Bathurst's All Saints Anglican Cathedral to host Colin Buchanan gig on Sunday

Buchanan will be performing at the All Saints' Anglican Cathedral on Sunday afternoon as a part of his Old Testament Sing-A-Long Tour, his first tour since the beginning of the pandemic.

Buchanan rose to fame for producing hits such as Galahs in the Gidgee, Hat Town and Aussie Jingle Bells, as well as winning ten Golden Guitar awards.

But since the mid-1990s, Buchanan has devoted much of his time to producing Christian albums, in particular children's albums, with many of his songs popular in Sunday School classes across Australia.

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Before finalising the locations of his tour, Buchanan said he put the call out to churches to submit applications and he said he was overwhelmed by the amount of expression of interests he received.

"We had a couple hundred very solid applications, which is wonderful. Those applications were from right across the country," he said.

"I've done some Sydney dates and I'm doing a few regional dates. I've been to southern NSW and I'm doing western NSW and I've got some Victorian and South Australian dates coming up too. It's a part of a semi-national tour.

"This has been the beginning of performing for me, since the COVID limitations. Although we're required to have COVID-safe precautions, you can see how delighted people are to be together and to be enjoying live music.

"I think because churches are all-age communities, I've noticed a real sense of family at these gigs.

"I think the priority was to get into regional communities, not just sticking to capital cities. I was in Cooma last month and Wagga as well. This run out to Bathurst will take me out to Narrabri, Coonabarabran and Parkes."

For Buchanan, he's had a fairly lengthy association with Bathurst, with his sister spending several years studying at the old Mitchell College, having family at Walang and having performed in the city on numerous occasions.

"I've had a long association with Bathurst, when back in the day my sister went to Mitchell College to study teaching," he said.

"The family came to drop her off at the college and we took the Holden station wagon around Mount Panorama. That was back in the day of Brocky and Moffat.

"I've got family that live at Walang, so we find our way into Bathurst from time to time but I've not performed in Bathurst for many years, so I'm very excited to bring my kids Christian music to Bathurst. It's just a place that I've had a long association and affection with."

There's no hiding that Buchanan's music has been massively influenced by his Christian faith, which has predated his musical exploits.

"I was writing a song like Galahs in the Gidgee, which was my first single and won a Golden Guitar, but I was also writing memory verses for Sunday School and singing songs in church," he said.

"The two [music and faith] have always sat alongside each other and I think that's been a wonderful thing about my career. Occasionally some people will come to a kids gig and expect Galahs in the Gidgee, but we make it pretty obvious this a kids gig and I'm going to sing 10, 9, 8 ... God is Great.

"My faith pre-dates my music career and it has created my music career, my country music career."

Buchanan previously performed in Bathurst back in May 2019, as he partnered Compassion Australia to present Colin Buchanan and Curry with a Twist, which saw him perform a selection of his music during a curry cooking masterclass led by Jané Alam Sheikh.

Buchanan's concert will get underway at 3pm from the All Saints' Anglican Cathedral at 5 Church Street, with tickets costing $15 each.

To book tickets to the concert on Sunday, visit Buchanan's website at colinbuchanan.com.au.

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