Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GerryM
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 09:07 PM

Here's a list a Henry Lawson poems set to music by Slim Dusty, taken from Chris Kempster's book, Songs of Henry Lawson:

Andy's Return
The Ballad of the Drover
Mount Bukaroo
Middleton's Rouseabout
A Word to Texas Jack
A Prouder Man than You
Sweeney
Peter Anderson and Co.
Since Then
The Men who Come Behind
The Old Jimmy Woodser
Second Class Wait Here
The Brass Well
Break o'Day
As Good as New
Do You Think that I Do Not Know?
Callaghan's Hotel
On the Night Train

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 09:06 AM

"I'd love to have a beer with duncan" is on the radio, probably something to do with the Slim Dusty Google doodle!

well I never - 24th Oct is Slim Dusty Day!

Slim Dusty was an Australian singer and songwriter who recorded over 100 albums and sold over seven million copies during a career spanning nearly seven decades. Today’s Doodle celebrates the Australian icon being awarded the Outstanding Achievement award at the ARIA music awards in 2000.

Born David Kirkpatrick in Kempsey, New South Wales, and raised on his family farm in nearby Nulla Nulla Creek, as a little boy he dreamed of being a country singer. At the age of 10, he wrote his very first song, “The Way the Cowboy Dies”, and at 11, decided his future name was to be “Slim Dusty”, much better suited to a singing cowboy.

At age 15, Slim made his first recording, paying for it himself. By sending his records to radio, and singing where he could get a hearing, he eventually signed a recording contract with Columbia Graphophone Records where he remained for the rest of his career.

He left the farm to follow music as a full-time career in 1949, performing at venues, rodeos, local concerts and eventually, in 1954, taking the big step of setting out with his small family and at times other fellow singers to tour the Australian countryside over roads good and bad. This took him to every State and Territory in Australia on what eventually became his famous Round Australia tours covering by car and caravans at least 30,000 road miles across 10 months of the year. He continued writing, collecting and recording the songs that became known as Bush Ballads, musical histories of the people and places in the Australian bush, little towns and the outback of Australia.

In 1957, he released his recording of “A Pub with No Beer”, written by his mate, Gordon Parsons. It became the best-selling song recorded by an Australian, and Slim was awarded the first Gold Record presented in Australia.

In 1983, astronauts in the spaceship Columbia beamed Slim’s voice singing “Waltzing Matilda” to earth as they passed over Australia. Slim was the first singer to have his voice sent to earth from space. He performed the same song as the closing act of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

Slim Dusty won multiple Gold and Platinum record awards and 38 Golden Guitars. Amongst numerous awards, including being voted A National Treasure by the Australian public, Slim was one of the first inductions into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. In tribute to Slim, The Royal Australian Mint issued a coin celebrating his life, and the Slim Dusty Centre and Museum in his hometown of Kempsey opened in 2015.

Special thanks to Slim Dusty’s family for their collaboration on this project.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 08:57 AM

thanks, sandman

Dan Sheahan - AusLit ... As a poet, Sheahan was widely known for his work, 'The Pub With No Beer', which was first published in January 1944. About 1958 Gordon Parsons came up with a differently worded song sung by Slim Dusty. Ultimately Sheahan was recognised as the original writer but he never received any royalties ...

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 08:04 AM

dan sheehan was from county cork

Subject: Lyr Add: A Pub without Beer (1944) Dan Sheehan
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 04:55 AM

How 'A pub without beer' (1944) became Slim's 'Pub with no beer'

Herbert River Poetry -

A Pub without Beer by Dan Sheehan 1944

It is lonely away from, your kindred and all
In the bushland at night when the warrigals call —
It is sad by the sea where the wild breakers boom
Or to look on a grave and contemplate doom.
But there’s nothing on earth half as lonely and drear
As to stand in the bar of a pub without beer.

Madam with her needles sits still by the door —
The boss smokes in silence — he is joking no more
There’s a faraway look on the face of the hum
While the barmaid glares down at the paint on her thumb.
The cook has gone cranky and the yardman is queer
Oh, a terrible place is a pub without beer.

Once it stood by the wayside all stately and proud —
’Twas a home to the loafers— a joy to the crowd —
Now all silent the roof-tree that oftentimes rang
When the navvies were paid and the cane-cutters sang.
Some are sleeping their last in the land far from here
And I feel all alone in a pub without beer.

They can hang to their coupons for sugar and tea
And the shortage of sandshoes does not worry me —
And though benzine and razors be both frozen stiff
What is wrong with the horse and the old-fashioned ziff.
’Mid the worries of war there’s but one thing I fear
’Tis to stand in the bar of a pub without beer.

Oh, you brew of brown barley, what charm is thine?
’Neath thy spell men grow happy and cease to repine.
The cowards become brave and the weak become strong
The dour and the grumpy burst forth into song.
If there’s aught to resemble high heaven down here
’Tis the palace of joy where they ladle out beer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOW "THE PUB WITH NO BEER” CAME TO BE WRITTEN Dan Sheahan

One day in the town at the time of the blitz —
So dry I was spitting out threepenny bits —
I went to the Pub and I called for a “pot”
But found that the yankees had gobbled the lot.

The boss was laid out on his favourite chair
And writ on his dial was a look of despair —
Madam and young “Flossie ” looked languid and faint
All gone was the glamour, the powder and paint.

