Redgum were an Australian

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and political music group formed in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in 1975 by singer-songwriters

John Schumann John Lewis Schumann (born 18 May 1953) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Adelaide. He is best known as the lead singer for the folk group Redgum, with their chart-topping hit " I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green)", a so ...

and Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals, and Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were later joined by Hugh McDonald on fiddle and Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

and together developed a strong political voice. They are best known for their

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

exploring the impact of war in the 1980s " I Was Only 19", which peaked at No. 1 on the National singles charts. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. The song is in the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) list of Top 30 of All Time Best Australian Songs created in 2001. Redgum also covered Australian consumer influences on surrounding nations in 1984's "I've Been to Bali Too", both hit singles were written by Schumann. Note: requires user to input song title, e.g. I WAS ONLY NINETEEN "The Diamantina Drover", written by Timms' replacement, violinist/vocalist Hugh McDonald and "Poor Ned", written by Trevor Lucas of

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

, are examples of their bush songs. Lucas produced their May 1983 live album ''Caught in the Act'', which peaked at No. 5 on the National albums chart. Schumann left the band and pursued a solo career from 1986, Atkinson left in 1987 and Redgum finally disbanded in 1990. From 2005, Schumann and McDonald performed together as part of John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew.

History

Redgum was formed in 1975 when three students at

, Michael Atkinson and Verity Truman collaborated for a musical assessment piece for their Politics and Art course. The trio quickly gained fame around the university community for their forthright songs, and by 1976 had been joined by violinist Chris Timms who had previously attended Flinders University. The group were soon in demand for parties, pubs and rallies throughout

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and Victoria. On the first album, '' If You Don't Fight You Lose'' (1978) Redgum showed it was one of the few Australian bands prepared to tackle domestic politics and culture. "One More Boring Night in Adelaide" for some will remain, despite some of its dated references, a classic analysis of Australian provincial

parochialism Parochialism is the state of mind whereby one focuses on small sections of an issue rather than considering its wider context. More generally, it consists of being narrow in scope. In that respect, it is a synonym of " provincialism". It may, pa ...

. Initially a part-time band, performing weekends and school holidays (two members were teachers), it was only after they released their second album, '' Virgin Ground'' (late 1980), to strong sales and critical acclaim, that the group became full-time and started touring nationally. The group's success continued to grow with the release of their next three albums, '' Virgin Ground'', ''

Brown Rice and Kerosine ''Brown Rice and Kerosine'' is the third album by Australian folk-rock group Redgum. The title is taken from the first track, and the album was released around the time Redgum changed from a part-time band to a full-time job for its members. "1 ...

'' (1981) and the EP '' Cut to the Quick'' (September 1982), and they weathered several line-up changes including the addition of a

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

and the replacement of Timms in May 1982 with Hugh McDonald, among others. They released a

songbook A song book is a book containing lyrics for songs. Song books may be simple composition books or spiral-bound notebooks. Music publishers also produced printed editions for group singing. Such volumes were used in the United States by piano man ...

''The Redgum Songbook: Stubborn Words, Flagrant Vices'' (1981). Collaboration with influential Australian folk producer Trevor Lucas (from UK folk group

) brought the high-point of their career – the live LP '' Caught in the Act'' was released in May 1983 and " I Was Only 19" aka "A Walk in the Light Green" (March 1983) hit number one on the Australian singles chart. The song precipitated a

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

into the use and effects of chemical agents in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

by the Australian military. The album included "The Diamantina Drover" and "The Last Frontier" which are indicative of their folk music style. The band released their next LP, '' Frontline'' (June 1984) with its single "I've Been to Bali Too", and started touring folk venues in the UK and Europe with some success. Late in 1985, Schumann announced that he had signed a solo deal with CBS Records and would be quitting. Redgum released one more album of new material, ''

Midnight Sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

'' (1986), and a last single "Roll it on Robbie" (1987) after which Atkinson left. There were plans to release another album but this did not occur. The album was recorded at Warrenwood in Melbourne but never released due to the studio going into liquidation. The remaining members who recorded this album Hugh McDonald, Verity Truman, Michael Spicer, James Spicer and Tim Hannaford performed until 1990, when the band's considerable debts were cleared. After this was achieved Redgum disbanded.

