as early as the 1920s, the different ethnic groups in asutralia influenced the ballads. poncie cubillo introduced the rondalla with their filipino string band in darwin. the ballad tradition has grown to include some of these influences including chinese and filipino. there were also the italians growing tobacco, the de bortoli family, in "texas in queensland", adding to the mix of folk tunes and tex morton's hillbilly tunes. morton, a country music singer from new zealand, made a number of australian-themed recordings between 1936 and 1943. these included the "dying duffer's prayer," "murrumbridgee jack," "billy brink the shearer," "stockman's last bed," "wrap me up in my stockwhip and blanket," "rocky ned (the outlaw)," and "ned kelly song". while these are a part of the bush ballad tradition, morton sang without an australian accent and used yodeling like the american singer jimmie rodgers. american cowboy and country songs and 1950s rock 'n' roll influenced australian bush ballads. with increased modern communications, bush ballads share the modern australian music scene with rockabilly, country music, blues, texas swing, bluegrass, trail songs, and country pop.