In the face of an increasingly fragmented music scene riddled with samples, it is easy to lose sight of the songbook that binds us, or any semblance of meaning in its lyrics.

This was rammed home by the recent COLORBOND® commercial, which featured only a fragment of Sarah Blasko singing the refrain from GANGajang’s Sounds of Then (This is Australia), thereby obscuring songwriter Mark Callaghan’s “brick veneer drama” and the culture shock he experienced as a teenager after moving from England to Bundaberg and his parents’ marriage crumbled.

Thank goodness, then, for Michael Paynter, whose genuine love for the Australian songbook has motivated him to take it down off the shelf and give it a good dusting, restoring it to its pride of place and reminding us what gems it contains.

Michael Paynter in the Great Australian Songbook Live 2026. Photo © Hayley Stafford

Starting out as seven concerts piggybacking of Jimmy Barnes’ recent tour, Paynter’s self-promoted solo show was a leap of faith that has certainly paid off.

Now extended to 25 shows, the song lineup changes night after night, with Paynter chopping and changing as he dips into his repertoire of...