A BOY FROM THE BUSH

THERE IS A SWEET RHYTHM TO LEE KERNAGHAN'S DUAL-CAB CRUISER, FROM TOYOTA BULLBAR AND WINCH UP FRONT THROUGH TO THE HAYMAN REESE TOW BAR DOWN BACK

- BRUCE MCMAHON

THIS dark grey 79 Series, sitting proud on chunky Coopers, is country through and through. A serious four-wheel drive for touring, climbing out of farm bogs or maybe motivating another set of hit songs. This is country music star Lee Kernaghan’s fourth LandCruiser ute; back in 1993 the first inspired She’s My Ute

Kickin’ past the dealers on the edge of town Saw a lot of pretty pickups Not a ute to be found Twin cam Jap fours A bloke’d be nuts Give me a six or an eight A four-wheel mate The dents and the dust And the grasshopper guts …

Queensland-based Lee has long loved 4WD utes, well before the genre reached the suburbs.

“It’s interesting that ute culture exploded in the early 1990s and it was around that time I wrote my first ute song, She’s My Ute, and that’s gone on to be like a classic,” he says.

“It was an interesting time because, until then, utes were just like farm vehicles, utility vehicles,” says Lee, high up in South-East Queensland’s McPherson Range. “But then they became so much more, and they say a lot about the driver. I played at that first Deniliquin Ute Muster in 1999 and I’ve always felt a real affinity for ute culture.”

Raising back-road dust and utes often feature in Lee’s first 14 albums. His career took off with the release of The Outback Club in 1992, adding a rock ’n’ roll swagger and driving tempos to country music. Since then, he’s sold more than two million albums, has had 41 number one hits, won 38 Golden Guitars and four ARIA awards. He received the Order of Australia medal in 2004 and was Australian of the Year in 2008 for work raising funds, and spirits, for outback and regional communities in need.