What is Lee Kernaghan up to lately? OR A virgin shoey on the back of a ute!!

Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians

A country legend doesn’t happen by accident, and Lee Kernaghan is proof. We jump on Zoom with Lee to unpack the real origin story: a musical family, a dad who sang about trucks and life on the road, and years of scraping by with gigs wherever a crowd would listen. It’s the kind of Australian country music journey that’s equal parts hard work and heart, and it explains why his songs still feel like they’re written for real people, not playlists.

We also get into the moment things finally shifted. Lee shares how record labels turned him down before ABC Music backed him to a life-changing run of albums, awards, and touring. Along the way, we talk songwriting craft, including his long collaboration with Garth Porter and the simple creative rule that keeps working: write from your own life, tell the truth, and let the chorus do the heavy lifting.

Then we head straight into the dust and noise of the Deni Ute Muster. Lee breaks down how it started in 1999 during drought, why it’s now a bucket-list Australian music festival, and what makes it unlike any other event, from rodeo and bull riding to that legendary car park energy. We highlight the massive lineup, the ticket rush, and the community fundraising that keeps money flowing back to the region. 

Plus, Lee drops a genuine update on what’s next: new music before the Muster, an album on the horizon, and even the possibility of vinyl.

If you love Australian country, live music stories, and the culture that surrounds rural festivals, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a mate who needs a road trip, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the show.

What is Lee Kernaghan up to at the moment?  Let's find out!

Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!

Visit:  ThatRadioChick.com.au

Transcript

Welcome And Lee’s Legacy

Cheryl Lee 0:01

That Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here. Welcome to the Still Rockin It podcast, where we'll have music, news reviews, and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Lee Kernighan's music rumbles across the Australian landscape like a souped up ute, belting out a cloud of dust. For more than three decades, Lee has bridged the gap between country's classic storytelling and a new breed of arena rock showmanship. Lee has deservedly received 38 golden guitars and been inducted into both the Australian County Music Role of Renown and also the CMC Hall of Fame. Following last year's record-breaking sold-out event, the Deni Youth Muster announces an outstanding 2026 lineup of country music superstars taking over the Muster stages Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd of October. Now, if there's not a marriage made in heaven, I don't know what is. We're caught up with Lee. Find out all about the Deni Ute Muster and what else he's got going on. To catch up on podcasts and other favourite artists, simply go to thatRadioChick.com.au.

Growing Up In A Music Family

Cheryl Lee 1:17

You're with Cheryl Lee, That Radio Chick, and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today. For the first time, I think, Lee. Lee Kernighan, thank you for joining us today. G'day, Cheryl Lee. How are you? Yeah, really good, thanks. Now, perhaps we could find out a little bit about Lee Kernighan before we chat about all the exciting stuff coming up, like the, you know, Deni Ute Muster, a little little thing like that. Well, what would you like to know? I think you're from a musical family. Um, was your dad a singing truck driver? Is that right? Yeah, dad was an owner operator uh for many years and got into the music industry by writing songs and singing songs about trucks and you know life on the road. He ended up owning the world's fastest truck, Waltzing Matilda, which held the World Land Speed record. Um so I got to go out on tour as like an 18-year-old kid on those those tours with dad and toured with him for about 10 years, and and that's when I got my break, uh the chance to make my first album, which was called The Outback Club. And it had Boys from the Bush and a whole bunch of hits, yeah. And boom, the rest is history. But so do you think it was pre- ordained that pretty much right from the start, this is what you were going to do, this is gonna be your life's work. You know, I just enjoyed kicking the footy, playing a bit of cricket, you know, riding horses and motorbikes, and it was just a fairly normal country kid upbringing. My grandfather was a drover of sheep and cattle, mum's parents were dairy farmers, so never really considered a career, but looking back, it was definitely in my DNA because of my dad and a lot of family members are all musical, so yeah, it probably yeah, it was preordained in a way. Was there ever a plan B? And was plan B the farm, or did you have uh anything else up your sleeve? Had this, you know, music thing not worked out for you? Yeah, I was doing, I went to night school, you know, but I was and was doing some business courses and stuff like that. But you know, before I got to make my first record, I was just playing in pubs and clubs and and even piano bars wherever I could get a gig, you know, because it was you're living, you know, hand to mouth back in those days. So it was pretty, pretty tough to sort of make a living. But I scraped by and I was always really happy and grateful to be able to, you know, play music, you know, that's my my passion. What an amazing response to your very first for your debut album. Congratulations, like

