It’s been billed as a part-concert film and part-road movie, showcasing “stunning local landscapes, remarkable people and amazing stories”. Lee Kernaghan: Boy From The Bush, comes from the minds behind “Slim and I”, the famed documentary-style story on Slim Dusty’s life.
Poignant, in a way, seeing as Kernaghan has equalled Slim’s record of 37 Golden Guitar Awards, and has certainly had a celebrated country music career that might even rival the Australian icons.
Lee may well have picked up the pick, just where Slim left it. He’s shaped a generation and made a huge impact on the country music scene both in Australia and around the world. He has become a part of the outback; something he calls “more than a setting” in the film.
“It’s a character in our shared story,” he says. “But when you take a place, a person, a time, a story and wrap it up in words and music, that’s magic.”
And it certainly is magic. The film features live performances of some of Lee’s greatest hits and even a brand-new song. It also details the local landscapes, people and stories that have inspired him throughout his 30-year career.
It’s a film not just for the urbanites, but for everyone; it pushes the format of concert-films before it by being interspersed with documentary vignettes, filled with sweeping shots across the outback and countryside, as Kernaghan takes audiences on the road and speaks to the rural life and community that colours his lyrics.
It’s a “tone poem”; a love letter to rural Australia, as seen through the prism of Lee’s songs and stories.
