Paul Kelly

Through his songwriting Paul Kelly evokes the spirit of Australia much as Bruce Springsteen and Ray Davies of the Kinks have rendered their native lands, blending that vision with the restless energy and stylistic breadth associated with Elvis Costello. His initial recognition arrived via the folk-tinged, largely acoustic textures of Post in 1985, yet the decisive breakthrough came with Gossip two years later, an album built on incisive, robust pop hooks and observant yet unadorned narratives. Wanted Man, issued in 1994, saw Kelly probe more intimate subjects while sharpening the instrumental attack without sacrificing melodic appeal. On Smoke, released in 1999, folk and country elements moved to center stage, whereas Professor Ratbaggy, also from 1999, plunged headlong into modern production techniques and electronically treated textures. Beginning in 2000 his output largely consisted of concept-driven projects: Spring and Fall in 2012 traced the arc of a relationship, Death’s Dateless Night in 2016 supplied music suited to funerals, and both Conversations with Ghosts in 2013 and Seven Sonnets and a Song in 2016 adapted literary works, all underpinned by arrangements that demonstrated his assured handling of electric and acoustic palettes. Fever Longing Still, arriving in 2024, once more wove in verses from favored poets yet returned to the seasoned, vigorous rock & roll that defined his best-known recordings.

Born in Adelaide in 1955 as the sixth of nine children, Kelly spent several years after leaving school traveling across Australia, taking miscellaneous jobs, composing poetry, and contemplating a future as a short-story author before first handling a guitar in his late teens. His earliest public appearance occurred in Hobart in 1974 when he performed the traditional Australian piece “Streets of Forbes,” and by 1976 he had relocated to Melbourne to join the R&B pub outfit the High Rise Bombers. That ensemble’s expansive roster and three songwriters made its eventual dissolution predictable, prompting Kelly to establish Paul Kelly & the Dots.

He quickly earned esteem among fellow musicians as a songwriter of exceptional caliber; on nights off, Melbourne players would gather to hear him perform. Mushroom Records also took notice when one of its publicists refused to leave an office until the label signed the Dots. The resulting roots-rock albums Talk and Manila failed to satisfy Kelly’s exacting standards. By the close of 1984 he had disbanded the group and moved to Sydney, where he cut the solo album Post on a minimal budget over two weeks without a contract, producing an unvarnished song cycle that referenced Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney locations in the manner Springsteen invoked New Jersey. Mushroom subsequently re-signed him, leading to the formation of Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls, the name drawn from Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.”

In September 1986 Kelly’s songwriting filled the fourteen tracks across four sides of the double album Gossip. Cut in a single month, the record achieved gold status in Australia and yielded the hit singles “Darling It Hurts” and “Before Too Long,” while reworking three songs from Post. Its American release on A&M in July 1987 trimmed the set to a fifteen-song single LP. Meanwhile the band recorded fourteen new originals that became Under the Sun. To prevent confusion abroad the group adopted the name Paul Kelly & the Messengers for the Scott Litt-produced So Much Water, So Close to Home, issued in July 1989 and colored by American experiences. After the additional album Comedy Kelly disbanded the Messengers to avoid repetition.

Over the ensuing two years he pursued varied projects: touring Australia and the United States, producing Archie Roach’s Charcoal Lane, contributing to Yothu Yindi’s “Treaty,” writing material for his role in the play Funerals and Circuses, and publishing the poetry collection Lyrics. Wanted Man, his 1994 solo studio album, reflected the breadth of those pursuits. The 1997 compilation Songs from the South attained double-platinum certification, while a second volume appeared in 2008. In 1999 he issued the contrasting albums Smoke, recorded with Uncle Bill, and the technology-oriented Professor Ratbaggy project.

Throughout the twenty-first century Kelly maintained a steady pace, releasing Nothing But a Dream in 2001, the double-disc Ways & Means in 2004, the bluegrass-leaning Foggy Highway in 2005, and a 2006 set with the surf-tinged Stardust Five. Stolen Apples returned to classic form in 2007, followed by a live album from that tour in 2008. In 2010 Triple J marked his thirtieth anniversary as a performer with a concert of interpretations later issued as Before Too Long: Triple J’s Tribute to Paul Kelly; the same year saw the memoir How to Make Gravy and the documentary Paul Kelly: Stories of Me. Spring and Fall, a 2012 concept album depicting the start and conclusion of a romance, came next.

Early in 2013 Kelly joined Neil Finn for an extensive Australian duo tour whose Sydney Opera House performance yielded the live album Goin’ Your Way, released in November 2013 and issued in the United States in December 2015. Late 2014 brought The Merri Soul Sessions, a studio-recorded collection of soul- and R&B-styled songs featuring vocalists Clairy Browne, Kira Puru, Linda Bull, Vika Bull, and Dan Sultan. Seven Sonnets and a Song, issued in 2016, set several Shakespeare texts to music. Life Is Fine, arriving in 2017, incorporated a Langston Hughes poem and a sequel to Roy Orbison’s “Leah” alongside original material. Nature in 2018 continued the literary adaptations with songs drawn from Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, and Philip Larkin.

Two albums appeared in 2020: Forty Days, comprising home recordings made during COVID-19 quarantine, and Please Leave Your Light On, offering new readings of earlier songs alongside pianist Paul Grabowsky. Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train followed in 2021, containing twenty-two holiday pieces including one new original and one for Hanukkah. Beginning in 2022 Kelly issued a sequence of thematic compilations emphasizing deep cuts over hits: Rivers & Rain, Drinking, and Time emerged that year, with People and Poetry arriving in 2023. Fever Longing Still, released in 2024, returned to mature rock & roll with blues, folk, and country inflections while again integrating verses from favored poets—Robert Burns on “Back to the Future,” Rudyard Kipling on “Going to the River with Dad,” and Wendell Berry on “Eight Hours Sleep”—and, as Kelly noted in the liner notes, “William Shakespeare, as ever, drops in from time to time.”