โIโve never seen as many utes and four wheel drives in Canberra as I do at one of my shows; my fans really turn out and thatโs something I love to see.โ
Lee Kernaghan
The boy from the bush is back in town.
Australian country music legend, Lee Kernaghan, brings his Backroad Nation tour to Canberra this month, celebrating his new album of the same name.
He tells Canberra Daily his new album is a story of Australia.
โIโve spent the last few years crisscrossing our great country, from the major cities to little country towns.
โSome people say itโs a lot about my earlier work, but thereโs a new engine under the hood. Itโs moved on musically, but at its heart is Australia,โ he says.
The Backroad Nation album was about a year and a half in the making, and saw him collaborate with some of the worldโs best country music songwriters.
โWhat I wanted to do was lift people up, and send out the good vibrations with this record. Thereโs been some difficult times of late with the floods up north and a lot of farms in drought.โ
Kernaghan says the opportunity to take his show out on the road and cover the country is a privilege.
โThese are big shows, big parties, big events and we want to put on a spectacle โฆ We use big screens in our show, cameras, and really involve everybody into the show as much as we can.
โThereโs a real feeling of connection, and I donโt think of the people who come out to these shows as fans; theyโre not fans, theyโre mates.โ
Kernaghan has a strong connection to Canberra; a song off his new album, called Live to Ride, was inspired by a Remembrance Day he spent at the Australian War Memorial.
โVeterans and motorcycle groups had come from all across the nation for the ceremony โฆ I was really inspired by their journey, and how many of them carry scars many others wonโt see,โ he says.
โIโve never seen as many utes and four wheel drives in Canberra as I do at one of my shows; my fans really turn out and thatโs something I love to see.โ
Lee Kernaghanโs Backroad Nation tour stops off at the Canberra Theatre Centre on 14 September; leekernaghan.com
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