- DISC 1
- 1 REEDY RIVER (Instrumental)
- This recording of Chris's iconic tune to Henry Lawson's poem emerged from a rehearsal session, and is led by the inimitable harmonica of the late Richard Brooks.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1949 Harmonica: Richard Brooks, Guitar: Chris Kempster, Flute: Ken Greenhalgh
- 2 THE DROVER'S SWEETHEART
- Chris felt great sympathy for the sad-eyed girls who turn up regularly in Lawson's work, waiting by the slip-rails for their men to return. The isolation, the hard reality of making a living in this land of floods and drought, balance the tender love story.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1981 Words: Henry Lawson 1891 Vocal, guitar: Chris Kempster, Flute: Ken Greenhalgh, Harmonica: Richard Brooks
- 3 THE DAYS WHEN WE WENT SWIMMING
- “Although I never heard Chris sing this song, I'm sure he would have enjoyed the malarky of boys wagging school and being chased by an angry farmer” - Christine Wheeler.
- Chris himself would sing this unaccompanied, hand to ear, a smile in his voice.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1966, Words: Henry Lawson 1899, Vocal, recorder: Christine Wheeler, Guitar, fiddle: Mike Kenn
- 4 FACES IN THE STREET
- This is a truncated version of a 13-verse poem in which Lawson asks God how the wretched poverty he sees in city streets can be assuaged, and he's shown a vision of revolutionaries. For Chris, as for Lawson, 'people power' was the only remedy. Declan Affley is remembered as one of the finest singers on the Sydney folk scene. He was a close friend of Chris's until his untimely death in 1985.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1985 , Words: Henry Lawson 1888, Vocal: Declan Affley, Fiddle: Lilo Blyton, Guitar: Chris Kempster
- 5 DO YOU THINK THAT I DO NOT KNOW?
- In 1984 long time friend and writer Frank Hardy asked Chris to set new tunes to a number of well-known Lawson 'songs' for his upcoming play about Henry Lawson titled Who Was Harry Larsen? This stimulus saw the creation of some of Chris's strongest and most passionate melodies. Do You Think That I Do Not Know? quickly became a personal favourite and has been acclaimed worldwide.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1984, Words: Henry Lawson 1910, Vocals: Sonia Bennett and Chris Kempster, Guitar: Sonia Bennett
- 6 THE SHAME OF GOING BACK
- “We ended up writing it over the telephone. Chris would often phone me with ideas and hum them down the wire, and I would do likewise. When we got together the day before the recording, we sang it through and it fell into place.”- Doug Jenner
- Tune: Chris Kempster and Doug Jenner 1993, Words: Henry Lawson 1891, Vocals: Doug Jenner & Margaret Walters, Guitar: Doug Jenner
- 7 THE WRTER LILY
- This poem was first published in Louisa Lawson's monthly journal, The Dawn. During Chris's last days Kate Fagan wrote him a card. saying: "Thank you Chris, over and again - as Lawson writes, you are 'some muse of a larger star'..." And thank you Kate, those words are engraved on Chris's memorial at Leura.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1966, Words: Henry Lawson 1890, Vocal and guitar: Kate Fagan
- 8 DOWN THE RIVER
- "Chris was a first contact when I lobbed into Sydney from Queensland in 1966. We shared a house in Phoebe Street, Balmain, and it was a wonderful adventure for me. I was already familiar with the Rambleers and other traditional Australian revivalists from the Wattle recordings. But that year in Sydney, I saw Reedy River for the first time... Chris sure was a great tune-writer, and of Lawson, without doubt, the best." - Dave de Hugard
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1983, Words: Henry Lawson 1909, Vocal, accordion, banjo, mouth organ: Dave de Hugard
- 9 BERTHA
- The Bertha in this song was Henry Lawson's much-loved daughter.
- "Chris was a dear friend who believed passionately in the power of music. His Lawson settings are unsurpassed, and the poignant marriage of words and melody in Bertha is one of my favourites" - Margaret Fagan.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1984, Words: Henry Lawson 1902. Vocal: Margaret Fagan, Accordion: Kate Fagan.
