The Whitlams Black Stump formed in 2021 and sees Tim Freedman and long-time Whitlams drummer Terepai Richmond joined by an A Team of roots musicians, reconstructing the best of The Whitlams’ repertoire with an assortment of new songs and classic Americana.
The five-piece band features Rod McCormack and Matt Fell, two CMAA Producers of the Year, on banjo and bass, and young gun Ollie Thorpe on electric and pedal steel guitar.
The act debuted at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2022, and then wound its way down the East Coast in a three week tour that bonded their musical chemistry. The next step was selling out the capital cities on the Big City Debut tour, all the while chipping away at a debut album out February 2024.
The themes of the group’s repertoire are proudly parochial. Rarely have Australian stories sounded so good on American instruments as when The Whitlams Black Stump casts forth tales of John Sattler’s jaw, of Ned Kelly’s sister Kate, and of our national impulse to blow up the pokies.
Kookaburra
Debut album – The Whitlams Black Stump Album released 8 March 2024
I had to go into the hills and see a man about a dog “Get here before the sun goes down” And so I get into the truck and turn a right at Friday Hut I’ll come home around the town The rain it slapped the land from sleep, it was green within a week Two birds escort me in The world turning on the flash of a wing And the worse that it was the better it will be You held onto the tail and that’s a victory All this talk of how to be happy And I’m off to see a man about a dog And when I get up to the shack first night I hear the Big Old Cat rumbling out at sea Yeah “come on take the turn to land, not just a light show and a band, it’s the soaking we need” The farmer dreams of cattle fed, tonight he’s working from his bed On the roof the heavy drops that’ll break the Silence of the Frogs And the worse that it was the better it will be You held onto the tail and that’s a victory All this talk of how to be happy And not a little content Naught ’til ’21’s not a pity When I’m off to see a man about a dog Old farmer limping down the lane, his medal-winner’s out again and he waves at me And through the wonder of it all, put on Neil Young at Massey Hall ’72 or 3 Yeah and it’s dark when I get home, and I feel something coming on Blindfold, and Arvo Pärt I’m taking everyone on that drive I swear All this talk of how to be happy And not a little content I used to love the Greek women Now I love Greek men I’m a Stoic in the morning Out the city gate before long I want no part of the new age dawning ‘Cause I’m off to see a man, off to see a man I’m off to see a man about a dog I’m taking everyone on that drive I swear
A letter to you on a cassette ‘Cause we don’t write anymore Gotta make it up quickly –There’s people asleep on the second floor
There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness Truth beauty and a picture of you
You’ll be walking your dog in a few hours I’ll be asleep in my brother’s house You’re a thousand miles away With food between your teeth
Come up for summer I’ve got a place near the beach There’s room for your dog
There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness Truth beauty and a picture of you There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness Truth youth beauty fame boredom and a bottle of pills
There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness You shouldn’t leave me alone There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness Bare feet like a tom-boy and a crooked smile
Truth youth beauty fame boredom red hair no hair innocence Saturday and a picture of you
There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness Bare feet like a tom-boy and a crooked smile
Forty shaved sexy wants to do it all day With a gun-totin’ trigger-happy missy named Kinky Renée Truth youth beauty fame boredom red hair no hair awkwardness and a picture of you
You fall into the other place A smile you’ve missed in a brand new face And the promises you made they slip away You tell yourself that it don’t mean that much It’s where the itch and the hard nail touch What she don’t know won’t hurt her anyway Blind devotion, silent war, the boy and girl asleep next door Sleeping with the enemy you trust Fallen Leaves, are filling up my street Fallen Leaves, I kick them from my feet It’s just the way the old world turns It’s the only way we learn What she don’t know won’t hurt her, and now it’s killing me When the whole thing hits the skids She can only think about the kids Not where we’ve been but what comes next You said “It didn’t mean that much to me” That’s not the point now she can see You broke the only thing that you had left Blind devotion, silent war, the boy and girl asleep next door Sleeping with the enemy you trust Fallen Leaves, are filling up my street Fallen Leaves, I kick them from my feet It’s just the way the old world turns It’s the only way we learn What she don’t know won’t hurt her, and now it’s killing me She says it doesn’t matter anymore No-one is the winner baby in a one-all draw A woman scorned and all the rest She who laughs the last laughs best What she don’t know won’t hurt her, now it’s killing me Fallen Leaves, are filling up my street Fallen Leaves, I kick them from my feet It’s just the way the old world turns It’s the only way we learn What she don't know won't hurt her, now its killing me What she don't know won't hurt her, and now its killing me
