Music Spotlight: 'Countryman' by Frank Yamma.

There is something elemental about Frank Yamma’s voice...deep, weathered and full of lived experience. On Countryman, released in 2010, the Pitjantjatjara singer-songwriter delivers a powerful collection of songs about Country, family, love, loss, identity and the realities of contemporary Aboriginal life.

Produced by David Bridie and Tim Cole with Bart Willoughby on drums, the album is beautifully restrained. Acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keys and understated percussion give Yamma plenty of space to tell his stories without drowning them in production.

Songs such as ‘She Cried’, ‘Docker River’, ‘Pitjantjara’ and ‘Make More Spear’ reveal different sides of his songwriting, from heartbreak and longing to language, Country and confronting social issues.

What makes Countryman so compelling is its honesty. Yamma doesn't try to manufacture an “Indigenous sound”. He draws naturally from country, folk, blues and rock, while singing in both English and Pitjantjatjara and staying firmly connected to his own experience.

More than a decade on, Countryman remains a quietly powerful record. It doesn't demand your attention...it earns it.

Frank Yamma at his most intimate, honest and haunting.