Gary Shearston - Bolters, Bushrangers and Duffers (1965)

b. 9 January 1939, Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. This singer-songwriter was also proficient on guitar and harmonica. Shearston moved with his family to Sydney at the age of 12, after his father’s farm was destroyed by drought. By the time Shearston was 19 he was a professional singer performing traditional Australian music in pubs, clubs and on radio and television. In the late 50s he made his first recording, for the Festival label, and this was followed by a number of albums for CBS Records in the early to mid-60s. Two of these albums were described as ‘among the best records of traditional music ever made in Australia’. In 1965, Shearston received an award for the best composition of the year when ‘Sometime Lovin’’ was covered by a number of artists including Peter Paul And Mary. In the mid-60s, together with Martyn Wyndham-Read, he recorded a live album on the Australian Score record label, although CBS would not let Shearston appear on the album. In addition, he had his own folk music television programme.

Shearston then travelled to the USA in 1968 and lived there for the next four years. During the mid-70s Shearston relocated to Britain, where he recorded two albums for Charisma Records. Shearston’s one major hit in the UK came in 1974, when ‘I Get A Kick Out Of You’ made the Top 10. This single made Shearston the first Australian artist to have a simultaneous hit in Britain and Australia. Despite the long gap between albums he carried on and worked the folk clubs of Europe. Returning to Australia from England in 1988, Shearston was made a Deacon of the Anglican Church in December 1991, and has served in the parishes of Narrandera, Deniliquin, Hay, and Bangalow. In 2001, he released his first new studio album in over a decade.