How to Make Gravy is a four-track EP by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and was originally released on 4 November 1996 on White Label Records in Australia. The title track was written by Kelly and earned him a 'Song of the Year' nomination at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards of 1998. It tells the story of a newly imprisoned man writing a letter to his brother, in which the prisoner laments that he will be missing the family's Christmas celebrations. The same character appears in Kelly's earlier songs, "To Her Door" (1987) and "Love Never Runs on Time" (1994). The gravy recipe is genuine – Kelly learnt it from his first father-in-law. It was covered by James Reyne on the 2003 tribute album, Stories of Me: A Songwriter's Tribute to Paul Kelly and on Reyne's 2005 acoustic album And the Horse You Rode in On.
US (Vanguard Records) release
Image: How to Make Gravy
Paul Kelly (Australian musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor Ratbaggy and Stardust Five. Kelly's music style has ranged from bluegrass to studio-oriented dub reggae, but his core output straddles folk, rock and country. His lyrics capture the vastness of the culture and landscape of Australia by chronicling life about him for over 30 years. David Fricke from Rolling Stone calls Kelly "one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise". Kelly has said, "Song writing is mysterious to me. I still feel like a total beginner. I don't feel like I have got it nailed yet."
Kelly performing at Byron Bay Bluesfest on 6 April 2015
Salamanca Place, Hobart (2007), where, in mid-1974, Kelly made his first public performance—a two-song set comprising Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" and "Streets of Forbes", a traditional Australian folk song about bushranger Ben Hall.
Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls, Long Bay Gaol, Christmas Eve, 1985
Hotel Esplanade, St Kilda. In May 1995, Kelly recorded tracks for Live at the Continental and the Esplanade (1996) in the hotel's Gershwin Room.