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Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly

Sat 2 May

Over forty years and across thirty albums, Paul Kelly has made himself unique among world songwriters by the sheer range and innovation of his work. With each song he writes, he feels like he’s starting anew – every one a puzzle to be solved, a mystery that can never quite be explained. Few songwriters find ways to keep that creative fever burning for as long and as brightly as Kelly.


The country of his birth, its emotional interior and geographical landscape, its heroes and villains, our hopes and failings, have been a constant in Kelly’s long list of Australian-set songs. From St Kilda to King’s Cross, Adelaide, Leaps and Bounds, Maralinga (Rainy Land), Randwick Bells, Sydney from a 747. From the bus ride through the cane in To Her Door to the childhood memory of Deeper Water. He has written about the country’s greatest cricketer, Bradman, and its most infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, in Our Sunshine.


For a writer who insists his songs are not autobiography, Seventy (2025) might just be his most personal album yet. Having turned seventy in January, there’s a sense of taking stock. The first words you hear on Seventy are, ‘Tell us a story.’ The last words you hear are, ‘Put another big log on the fire.’ And we’re back in the kellyverse of love, loss, legend, wit, poetry and tales tall and true.


At 70, Kelly remains creatively vital, his mission to keep creating, keep exploring, keep finding new ways to move the fingers, the music, the heart, the mind.


With Paul Kelly, there’s always a surprise.

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