Colin Buchanan Shares ‘What I Love About Country’

The forthcoming album Memory Town by Colin Buchanan features the third single, What I Love About Country. Inspired by his three decades of experience composing, performing, and collaborating, the album is Buchanan’s first country release in a decade and features a compilation of his signature musical narratives and portraits. In addition to featuring Shanley Del and Michael Waugh, Memory Town was produced by the superproducer Matt Fell and will be released this August through Compass Brothers Records. 

“I’ve always loved songs that hold a mirror up to life, that sing the real stuff back to you. At its best, country music not only does that but shapes it around lyrical and musical traditions, a powerful shared sense of place and community and story. But all that is me being analytical, which isn’t how this song came to be. What I Love About Country was born on the road between Hobart and Launceston, in Tasmania. I was in tears. We were playing what was effectively a mixtape of musical memories – the special songs we’d listen to as a family in the old burgundy Toyota Tarago.

It seems so obvious, but every great new – or old – song that I hear makes me want to grab my guitar and try to do that, too. It’s an elusive thing to achieve as a songwriter or performer. I’ve often quoted Paul Kelly, accepting his APRA lifetime achievement award: “If I knew how to write a good song they’d all be good.” But that’s the fun of the challenge. All those near – and not-so-near – misses. And it makes the good ones all the sweeter.