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| ARCHIVE : Capital News October 2002 Vol.27 No.10 |
GRANT RICHARDSON – Dusting off
Grant had been described as the "real deal", the shearer and horsebreaker with the great voice and stage presence who was touted for big things - a man who typified the archetype of the bloke from the bush.
But it was tough going in the music scene, and Grant quickly learned why so many aspiring performers and future stars fall by the wayside.
"Financially it's a real battle when you're starting out," he recalls, "and being on the road didn't give me much of an opportunity to do rural work here at home. There was a lot of travelling, and although it was a good year with Star Maker, I was starting to think I might just fade out."
Grant's marriage went through a break-up early in 2000, and his mixed feelings were compounded in June of that year when he learned that his father had been diagnosed with cancer.
"He and I were really close, and it was a real kick in the guts," he confessed. "It made it that much harder to be motivated in the entertainment side."
"I was happy with the way my Star Maker single Huey went, and the Golden Guitar nomination," he remembers, "but I also knew the next step was to follow up with an album, and take my career to the next level. And I knew that to raise the sort of money was completely out of my reach. I'm not the sort of person to do it half-heartedly, and do it justice in my current situation was just out of the question."
After handing over the Star Maker crown in 2001, Grant was facing some tough decisions.
"I guess I thought 'the party's over," he says. "I wasn't turning my back on the music, but I had to weigh things up, and focus on getting back on my feet financially."
"The fire hadn't gone out musically, but it was just smouldering at that stage. The horsebreaking was kicking in, I was earning a bit of money, and I eventually had to come to a decision - I had to stick with what was paying the bills."
In 2001, Grant's father died after his battle with cancer, and it had a huge impact.
"Emotions came into it, and I basically withdrew from the music at that point. I went back to the land, and immersed myself in the horsebreaking, which was going through the roof, and helped me literally ride out those tough times."
But true to both professions, he's dusted off, jumped back in the saddle, and now has rediscovered his balance.
But amidst the turmoil and emotion, the thoughts of an album hadn't disappeared completely. The story of how a bunch of Grant's mates banded together to provide the initial funding for the album have been well documented.
"The money was there, so one day I rang producer Herm Kovac, who'd been a continuing support and encouragement since the Star Maker single days, and said 'let's do it'."
It was still a lengthy project - we'd go into the studio, run out of money, I'd go back to the horses, work for a month to get more funds, then go back put down a couple more tracks, and that's how the whole album went."
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