The Bushwackers (band)

The Bushwackers Band, often simply The Bushwackers, is an Australian folk and country music band or Bush band founded at La Trobe University in Melbourne in 1971.

Contents

• Discography
• Awards
• Songs
• References

Originally calling themselves The Original Bushwackers and Bullockies Bush Band the three founding members, guitarist Dave Isom, tea-chest bass player Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky and lagerphonist Bert Kahanoff. They were later joined by various players, including accordionist Mick Slocum, and fiddlers Tony Hunt and Dave Kidd, until 1974 when the band went full-time, and Kahanoff was replaced by lagerphone player, Dobe Newton. With an ever-changing line-up, and adding tin whistle, harmonica, concertina, 5-string banjo, bodhrán, bones, spoons, electric bass and guitar as well as drums, the band worked throughout Australia and Europe.

By 1984, and no longer wyith Isom, Wositzky and Slocum in the line-up, the band moved its home from Melbourne to Sydney. Roger Corbett joined the band in 1980 and remains the principal songwriter, producer and manager of the band. Other members have included Fred Kuhnl, drummer Gregory Martin, Steve Groves, Pete Farndon, Dave Mattacks, Pat Drummond, Michael Harris, Louis McManus, Eddy van Roosendael, Freddie Strauks (ex Skyhooks), drummer Pete Drummond (currently with Dragon) and world-renowned Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.

Notable recordings include Faces in the Street, Beneath the Southern Cross, Bushfire, Murrumbidgee and The Shearers Dream – two of which were released through Australian record label Astor Records. The album And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda was released through EMI records in 1976 and is regarded as one of their finest recordings.

Many songs were adaptations of poetry written by Australian bush poets including Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson.

The current lineup is Dobe Newton, Roger Corbett, Mark Oats, Clare O'Meara, Michael Vidale, Ben Corbett, and the drummer Andy Gatus.

In 2011 Roger Corbett and Dobe Newton re-recorded the popular 1980 Dance Album as "The Official Dance Album", in which they included the Dobe Newton co-written classic song "I am Australian" and won a third Golden Guitar award.