First Album Breakthrough And Rejections

Cheryl Lee 4:05

gangbusters. You must have been really proud of how it was accepted. Yeah, I've got to admit, every record company in Australia knocked me back and they didn't like what they were hearing, but ABC Music did, and they uh they took a punt on me. I've been with them now for 20 oh nearly 30 years, so I've been with the same record company. So I appreciate that. And there wasn't very high expectations at the time, but it took everybody, including me, by surprise when it won when the album won like three golden guitars and then the ARIA award. And you know, so I hit the road and it just it was life-changing. Congratulations and very well deserved. And I learned something that I didn't realise. How did you and Garth get together? Because I loved Garth, he was my favourite Sherbet member, and he and you worked a lot on that first album together. Yeah, yep, I still worked with Garth. We've been, you know, great collaborators over many, many years. But yeah, I just sort of met him out of chance. I was writing with another songwriter who wanted to introduce me to Garth, and I kind of remembered seeing him on Countdown as as a kid, you know. And did you have uh a Sherbet poster or a Garth Porter poster on your bedroom wall? Many lots of people do, yeah. And so yeah, I met him and he was just getting into country music at the time. He was working with James Blundell and they made the Way Out West album, which was massive, and and a couple of others. And I kind of was fortunate enough to sort of enter the slipstream and start writing with with Garth, and I wrote a few with James as well. It was Garth who sort of said a little bit that your first album should be about your life, which you know, country music quite often is, it's about the experiences of the artist, and that seemed to have worked really well. So thanks, Garth. Yeah, good on you, Garth. It was great. Yeah, he just wanted me to make an album that was about my life and where I where I I've sort of come from, which is down the Riverina. And he said, you know, Lee, you're he his words were Lee, you're a boy from the bush. You need to write songs about that, and that's what pretty well where the song was born, and I've been singing it ever since. So your wife, Robyn, is also a musician. How did you guys meet? Cross the room at a pub at a gig or yeah, it was at a gig for Toyota, and yeah, so I'm still toasting

Songwriting With Garth Porter

Cheryl Lee 6:45

Toyota because they booked her to to do back uh to do the support act at the kig I was doing up in Queensland, and and we met and planets collided, and yeah, it's um we've been together, you know, for we've been married now for G about 25 26 years. Your two sons, Jet and Rock, have they followed their parents into the family business? Are they involved in music? Yeah, they're deeply involved in music production and songwriting, and so they've you know, sort of carving out their own sort of careers. I'm currently working on a new album at the moment, and Rock's been working with me on that. We'll be in the studio at the end of the week to do some mixing, and and he'll be right there in the forefront of it all. That's really awesome, isn't it? That you can work like that with your family members. Yeah, it's great. You know, I don't know, don't know why they all turned out to be musical with a musical mum and a musical dad. Who knew? Go figure. Yeah. So is that a scoop that there's a new album coming out soon? And when are we when won't you see that? I reckon there'll be a new single before the Deni Ute Muster for sure, and more to come after that with an album and a national tour next year. How exciting! And when you say album, does that include vinyl? I reckon I will put it out on vinyl for sure. Yeah. I've just been up in the Blue Mountains Cheryl Lee. I've been this last few days, I've been in Lura, and we've got a little uh cabin up there that we sort of hire out. And I've been up there with Nick Wolfe from the Wolfe Brothers and Colin Buchanan, who wrote, co-wrote, you know, Spirit of the Anzacs, Flying with the King, Hat Town, She's My Ute. The list goes on. So it's been great working with those boys, and yeah, I'm pretty excited about the new material. So watch this space. Should um we head to a website to keep up on all the upcoming Lee Kernighan news? Yeah, well, I've been fairly quiet of of recent because I've been just working behind the scenes and I like to be I'd rather talk about things that I'm that are happening right now rather than what's gonna happen. We better talk about the Deni ute muster because 1999 it started as a you know quite a small little event uh in the a huge gig at the at Delinoquin because they were struggling with a terrible drought at the time. It was called the Deni Play on the Plains Festival back then, and it has morphed and grown over the years into, you know, a major part of the festival program across Australia that's um sort of got into our national psyche. Oh, definitely. Um I think every

