Time on his mind as Paul Kelly headlines Brisbane Festival

All around Australia this week, groups of people will gather to sing a Paul Kelly song, as one of his most famous works is performed by choirs during National Reconciliation Week.

Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly. Picture: Michael Hili

All around Australia this week, groups of people will gather to sing a Paul Kelly song. So it goes like clockwork, for his music has travelled far and wide across the land, and across the decades.

Yet one tune takes centre stage this week as more than 500 choirs have registered to perform a version of Kelly’s song From Little Things Big Things Grow, as part of this year’s National Reconciliation Week theme: Be a Voice for Generations.

Co-written with Kev Carmody and first released in 1991, the song tells the story of the landmark 1966 Gurindji strike in the Northern Territory.

“It’s an underdog story, and it really has escaped us,” said Kelly, 68. “Kev and I are always pleased when the song gets used in schools and in choirs.

“We both came up in folk music, and that’s how folk music works: the authors fade back into the background, and the song starts doing its own thing.”

Its message of Indigenous land rights and reconciliation continues to resonate, and the ballad remains a staple of Kelly’s hit-filled live shows.

Asked whether he has been watching the discussions around the Indigenous voice referendum, Kelly replied, “Yeah, I follow it, but I’m not following it terribly closely. I thought I’ll just wait for a while until the legislation for a referendum does go through parliament, and people start shuffling the arguments. I know there’s a long road to go yet, so I’m going to take my time.”

Kelly and musician Kev Carmody.

That last word has been on his mind of late, and at the Brisbane ­Festival Kelly will change tack for a pair of themed theatre concerts on September 6 and 7.

In this case, the subject at hand is Time, based on a 30-track compilation of that name he issued last year that includes songs such as Before Too Long and How to Make Gravy.

Is this the sort of move an artist can make only while backed by a deep catalogue, with 28 albums spanning hundreds of works?

“I guess so,” Kelly replied with a laugh.

“It’s the sort of thing you can do after you’ve been writing songs for 40 years, and there’s enough to make them into certain themes, as a way to keep in touch with all my songs that wouldn’t get played so often.”

Last week, Kelly lost a great friend and pen pal in Joy McKean, the genre-shaping Australian songwriter who wrote many country songs, including for her husband Slim Dusty. McKean died last Thursday night, aged 93.

“I’m still sad about it; sad and glad, because I think about her wonderful life,” Kelly said. “She lived a hell of a life, she was a pioneer, and had a great family. It seems like she had a good death, with her family around her.

“There’s reasons to be glad for all of that – but it still feels like a big hole. We had a good letter-writing friendship, in between the times we would see each other. I’m going to miss them.”