Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a number of music industry professionals, including the legendary country music personality John 'Mr Hoedown’ Minson, talking about what they believe it takes to be a success in the country music scene. It also features country music hopeful Mark O’Shea and an excerpt from a performance by one of Australia’s most successful country music artists, Lee Kernaghan.

Educational value points

• The clip suggests that many factors, including talent, attractive appearance, good songs and careful management, make a country music star. Hundreds of hopefuls flock to the Tamworth Country Music Festival each year but very few succeed in the country music industry. Lee Kernaghan won the prestigious 'Star Maker’ talent quest at the festival in 1982, but it took another 10 years of hard work and poorly attended gigs in obscure venues before he broke into the industry with the album Outback Club (1992).

• Country music is a major industry in Australia. It is the second-biggest-selling music genre in the country, with a survey by the Country Music Association of Australia finding that 17 per cent of Australians name country music as their favourite genre, slightly behind classical and ahead of pop.

• Lee Kernaghan is one of Australia’s most successful country music artists. His career as a performer was slow to start, but by 2006 he had won 20 of the prestigious Golden Guitar Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In 1999 he was named Country Music’s 'Hit Maker of the Decade’ for producing more national number one hits than any other country artist on Australian radio. He has released a string of highly successful albums including Hat Town (1997), Rules of the Road (2000) and a volume of greatest hits called The Big Ones (2004).

• Performer Mark O’Shea, who was trying to break into the country music scene when this documentary was made, went on to win a Golden Guitar Award for 'New Talent of the Year’ at the 1996 Tamworth Country Music Festival. That year he also released a debut album, None of the Above, and was part of a contingent of Australian country acts that visited Nashville to showcase the new wave of Australian country music. He, like many others, has since left the country music scene and resurfaced in the pop–rock trio 'Zinc’.

• John 'Mr Hoedown’ Minson, who presented the hugely popular country music program 'Hoedown’ for 23 years on radio 2TM in Tamworth, helped establish Tamworth as the home of country music in Australia. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Minson and 2TM organised a series of concerts that, in 1973, led to the launch of the Tamworth Country Music festival and the Golden Guitar Awards. Minson’s promotion of local performers was crucial to the development of the Australian country music industry.

• Australia has a long tradition of country music. It began with a style referred to as 'bush music’ that was influenced by folk ballads and was quite distinct from its US counterpart. In the 1930s an Australian form of US country music was pioneered by recording artists such as Tex Morton, and later made popular by Slim Dusty and John Williamson. Recently, local artists such as Lee Kernaghan and Kasey Chambers have broadened country music’s appeal by infusing it with a contemporary sound influenced by pop music.

• The clip refers to country music fans as a group distinct from other music fans. Followers of country music have a reputation for being dedicated and each year up to 50,000 fans make a pilgrimage to the Country Music Festival in Tamworth. Serious fans see country music as a lifestyle with singers narrating stories that reflect their own lives, and many fans adopting a uniform of blue jeans, boots and a cowboy hat. While coming from a cross-section of the community, these fans feel that they not only share a love of country music but also the honest and down-to-earth qualities of country people.

This clip starts approximately 38 minutes into the documentary.

A man is interviewed at his desk.
Man Well, to become a star in country music, there are a couple of things that you must have. One is a certain degree of talent or charisma. There are obviously other things that are useful, like money, but one of the major things that really is very noticeable is that it’s important to have a good manager and I think there are many artists outside who have talent but don’t have managers and therefore don’t succeed.

A young singer is interviewed after performing with his band.
Mark O’Shea Been playing in pubs for about four years now – just starting to get a bit of a go-on but I’ve been sort of tied down with school – I wanted to finish school and get it out of the road before I did a career in music. My ambition is to play music and enjoy it as much as I can and, in the process, hopefully get a record deal and take off and really hit home – be successful, I guess.

Record Company Executive Meryl Gross is interviewed.
Meryl Gross To be a star it takes a tremendous amount of talent, it takes a tremendous amount of determination and it takes what we all call the ‘X’ factor, which sets you apart from everybody else.

Lee Kernaghan and his band perform.

Artist Manager Jeff Chandler is interviewed.
Jeff Chandler In the pop business a lot of people come and go and you can make a lot of money in a hurry and disappear and probably retire off it but in the country music business it’s the fan base is very, very loyal so therefore you have to nurture that fan base and you’ll have those fans for a long time to come. It’s something that Lee’s recognised that, he’s been around show business for a long, long time – since he was a kid – and it’s something that he’s brought with him. Now, he’s not doing any of his musical growing up in public. He’s not concerned whether or not he’s hip at the time or – that’s not relevant. It’s about giving the fans what they want and his commitment to his career is unending.

Country music personality John 'Mr Hoedown’ Minson is interviewed.
John 'Mr Hoedown’ Minson I gotta say this – that, you know – that old sex rears its ugly head (laughs) – you still gotta be good-looking and I say that from a lot of experience but you still gotta have the talent so you’ve gotta be personable, you’ve gotta be good-looking. People have got to like looking at you but you’ve gotta have – and also you must have a good voice. Today you can’t get away with being second-rate, you must have a good voice. You must have good songs – you’re only as hot as your last hit.