Family Life And New Music Plans

Cheryl Lee 9:45

Australian should should plan to make it to the Deni Ute Muster at least once. There's nothing like it, Cheryl Lee. Like the the the atmosphere, the people, the the events that are on there are just incredible and it's uniquely Australian. I just it's it's a part of my musical DNA as well. So so much of the music that I've produced over the years has come from a lot of the experiences there at the back of a Ute. Oh, 100%, mate. Yeah. Oh my husband's from a farming community in Victoria. In fact, he's there at the moment. But I've never been to a Deni Ute muster, but it is absolutely on my bucket list. Have you appeared at Mundi Mundi before? No, no, I haven't done the Mundi Mundi. The closest I was the album cover for my record, The New Bush, that was shot at the Mundi Mundi Lookout. Right. Yeah, yeah. Well, I feel like they're all the same because the country people just they just know how to throw a party, don't they? Oh, they do. Yeah, there's some great festivals around the country. I I know um I'm out at the Bend Festival the day after the Deni Ute Muster. We fly to South Australia and

How The Deni Ute Muster Began

Cheryl Lee 11:05

do the bend. You're coming to my town, aren't you? Yeah, yeah, we are. Murray Bridge. So we'll we'll be we'll be there towards the end of the year. But um the Deni Ute Muster is like no other festival. Like it's it's it is just out of the box, unreal. I've and I've shot quite a few video clips there, like Damn Good Mates and Till It Ends and Ute Me. Why would you not do a Ute Me there at the Deni Ute Muster? Yeah, that's right, exactly. So uh this year we've got Tones and I headlining, and then you're gonna hit the stage. There's a there's actually a huge, huge lineup of stars heading out that you'll be sharing the stage with, isn't there? Like Tyler Braden, Shepard, Mossy, and Troy Cassar- Daly, Furnace and the Fundamentals, Casey Barnes, Amber Lawrence. Oh, the list goes on and on and on. So wonderful that you guys get behind these events and support them. And as I say, they just seem to get bigger and bigger and bigger. Deni still holds the world record um for the for the biggest, what is it, the biggest lineup of ute in the world. Um you get yeah, you get over 20,000 people there and probably 10,000 utes and four-wheel drives. It's a heck of a party out in the car park. The the whole car park, like there's camping and the car park out there, there's circle work, there's tractor pulls, there's there's there's a rodeo, you got bull riding, you got country music, and you got a legendary country crowd, and it doesn't get any better. What more can you want, right? It's it's full tilt. The early bird tickets are sold out already, but you can still get general admission tickets and go to Deni Ute Muster, pretty simple.com dot au. And if you can't get there this year, just pop it into the calendar and make sure that you get there next year. Because I agree with you, Lee, is one of those things that you need to do at least once. For sure. Yep. Yeah, you'll be fully, fully endorsed Australian after you've done that. Yeah, that's right. You'll earn your stripes. You'll be a true Aussie then. Well, I did my first shoey in in Deni. Um, it would have been back in about 2012, I think. And I was yeah, I was out in the car park with all the legends out there, and and they started chanting shoey,

