Archie Roach’s debut solo album Charcoal Lane, co-produced by Paul Kelly and Steve Connolly in 1990, was celebrated for its affecting songwriting and broaching the struggles of contemporary Indigenous Australians.
With songs like Took The Children Away, the original release was a deeply personal affair that Roach said was often “misunderstood”. He told journalist Wayne Coolwell, “what happened to me and what I wrote about was just about [myself] Archie Roach as a person. Granted as an Aboriginal person but as Archie Roach. So a lot of my songs I write now, I’d rather be seen as a singer-songwriter.”
A gentle new rendition of the album’s titular song brings Kelly into the studio along with Melbourne troubadour Courtney Barnett. It features on a 25 year anniversary edition of Charcoal Lane, with other covers by Briggs, Gurrumul, Dewayne Everettsmith, Emma Donovan and Dan Sultan.
• The 25th anniversary edition of Charcoal Lane will be released on 6 November