Sitting in the backyard on a milk crate Yeah I’m home but not ready to come up yet Going over all the trouble I’m in How it’s written in the script I was goin’ down The moment the phone rang The minute they called Why do I talk to every idiot With an idiot idea? It’s always race eight, the “Get Out Stakes” Chasing through the smell and the sweat and the fear You shake your head and say ‘you do you babe’, so I do me For a while I was bettin’ for two flies And I thought we were home scott-free It’s time to climb the stairs You’ll be sleeping and not keeping the score You lift me up You brush me down You lift me up Turn me around I must have been alright in the last life To be lyin’ here with you Here with you When I slip away into my glass canoe Slicing my way to the falls You pull me over, say “Even a fool should know They’re all sharks and leeches and lawyers” And it was you said “Say sorry to Honest Don”, this little bugger’s in a little bit of strife He might listen to me, ‘cause I look like his son who wasn’t quite made out for the criminal life The moment the phone rang, the minute they called You lift me up You brush me down You lift me up Turn me around I must have been alright in the last life to be lyin’ here with you
Sunrise on the station breaks the morning’s spell Red and green streamers flyin’ outside the Railway View Hotel Cleveland St shuffles shinin’ into the mighty roar We were walkin’ through the twilight the day John Sattler broke his jaw
Livin’ eight to a house, post Menzies’ land of plenty But there was nothin’ left for people like us in September 1970 Some worked the Eveleigh railway yards, some worked the tanneries on the Botany shore We didn’t work the Saturday that John Sattler broke his jaw
If it’s high enough, if it’s long enough, if it’s straight between the posts Drink your beer and shed no tears for these days you miss the most Every step and sill sat shinin’ in Black-It from door to door And the tears rolled down like Reschs the day John Sattler broke his jaw
Saturday morning on the Botany road was mean and it was lean Rabbit killers in old Ford Falcons stallin’ through a richer man’s dream By afternoon we were jammed tight inside the hotel doors Even the T.A.B. was empty the day John Sattler broke his jaw
Now in the Ladies Lounge a young girl rocks a pram An old guy downs a Flag Ale with the ghost of Dave Sands Clothes lines are flyin’ high, the sun is sinkin’ behind the flats As stoned girls walk in circles with their babies on their backs
As big trucks roll down wide streets with heroin filled storm drains Suburban towns they turn blue and brown, use old wars for their street names They took you down to Campbelltown to Mount Druitt and St Marys As Young Labor sits stoned in a terraced house, the Sydney Swans on pay tv
Written by Perry Keyes (Control) Performed by The Whitlams, Black Stump Band – Tim Freedman, Rod McCormack, Ollie Thorpe, Matt Fell, Josh Shuberth
Had a little bit to drink There’s a little thing I want at a do out East Nothing too emotional, my good miss, I couldn’t be serious in a room full of jack-knife eyes Stop talking ’bout the years – you sound like Louis Burdett
And we roll on to my back shed, play some poker, scratch my head Look at the sky and spot the planes, where would I go on holidays? Roll with the punches, down the aisles, and down the street the weeks they roll by
I’m chewing ice and grinning, I’m spewing up and spinning, it’s biliousness as usual in my corner of the kitchen Hey you, lose that friend before you go anywhere. What? Someone might see you alone? Stop baggin’ out the band, ‘cause you sound like Louis Burdett
All my friends are fuck-ups but they’re fun to have around, banana chairs out on the concrete, telling stories to the stars, how Geminis love Wooden Dragons, yeah and how down the street the weeks roll by
The moment the night wears off, the bombsite reappears They’re all asleep but the morning tastes like wine, it tastes like wine in Tempe I feel so good I just might wake him up Pat him on the bald head
I’m stoned in a bookshop, sober in a nightclub, sex is everywhere, but nowhere ’round me By the time she gets to Marrickville we’ll be masturbating It never rains in Tempe but the planes remind of family money and the lack down here Stop talking frustrated, I’m startin’ to sound like Louis Burdett
Words Tim Freedman Music Tim Freedman, Mark Wells (Sony Music Publishing/Control)
Rain is coming down as if it’s never gonna stop It turns the house into a prison and pours silence over me If time moves any slower I’d think that someone stopped the clock This is a still life painting and I’m just another prop
I’ve only got myself to blame for falling so far down I wonder why I bothered now that your boyfriend’s back in town
I’m not allowed to call you but there’s everything to say To who could give me pride enough to turn my thoughts away I must have had my own life but I can’t remember what it was It’s tangled up in ivy and intertwined with yours
Rain still coming down and the night is creeping in I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight for the first time in a month And probably like the fool I am I’ll drown myself in wine The same fool who told you he understood and didn’t mind
You're gonna have to tell her where the money went Why you can't pay the rent, why you gotta move You're gonna have to tell her what happened to the car And who those guys are in the living room
Oh whoa whoa nobody wants to be you
Who's that girl who's hanging around? The one with the white tube top and the tattoos Why's she telling everybody her luck is out? And what does that have to do with you?
