John Robert Williamson AM (born 1 November 1945) is an Australian country music and folk music singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, television host and conservationist. Williamson usually writes and performs songs that relate to the history and culture of Australia, particularly the outback, in a similar vein to Slim Dusty and Buddy Williams before him. Williamson has released over fifty albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books and has sold more than 4,000,000 albums in Australia. His best known hit is "True Blue". On Australia Day (26 January) in 1992 Williamson was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) with the citation: "for service to Australian country music and in stimulating awareness of conservation issues". Williamson has received 28 Golden Guitar trophies at the Country Music Awards of Australia, he has won three ARIA Music Awards for Best Country Album and, in 2010, was inducted into the related Hall of Fame. Williamson has sold over 5 million records in Australia.

John Robert Williamson was born on 1 November 1945 at Kerang Bush Nursing Hospital to Keith Williamson and Shirley Ellen (née Manuel). He grew up in Quambatook, in the Mallee district of north-western Victoria. His parents farmed wheat crops on various small land lots in the region and both were amateur performing artists singing in local Gilbert & Sullivan productions. Williamson is the oldest of five sons whose names in order are William, Robin, Peter and Jeff.

Williamson's performance style originates from his 'farmland, not city bitumen' lifestyle, and his upbringing is referred to by the nickname, 'The Mallee Boy'. His early musical influences were Roger Miller and Rolf Harris, both of whom provided inspirational elements for his first hit, namely using a vocal imitation from Miller's "Dang Me" and replacing Rolf's wobble board with a Jaw's Harp. From the age of seven he learned to play the ukulele from his father, before proceeding when he was twelve to guitar and taught himself to play harmonica. For the last four years of secondary schooling Williamson attended Scotch College in Melbourne. In the early 1960s, while still at college, he formed a folk music group. After schooling Williamson returned home to become a farmer and, in 1965, the family moved to Croppa Creek, near Moree, where Williamson began performing at a local restaurant.

In 1969, Williamson wrote a novelty song, "Old Man Emu", and early the following year he performed the track on TV talent quest, New Faces, winning first place. He later reflected on his songwriting process, and the importance of his guitar, "no matter where I go I'll have one with me, in case I come up with a song, I've got to have the guitar straight away. I always write the words and the music together". In early 1970 he signed a recording contract with Fable Records owner and New Faces's judge, Ron Tudor. In May "Old Man Emu" was released as a single on Tudor's label, which peaked at No. 3 on the Go-Set National Top 60. It was awarded a gold certification and was listed at No. 14 on Go-Set's Top Records for the Year of 1970. His self-titled debut album followed in mid-year and, although it featured "Old Man Emu", it had little commercial success: only selling two-thousand copies. Since "Old Man Emu" was his only hit he had to perform it two or three times per gig. Williamson's follow-up single, "Under the Bridge" backed with "The Unexplored Shadows of Mine" was issued in November with certain pressings having its A and B-sides swapped around. By February 1971 the album's third single, "Beautiful Sydney", appeared. A string of non-album singles followed including, in March 1972, "Misery Farm" with Lumpy Pumpkin.

In 1973, Williamson hosted a country music TV series, Travlin' Out West, which ran for two years, broadcast by NBN-3, Newcastle. He performed with two regular acts, Ricky & Tammy, and Emma Hannah. The program provided two albums for the regulars, Travlin' Out West in Concert (1973) and From Travlin' Out West (1974) issued by Reg Grundy Productions. In 1976 he issued his second album, The Comic Strip Cowboy, but it failed to chart. In early 1978, Williamson released his first compilation album under the Country Greats series. This was followed later in the year by his third album, Road to Town, with contributions by other musicians including Tommy Emmanuel on guitar. Also that year Williamson formed a country music band, Crow, which performed on the pub and club circuit across Australia. In 1980 Crow were renamed as Sydney Radio, to play rock music with a reggae influence. The members used face paint, with Williamson disguised as the clown, Ludwig Leichhardt. Williamson penned rock and reggae numbers for the band some of which were recorded but never released. Since 1970 Williamson has had a friendship with radio presenter, John Laws, who calls Williamson his 'little brother'. In 1977, Williamson recorded and released a single, "It's a Grab It While It's Goin' Kind of Life", which is a musical tribute to Laws. Up until Laws' first retirement on 25 June 2007, Williamson wrote and performed a series of jingles for Laws' morning show on 2UE, and his final jingle was "Hey good on ya Lawsie, you pulled the plug at last". Laws made a successful comeback to radio broadcasting in February 2011, this time at 2SM, part of the Super Radio Network, and Williamson's jingles for his programme resumed.

