In a tribute to truckies and their families, Rory Ellis is headed to Tarcutta to perform at the Australian Truck Drivers' Memorial service.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Newcastle singer-songwriter, while not a truck driver himself, said he can relate to the lifestyle which inspired his interest in performing at the service.
"It's kind of funny as a musician, there's a lot of similarities between the two jobs, like time spent on the road and the long hours away from family and friends, plus the risk of loss so my latest song is a reflection on that," Ellis said.
"A friend of ours was talking about truck driving one day and he said, 'I suppose we're all just bitumen cowboys' and thought it was a great title for a song - I wanted to know more about the industry but also relate it with my experience on the road."
From his new album Inner Outlaw released this month, the song Bitumen Cowboys was written to highlight the loneliness and life that truck drivers and their families face everyday.
"There has been a lot of loss in the trucking industry and there is a line in the song, 'If you're talking to God in the passenger seat, it's the last mile' that recognises that," he said.
"To be able to share that song with the people who have lost and who are still out on the road, is a real honour to even be considered to do that."
In other news:
Performing the song for the people it was written about is an honour not lost on the Americana artist.
"It's quite spellbinding to perform a song you've written on an actual memorial site, so to be able to perform Bitumen Cowboys in front of the truckies and their families, at their very personal memorial service, with a song that's distinctly written about truck driving and the loneliness of truck driving, is a real honour," he said.
Ellis will perform in Tarcutta on October 26, following the release of Inner Outlaw.