Roger Knox: ‘Buluunarbi and The Old North Star’ Album Launch

Campbelltown Arts Centre and Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation are excited to partner to present ‘Roger Knox: Buluunarbi and The Old North Star’ Album Launch, providing a memorable cultural event for Community during NAIDOC Week.

‘Buluunarbi and The Old North Star’ is a milestone release, as Uncle Roger’s first album of original songs. The album contains new single ‘McMaster’s Ward’, a follow up to the recent single ‘Prison Wall’ which has had more than 40,000 streams on Spotify, and previous single ‘Black Tear Tracks’.

‘McMaster’s Ward’ was written by Knox along with collaborator Toby Martin. The song delves deep into personal and social history, speaking about Knox’s birthplace. McMaster’s Ward itself was a tent on the shores of the Mehi River in Moree where many Aboriginal women gave birth in this highly segregated town.

Knox was one of the babies born there. The song paints a loving but realistic picture of the ward “a little tent on an old dirt floor”, and where Knox eventually headed to “Tamworth’s bright lights, calling me”. It is a song about where people come from, and how those places keep calling back to them. In Knox’s case it is local landmarks ‘Buluunarbi and the old North Star’ that guide his way home – a phrase from which the album title grew. It signposts the origins of personal strength, growth and resilience, “just like that river I go on and on”.

‘Buluunarbi and the old North Star’ features Knox’s honey-soaked baritone voice backed by a lush accompaniment of violin (Laura Case), cello (Kayla Flaxman), pedal steel (‘Evil’ Graham Lee of The Triffids) and Martin (Youth Group) on acoustic guitar.

Don’t miss this special celebration of culture, resilience, and the enduring power of song. This is an alcohol-free event. 

Roger Knox is a respected First Nations musician and trailblazer whose legacy embodies hope, healing, and reconciliation. He is a proud descendant of the Gomeroi Nation, born in Moree and raised on Toomelah Aboriginal Mission Station near Boggabilla in north-western NSW. Roger is well loved in Aboriginal communities across Australia where he is widely known as the ‘Blak Elvis’ and the ‘Koori King of Country’, thanks to his deeply soulful, honey-soaked baritone voice. A multi award winning artist, Roger’s contributions to the music industry have been recognised over three decades.

When

Location

Campbelltown Arts Centre, 1 Art Gallery Road, 2560, View Map