One of the proudest - and saddest - moments of GRAHAM RODGER’s life was listening to his song You Can’t Take Australia From Me recited at SLIM DUSTY’s funeral. But Slim - who recorded a number of Graham’s songs - would have been just as proud of the way this new-generation Australian is carrying the long tradition of the Aussie bush ballad forward into a new era.

His album, The Fire Within Me, encapsulates everything Slim believed in: superbly crafted, heartfelt songs about our land and its characters; honest and authentic, but still fresh and vibrant.

The powerful and poignant A Saddle For A Throne, based on the life of a true bushman and depicting an ordinary man who loved and lived most of his life farming, has already won the TSA’s National Songwriting Contest.