John Schumann has enjoyed a long and successful career in Australian music. For his service to music and to war veterans, in 2014, he was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). In the Australia Day Honours in 2022, John was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM). Since childhood, he has been a devoted fan of the work of Henry Lawson. In 2005 John invited a number of Australian musicians to work with him to record an album featuring Henry Lawson’s poetry. That album, simply entitled Lawson, was re-issued in 2020. To mark the centenary since Henry Lawson’s death, on September 2nd, 2022, John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra are staging a performance at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. The show is entitled Henry Lawson: A Life in Words and Music. In this episode we are joined by John. He discusses his love of Lawson’s work, the making of the Lawson album, and the Henry Lawson: A Life in Words and Music show.
Some of John Schumann’s favourite Lawson works:
Poetry:
Faces in the Street. Originally published in The Bulletin 28 July 1888. Collected in In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses (February 1896).
“Knocking Around.” Originally published in The Bulletin 7 December 1901. Collected in Children of the Bush (July 1902).
Second Class ‘Wait Here.’ Originally published in The Elector 1896. Collected in Verses Popular and Humorous (December 1900).
To An Old Mate. Originally published in In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses (February 1896).
Prose:
The Drover’s Wife. Originally published in The Bulletin 23 July 1892. Collected in Short Stories in Prose and Verse (December 1894).
