Roger Knox – Black Tear Tracks (2025)
With a musical career spanning 40 years, singer-songwriter Roger Knox is a well-known, highly respected First Nations musician and pioneer whose “…legacy embodies hope, healing, and reconciliation.” Raised on the Toomelah Aboriginal Mission Station in New South Wales, the Aboriginal Australian artist uses his natural storytelling skills to capture the heads and hearts of international audiences.
As a multi-award-winning artist, Knox was named NAIDOC National Artist of the Year (1993), received the Jimmy Little Award for Lifetime Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music (2006), and was inducted into the Australian Country Music Foundation’s Hands of Fame Park (2004). So, with awards and achievements aside, we’re here to delve into Roger Knox’s most recent release, ‘Black Tear Tracks’. Join us, won’t you?
Known as the Koori King of Country, Australia-based Knox enters 2025 with his original track, ‘Black Tear Tracks’. A labour of love, the song was penned by Knox, Toby Marti and Jason Walker in 2015; however, it sees the light of day as the first original song from the acclaimed Knox a decade later. Produced by Nicolette Dixon and Toby Martin, ‘Black Tear Tracks’ shows duality in its sophisticated elegance but simultaneously raw vulnerability. It offers simplicity and barebones starkness but is wrapped within a kaleidoscopic rush of music.
Leaning toward old-school country vibes, ‘Black Tear Tracks’ is toe-tapping and has a sing-along, laidback attitude; however, this is mere surface level as profound weightiness belies the charming exterior. Melodically, you are drawn into the tune, but things are not as they seem. With his rich, warm vocals, Knox embraces you in a comfortable sonic hug; he holds your hand like an old friend sharing a cup of tea and biscuits. Yet, the theme and lyricism bite with poignant profoundness as it touches on “…the pain of separation of his mother as part of the Stolen Generation…” – denied access to her Aboriginal culture, language and lineage, taken from her parents and raised in a home. Knox explains: “She continued to protect us, and she never told us what she had been through. I didn’t find out anything she had gone through until after she died”
Find out more about Roger Knox on his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
Listen to more music that we think is absolutely amazing on The Other Side Recommends playlist:
