Black Sorrows' Joe Camilleri continues to be amazed by the world of music

Even at 73, with an induction in ARIA's Hall of Fame and 50 albums with his bands The Black Sorrows and Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Camilleri's thirst for musical knowledge is far from sated.

Over the past two years, as various COVID lockdowns kept The Black Sorrows off the road and Camilleri restricted to his home in central Victoria's Macedon Ranges, he kept progressing.

Camilleri taught himself how to read music. It was either "bake a cake" or learn to read music, he says, and it's an understanding that's opened new doors in a world he's inhabited for more than five decades.

"I've learnt a lot about it, the philosophy of it and the spirituality of it, and that suits me to play," Camilleri says.

"I don't want to be a virtuoso and it's nothing to do with playing rock'n'roll - it's a different language.

"Instead of learning Italian, I've learnt the language of music. I try to take that all in and it takes you somewhere else. I found myself buying lots of different kinds of classical music, jazz and country and folk. It's all based around spirituality."

The ability to read music has allowed Camilleri to rediscover the work of legendary American songbook writers like Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and the genius of Nina Simone.

"I now believe after two years of doing this that playing along the melody has this beautiful joy because they pick the best notes of the song anyway," he says.

Camilleri has never been one for navel-gazing. He might boast a stellar back catalogue like Jo Jo Zep & Falcons hits Shape I'm In and Hit & Run and Black Sorrows classic Chained To The Wheel, but he continues to be enthused by the future.

"The trials and tribulations of it all is really important," he says of songwriting. "I'm not writing the songs I've written before, because I've gone beyond that. I can't go back there.

"I go back there when I play the songs live, and I enjoy that and put everything into it, when I'm there. But as soon as I'm out, I'm thinking about tomorrow."

It was that world view which almost led to The Black Sorrows' most-recent album Saint Georges Road not being released last September. Camilleri laid down the finishing touches before the pandemic and felt that album's blues-rock sound was no longer reflective of the direction he was headed.

"Sometimes you get ahead of yourself, and painters and book writers are in the same area," he says. "You have a collection of things that belong together and then you move away from that because you don't want to be doing the same thing.

"It just so happens I gave a couple of people a copy and they convinced me it was worthy of release, like 'don't throw this down the drain'."

It's fortunate Camilleri followed their advice. Saint Georges Road has been one of The Black Sorrows' most warmly received records in recent years and it became Camilleri's 50^th album of his celebrated career.

Recently a fourth single was released from the album, in the title track Saint Georges Road.

The song's poetic chorus of, "I raise a glass or three/ To my true lost friend/ If it's written in the stars/ Then we'll meet up in the end," are deeply personal to Camilleri.

In recent years he's farewelled contemporaries such as Chris Wilson, Greedy Smith and Michael Gudinski and his brother Tony.

Another friend was lost two weeks ago in music icon Glenn Wheatley. The first three Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons' albums - Don't Waste It (1977), Whip It Out (1977) and So Young (1978) - were released on Oz Records, a label created by Wheatley and Daddy Cool's Ross Wilson.

It's naturally made the 73-year-old reflect on his own mortality.

"You think everyone is gonna be around and your turn is going to come around, which leads me back to that song Saint Georges Road, which I sung as a tribute to him," he says.

"You can raise a glass and remember the things you can recall because they're in your book of memories."

But Camilleri has no plans to slow down. There's an extensive album tour and appearances at Dashville Skyline (February 25) and Bluesfest (April 14-16) and album No.51 to finish writing.

"I'm 73 and you can be 103 if you've still got the energy for it," he says. "You can still feel you have something valuable to add to this magical tapestry."

The Black Sorrows play Dashville Skyline (February 25); Lizottes, Newcastle (February 26 & 27); Ghost Rock Wines, Northdown (March 5 & 6); Lucky 13 Garage, Moorabbin (March 13); The Point, Portsea (March 19, afternoon); Bridgeway Hotel, Pooraka (March 19, evening); Sunset Sounds, Mudgee (March 26); Princess Theatre, Launceston (March 31); Rocky Cape Tavern (April 1); Homehill Winery, Huon Valley (April 2); Scamander Beach Resort (April 3); Sunset Sounds, Gosford (April 9); Tallagandra Hill Winery, Gundaroo (April 10); Bluesfest, Byron Bay (April 14-16).