Back in 2000 author Clinton Walker documented the genre in his acclaimed book, film and album collection, Buried Country. On August 20 Newcastle’s Civic Playhouse will return the spotlight to Aboriginal country music with the premiere of Buried Country: Live In Concert.

Walker visited the Playhouse on Thursday with Newcastle singer Auriel Andrew, who will star in the musical. Walker hopes the show, which features the music of Jimmy Little, Kev Carmody, Lionel Rose and Archie Roach, will introduce white Australians to the rich history of Aboriginal music. 

“Artistically we want to put together a good show and send all these songs out there,” Walker said. “There’s all these great songs, which to me have been second-nature to Aboriginals for a long time, but for the bigger, wider and whiter audience there’s a lot of songs which aren’t that well known.”