 Ian ‘Macca’ McNamara has been hosting the highly popular Australia All Over ABC radio program every Sunday morning nationally across Australia for over 25 years. During that time he has connected with a wide and diverse audience of listeners through stories, locations, yarns, poems and songs. Ian got his start within the ABC radio division as a reporter. Prior to that he had a stint as a musician touring with Col Joye.
"Being a reporter is a wonderful way to get job satisfaction. You talk to different people every day and get to travel all over Australia which ultimately became my life. I suppose the travelling started much earlier when I was a musician. You often had to travel to get work, a bit like a shearer or a contract harvester” says Macca. Ian’s love of country and people of the country shines through in his connection with listeners all over the place – be it in Australia or quite often homesick listeners calling in from faraway places. “I joined Col Joye's backing band, the Joy Boys, in the early 70s and spent a year travelling with them, which looking back was a great experience.” A key part of the radio program has been music. Be it songs sent in by listeners, songs Macca discovers and shares with the listeners or his own songs he has recorded and released as part of the many (multi-platinum) Australia All Over Compilation albums released over the years. Now, for the first time, here is a selection of many of the songs Macca recorded together on the fresh new album release "Macca On The Line". Twenty one songs recorded by Macca over the years including a few with guest vocalists Kevin Bennett, Andrea Muhoberac and Digger Revell. The variety of songs includes compositions by Billy Swan, Rodney Crowell, Otis Blackwell, Leiber & Stoller, Lyle Lovett, Don Gibson and Ian McNamara himself. Notable is Macca’s arrangement of the great Jimmy Webb song “The Highwayman” song re-interpreted here as “The Bushranger”. After many years on vinyl, cassette and compact discs it’s great to have Macca on-line. https://mcnamara.lnk.to/ontheline Comments are closed.
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