Lee Kernaghan’s mateship on song deep in heart of Texas
Plenty of Australian country music fans love the work of Lee Kernaghan, but only one man has been inspired enough by one of his songs to set up shop in the border town.
Plenty of Australian country music fans love the work of Lee Kernaghan, but only one man has been inspired enough by one of his songs to – quite literally – set up shop in a small town near the Queensland-NSW border.
That man is Troy Hofmeier who, since 2009, has run a general store in the place immortalised in Texas QLD 4385, a rocking track from Kernaghan’s 2002 album Electric Rodeo.
“I’ve gone to different towns, like Narrabri and Wee Waa, on little trips because he’s sung about them,” Hofmeier, 49, told The Australian. “This is a classic example, and it’s funny that after 13 years in this business, people think I’ve had a ‘tree change’ because I’ve come from Brisbane.
“I say to them, ‘No, it’s one person: he sang a song about Texas, so I came for a look’,” said Hofmeier. “It was Australia Day (2008), the year that Lee got Australian of the Year. The shop was shut and for sale; I wasn’t looking for a change.”
However, struck by a series of coincidences – including its name of Fords Family Store, which the motor racing enthusiast took as a good omen, and decided to keep – Hofmeier was inspired to give up his job at a Ford dealership and move his family to Texas, population 790.
Last year, the country music star visited Hofmeier’s store for the first time and performed an acoustic gig at the local pub, which was name-checked in the song’s opening lyrics: “People say it’s a one-horse town / There’s nothing much to do when the sun goes down,” sang Kernaghan.
“But if you say that out loud at the Royal Hotel / You get a beer, get a feed, get a fight as well...”
Their meeting at Fords Family Store – a combined service station and takeaway shop, with a small grocery line – was captured by film producer and director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, Slim and I) and appears in a new film titled Lee Kernaghan: Boy From The Bush, which is released nationally in cinemas on Thursday.
“Troy’s a fantastic bloke and a local legend, and he’s made a great contribution to the community with the store, and everything that he’s doing out there,” Kernaghan told The Australian.
“He’s one of those blokes who’s a huge fan; every now and then he’ll turn up (at a gig) with a new tattoo – and it’s something that really means a hell of a lot to me.”
Hofmeier estimates he has been to about 250 Kernaghan concerts in his life, one of which is captured in the film, which blends documentary-style footage with a full-band performance filmed at The Tivoli theatre in Brisbane, complete with the man from Texas in the front row, having an absolute blast.
With the store open seven days a week for 15 hours a day, it’s a demanding lifestyle that Hofmeier won’t keep up forever. Still, he’s done pretty well for himself during his 13-year ownership.
“I bought it for $210,000 – that’s the whole shop, a three-bedroom house and an acre of land – and last year I did $2m in turnover,” he said with a smile.
“And all that, in a little place like this.”
