We’re so glad Emma Donovan got bored during one of Melbourne’s endless lockdowns, picked up her ukulele and started creating this record.
Like late greats before her, especially Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, Donovan opens up important conversations and amplifies indigenous voices throughout Til My Song Is Done.
“No rest ‘til this voice is heard… Until the day that we see change/ Then I’ll keep singing my people’s pain…” – these title-track lyrics speak volumes about Donovan’s lifelong commitment to singing up for long-overdue positive change.
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After almost a decade spent fronting the multi-award winning soul-funk outfit The Putbacks, this proud Gumbayngirr, Dhungutti and Yamatji woman is now primed to share her own stories and this breathtaking solo endeavour was co-written and produced by Mick Meagher (The Putbacks’ bassist and Donovan’s creative collaborator since their shared Black Arm Band days).
Blak Nation, Til My Song Is Done’s lead single, uses back burning (“cool fire”) as a metaphor for the “new generation of Blak voices in Music industry today”.
Her exhaustion over having to spotlight the same issues through song over and over again – because, exasperatingly, there’s still so much work to be done – seeps into the bluegrass banjo-led opening number Change Is Coming (feat. Liz Stringer).
You know Under Pressure’s sing-off section during which Bowie and Freddie Mercury just keep upping the ante with each line sung? Well, the combined vocal force of Donovan and Stringer is similarly jaw-dropping. Imagine experiencing this show-stopping duet live!
Yet another album highlight, Sing You Over (feat. Paul Kelly), is derived from Donovan singing for her own mother while she passed on. Donovan hopes this gentle, harmonica- and lap steel-enhanced waltz will be sung by mob at community funerals down the track, alongside her grandfather’s songs, to help families grieve.
She also does her bit to preserve language by singing closer Yibaanga Gangaa (Sweet By & By) – a tribute to her Nan and Pop, Micko and Aileen Donovan, who founded their renowned family country band The Donovans – in the Gumbaynggirr language.
Donovan is descended from a long line of musicians and sang with The Donovans, alongside her mother Agnes and five uncles, as a child. Her mother’s “baby brother”, Uncle Ash, was brought in to supply rhythm guitar on this record. In releasing Til My Song Is Done, Donovan honours her family’s country music legacy – they must be so damn proud of her!
From her humble beginnings as a young satin-and-sequins-clad talent quest contestant singing Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynne songs at Tamworth Country Music Festival, Donovan has bloomed into an artist of integrity and one of our nation’s most important voices.
Just when we think Donovan’s vocal performances have reached peak excellence, she goes and finds something extra. A once-in-a-generation voice such as Donovan’s must be heard, shared and celebrated.
LABEL: COOKING VINYL AUSTRALIA
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
