When James Reyne is in the supermarket, the last thing he expects to hear are his own songs.
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Despite being responsible for more than 20 years of hits, he says it’s still a surprise when one comes over the radio.
“You’re doing an ordinary thing and it’s kind of in the background like the musical equivalent of wallpaper. I’ve been walking along and wondered what sounds familiar before I’ve realised it’s actually me,” he said.
“All I can do is clutch the bag of peas to my chest and get out of there as soon as possible.”
Griffith audiences will have the opportunity to hear those hits live when the Australian Crawl hitmaker is on his way to town as part of a tour of regional Australia.
As part of Australian Crawl, they were responsible for hits like Reckless, Boys Light up and Errol.
Since the break up of the band in 1986, he’s also had a successful career as a solo artist.
Entitled A Crawl to Now, the 90 minute live show features songs from over 20 albums in Mr Reyne’s extensive catalogue.
“They’ll hear all the classics. They will hear every single one of them,” he said.
With an extensive repertoire to pull from, he’s decided to perform them acoustically.
“It’s something a little bit different … it also allows for people to sit down and enjoy the show,” he said.
He’ll be joined on stage by guitarist Josh Owen in acoustic duo format.
“I think you find something in all these songs that allows you to continue to enjoy them, even if you’ve heard them 1000 times,” he said.
“You wrote them, you created them. There’s something every song.”
Mr Reyne also looking forward to playing in front of regional audiences. He agrees there’s something special about playing in the country.
“I find that people in the country are less distracted than the ones we find in the city. They always sit, listen and engage in the performance,” he said.
“It’s also cool to go back to towns like Griffith and see how they’ve developed and changed over time.”
Full tour details are available on his website.