Warumpi Band co-founder Neil Murray returns with the reflective new single Still Here By My Side and will launch the song live at Memo Music Hall in St Kilda this April.
by Paul Cashmere
Australian songwriter Neil Murray has released a new single, Still Here By My Side, marking the first new music from the Warumpi Band co-founder since his 2023 album The Telling. The song arrives ahead of a live launch performance in Melbourne, with Murray and his band set to perform at Memo Music Hall in St Kilda on April 17.
The release places Murray back in the spotlight nearly two years after The Telling, his tenth solo album, continuing a recording career that now stretches across more than four decades. Long regarded as one of the country’s most thoughtful writers, Murray’s catalogue includes songs that have become embedded in Australia’s cultural identity, most notably My Island Home, the composition that would later become widely recognised through Christine Anu’s celebrated recording.
The arrival of Still Here By My Side matters not only as a new chapter in Murray’s own work but also as a reminder of the enduring role his songwriting has played in shaping contemporary Australian music. From his time with Warumpi Band through to his extensive solo career, Murray’s songs have consistently explored the intersection of land, identity and belonging in the Australian story.
Musically, Still Here By My Side is built on Murray’s acoustic guitar and vocal performance, supported by Peter Marron on drums and Craig Kelly on bass. The track was recorded and mixed at Union Street Studios by Roger Bergodaz and mastered by Adam Dempsey.
The recording centres on a narrative of distance and connection, drawing on the imagery of the “long and lonely road” while reflecting on loyalty and shared experience despite separation. The arrangement places Murray’s vocal at the centre, a production choice consistent with much of his later work, where the songwriting rather than instrumentation drives the emotional weight of the track.
Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie has previously described Murray’s voice and perspective in direct terms. “Neil Murray sings from the heart of the country,” Moginie said, a remark that aligns with the themes that have defined Murray’s writing for decades.
The St Kilda performance on April 17 will serve as the official launch for the single, with Murray performing alongside his band and support from Clare Cowley. The show continues Murray’s long relationship with live performance, which has been central to his career since the early 1980s.
Murray’s story in Australian music began far from major recording studios. Born in 1956 in Ararat and raised near Lake Bolac in western Victoria, he developed an early awareness of the region’s Indigenous history after discovering artefacts from the Tjapwurrung people on the land where he grew up. That awareness would later inform both his songwriting and his life choices.
In the late 1970s Murray travelled north, eventually settling in Papunya in the Northern Territory. There he worked various jobs, including teaching and truck driving, before forming Warumpi Band in 1980 with Sammy Jabanangka Butcher, Gordon Jabanangka Butcher and George Rurrambu.
Warumpi Band became one of the first widely recognised Aboriginal rock groups in Australia. Their recordings and tours introduced Indigenous language and perspective to mainstream rock audiences, producing songs such as Blackfella Whitefella, Jailanguru Pakarnu, Stompin Ground and My Island Home. The band also toured remote communities during the 1986 Blackfella/Whitefella Tour with Midnight Oil, bringing contemporary rock music to regions rarely visited by national touring acts.
After leaving Warumpi Band in 1988, Murray began a solo career that would produce a substantial body of work. His debut album Calm And Crystal Clear arrived in 1989, followed by releases including These Hands, Dust, The Wondering Kind, Going The Distance and Bring Thunder & Rain. His songwriting has also reached wider audiences through recordings by artists such as Mary Black, Jimmy Little, Missy Higgins, Liz Stringer, Powderfinger and Emma Donovan.
The cultural reach of My Island Home remains one of the defining achievements of Murray’s career. Christine Anu’s recording won APRA Song of the Year in 1995 and later featured in the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the opening ceremony of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. The song has since become an unofficial Australian anthem.
Beyond music, Murray has also written books and poetry, further extending the storytelling approach that runs through his songwriting. His work often centres on the Australian landscape and the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous histories.
Within that broader context, Still Here By My Side sits as a continuation of a long narrative rather than a departure from it. For listeners who have followed Murray since the Warumpi Band era, the themes of journey, connection and country remain central. For younger audiences discovering his catalogue, the song offers an entry point into one of Australia’s most substantial songwriting bodies of work.
The single launch in Melbourne signals the next step for Murray’s current cycle of work. With his catalogue continuing to influence artists across folk, rock and country traditions, the release reinforces his position as one of the country’s enduring voices in songwriting.
Single LaunchApril 17, St Kilda, Memo Music Hall
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