Ernie Constance has spent half a century writing the songs of the Australian bush - and he’s still farming the country that inspired them.
Ernie was born on 12 May 1950 in Cooma on the Monaro and has lived and worked all his life on the Monaro. He spent well over 30 years as a very accomplished shearer while he was building up his sheep and cattle grazing property, Burrunga, in the locality of Peak View. He is still the hardworking owner-manager of his now extensive holdings.
Ernie’s country music career has been an evolution, from a boy who loved the old ‘cowboy’ songs; he grew up listening to Slim Dusty, Trevor Day, Buddy Williams, Chad Morgan and Rick and Thel Carey. Ernie started writing verse in the early 1970s and began sending it to his idol Slim Dusty soon afterwards.
His big break came when Slim recorded “Things I See Around Me” in 1975. Slim eventually recorded 16 of Ernie’s compositions and won two Golden Guitars with Things I See Around Me in 1977 and the Heritage Award in 1983 with Banjo’s Man. Ernie has also had approximately 16 songs recorded by other prominent bush ballad artists.
Ernie’s performing career started in 1983 when he began singing at charity and other events in his local area. With a backlog of unrecorded songs, Ernie recorded his first album “When the Currawongs Come Down” at LBS Studios in 1993 and the show was on the road. With an album to promote, Ernie started appearing at festivals and shows including Tamworth and Bungendore, including quite a few years busking on the street at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
After recording 5 albums with LBS, Ernie moved to Stuie French’s Swingin Door Studio and recorded his much acclaimed albums “Milestones” in 2009 and “The Songs I Wrote for Slim” in 2013. This move proved to be a big step-up for Ernie and he eventually recorded his third album with Stuie, “Lead a Horse to Water”, in 2017.
After a nine year hiatus, Ernie has finally returned to the studio to record his latest album “The Songwriter” with the brilliant Bradley Bergen producing the album at Simon Johnson’s Hillbilly Hut Studio. This album features 14 songs Ernie wrote for other artists and had not previously recorded himself plus four new unrecorded tracks. With 18 tracks this album is almost a double album set.
Ernie has twice been a finalist in the Golden Guitar Awards. Ernie won the highly acclaimed TSA Songmaker Award in 2002 and was inducted into the Hands of Fame Park in 2006, and has won many TSA, Stan Coster Memorial and Gidgee Coal Awards as well as many other awards over the years.
Ernie lists his greatest musical achievements and honours, not as the awards, but as having Slim Dusty record his songs, having Charley Boyter work and record with him over the years, touring Tasmania with Dianne Lindsay and Peter Simpson, and having the privilege of working with Stuie French and Brad Bergen in the studio in recent years. Due to his ongoing love for and commitment to his grazing property, Ernie still only appears at selected festivals and venues.