Cirrus@Austlit

'When reading Frances Peters-Little’s new book, I was thrilled to see a mention of Jimmy Little’s 1999 comeback gig at Sydney’s Hopetoun Hotel (the ‘Hoey’) in Surry Hills. I was there that night. In fact, the Hoey was pretty much my lounge room at the time. My own band, Youth Group, played there a lot, as did other like-minded, scrappy rock bands of inner-city Sydney. But this was something different, something with more gravitas. Little had just released the Messenger album, a collaboration with Karma County’s Brendan Gallagher, containing versions of loved Australian indie rock and post-punk songs, such as The Church’s ‘Under the Milky Way Tonight’ and Paul Kelly’s ‘Randwick Bells’. These recordings were informed by the singing styles of an earlier era: gospel, jazz, early rock ‘n’ roll all fed into it – as did Little’s enveloping, warm, tremulous voice, his imaginative phrasing, and the nuanced arrangements. It was as if he had taken these songs back in time, laid them flat, rebuilt them, and then returned them back to the end of the twentieth century. Watching Little’s version of The Go-Betweens’ ‘Cattle and Cane’ on the ABC’s 10:30 Slot you can hear how personally he inhabits the song. Dressed in a suit, taking his time with the lyrics, he appears to be singing about his own rural childhood (one so different to that of Grant McLennan, who wrote the song). He draws on a deep wellspring of experience in his phrasing of the words. Messenger gave a new angle to Little’s career – bringing him to the ears of new audiences, like those of my age and background – and helped listeners understand the robustness of these songs.' (Introduction)