Wildflowers acknowledges my love of traditional music. The song is inspirational, because it arrived in my life a week before I went into the studio. I was taking photos around my garden for the cd cover, but didn’t have a title track written, so you could say it was a gift from heaven. It wrote itself, in one of the styles i love most. Thank you Carter Family.

I’ve heard and loved Lefty’s music for ever. One of the great voices of our time, and this song was written for his wife.

This song is a gift from my Aunty Pam, who passed away in 2007. Returning home from Tamworth after her funeral, this song came on the radio and it hit me like a bolt of lightening. I turned up the radio & sang my heart out, & knew it was the perfect song for me.

I just loved singing this song with Bill Chambers. We are both huge Emmylou/Gram fans, and it was the first duet I ever learned to sing back in the 70’s. Imagine my delight when Bill came up to me at the end of the session & said, “thank you for letting me sing my favourite song of all time”.

I wrote this coming back from a Mildura Festival & was inspired by all the independent artists who had their own stories to tell in song. Up until that point, I had always thought of myself as an interpreter of songs, the songwriting gene having passed me by. My mother Carmella died in 2000 and I wanted to honor her memory and also tell her emigration story from Italy to Australia in the 50’s. Her grandchildren Dan & Jess sang harmonies on it.

It’s a love song, of course. It’s bright, bouncy and a real tongue-in-cheek two-step. Very cheeky – and it was a lot of fun to record.

Gillian Welch is an awesome writer. We all know how incredible she is and I’ve listened to her many times. This one song though spoke to me at the end of 2006. I was bone weary from 16 years on the road, and I really felt like I didn’t want to listen to another song. I was watching her being interviewed and she sang 'One Little Song'. It’s about hope. The fact that there’s gotta be a song left to sing. Something will come again. I will want to sing again. I call it my “salvation song”.

This song came pretty much from all the stories I’ve been told over the years. Some heartbreaking. Some inspiring. I might sound like I’m being a bit tough, but I have learned with all the things life throws at you, you’ve really got to just get on with it and get over it. Pick yourself up and get going again.

I first heard this song by Jonathan Edwards when I was working for WEA in 1972. It’s always been one of my favourites and pays homage to all the cowboys and cowgirls out there, who go out each week, doing gigs. I’m one of them. It’s a part of who I am. It’s about the real country artists who get out there and keep doing it. It’s the story of all our lives.

I just loved singing this duet with Kevin Bennett. The lyrics are just exquisite. It’s the most awesome song of blessing you could sing to someone. I think this could well become a favourite “wedding song”.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m either full on or full off. I’m never anywhere near the middle ground. I remember going to see Keiran Kane and Kevin Welch when they did their first gig here in Australia in the early ‘90s and they sang this. Dan’s singing was awesome on this track. He really got into the groove.

We all know the ute is an Aussie icon but here’s my family’s version of the iconic Australian symbol being “Italianised”. Uncle Tony’s a legend in our family, and that ute … well – you’ll just have to listen to the words of the song to find out what it meant to us.

How could I leave out Hank? Hank Rocks! His music has been the major influence on so many people who love country music. I keep going back to it because of the absolute integrity of the songs, and the singing. Authenticity is the key here. There’s nothing fake about this kind of music.

Why would I put this song on the album? Because I LOVE it. I’ve had a connection with this song since I first heard it in the 60s, and it was performed by a pop band then, not a country band. I was working at Warners in the early 70s and I heard it again. I love the ethereal spirituality, & the mystical depth of this song. I guess that's why people keep recording it. And, as I am still officially the country gospel queen of 1985 – (by default, as it was the only year those awards were held) – it is a particularly meaningful song to me.