- 10 NURSERY RHYME
- Of this grim vision with its reference to trench warfare, Chris says "This is one of the most savage poems I know ... you grow cattle nice and fat to slaughter. You grow young fellas nice and plump and strong, and send them off for the grey rats to eat."
- Len Neary, who sings this with Chris, was a friend for many years.
- Tune: Chris Kempster, Words: Furnley Maurice (Frank Wilmot, 1881-1942) Vocals: Chris Kempster and Len Neary, Guitar: Chris Kempster
- 11 RAIN IN THE MOUNTAINS
- During 1888 Lawson spent some time at Mt Victoria, working on building jobs with his father and 'the Mountain push'. Some of his love of the mountains shows in this and other poems. Fittingly, Chris built his last home in the Blue Mountains - in Henry Street, Lawson.
- "Chris was a great tunemaster and a man of great ideas. He was very kind-hearted and always a delight to work with."- Sonia Bennett.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1985, Words: Henry Lawson 1889, Vocals, guitars: Sonia Bennett and Chris Kempster
- 12 THE TEAMS
- Chris's setting perfectly captures the pathos Chris's hardship of the bullockies' life. Martyn Wyndham-Read had a lengthy sojourn in Australia, steeping himself in the rural life and folklore of the country. His friendship with Chris covered many decades. He wrote: "Chris was certainly one of my early influences as he guided me on the path of Australian folk song. For this I will be eternally grateful."
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1965, Words: Henry Lawson 1889, Vocal: Martyn Wyndham-Read
- 13 FREEDOM ON THE WALLABY
- Lawson wrote this poem as a comment on the military suppression of the 1891 shearers' strike in Queensland, at a time when unionism was becoming a powerful force in Australian working life. Chris kept the traditional chorus, but put the verses into a minor key to reflect the strong sentiments.
(See Disc 2, Track 11 for the full-length version.)
- Tune: Chris Kempster/trad 1984, Words: Henry Lawson 1891, Vocals: Declan Affley, Guitars: Chris Kempster, Kevin Butcher, Banjo: Mark Gregory
- 14 REEDY RIVER
- This seminal tune was written by Chris when he was just sixteen. In 1953 it became the title song for New Theatre's ground-breaking musical play. Like Chris, Priscilla Herdman from the USA loved the poetry of Henry Lawson and set several of his poems herself.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1949, Words: Henry Lawson 1896, Vocal. guitar: Priscilla Herdman
- DISC 2
- 1. THE ROARING DAYS
- " Chris Kempster was a hugely supportive and inspirational figure to me, as a young singer. I love his powerful melody for The Roaring Days. It is perfectly evocative of Lawson's landscape" - James Fagan.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1983, Words: Henry Lawson 1889, Vocals, bouzouki: James Fagan, Concertina: Robert Harbron
- 2. THE OLD REBEL FLAG IN THE REAR
- Tom Bridges writes: "In 1951 Chris was a member of a left-wing choir, the Unity Singers, organised by my mother Dee Jacobs (Doreen Bridges). After I moved to the Blue Mountains in 2000, Deanne and I shared songs with Chris and Alison, and felt part of that great unbroken circle that underpins the folk ethos".
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1984: arr. Tom Bridges 2004, Words: Henry Lawson 1892,Vocals: Tom Bridges, Deanne Dale, Alison Jones,Guitar: Bob Fagan
- 3 BUSH LULLABY
- After Chris, still in his teens, had written a tune for Reedy River, his mother suggested he try Bush Lullaby. He insisted the right tune for it was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! but was talked into re-thinking this decision.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1950/51, Words: Louis Esson (1879-1943), Vocal, guitar: Priscilla Herdman
- 4. ANDY'S GONE WITH CATTLE
- "For me, Henry was our finest poet. Many people have set his poems to music, but none better than Chris. His tunes magnify the words - as if he knew, not just what Henry was writing, but what he was thinking." - Dennis O'Keeffe
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1990, Words: Henry Lawson 1888, Vocal, guitar, concertina: Dennis O'Keeffe
- 5. SAILOR HOME FROM THE SEA
- Dorothy Hewett wrote this poem in the late 1950s for her husband Merv Lilley, when he was working the ships out of Fremantle.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1962, Words: Dorothy Hewett, Vocals: Margaret Walters
- 6. PADDY DOYLE'S BOOTS
- A traditional song, and not a song Chris set to music, but a sampler of the way he engaged with audiences. He's joined here by Len Neary.