In early 1981 Williamson's rock group, Sydney Radio, disbanded and he began playing solo in pubs, which attracted more new fans. He recorded a tribute song for ANZACs, "Diggers of the ANZAC (This Is Gallipoli)", which was well received and issued as a single. Williamson met Pixie Jenkins, a fiddle player, and the two toured together for several years. In April 1981 Williamson issued a single, "The Breaker", featuring narrated vocals by Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, which was inspired by the movie, Breaker Morant (1980) (which had Tingwell as a supporting actor). "The Breaker" enabled Williamson to cast off the "Old Man Emu" novelty tag and "[h]is long apprenticeship flowed into an apparently endless set of songs charming Australians with stories and images about themselves and their country". In 1982, he recorded a new track, "True Blue", which was included on a compilation album, True Blue: The Best of John Williamson. Later that year, he issued Fair Dinkum J.W., featuring traditional Australian ballads, "With My Swag upon My Shoulder", "Botany Bay" and "Brisbane Ladies"; as well as originals, "Country Football", "Kill the Night", "Wrinkles" and "(You've Gotta Be) Fair Dinkum", a duet with Karen Johns.

In 1983 Williamson released his first solo live album, Singing in the Suburbs and another live album, The Smell of Gum Leaves, in September 1984. It featured another comic track, "I'm Fair Dinkum". Williamson then launched his merchandise business, The Fair Dinkum Road Company, in Sydney. The album included his cover version of Spectrum's 1971 single, "I'll Be Gone", which he played using only guitar and harmonica. At the start of 1985 he founded an independent record label, Gumleaf Recordings. At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January that year, he won 'Song of the Year' for "Queen in the Sport of Kings". He then issued a new compilation, Humble Beginnings, featuring tracks from his first three studio albums. He released another studio album that year, Road Thru the Heart. At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January 1986, he won 'Album of the Year' for Road Thru the Heart and 'Male Vocalist of the Year' for "You and My Guitar". In July 1986, Williamson released another compilation, All the Best! which contained eighteen of his most-requested tracks both from studio and live works. As a bonus, Williamson collaborated with both of his daughters, Ami and Georgie, and with Australian folk group Bullamakanka on "Goodbye Blinky Bill" – highlighting the comic koala character of the same name. When issued as a single, the purchase price included an A$1.00 donation to the Koala Preservation Society in Port Macquarie. At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January 1986, he won 'Album of the Year' for Road Thru the Heart and 'Male Vocalist of the Year' for "You and My Guitar".

In November 1986 Williamson's Gumleaf Recordings distributed his breakthrough album, Mallee Boy, which peaked in the Top 10 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart. It remained in the top 50 for a year-and-a-half, and was awarded a triple platinum certificate. It was "filled with storytelling that spanned from his own beginnings on that farm in the Victorian Mallee to every corner of the nation". At the ARIA Music Awards of 1987, Mallee Boy was named the inaugural winner of Best Country Album. At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January 1987, he won 'Album of the Year' for Mallee Boy and 'Male Vocalist of the Year' for "True Blue". Popular tracks include the title song, "Galleries of Pink Galahs" (see Galah), "Raining on the Rock" (see Uluru) and "Cootamundra Wattle" (see Acacia baileyana). The album had a re-recorded version of "True Blue" which was released as a single in September. Williamson was asked by the Australian Made Campaign whether they could use "True Blue" for their TV and radio ads. It became a career highlight and was adopted as a theme by the Australia national cricket team. To support Mallee Boy Williamson performed his concerts in a campfire setting and since that time he commences many of his shows with its title track. At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January 1988, he won 'Top Selling Album' for Mallee Boy.