Slim Dusty, AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and producing numerous recordings. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australia, particularly of bush life and renowned Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson that represented the lifestyle. The music genre was coined the "bush ballad", a style first made popular by Buddy Williams, the first artist to perform the genre in Australia, and also for his many trucking songs.
Slim Dusty has released 122 records in his career. By March 1976, Dusty had achieved 37 gold and two platinum records. By November 1979, this Dusty had amassed 63 gold and platinum albums.
Keith Lionel Urban is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves International Award, thirteen CMA Awards and six ARIA Music Awards. Urban wrote and performed the song "For You" from the film Act of Valor, which earned him nominations at both the 70th Golden Globe Awards and at the 18th Critics' Choice Awards in the respective Best Original Song categories.
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad tradition, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include: outback life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and outlaws, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush.
Chadwick William "Chad" Morgan OAM is an Australian country music singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western and folk songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording, he is known as "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek".
Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. Kernaghan has won four ARIA Awards and three APRA Awards, and has sold over two million albums, and as of 2021, has won 38 Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia.
Anne Kirkpatrick is an Australian country music singer. She is the daughter of country singers Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.
The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry. As the peak national industry body, its activities include organisation, promotion and staging of the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia, CMAA Australian College of Country Music, CMAA College Graduation Concert, CMAA Australian Country Music Achiever Awards, CMAA Golden Guitar Winners' Concerts and the CMAA Australian National Bluegrass Championship. Additionally the association is involved in industry research, professional development and promotion. In January 2018, Dan Biddle took over as chair of the association.
Reginald John Lindsay OAM was an Australian country music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and radio and television personality. He won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than 500 songs in his 50-year music career. Lindsay recorded over 65 albums and 250 singles. Reg made his first trip to Nashville in June 1968 and recorded his first Nashville EP on this historic trip.
The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of action and adventure, and uses language that is colourful, colloquial and idiomatically Australian. Bush ballads range in tone from humorous to melancholic, and many explore themes of Australian folklore, including bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Graeme Connors is an Australian country music singer, songwriter, and performer. Connors has released seventeen studio albums and has received fourteen Golden Guitar awards among other prestige Australian country music awards.
Joy McKean, , is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife and manager of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading songwriters and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular songs. In 1973, she was awarded the first ever Golden Guitar, for writing "Lights on the Hill". She was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown in 1983. The 2020 documentary film Slim and I told the story of her life and musical partnership with Dusty. The McKean-Dusty musical partnership produced over 100 albums, sold eight million records in Australia alone, and earned 45 Golden Guitars.
The Slim Dusty Movie is a 1984 Australian feature film directed by Rob Stewart and starring Slim Dusty, Joy McKean, Jon Blake and Mary Charleston.
Stan Coster OAM was an Australian country music singer-songwriter. His songs were regularly performed by Slim Dusty and other singers. He is the father of country music singer Tracy Coster.
Harmony James is an Australian singer-songwriter. Although James is often classified as a country artist, her music draws on many genres, including folk, pop, rock and blues. In 2006 Harmony first came to the attention of the music industry when she became the only Australian songwriter to have won the country category of the International Songwriting Competition, with her song "Tailwind". Her second single, "Somebody Stole My Horse", became Australian radio's second most played country song in 2008. spawned
Ralph Ernest Newton, professionally Slim Newton, was an Australian country music singer-songwriter. In June 1972 he issued an extended play, The Redback on the Toilet Seat, which peaked at No. 3 on the Go-Set National Top 40 Singles Chart and sold over 100,000 copies. In 1973 Newton won a Golden Guitar Trophy at the inaugural Country Music Awards of Australia for Top Selling Record for the EP. Newton continued his career as a part-time musician and released several albums while also working in his trade as a welder. In 1977 the Country Music Association of Australia inducted him into the Australasian Country Music Hands of Fame, and then in 2009 into the Australian Roll of Renown.
"Duncan" is an Australian single recorded in 1980 by Slim Dusty which reached No. 1 on the Kent Music Report charts for two weeks in early 1981. The song was Dusty's second-most successful single after "A Pub with No Beer". It is also known as "Beer with Duncan", "Have a Beer with Duncan" and "I Love to Have a Beer with Duncan". It was written by Pat Alexander.
Keith Ross Jamieson was an Australian country music singer-songwriter.
Country Classics is a 3CD greatest hits album by Australian country recording artist Slim Dusty, released through Reader's Digest. The album was separated into three periods of Dusty's career; The Early Years, The Middle Years and The Later Years. In 1999, the album was certified gold.
Timothy Edmund McNamara was an Australian country music performer, radio presenter and talent scout.
Slim Dusty
Lights on the Hill Memorial, Gatton, Queensland
