The three Russell Morris blues albums made the ARIA end of year Blues chart

All three albums from the Russell Morris Blues trilogy made the Top 40 ARIA Jazz and Blues Album chart for sales throughout 2018.

‘Sharkmouth’ from 2012 was at number 27, ‘Red Dirt Red Heart’ from 2015 was at number 32 and ‘Van Dieman’s Land’ from 2014 was at number 35.

The three albums were a change of direction for the 60s pop star and 70s rock legend. After more than 40 years in the music industry creating contemporary rock music Russell decided that he wanted to musically document the colourful characters from Australia’s past. The first album ‘Sharkmouth’ told stories of people from the Great Depression from boxer Les Darcy to gangsters Squizzy Taylor and Thomas ‘Shark Jaws’ Archer.

After zero interest from major labels Russell pressed up 500 copies of ‘Sharkmouth’ to sell at his gigs. After the album finally caught the attention of FanFare Records owner Robert Rigby, the album received major distribution through EMI and went on to sell over 100,000 copies in Australia.

Russell followed up ‘Sharkmouth’ with ‘Van Dieman’s Land’ in 2014. The album was stories about Australian events, people and places documenting the Eureka Stockade, Breaker Morant and Birdsville. It reached number 4 on the ARIA chart.

The final album ‘Red Dirt Red Heart’ was released in 2015. This album was about Australia’s Indigenous people and central Australia.

All three albums have been compiled into the box set ‘Ghosts & Legends’, available from Songland Records.

Russell Morris has been recording his first contemporary rock album in a decade at Byron Bay with Bernard Fanning and Nick DiDia. The album will be released around March or April.

The three Russell Morris blues albums made the ARIA end of year Blues chart

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