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.”