Archie Roach releases new single One Song and announces anthology My Songs: 1989-2021
Single stretches back through time, linking past and present, tracing full circle of the singer-songwriter’s life.
Not too long ago, Archie Roach finished writing a song. There was nothing too unusual about this, as the acclaimed musician has been doing just that for more than 30 years.
But this composition – titled One Song and released on Friday – is one that stretches back through time, linking ancient past and the present, and unintentionally tracing the full circle of the singer-songwriter’s life.
“Remember well what we have told you / Oh don’t forget where we come from,” he sings. “Mother Earth will always hold you / And we are born of just one song.”
The six-minute track is sparsely arranged, containing only Roach’s soulful vocals accompanied by two jazz musicians in guitarist Stephen Magnusson and double bassist Sam Anning.
“I like it that way,” Roach told The Australian on Wednesday. “Sometimes less is best, and you don’t have to cover it with too many other instruments, so the song really stands out.”
One Song had its genesis on a visit to the Adelaide Hills with pianist and composer Paul Grabowksy in late 2018.
“I was talking about the concept that a lot of Australia was sung into existence by the old people; the Dreamtime people,” said Roach. “The energy of that birthing song brought us into being: people, animals, rocks, rivers and trees – all of us, as I see it, anyway.”
Having celebrated his 66th birthday last month, Roach’s record label Bloodlines will on March 11 release a 44-track anthology of his work across the decades. Titled My Songs: 1989-2021, its final track is Roach’s newest.
“It’s an interesting idea to have a song like that, which is the beginning, being the end,” he said. “From [1990 debut single] Took the Children Away, it’s come full circle to One Song.”
Next month, Roach and his late partner, Ruby Hunter, will star in a documentary film screening at about 50 cinemas nationally.
Written and directed by Philippa Bateman, Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow is a cinematic reinvention of a 2004 concert that saw Roach and Hunter combining with Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra.
“Seeing Ruby as she was on stage made me a little emotional at times, but I thought it was good how they did it,” said Roach of the film, which is released on March 10.
In the meantime, his concert calendar is packed. On Saturday afternoon, he will perform a free concert at St Kilda Festival in Melbourne, while the months ahead will see Roach, Magnusson and Anning play in South Australia, NSW and Queensland, as well as at the National Folk Festival in Canberra on April 15.
The musician says the upcoming shows in NSW will form his last “road tour” of the state, as health concerns are gradually slowing him down, although he’ll continue to do one-off shows nationally.
But with his oxygen tank and nasal cannula as his constant companions, Roach is still singing while he can.
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