ARCHIE ROACH
NEW ALBUM TELL ME WHY IS ARCHIE’S
HIGHEST EVER CHART DEBUT – #7
Archie Roach’s new album Tell Me Why has debuted at #7 on the ARIA Chart today
Tell Me Why received a 5 star review from The Age
Winner of Victorian Australian Of The Year 2020
After more than four decades song writing and recording, Archie Roach has achieved his first top-10 debut album with Tell Me Why.
The new album, a companion to his memoir of the same name, comprises 18 brand new recordings across an expansive double album.
When Archie Roach released his debut album Charcoal Lane in 1990, for many Australians, Archie’s song ‘Took The Children Away’ was the first time they’d heard about stolen children. Produced by Paul Kelly and his late guitarist Steve Connolly, it achieved gold status, won two ARIA Awards, and a Human Rights award.
Since the release of Charcoal Lane, he has recorded a suite of nine important Australian albums chronicling Indigenous life, the idea of family, the personal and the political. He has performed on concert stages with a who’s who of International and Australian performers, and eventually moved to a property on his mothers’ country near the town of Framlingham on Victoria’s rugged south-west coast.
Then in early 2010, tragedy struck. His partner in life and in music Ruby Hunter died suddenly. His anchor was gone. Her death seemed an insurmountable obstacle for Archie. Her companionship had guided him to safety, not only saving his life but also urging him to follow his musical dreams and aspirations. The enormous challenges to his own life that followed have been well documented, but his resilience shone through, and by choosing to walk on, this incredible man got a new lease of life.
In 2015 Archie was made a Member Of The Order of Australia (AM) for his significant service to the performing arts as a singer, song-writer and guitarist, and to the community as a spokesman for social justice.
In 2019 Archie has released his highly-anticipated memoir, Tell Me Why. It is the story of how one man’s struggle to find his identity, family, and sense of belonging ultimately led him to narrate his journey through words and song, to go on to perform on stages across the world. Tell Me Why is an intimate, moving and often confronting account of his resilience and strength of spirit, and also a great love story. It’s an extraordinary odyssey of love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal – and the healing power of music.
In 2019 he is singing, mentoring, and re-connecting to the things which he has lost or had taken from him. 2020 promises much for him as he edges gracefully into his mid-60’s. It could just be his biggest year yet, both at home and on the world stage.