1988

A towering presence in Australian music for two decades, indigenous singer-songwriter Archie Roach’s 1990 debut album Charcoal Lane emotionally connected with both white and black listeners – especially his iconic track ‘Took The Children Away’. Roach’s moving personal story – forcibly removed from his parents at the age of three, foster homes, troubled teenage years and a descent into alcoholic homelessness – has been well-documented, as has his eventual recovery, his vital partnership with singer-wife Ruby Hunter and their subsequent triumphant musical careers.

The centrepiece of this archival release is a seven-song recording made in 1988 – two years prior to his debut album proper – before most people had heard of him. Recorded and preserved by Melbourne-based producer/broadcaster Paul Petran, whose long-running ABC Radio program Music Deli has made a point of documenting performances from key Australian folk/world artists, it offers valuable insights into Roach’s formative years.

With spoken intros giving added depth to his early lyrics, the session includes poignant versions of previously unreleased tracks ‘Keep Your Handouts, Give Us Back Our Land, ‘Blood and Tears, ‘People of Sorrow’, ‘Bicentennial Blues’ and ‘Give Us Back Our Dancing’, as well as an early version of ‘Took The Children Away’. The album also contains two 1990 studio tracks, a 1992 concert version of ‘Weeping In The Forest’, and other live songs from 1997, one of which features fellow Aussie musical icon Paul Kelly. Two Music Deli interviews – one from 1988, the other from 2008 – provide additional understanding into why this important Aboriginal artist touches so many hearts.