Portrait: The Very Best of John Schumann is a "best of" album by John Schumann

John Schumann

John Lewis Schumann is an Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist from Adelaide. He is best known as the lead singer for the folk group Redgum, with their chart-topping hit "I Was Only 19 ", a song exploring the psychological and medical side-effects of serving in the Australian forces during...

, previously the frontman of Redgum

Redgum

Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals and Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were soon joined by Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at Flinders University and...

. It includes songs from his previous two solo albums, Etched in Blue

Etched in Blue

Etched in Blue is the first solo album by John Schumann, previously the frontman of Redgum, in 1987, the year after he left the band. It was reissued on cd in 2009.-Track listing:#Borrowed Ground#Thunder Across The Reef#Holy Mary#Coming Home...

 and True Believers

True Believers (John Schumann album)

True Believers is the second solo album by John Schumann, previously the frontman of Redgum. Released in 1993, it was reissued in 2009.-Album artwork:...

, I was only 19 from his Redgum days, and a previously unreleased track, "One True Game", about Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

.

Album artwork

The cover art shows a painting of Schumann by Sue Flanagan, which was entered in the Archibald portrait competition

Archibald Prize

The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...

 in 2002.

Track listing

1. "I Was Only Nineteen
   I Was Only Nineteen
   "Only Nineteen", "I Was Only Nineteen" or "A Walk in the Light Green" is the most widely recognised song by Australian folk group Redgum. The song was released in March 1983 as a single, which hit number one on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart for two weeks...
   
   "
2. "Borrowed Ground"
3. "Holy Mary"
4. "Thunder Across The Reef"
5. "Safe Behind The Wire"
6. "For The Children"
7. "If I Close My Eyes"
8. "Leigh Creek Road"
9. "Clancy of the Overflow
   Clancy of the Overflow
   "Clancy of The Overflow" is a poem by Banjo Paterson, first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, on 21 December 1889. The poem is typical of Paterson, offering a romantic view of rural life, and is one of his best-known works.-History:...
   
   "
10. "Eyes on Fire"
11. "Roll on the Day"
12. "If the war goes on"
13. "One True Game"