- Words, music: traditional, Vocals: Chris Kempster and Len Neary
- 7. CANE KILLED ABEL
- This is one of Chris's earliest settings. Merv remembers Chris as "a quietly genuine man" and when asked about this poem, talked of his love of cane-cutting. "If I sell out here I'd like to have a little cane farm. The last time I cut cane was 1958. I got mixed up with Dorothy in '59, and she was too many guns for me. She was the best cutter."
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1956, Words: Merv Lilley, Vocals: Danny Spooner, Bob Fagan, Alex Hood
- 8. EQUAL PAY
- Chris and Denis collaborated to produce this song, and it was originally recorded on a union campaign EP record, Oh Pay Me. It became part of the repertoire of the Radiation Quartet.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1963, Words: Denis Kevans 1963, Vocals: Alex Hood, Annette Hood, Denis Kevans. Guitar: Alex Hood
- 9. CLANCY AND DOOLEY AND DON McLEOD
- Dorothy wrote this poem in 1946, celebrating a strike for fair wages on May Day that year by 800 Aboriginal workers on sheep stations in the Pilbara Region. The strike leaders, a white man, Don McLeod, and two Aboriginals, Clancy McKenna and Dooley Bin Bin, were arrested and convicted but community and trade union pressure brought about their release. The event was often referred to as the Blackfellas' Eureka. "Chris was a beautiful human being who encouraged and supported me throughout the thirteen years I knew him." - Roy Bailey.
- Chris sang this at Dorothy's memorial service at Varuna, the Writers' House: Katoomba.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1993, Words: Dorothy Hewett 1946, Vocal: Roy Bailey, Button Accordion: John Kirkpatrick
- 10 HOME
- Chris's mother Madeline Kempster visited schools during the 1950s, encouraging children to write poetry from their own experience. This poem about the south coast was written by one of those children.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1950s, Words: Christine Aylward/Allworthy, Vocals: Chris Kempster, Flute: Ken Greenhalgh
- 11 FREEDOM ON THE WALLABY
- Chris. a lifelong unionist, was often in the frontline of struggle, guitar in hand, ready to "join in rebel chorus". Here he plays guitar and sings with John Dengate, Margaret Walters and others.
- Vocals: John Dengate et al., Guitar: Chris Kempster, Fiddle: Doug Jenner
- 12. DO YOU THINK THAT I DO NDT KNDW
- Declan Affley was the first to record this significant song. (See notes Disc 1)
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1984, Words: Henry Lawson 1910, Vocal: Declan Affley, Guitar: Kevin Butcher
- 13. ONE HUNDRED AND THREE
- Lawson wrote this poem on bits of paper with a small stub of a pencil, incarcerated as he regularly was in Darlinghurst Jail for his inability to pay maintenance to his ex-wife Bertha.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1984, Words: Henry Lawson 1908, rev.1917, Vocal: Len Neary, Guitar: Chris Kempster
- 14. ON THE NIGHT TRAIN
- This is almost the last poem published by Lawson, written just seven months before his death. It is Chris's last setting. The song carries the weight of those two deaths, and those two thoughtful, creative men. Chloe and Jason Roweth are becoming tradition-bearers in their own right, bringing their subtle musicianship to bear on collections of Australian music that might otherwise remain buried in archives.
- Tune: Chris Kempster 1999, Words: Henry Lawson 1922, Vocal, mandolin: Chloe Roweth, Vocal, guitar, bass: Jason Roweth
- 15 THE OUTSIDE TRACK
- Chris brought this song to the attention of local singers, and many associate it with him. Gerry Hallom lives in the UK, but was in Australia in the '70s and '80s. He writes: "I never did meet Chris, though we did converse re the excellent long-overdue book. Even that limited conversation left a good, positive feeling about the man".
- Words: Henry Lawson 1896, Tune: Gerry Hallam 1982, Vocal and guitar: Chris Kempster
- 16. THE DROVER'S SWEETHEART (Instrumental)
- Tune: Chris Kempster, Harmonica: Richard Brooks, Flute: Ken Greenhalgh, Guitar: Chris Kempster
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