When Graeme Connors titles his 16th album Still Walking, it trumpets an undeniable reminder that the singer-songwriter is indeed still making great Australian music that speaks directly to our lives and our stories.  To coincide with the release of Still Walking, Graeme and his touring band (Tim Wedde, Scott Hills, Ian Lees, Glen Hannah and Rex Goh) will be back ‘on the road’.

 

“The title grew out of the song Not Running Anymore which is about assuredness tinged with defiance. When things get tough we either fall over or take that first step – then another – and another - and before you know it we’re on the road to recovery,” says Graeme.

Still Walking brings Graeme back to his first love – music - after a break from recording and touring to establish ‘Burp’ a Connors family-owned restaurant in his hometown of Mackay and also to welcome twin grandsons into the family. The album has an innate ability to seamlessly mix together songs which honour the past, comment on the present and offer hope for the future. It’s this combination that has made Graeme an artist whose mix of contemporary, pop and country music is undeniably timeless.  “I write about the things which interest me,” explains Graeme. “A song like Everybody’s Working in the Mine could well be the town I live in. Mackay is one of many places riding the mining boom.  It may sound a little caustic in places but I’m calling it as I see it. Bunnings - Dan Murphys - they all get a mention.”  The song is Randy Newman-esque in its astute observations about mums dropping their kids off at school in SUV’s before they head to jobs in real estate or facing the universal boom town problem - waiting two months for a tradesman.  While he has co-written many songs in the past, all the songs on Still Walking were written solely by Graeme. Breaking with tradition, the album was produced by Matt Fell (Butterfly 9, Paul Greene and Damien Leith) rather than with long-time friend and producer Mark McDuff. The singer calls recording with Matt “a real joy” and says musically he “pushed things a little and in different directions”. Also playing on the album are Bill Risby (piano), Tim Wedde (organ / keyboards), Josh Schuberth (drums), and Glenn Hannah (guitar).  The song Socrates is good example of Matt’s influence on Graeme’s writing in a song which carries an intense lyric with a dose of humour.  “I imagined it as an acoustic, fun thing and Matt took it on board as a serious statement about the things that matter to me in my life. It’s about one’s heroes and the effect they have on you.”

 

“My mission is to write Australian stories which are contemporary and honest and that really is a continuation of what Graeme Connors has always done. I can’t see much point in making a record unless I do it that way.”  Indeed those stories about us are what have made them – and in turn their writer – life-long companions to listeners who have forever bookmarked life-changing moments of loss, love and friendship with them.