Ohh, nobody wants to be you
Did you really think you could just move away? How dumb are you anyhow? ‘Cause those guys have their guys everywhere They’re probably watching us now
Ohh, nobody wants to be Nobody wants to be Nobody wants to be you
There's no one to call from a country town It's not a bad thing I don't have anyone lovely to call It's not a bad thing
I'm not doing the dirty, breaking a vow I'm not a tomcat doing the rounds If I were there'd be no one to complain There's no one worrying at home Ringing to see if I'll answer the phone Happy if after the show I'm alone
There's no one to call from a country town
And say I got a tan Or we played under the biggest pergola This side of Japan
The mountains are hazy - the mist from the sea Is it good luck for dolphins on the wave with me Or, honey child I miss you just the same
It's strange to be happy if your boyfriend's lonely That's the way they are It's strange to be happy if your girlfriend's lonely That’s the way we are There's no one worrying
There was the stage, two red lights and a dodgy P.A. You trod the planks way back then And it’s strange, you’re here again, here again
And I wish I, wish I knew the right words To make you feel better, walk out of this place And defeat them in your secret battle Show them you can be your own man again
Don’t, don’t explain Lots of little victories take on the pain It takes so long to earn You can double up or you can burn, you can burn
And I wish I, wish I knew the right words To make you feel better, walk out of this place And defeat them in your secret battle Show them you can be your own man again
And I wish I, wish I knew the right words To blow up the pokies and drag them away They’re taking the food off your table So they can say that the trains run on time
Flashing lights, it’s a real show And your wife? I wouldn’t go home The little bundles need care And you can’t be a father there, father there
And I wish I, wish I knew the right words To make you feel better, walk out of this place And defeat them in your secret battle Show them you can be your own man again
And I wish I, wish I knew the right words To blow up the pokies and drag them away They’re taking the food off your table So they can say that the trains run on time Another man there was made the trains run on time
Written by G.Gertler Gold, T. Freedman (Sony Music Publishing/Control) Performed by The Whitlams, Black Stump Band – Tim Freedman, Rod McCormack, Ollie Thorpe, Matt Fell, Josh Shuberth.
We made love in the river We made love in the South We made love up in the mountains We made love in the mouth
My spirit it is leaping My body thinks it’s home First I was afraid of your intentions Now I’ve got my own
You’re making me feel 50 Again Shaking like a leaf You’re making me feel 50 Again Sammy Davis Junior
Now I’m a little careful I don’t drive real fast When you know you’re lucky to be here at all sister You want to make it last
ou’re my foolish adventure Got nothing left to lose The Lord he moves in a cotton ensemble He’s moving in me too
You’re making me feel 50 Again Shaking like a leaf You’re making me feel 50 Again Sammy Davis Junior You’re making me feel 50 Again Shaking like a leaf on Mount Olympus
You’re keeping me alive
I was betting with tomorrow’s paper Mmmm, I really had it made Now I hear you gotta win three times Pick the horse, get on, and then get paid
You’re making me feel 50 Again Shaking like a leaf You’re making me feel 50 Again As Sammy Davis Junior’s my witness You’re making me feel 50 Again Shaking like a leaf on Mount Olympus
You’re keeping me alive
Written by T. Freedman, J. Housden, D. Denholm (Sony Music Publishing/Control) Performed by The Whitlams, Black Stump Band – Tim Freedman, Rod McCormack, Ollie Thorpe, Matt Fell, Josh Shuberth.
I'm gonna have so much fun On the witness protection scheme There'll always be someone On the witness protection scheme Don't you know when you cross somebody It's just like a party Blue skies and custody All the day long I can tell the truth one last time On the witness protection scheme Then I'll always be allowed to lie On the witness protection scheme There’ll be a girl that I can call Who can never call me Unrecognisable Who needs an identity? There'll be a restaurant greets me personally Won't throw out my friends for drinking things named after me My ragged crew, my loyal friends on the witness protection scheme Close down my site and lose my phone On the witness protection scheme
Lover, there will be another one Who'll hover over you beneath the sun Tomorrow, see the things that never come today When you see me fly away without you Shadow on the things you know Feathers fall around you And show you the way to go It's over, it's over Nestled in your wings, my little one This special morning brings another sun Tomorrow, see the things that never come today When you see me fly away without you Shadow on the things you know Feathers fall around you And show you the way to go It's over, it's over
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