lane

♪ They're in the trenches at Lone pine

♪ And on the Flanders firing line

♪ A willing band of ordinary men

♪ He's all of them

♪ He's one of us

♪ Born beneath

♪ The Southern Cross

♪ Ooh...

♪ Side by side

♪ We say with pride

♪ He is all of them

♪ He is one of us

(VOCALISING)

♪ And he's a fighter pilot over El Alamein

♪ He's an Able Seaman on the Armidale

♪ She's a nurse in Vietnam

♪ He's on patrol in Uruzgan

♪ Sons and daughters rising to the call

♪ She's all of them

♪ She's one of us

♪ Born beneath

♪ The Southern Cross

♪ Side by side

♪ We say with pride

♪ She is all of them

♪ She is one of us

(VOCALISING)

♪ The spirit of the Anzacs

♪ Proud and strong

♪ The spirit of the Anzacs

♪ Will live on and on and on

♪ He's all of them

♪ He's one of us

♪ Born beneath

♪ The Southern Cross

♪ Side by side

♪ We say with pride

♪ He is all of them

♪ She is all of them

♪ They are one of us

(VOCALISING)

♪ They are one of us

♪ They are one of us

(CROWD CHEERING)

- (CRICKETS CHIRPING) - (BIRDS CHIRPING)

(DIDGERIDOO PLAYING)

LEE: There's a mystery and a sense of wonder

about this ancient place we live in.

It's a humbling experience to be on Gamilaraay country

on the banks of the Dumaresq River.

To be with mates

who are keeping that timeless spirit alive.

It's times like these,

you light a fire

and come together

to listen,

to learn

and to sing.

I looked at all the songs I'd recorded.

Every theme, every story, every place.

ISAIAH: And it was hard to write a song that...

wasn't, you know, like, too forceful but wasn't...

You know, we had to find a good balance lyrically

and, like, the angle of what we were talking about.

What I really enjoyed about writing the song with you blokes was

you know, like you're Yorta Yorta, your culture

and you were able to sort of write lyrics about your experience...

- ISAIAH: Yeah, yeah. -..of your country.

And Mitch, when you were writing in language,

it was just incredible to be able to bring your story to life in the song.

- Mmm. - LEE: Yeah.

The lyric in the song, whether it's English or language,

it really does connect to me personally

and I think it will connect to a lot of our people.

You know, this song is not about black and white.

It's a song of saying, "You're all welcome.

Come around the sacred fire. Come and sit with us.

Come under these sacred stars."

You know, because those stories have carried us to now.

You know, let's embrace one another regardless of race,

religion, gender, sexuality, you know, class.

Let's just come together and walk together

and we might for the first time

give ourselves as a nation the best possible opportunity

to move forward into something much bigger and greater than ourselves.

♪ We gather round this old campfire, my friend

♪ A million stars are singing in the sky

♪ The stories that have carried us to now

♪ Come together

♪ Come together

♪ Standing on this grand and sacred land

♪ Where the eagles fly way up above

♪ I can feel the world they hold beneath their wings

♪ Come together We've come too far to walk away

♪ Come together Been dreaming of a better day

♪ Sing the song, tell the story of this land, everybody

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

♪ I listen as you tell me of the scars

♪ Here on this land that holds your blood and tears

♪ The spirits of the past that mould the spark

♪ Come together

♪ Come together

♪ My people know the endless dance of time

♪ In the rhythms of the yidaki

♪ On the wings of the mighty bunjil We will rise

♪ Come together We've come too far to walk away

♪ Come together Been dreaming of a better day

♪ Sing the song, tell the story of this land, everybody

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

(VOCALISING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SINGS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

♪ Come together We've come too far to walk away

♪ Come together Been dreaming of a better day

♪ Sing the song, tell the story of this land, everybody

♪ Come together We've come too far to walk away

♪ Come together Been dreaming of a better day

♪ Sing the song, tell the story of this land, everybody

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

♪ Come together

♪ Ooh...

♪ Come together

(CROWD CHEERING)

LEE: Country music has a way of blurring the lines.

When the tunes feel right,

life and song become one.

You hear it and you think,

"It's about my struggles.

My mates.

My town.

My story."

It's not even like you put yourself in the song.

It's like you find yourself in the song.

That's what actually happened to a bloke called Troy Hoffmeier.

He loved my song "Texas QLD 4385"

but Troy took it to the next level.

He actually moved to Texas and he bought the General Store.

Troy. How are you, mate?

How are you? Good to see you, mate.

Twelve years I've been trying to get here.

And you've finally done it.

- Ford's General Store. - We've done it.

- You legend. - I'm telling you, mate.

Are you going to show me around?

Yeah, well, there's so much to show.

LEE: Jeez!

This is Texas.

This is just a tribute to Texas here. So your number plates.

LEE: Jeez, she's a famous number plate now, mate.

