Sharing music from the release of his debut country solo album at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Andrew Farriss now has lots more to celebrate with a nomination in the 2022 Golden Guitar awards for Heritage Song Of The Year. The track that earned the nomination, the gun-slinging “With The Kelly Gang” paints a vivid picture of Australian history.
Releasing “With The Kelly Gang” to radio in the lead-up to the 2022 Tamworth Country Music Festival, the song is an important part of the new musical direction that Andrew is heading in. When he was writing and recording his self-titled solo album, he knew from the start that he wanted to tell the story of an Australian outlaw, to bring the album full circle from its tales of international cultural spirituality, back to home.
Andrew said “The legend of the Ned Kelly and his gang has fascinated generations I’ve always been interested in Australia’s history, and I’ve since learned both sides of the Ned Kelly Story. This song captures a moment of Australian culture that felt right with the outlaw theme of my album, and I really enjoyed writing it with Mark and Jay O’shea”.
Andrew specifically chose to keep the instrumentation in the song ‘old-school’, using acoustic instruments, Irish flute, harmonica and mandolin, instead of loops, samples and drum machines, to enhance the historic feel of the track. The result is a song that centers the listener in a place and time, contemplating another side of an infamous outlaw.