Lineup Highlights Tickets And Festival Chaos

Cheryl Lee 13:40

shoey, shoey, shoey. And they did it. So I said, okay, what what is it? And they handed me a shoe, this dirty old RM Williams boot, maybe somebody took off and they poured some rum in it, and I drank it. And yeah, so but but I then I lost my voice after that. Oh no. Couldn't sing for a month. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I've learned that when I do a shoey now, I take my own boot off and pour in a bit of fireball or a bit of rum or whatever's going around. Yeah, something strong to to kill, to kill any nasties. Or at least fortify you to fight them off. Oh. Now, it's a great event in that it also donates like $100,000 each year back to the local community. It's fantastic the way that this great music event event continues to give back to the community and help people. And yeah, it's great to be a part of the fundraising effort as well. I do love that. And again, country people seem to leave the charge, don't they? If anybody needs to raise any money for anything, get a country person to run it. Yeah, well, I think that's probably why I've written songs like Hat Town and Spirit of the Bush, because it's a part of our culture, you know, to sort of look out for people who are doing it, you know, a bit tougher than ourselves. And I've been fortunate enough to be a part of some of some incredible events, you know, from you know the big bushfire relief event that we did at Sydney Stadium and and Hat Town tours and drought and flood and bushfire relief. But, you know, that's our country, that's what happens out there. But the thing that's really humbling is when you see those people come together, people and so many of them, Cheryl Lee, are behind the scenes. You'll never read about them in the newspaper or see them on TV. But salt of the earth people and these incredible communities that just galvanize around an important cause. I totally agree. And I think Aussies, we're pretty we're a pretty generous lot, and when the chips are down, you know, we'll back each other. But in the country, people are often doing it tough themselves already. You know, if you know, if it's not a drought, it's a flood or a locust plague or something.

Giving Back Spirit Of The ANZACs And Honors

Cheryl Lee 16:10

But it doesn't matter how difficult life is for the for the individual, they still come together as a community and you know, do what needs to be done and lift the people that need the lifting at the time, don't they? Yeah. It's what makes our country great. It's a people, you know. Well, that's for sure. Well, I just wanted to congratulate you. Your list of accolades, Lee. It's like a highlight reel, like 13 studio albums, all of which went gold platinum or multi-platinum, 40 chart toppers, four Aria Awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award for Spirit of the Anzacs, the highest-selling Australian album of any genre. That was back in 2015. I guess you're really, really proud of that one. I was so proud to be a part of the making of it. But um it belongs to, you know, our servicemen and women. It always will. All the all the royalties in perpetuity for the Spirit of the Anzac song continues to flow back to them. And so the song is is, you know, it was a privilege, but it was our gift to to them. Yeah, it's awesome. I play it on the radio all the time. Good on you, mate. And also, congratulations and well-deserved for the uh 2008 Australian of the year in recognition for the support of all your rural and regional activities in Australia. Congratulations again. Thanks, Darlin. I was just cogging a wheel. But yeah, thank you. Yeah. Well, look, have a great muster. And uh, I may not see you there this year. We we'll be overseas, but put me down for next year and I'll see you down the front. In the mosh pit. Of course. We'll see you out, see you out back for a fireball. Yeah, absolutely. Out of my shoe. Sounds good. Thank you for that, chat. I think our time's probably nearly up. Was there anything else, Lee, that you wanted to mention that we haven't covered? No, I think you covered all those bases so well. It was great. Yeah. All right. Well, lovely, and all the best with the new album as well. Yeah, yeah. It's exciting to get some new music out after a long, long hiatus. Yeah. All right, good luck and enjoy the rest of your day.

Final Thanks And Send-Off

Cheryl Lee 18:32

Thanks for chatting with me. Thanks, darling. It was an absolute pleasure. Yeah. See you next time. See you, Cheryl Lee. Bye, mate. Bye. You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rockin' It podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can, support Aussie Music, and I'll see you down the front.