- Is this familiar? - I wondered where they got to.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

(INAUDIBLE)

LEE: I love it how those lines blur

and that audiences and fans like Troy

get to live the life I'm singing about.

Country music is all about that.

You don't just hear it.

You see it and feel it

and fall into it.

It's music you live.

It's songs that come with a postcode.

Two, three, four...

♪ Well, people say it's a one horse town

♪ Well, there's nothing much to do when the sun goes down

♪ But if you sing it out loud at the Royal Hotel

♪ You get a beer, get a feed get a fight as well

♪ You ever need to find me Write me a letter

♪ Drop it in the mailbox and tell them to deliver it to

♪ Texas QLD 4385

♪ And it's home sweet home out on the border line

♪ Well, this is not the USA

♪ We do things our own way

♪ Texas QLD 4385

♪ Well, Amy lives out on the Nebo Road

♪ She took a trip to Warwick to the rodeo

♪ Now, the boys up there could see she was hot

♪ Buzzing like bees round the honeypot

♪ They tried to crack her code Tried to get her number

♪ She took out a pen and she scratched down something about

♪ Texas QLD 4385

♪ And it's home sweet home out on the border line

♪ Well, this is not the USA

♪ We do things our own way

♪ At Texas QLD 4385

Did you cross the New South Wales border

into the great state of Queensland?

We're going to that great little town called Texas tonight

and they've got a saying down there.

It goes like this.

♪ All the fellas say, hey-ya

♪ Hey-ya

♪ Hey-ya, hey-ya

♪ The girls say, hey-ya, hey-ya

♪ Hey-ya, hey-ya

♪ Everybody says, hey-ya, hey-ya

♪ Hey-ya, hey-ya

-♪ I said hey -♪ Hey

-♪ Ho -♪ Ho

-♪ Hey -♪ Hey

-♪ Ho -♪ Ho

♪ Texas QLD 4385

♪ And it's home sweet home out on the border line

♪ I'm not talking about the USA

♪ It's just a little country town off the main highway

♪ It's Texas QLD 4385

♪ Yeah, Texas

♪ Texas QLD 4385

♪ Yeah, yeah

♪ We're talking about Texas

♪ Going down to Texas

♪ Talking about Texas QLD 4385

♪ Talking about Texas

♪ Going down to Texas

♪ Talking about Texas QLD 4385

(CROWD CHEERING)

Thank you, everyone. You were fantastic. We love you!

LEE: Music is my trade.

It's all I really know what to do.

But when you take a place, a person,

a time, a story,

and wrap it up in words and music,

that's magic.

I guess I started off writing little bits and pieces of poetry

and with the music that I was learning at the time

I was able to put the words and the music together.

CROWD: (CHANTING) We want more! We want more!

LEE: It feeds your soul.

It humbles you,

amazes you.

Unites you to everyone who's sharing that same moment.

It's what kicked the whole thing off.

Nothing gives me more

satisfaction than when somebody comes up and there's this

dirty old CD from 1992.

It's all cracked and dusty and they say,

"Can you sign that?" (LAUGHS)

And it's what keeps me going.

The spirit of the music.

A sort of straightforward,

work-worn pride in our way of life.

In who we are

and what we love

and what we do.

(CROWD CHEERING)

♪ Well, it's road train dust on a Bulloo track

♪ It's cane fields getting lit

♪ And it's combine lights before the dawn

♪ It's an Uluru sunset

♪ It's 40,000 years of dreaming

♪ The heartland keeps on beating

♪ That's us flying down an old dirt road

♪ That's us driving through fields of gold

♪ Getting high on a country station

♪ Rollin' through this backroad nation

♪ That's us, I got you next to me

♪ Right here is where I wanna be

♪ We got a good vibration

♪ Livin' in this backroad nation

(VOCALISING)

♪ Well, it's wild and it's free It's a saltbush sea

♪ It's pink galahs in flight

♪ And it's out of town It's a tailgate down

♪ It's a campfire in the night

♪ A way of life it's the life we're living

♪ As long as this big world keeps spinning

♪ That's us flying down an old dirt road

♪ That's us driving through fields of gold

♪ Getting high on a country station

♪ Rollin' through this backroad nation

♪ That's us, I got you next to me

♪ Right here is where I wanna be

♪ We got a good vibration

♪ Livin' in this backroad nation

(VOCALISING)

(VOCALISING)

♪ It's unsung towns and ancient ground

♪ A road that never ends

♪ It's the homeland song that when you're gone

♪ Calls you home again

♪ That's us flying down an old dirt road

♪ Driving through fields of gold

♪ Getting high on a country station

♪ Rollin' through this backroad nation

♪ That's us, I got you next to me

♪ Right here is where I wanna be

♪ We got a good vibration

♪ Livin' in this backroad nation

(VOCALISING)

♪ It's a backroad nation

(VOCALISING)

♪ It's a backroad nation

(CROWD CHEERING)