The annual Australia Day eve show is a free, family friendly concert held every year on the lawns at Parliament House and showcases the best home-grown musical talent while honouring the achievements of inspiring Australians.

“Paul Kelly has an enduring place in the Australian psyche: his stories are synonymous with our landscape, history and lifestyle,” says CEO of the National Australia Day Council, Jeremy Lasek.

“So it is only fitting that he will headline the 2015 ‘Australia Celebrates Live’ concert.

“Canberra is in for something very special… as night falls the excitement builds and there is just a fantastic atmosphere. Everyone has come together to see the new Australians of the Year announced and then there is this wonderful anticipation as each new act comes on stage.

“It’s just an exciting thing to be part of. If you’re in Canberra, there really is no better way to start celebrating Australia Day.”

Kelly, who will play a full set comprised mainly of his well-known hits and a few new songs, is interrupting his national tour promoting the release of his 20th album, “The Merri Soul Sessions”, to perform in Canberra.

Kelly has performed solo and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. His music style has ranged from bluegrass to studio-oriented dub reggae, but his core output straddles folk, rock, and country.

Kelly says song writing is “mysterious” to him.

“I still feel like a total beginner,” he says. “I don’t feel like I have got it nailed yet”.

Nevertheless, his lyrics capture the vastness of the culture and landscape of Australia by chronicling life around him for more than 30 years.

In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association listed the Top 30 Australian songs of all time, which included Kelly’s “To Her Door”, and “Treaty”, written by Kelly and members of Yothu Yindi.

Aside from “Treaty”, Kelly has written or co-written several songs on indigenous Australian social issues and historical events.

David Fricke, from “Rolling Stone” magazine calls, Kelly “one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise.”

After growing up in Adelaide, Kelly travelled around Australia before settling in Melbourne in 1976. He became involved in the pub rock scene and recorded two albums with Paul Kelly and the Dots. Kelly moved to Sydney by 1985, where he formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls. At the end of the ‘80s, Kelly returned to Melbourne, where he still lives.

Kelly’s Top 40 singles include “Billy Baxter”, “Before Too Long”, “Darling It Hurts”, “To Her Door” (his highest-charting local hit in 1987), “Dumb Things” and “Roll on Summer”.

He has been awarded nine Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards, including being inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1997.

“Australia Celebrates Live”, Sunday, January 25, from 3pm, live music from 4pm. More information at australiaday.org.au