AustLit

 'Aboriginal voices are often heard these days, including singers and song makers. Yothu Yindi is a household name, and the likes of Archie Roach and Kevin Carmody are well known. Until the late 1960s Aboriginal people were mostly spoken for, and, although Harold Blair and Jimmy Little were known as Aboriginal singers, they did not sing many Aboriginal songs. When in 1965 the Australian folk label, Wattle, issued Dougie Young's The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards' and drinking songs such as 'Cut a Rug7 and 'Pass Him the Flagon', they were something of a novelty. But the poor quality of the recordings, weak distribution, and the musical tastes of the times - folk and rock, but certainly not country - all worked against them catching on.' ( (Publication abstract)