For NORMA O’HARA MURPHY, an Australian singer/songwriter, Solid Gold is the culmination of over thirty years in the country music industry in Australia. Norma considers this to be her final country album and an album she is extremely proud of!
“”I must confess my first love has always been the folky side of music, and I only really fell into the country style of music through my passion for horses, rodeo, camp drafting, and everything related to horses. I left school early & went jillarooing on a big cattle station in New South Wales and I guess my path was set from there.
“”I have spent my lifetime on the land, loving the land, and have always loved the bush. So I see Solid Gold as being a very special collection including historic elements with the songs “”Moonbi Range”” and “”Paddy William””.
“”The album also includes “”Bundarra”” which is also inspired by the Camp Draft, along with rode-influenced songs “”Warwick Rodeo””, “”Roughrider””, “”Im a Cowgirl””, and “”Farther Down the line. “”Solid Gold”” is obviously a tribute to my stallion, but has been described as ‘a love song for a horse’, which I dont deny because I did adore this horse.
“”The other tribute song, “”Texas to Tamworth””, is about ‘Acres Destiny’ possibly Australias top sire of Camp Draft/Performance horses. “”The Cutting Song””, is also totally inspired by this event, which I am very involved with myself.
“”There is a song about our Aussie Drovers, “”Gone Drovin”” which is co-written with an old drover. There is one stand-out track to me which draws the comparison between country music, cutting, and Rodeo. All three have a Hall of Fame, and the parallels are quite amazing really.
“”So this is a complete smorgasbord of rodeo/horses/historyand a just overall love of horses. Im sure youll find your own favourite track & look forward to hearing about that.
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