Russell Morris has gathered an impressive list of famous friends to play on his new album ‘Van Dieman’s Land’.
Rick Springfield, Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil, Scott Owen of The Living End, Joe Camilleri of The Black Sorrows, Ross Hannaford of Daddy Cool, Vika & Linda Bull, Phil Manning of Chain and Joe Robinson joined Morris to record the album over recent months in Melbourne.
‘Van Dieman’s Land’ is the sequel to the platinum selling ‘Sharkmouth’ which gave Morris his first ever Top 10 album and first hit record in 40 years.
Like ‘Sharkmouth’, ‘Van Dieman’s Land’ will also tell the stories of historic Australian real-life characters. “I spent over a year researching these great Australian stories,” Morris said. “To me these albums are about looking back at the characters that deserve to be remembered and then doing that in the best way I know how—through song. It’s about leaving a legacy that in fifty years’ time, someone can put these records on and learn something about the spirit of our great country, in the same way we do when we read The Man from Snowy River.”
Morris had the idea to tell Australian history in blues songs around 5 years ago but it wasn’t until the album reached the ears of Ambition Entertainment’s Robert Rigby did it find a widespread release.
“Australia has an amazing history of yarns,” Russell says. “From Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, through to Paul Kelly and Bryce Courtney the Australian experience has always been retold in story. Americans have a proud tradition of folk songs passing their history down through the generations and while there are some amazing songwriters celebrating modern Australia, I wanted to create something that connected people today with the characters that shaped them”.
‘Van Dieman’s Land’ will be released on Ambition through Universal on April 11, 2014.
Russell Morris – Van Dieman’s Land sample
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