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Short version
Australian country music icon Lee Kernaghan releases his first new single in several years with ‘4X4 is King’, a high-energy ode to the joys of offroad driving, and prepares for his big 2027 Tamworth show.
Long version
It’s been several years since Australian country music icon Lee Kernaghan released new recorded music, although he has in no way been idle, touring the land and putting on the big shows that his fans love.
Given how much he has toured over the years, it seems appropriate that his first single in a while is dedicated to travel, in the form of four-wheel driving, of which Kernaghan is a longtime proponent. ‘4X4 is King’ is a high-energy ode to going offroad, and written with Nick Wolfe of the Wolfe Brothers and Colin Buchanan, both longtime collaborators of Kernaghan’s.
When I asked Kernaghan about his love of four-wheel driving in this new interview, he revealed that it goes further than driving alone.
‘Every song I release,’ he says, ‘gets the LandCruiser test and I’ve been doing that for years.’
He also relates a tale about how he tested songs from his first album, The Outback Club, not in a LandCruiser but in a Ford Contina as he was driving near Deniliquin in New South Wales – and it was at the Deni Ute Muster a few years ago that he debuted ‘4X4 is King’, and had a video shot (still to be released).
I ask Kernaghan if, when deciding which songs pass the LandCruiser test, he is also thinking about how they’ll translate live, and he says it’s at the forefront of his decision making, asking himself, ‘What can we do? What can we said that hasn’t been said?’
No doubt fans will be mightily pleased with the inclusion of ‘4X4 is King’ in his set lists, and I was also pleased to talk to Kernaghan, for the first time in a long while (the last time was when all my interviews were phoners). It was a brief chat as he is in demand, but he was, as ever, great to chat to.
Lee Kernaghan is playing at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre (known as TRECC) during the 2027 Tamworth Country Music Festival. Tickets available here.
Listen to ‘4X4 is King’ on Apple Music
Listen to ‘4X4 is King’ on YouTube
