Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By John Williamson, Warner Music Australia 2018.
This is John Williamson’s 20th studio album and the first since 2014’s Honest People.
John has achieved just about every award that’s available in Australia in his 50-year career.
He’s been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, secured three ARIA awards, 26 Golden Guitars, gained MO Awards, three APRA Awards, Platinum and Gold album sales and sold more than four million albums.
Butcherbird’s 10 tracks sees John in a relaxed and reflective mood.
The album was partly written at his property in Springbrook, Queensland, the landscape of which became an inspiration for many of the songs and the album’s artwork which John illustrated himself.
John has already road tested three of the album’s songs, Pigs On The River (which is about greedy irrigators in the Murray-Darling river system), Buddy & Slim, and Simpson Desert, all of them being well received by his audiences, and there’s little doubt that the new album will resonate with his loyal following.
John reckons that Butcherbird is probably his most relaxed album ever.
He said “I didn’t expect to write 11 new songs but I can’t help myself. It’s a very honest and reflective album and it was quite a breeze to write. Perhaps because at this stage of my career I had a ‘what the hell’ attitude.”
Why butcherbird?
“The Butcherbird is my favourite feathered singer” he says.
John’s new songs range from crazy (humourous) through protest and onto vignettes of Australian life.
My favourite is the protest song Pigs On The River.
There aren’t that many people that would be able to deliver this message to the irrigating community and still retain a positive following amongst them, but John can and sometimes it takes a blunt message from one of your own to re-examine your actions (at least we can but hope).
