Bona fide songwriting royalty Paul Kelly dropped in on Arvos to talk with Grace (who was totally keeping it together btw) about 19th Century poetry, putting words first and his new album ‘Nature’.

Over four decades and across 24 albums, a little known artist by the name of Paul Kelly, toiling in obscurity, has penned tunes on topics ranging from interstate bus trips to recipes for gravy. His most recent offering ‘Nature’ truly takes the Australian legend back to his roots breathing fresh air into the words of 19^th century poets whilst also finding new inspiration in the world around him.

“A lot of songs for ‘Nature’ were written around the same time as the songs for the last record, over the last three or four years… When I went to look at the titles of some of the songs, there was ‘Little Wolf’ and ‘Seagulls Of Seattle’ and ‘Morning Storm’ and so I thought, “well maybe I should just call the record Nature”.

Hear the full interview up top, where Kelly chats about the one poet he was afraid to put music to and hear the story behind – and a stunning live rendition of – ‘A Bastard Like Me’ from ‘Nature’.

WHO: Paul Kelly
WHAT: Making Gravy Tour
WHERE: The Domain, Sydney
WHEN: Sat 15 Dec, tickets here.