Band members post-Redgum

After leaving the band, Schumann released two solo albums before pursuing a brief political career, standing for the South Australian seat of Mayo in the 1998 Federal election and losing by a small margin. He was later employed by the Democrats as a staffer. He left the Democrats in 2000 and returned to further solo works. Schumann returned to recording in 2005 with the Vagabond Crew (which included fellow Redgum member Hugh McDonald) and new albums were released in 2005 and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. Chris Timms left to further a career in Adult Education within the Dept. of

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

in South Australia. He was active within the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

for a time. Other members of Redgum continue to work in the Australian music scene. Atkinson has worked in film and television. He composed the music for films including ''

Heaven's Burning ''Heaven's Burning'' is a 1997 Australian crime film starring Russell Crowe and directed by Craig Lahiff. The film was released in Australia on 6 November 1997. It follows the adventures of an Australian crime scene getaway, getaway driver (Crowe ...

'' (1997), starring Russell Crowe. Truman performs in Adelaide as a longtime member of cabaret/cover band CrossRoads. In 2005, Redgum was again brought to attention through the recording of an acoustic /

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

cover of "I Was Only 19" by Australian group The Herd with Schumann providing some vocals. The song received high rotation on popular national radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

. Michael Spicer is currently teaching MIDI, Synthesis & Composition in Singapore Polytechnic. Hugh McDonald died of cancer on 19 November 2016 at the age of 62.

Members

In chronological order: *

(vocals, guitar) 1975–1985 * Michael Atkinson (songwriting, bass, mandolin, piano, vocals) 1975–1987 *Verity Truman (vocals, flute,

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

) 1975–1990 *Chris Timms (violin, backing vocals) 1975–1982 *Bruce Barry (bass, guitar) 1975 *Chris Boath (bass guitar) 1978–1979 *Gordon McLean (drums) 1978–1979 *Tom Stehlik (drums) 1981 *David Flett (bass guitar) 1980–1983 *Geoff Gifford (drums) 1980–1982 *Russel Coleman (drums) 1982–1983 * Hugh McDonald (guitar, violin, vocals) 1982–1990 *Michael Spicer (keyboards, flute) 1983–1990 *Brian Czempinski (drums) 1984–1986 * Stephen Cooney (bass guitar,

, guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

) 1984–1985 *Andy Baylor (guitar,

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

) 1986 *Peter Bolke (bass guitar) 1986 *Ray Rafael (drums) 1986–1989 *Darren Deland Darren (bass guitar, vocals) 1987–1988 *Louis McManus (guitar) 1987? *Malcolm Wakeford (drums) 1987? *Bob Sender Bob (guitar) 1987? *James Spicer (drums/vocals) 1988–90 *Tim Hannaford (bass guitar/vocals) 1989–90

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards

Country Music Awards of Australia

The

Country Music Awards of Australia The Country Music Awards of Australia also known as the Golden Guitar Awards (originally named Australasian Country Music Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wale ...

(CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, New South Wales. The f ...

, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973. , - , rowspan="2", 1984 , rowspan="2", "I Was Only 19" (written by John Schumann) , Top Selling Song of the Year , , - , APRA Song of the Year , , -

Mo Awards

The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the

Mo Awards The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known as the Mo Awards) were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were last awarded in 2016. ...

), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Redgum won two awards in that time. (wins only) , - , 1984 , Redgum , Country Showgroup of the Year , , - , 1987 , Redgum , Country Showgroup of the Year , , -

References

External links

*
Hugh McDonald's web site
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070911170728/http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno216.html#where bMusic.com.au newsletter no. 216 (2 May – 8 May 2006 ) – "Redgum: Where Are They Now? – UPDATED"]
Redgum Lyrics Archive
{{Authority control Redgum, APRA Award winners Australian folk music groups Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups from Adelaide Epic Records artists 1975 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia