WEEKLY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

20 Thursday, November 1, 2012 http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au

RECORDING people’s stories is a veryworthwhile occupation and BlueMountains-based singer-song-

writer Jim Low does it better than most.When I first listened to his new album,

The Further I Travel, it felt familiar, a bitlike an old friend telling me things I had-n’t heard before – with one exception.

Towns Along the Castlereagh I defi-nitely had heard before and when inter-viewing Jim for a feature story in CountryMusic Capital News, I asked him if GaryShearston had covered the song.

“Don’t I wish!” was his rapid response,as Shearston was one of Jim’s majormusical influences, along with EricBogle.

That song was originally recorded byJim several years ago and Ian “Macca”McNamara had flogged the living day-lights out of it on Australia All Over.

It also won the major songwriter’sprize at the Henry Lawson Festival atGrenfell, NSW, some years back. Kootin-gal retiree John Martin was on the judg-ing panel that year and became one ofJim’s greatest supporters.

You’d think it would have been a chal-lenge for a songwriter to put Coon-abarabran and Binnaway into a song,but the northern towns’ names floweffortlessly from Jim’s very listenablevoice.

The album is rich with Australian his-tory and stories that had to be told.

Boyd’s Tower tells the tale of thewhalers of yesteryear and as Jim says,he’s in no way condoning the whalingtrade, but admires the courage of thosemen who practised the trade when itwas widely accepted.

“It’s a good way of bringing out thatpart of our history in an accessible way,that makes people think, or want to findout more,” Jim said.

Boundaries is a thought-provokingpiece, exploring the various boundarieswe encounter in life – racial, social andotherwise.

An avid history buff, and formerteacher, Jim started writing that song in1980. He read about Governor Phillipexploring Sydney Cove and one incidentstood out from all the others.

“He was around the Manly area andthe soldiers he was with were about tohave an afternoon dinner, and he drew acircle around his group,” Jim said.

“Through sign language, he told theinquisitive Aboriginal people to stayaway from the circle. That was the firstboundary that was set between whiteand black.

“The fact is there are a lot of bound-aries in our life, not always ones that wesee.”

Dreaming With Open Eyes is about theexplorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, who was“short of sight and with a vision grand” –a condition Jim shares with the explorer.

The title track was inspired by RobertO’Hara Burke, of the ill-fated Burke andWills pairing.

Two years before that fateful expedi-tion, Burke fell in love with a youngactress, Julia Mathews, and gave her abracelet. This delightful song tells thestory and makes you think how oftenBurke’s thoughts would have turned tohis lady love as he faced his doom.

The King is taken from an adaptationof a poem written by Jim Harper in 1907,as was When Angledool Was Young.

“I found his poetry through an oldfamily friend, who recited them to meand I put down on tape in about 1970.Twenty years later I went to Angledool,where he had come from,” Jim said.

“When someone’s writing about atownship that has seen a lot of change,especially how change had affected theindigenous people, you can learn a lotfrom their writings, as I did from JimHarper’s.”

At Pennyweight Flat is about a ceme-tery on the outskirts of Castlemaine, incentral Victoria, where between 1852and 1857, nearly 200 children wereburied in shallow graves. It becameknown as God’s Acre.

Track eight is a lot closer to home formany in the North West and New Eng-land. It tells the horror story of the mas-sacre at Myall Creek Station.

Jim wrote this song from trial tran-scripts of the seven stockmen convictedand executed for the murder of 30 Abo-riginal people.

Engines of the Southern Cross recalls

History comes to life with Jim

the days when “Smithy” – CharlesKingsford Smith – ruled the skieswhile Luna Park is memories of thefun of Jim’s childhood, growing upin Sydney.

Songs of Peace is Jim’s protest atthe futility of war.

Dancing In The Dust came aboutfrom meeting an old retired droverand horsebreaker in Coon-abarabran, which was Jim’s firstteaching appointment.

“He’d retired when I met him,spending his final years working onthe council,” Jim said.

“The stories he told captured aperiod of the past that if you don’ttalk about it and record it, it’ll disappear.

“He had such an interesting viewof life. He was of that generationthat lived a hard life, but he had a

great sense of humour and alwayssaw the funny side of life.”

They were hard days but they weregood

That’s what it’s all aboutEvery saddle, he’d say, has thirty

waysOne in and twenty-nine out!The closing song on the album is

another walk back through Jim’schildhood in Sydney, telling of theenigmatic Arthur Stace, known asMr Eternity.

The album was recorded, mixedand mastered in Millthorpe, NSW,by Chloe and Jason Roweth, twoextremely talented musicians inwhom Jim has found kindred spirits.

“We met in the mid 1990s and I’dreviewed a few of their records andthey later set up their own record-

ing studio near Blayney,” Jim said.“I approached them about

recording some of my songs basi-cally to have something to give tomy kids and grandkids.

“The working relationship waswhat I’d always envisaged. Theirmusical interest in traditional Aus-tralian songs and clever arrange-ments of the songs brought them tolife on my previous album, AboveThe Creek Bed.”

The response from radio stationsmeant it went much further thanJim ever expected, so they recordedThe Further I Travel – and the goodnews is, he’s not done with record-ing yet.

He’s now on the same label,Rouseabout Records, as his twomusical inspirations – Bogle andShearston – and pleased to be insuch fine company.

About five years ago Jim’s sightbegan to deteriorate and he ceasedperforming. He’s now declaredlegally blind, but fortunately, he’sbeen heartened by the response tothese latest album releases and hasreturned to the stage.

“Even though I have sight prob-lems, I just love reading, and withthe technologies today, it’s slower,but I’m very fortunate I’ve got somethings that can help me to stillread,” he said.

“With computers you can blowwords up to the size of the bigscreen. I always liked writing thingsdown, but I’m now getting used toputting my thoughts down on littlepocket recorders.

“Because of my disability, I’vehad to change how I do somethings. You sometimes value thethings you didn’t value before, butthe fact is I still have some eyesightand can go out in the bush aroundmy home.

“I get lost all the time, but I avoidthe edges of cliffs and only ventureabout 2km from home.

“I know this area. I walk it differ-ently – and I fall down a lot, but thenthat gives me the chance to touchthe ground.”

Jim has an excellent website,www.jimlow.net where you canfind out so much about thisextraordinarily gifted man.

If you ever see Jim Low’s name onthe bill, grab a front row seat and sitdown and take a trip back in timewith this wonderful journeymanwho’s keeping our history alive forfuture generations.

KINDRED SPIRITS: Jason and Chloe Roweth and Jim Low make some great music together.

SONGMAKER EXTRAORDINAIRE: Jim Low tells stories that haveshaped our nation’s history on his brilliant new disc, The Further I Travel.

GREAT STUFF: Jim’s new album.

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