EMMA DONOVAN
In many ways Til My Song is Done is a return home for Emma Donovan. A getting back to the sounds of country, with the feeling of being on Country. Before her soul-funk and gospel output with The Putbacks, before her Black Arm Band years and even before the Stiff Gins, there were Emma Donovan outfits of silk and sequins and two-song sets of the biggest country hits.
Armfuls of winner’s trophies came her way, but eventually so too did a time when 16-years old Emma began to think country music was all too daggy. After all, Christine Anu, Lauryn Hill and Maria Carey weren’t getting around singing country, were they?
Within a couple years, Donovan had co-founded The Stiff Gins, and shortly afterwards went on to sing with the Black Arm Band, and in collaboration with her heroes Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Christine Anu, Yothu Yindi and Paul Kelly.
She continues to perform alongside some of Australian music’s most notable names, including Indigenous stars Briggs, A.B. Original, Dan Sultan, Shellie Morris and Spinifex Gum in styles ranging from soul, to reggae, to R&B, and gospel.
Faced with an opportunity to record her first solo album since the 2004 EP project titled Changes, and her first album after eight years without The Putbacks ensemble, Donovan says she was propelled into some deep introspection.
“I wanted to approach the album as a clean slate, but looking back at what makes me who I am,” Donovan explains. “I began by asking myself, who am I? Who is Emma Donovan? And what do I want to do? I want to be the deadly granddaughter, niece and daughter. I want to make my family proud.
Til My Song is Done is honouring that legacy of our family country music ways. “That's exactly what this album is for me, like if they're proud and they're happy, if the family is honoured, that's all I need to know. And mum would be proud.
I know this album is just the start of continuing to stand strong not only for my daughters but for all the other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women working in the Australian music industry today.”