ARTS CENTRE GIG FOR MASTER CRAFTSMAN OF THE BALLAD

Kalgoorlie Miner - 4th July, 1997

Paul Kelly is the master of how many Australian place names one man can fit into a song.

It's possibly a by-product of extensively touring the country, both before and during his career as a musician.

He is Australia's master craftsman of the ballad.

His songs deliver tales taken from every aspect of the country and taking in a Paul Kelly album not only allows the listener to run the gamut of emotions, but also run the breadth of the country in a musical road trip.

But he insists his aim is not ro write about Australia, but rather use Australia as a backdrop to songs about "love and sex and death".

Kelly's earliest memories of Kalgoorlie are as a teenager on the Indian Pacific in the early 1970's.

His job was to polish the silver for the three meal sittings, wash dishes and make beds.

Left overnight in the city while the train carried on to Perth, he remembers evenings in the Railway Hotel and being shown around the Goldfields by some of the city's seasoned residents.

"I was a young boy among men", he said, summing up the view of many young men when they arrive in the Goldfields.

"I remeber spending a lot of time in the hotels."

While his early influences include hank Williams, Muddy Waters and the Beach Boys he cites his contemporaries Ed Kuepper, Dave Granney, Spiderbait and Regurgitator as admired musicians.

"What's good about the ninties is that music is wide open again", he said.

"There's all kinds of music and different styles of music starting to mix in together.

"Dance music is moving more towards rock and vice versa."

Now fans can track Kelly's own evolution as a musician and songwriter, with the release of an ablum of his greatest hits.

Songs From The South: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits features 20 of Kelly's best songs, together with a new track called Melting, a duet/co-composition with Monique Brumby.

His personal favoutite is Foggy Highway, which does not appear on the album.

Kelly will play at the Goldfields Art Centre on July 13.

He will be accompanied by Brumby, whose debut ablum will be released this month."