Paul Kelly

Poet, producer, actor . . . Australia's greatest living musician? Quite Possibly. At his core, Paul Kelly is one damn fine songwriter, a performer who has adopted as many musical styles as you'd care to mention, and who has delivered the essence of the Aussie experience through great tracks like "Bradman," "Sydney from a 747," and "Before Too Long." Here, we dive into Kelly's capacious catalogue — both as a solo artist and as the main man in the various groups he's fronted — with 1987 hit "To Her Door," before meandering through such well-wrought narratives as "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" and "From Little Things Big Things Grow" (about the land rights struggle).

Kelly's post-1992 solo output takes centre stage in Next Steps.

Here we concentrate on Kelly's solo output, mostly recorded after he called it a day (in 1992) with the Messengers, (renamed from the Coloured Girls, which was considered a potentially offensive band name for the American market). Take your pick of great cuts from 1994's Wanted Man, which showcased a variety of styles alongside the familiar folk-rock of "Love Never Runs on Time" and 1998's Words & Music, notably the brilliant Monique Brumby duet, "Melting." Moving seamlessly into the 21st century, Kelly has stayed as prolific and as musically inquisitive as ever: check out the stripped-back piano lament "Please Leave Your Light On" from 2007's Stolen Apples.

Kelly stretches his bluegrass legs in Deep Cuts.

Kelly's versatility is little short of astonishing, the mark of a truly great artist who can switch with ease from beautifully paced movie score compositions to his typically poetic take on bluegrass: the 1999 album Smoke, recorded with Uncle Bill, features "I Can't Believe We Were Married," with its droll narrative and stellar banjo work. Similar territory would be explored with the Stormwater Boys in 2005 on Foggy Highway (check out "Rally Round the Drum"), while pre-millennial side project Professor Ratbaggy delivered intriguing experimental rock cuts like "Coma" and "Can't Fake It." "Four Seasons in One Day" is a 2010 hook-up with Angus Stone, in tribute to Tim & Neil Finn.

Legend has it that a Mushroom Records PR representative locked herself in a hotel room until her employers agreed to sign Paul Kelly (then with the Dots), sometime back in late-'70s Melbourne, where Kelly was quick to make his mark as a songwriter of exceptional talent. Since then, he's become a national treasure, singing about and from the Australian soul. Folk, bluegrass, heart-melting rock, a dash of country . . . you'll find it all here, wound around Kelly's dependable and constantly inspiring prowess as a lyricist. He means as much to our own songwriting tradition as Bruce Springsteen (perhaps his closest Stateside cousin) does to the rock 'n' roll canon in the U.S.A. — inspiring and inspired in every way.