Colin Buchanan’s August 2024 Matt Fell-produced album “Memory Town” has achieved and exceeded the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s expectations for what has been his first country album in a decade.
“I’ve never stopped writing songs for my own projects, I just hadn’t got around to recording them. When Memory Town finally happened, I thought of it as a sort of re-introduction of Colin Buchanan the country artist to fans and to the industry”. The album was number 1 on the Australian Country ARIA album chart. What I Love About Country and The Bush Comes Back were #1 singles. Airplay was widespread, reviews were glowing. News of 5 Golden Guitar nominations capped off a remarkable 2024.
“Then, as if it wasn’t already mission accomplished, on January 25, 2025 I heard my name read out by Luke O’Shea and Lyn Bowtell from the stage of TREC (Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre.) Laura and Gisele was the 2025 Golden Guitar Bush Ballad of the Year! John Williamson was sitting across the aisle from me and he leant across and shook my hand. It was a little like the whole industry shook my hand and said, “Well done, Bucko! We know you never really went away, but it’s nice to have you back!”
“How do you celebrate that sort of success?” asks Colin. “Well, if you’re a songwriter, the best you can do is give them a little bit more from where all that came from!”
Enter Memory Town - BONUS 2025 GOLDEN GUITAR EDITION. The digital version of the album receives three additional tracks; River Town, King With Coal Dust On His Hands and In Real Life.
River Song is the only co-write on Memory Town,” explains Colin. “It’s a song about the power of music to set us free - something we all cherished in those years of shutdown. I wrote it with James Gillard, my long-time musical collaborator. He has a CV as long as your arm - he’s a top producer, bass player, backing vocalist and guitarist.” The song reveals something of how the vivid lyrics of Colin’s songs hold a power to transport even their own writer in times of isolation and confinement.
In Real Life was the first single from the Memory Town sessions. Now the song which picks up on the theme of River Song joins its stablemates on the album. “I did a gig in the tiny Darling Downs town of Drillham with Raechel Whitchurch for The Drought Angels. It was one of my first returns to the bush after Covid. It so powerfully reminded me of the beauty and power of being present with one another - to gather to sing and share and support each other.”
King With Coal Dust on His Hands is classic Colin Buchanan, taking the familiar, seemingly unremarkable and crafting a song that unveils the beauty of the commonplace. “Jean and Ron lived across the street from us for many years. He was a rough-around-the-edges coal miner. Jean, on the other hand, was a woman of uncommon grace. What a match! As the songs says, ‘…he was a wide-mouthed shovel…she was a gently floating, jasmine-scented breeze…’ But they made it to the end…”