Story by Bruce McMahon
COURIER-MAIL

'If it was a woman, I'd marry that truck. It just goes and goes and every day it keeps impressing me more.'

LEE KERNAGHAN road-tests all his albums. Before signing off, the Australian singer takes a tape down to his trusty LandCruiser and runs the album through the stereo system. That's where he picks up little problems in the mix or places to improve the sound. And then he tries the flow, goes for a drive and makes sure the order of the tracks doesn't need a juggle.

An album needs light and shade. But Kernaghan has to watch playing his own music. "I've got to be careful with The Outback Club on the stereo, I kept getting pulled up for speeding,'' the Sydney-based singer said. "I'd be somewhere out the back of the Hay plains with the stereo cranked listening to 'What's a Country Girl Do For Fun' or 'Boys From The Bush', take a look at the speedo then say to myself, "Ok... better slow down now!"

Kernaghan clocks up 100,000km a year touring. He loves driving, particularly when the country opens up through outback Queensland and into the inspirational Northern Territory.

And he loves his current transport, a turbocharged diesel LandCruiser. "If it was a woman, I'd marry that truck,'' Kernaghan says. "It just always goes and goes. You can keep drivin' west for days on end and the only thing thats gonna' pull you up is the Indian Ocean."

"It's a real comfort to get out in the middle of nowhere and hear that turbo-diesel chugging away, you just know it won't let you down.''

Kernaghan, critically acclaimed and whose album sales are now in the millions, has a deal with Toyota but says he wouldn't trade the association. His dream machine? "A V12 Turbo charged Mega Cruiser...!"

Until there's something like that built, he traverses the nation in a V8-powered GXV 'Cruiser. And there's a diesel version of Toyota's next LandCruiser ute, the 78 Series, on order.

On the road, he listens to a long and varied playlist. John Williamson to Abba, some Elvis, Slim Dusty, Tim McGraw and even classical. For those looking for some driving music, Kernaghan plays Festival Hall in Brisbane this Saturday night on his Queensland tour.