Warren Fahey's Australia

Volume Two: Celebration of a Nation
ABC Music 1798176 (2009), 5-CD

The panoramic 10-CD set Australia: Folk Songs and Bush Verse marks Warren Fahey's 40th year as a folklore collector, performer, producer, and bandleader. Its scope, vision, and quality are a testament to his abilities as a mover and shaker on the Australian scene. The set comprises 194 songs and poems, all performed by Fahey, who is also the arranger, co-producer, and executive producer of the set, the man with the all-around vision to create this extensive history of Australia in song. If that weren't enough, he's a folklorist, and his Australian Folklore Unit collected a good deal of the material from traditional singers.

Like many such collections, Australia: Folk Songs and Bush Verse is organized by theme. Within the overall 10-CD set, there is a pair of five-CD boxes; the first covers Australia's colonial period, while the second examines Australia's national character. The first is absolutely riveting, the second slightly less so. Within each set, individual CDs are also based on themes. Some of them hold together better than others, with the first box again faring better than the second.