The yard man had left with a rope and a knife
Reports had come in he had taken his life —
The cook and the slushie were out at the back
They both had gone down to a nervous attack.

Old Billy the hum he lay under a tree —
The poor fellow “had it” ’twas easy to see —
He was not improving ’twas just the reverse
We’d soon see him sailing away in the hearse.

The dog with a sorrowful look on his face
Kept moping and mooning all over the place —
He sat on his tail and he looked up at me
And started to wail like an Irish Banshee.

I raced to the water and turned the tap —
And drank as I swore at the Hun and the Jap —
Sez I to myself “better get out of here —
What good is a town when the Pub has no beer.”

A Pub without Beer, page 18 posted in 1963 to correct some erroneous statements regarding the origin of A PUB WITHOUT BEER ...

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 03:59 AM

Thread resurrected because Slim Dusty is the Google Doodle of the day :-)

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 29 Sep 13 - 04:48 AM

One of the important occupations for rural Irish Travellers was getting printed songs onto ballad sheets and selling them around the fairs and markets
This was among the last examples to be found in County Clare, in the West of Ireland - circa mid 1950s.
Jim Carroll

THE BAR WITH NO STOUT
Now we've heard quite a lot of the Pub with no Beer,
And some people claim it's the hit of the year,
But during the war I was rambling about.
And I called for a Pint in a Bar with no Stout.

The bar owner sat on a chair by the fire,
I'd swear if you touched him he'd scrape like a brier,
When I aaid "Fill a Pint" then his rag he got out,
Saying "Your order is tall in the Bar with no Stout".

A customer came in a donkey and car,
He tied up his ass and took in a big jar,
But the ass jumped and reared, from the door he pulled out,
It's no place for an ass near a Bar with no Stout

Ihe Garda on duty the first time in years,
Came back from his beat all shaken with fears,
The Sergeant said Pat, why you look knocked about,        
He stammered and told him the Bars got no Stout.

The Postman returned from his rounds on the street,
And when be had entered his time on the sheet,
The Postmaster seeing no froth round his mouth.
Guessed on the spot that the Bar had no Stout.

Now 'tis lonesome to part with the one you love dear,
Or to sit on a stool in a Pub with no Beer
But there's nothing more lonesome without any doubt,        
Than to call for a Pint in a Bar with no Stout.

Copyright by Cuthbertson, Printer. Listowel.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,SqueezeMe
Date: 29 Sep 13 - 03:47 AM

Shimbo Darktree commented "that many, perhaps even the majority, of his songs were written by Stan Coster"

Slim apparently recorded 79 of Stan Coster's songs. Not quite a majority of his recorded output of 1,100 or so tracks, but Stan was possibly the greatest individual provider of Slim's material, though Slim's wife, Joy McKean, was also a prolific contributor.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Aug 13 - 06:28 PM

One of the tourist 'attractions' here is the Big Golden Guitar (because it is big, and gold, and it's a guitar) but don't be put off - the building behind it houses, among other things, an excellent shop selling CDs and DVDs.

Big Golden Guitar shop

A few years ago I bought an excellent 3CD compilation there, "Great Vintage Australian Country Hits"......cost me all of $20 for the while set.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,SqueezeMe
Date: 21 Aug 13 - 10:26 AM

Jim....

"Old Gilbert" appears on Slim's 1977 album "Just Slim With Old Friends", re-issued as a CD in 2004.

Afaik, Slim's only recording of the song.

Around a dozen items, CDs, LPs, and even an 8 track cartridge(who remembers them???)currently listed on eBay Australia. so quite readily available.

MC

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,Denis McKay
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 10:07 AM

While Slim was undoubtedly a 'Country' performer, his roots were very firmly based in 'Folk'. He came from Nullah Creek, a centre of wonderful musicians (must have been something in the local water). This includes a number of great fiddlers including members of the Kyle and Fitzpatrick families. Traditional musicians here in Oz play a number of great dance tunes from Charlie Kyle and other members of the extended Kyle family.

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD GILBERT (Slim Dusty)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 09:43 AM

This song was mentioned in another thread. I was curious so I looked it up. I couldn't find a recording online by Slim Dusty, but Spotify had one by Stan Coster. I found the lyrics elsewhere and checked them against Coster's recording.


OLD GILBERT
Written by Slim Dusty
As sung by Stan Coster on "The Best of Stan Coster"

Gilbert was just eighteen years of age when he first took himself a wife,
But she proved to be unfaithful, so the swag and open road became his life.
He turned bitter against all women, only used them when he could,
    and he only had contempt for other men.
He worked and drank and wandered all alone except for one,
    a mangy old blue heeler, for a friend.

Years ago, old Gilbert found a puppy by the roadside left to die,
Hungry and frightened, nearly frozen 'neath the frosty southern sky.
Gilbert picked him up and raised him, and a bond of friendship grew,
    a friendship that was never known to bend.
Then one day, Gilbert woke to find his old track mate was gone,
    and he began a search that never was to end.

Gilbert used to work a while, and then he'd go to town on one big spree.
It was the only way he knew to ease the pain of hurtful memories.
So in a coastal town while Gilbert drank away his cares,
    his old dog was impounded there, and so,
When they couldn't find it's owner, the dog was put to sleep,
    and perhaps it's best if Gilbert never knows.

Gilbert roamed from town to town still searching for the friend he'd never find.
It was the final blow from fate that really turned the old man's twisted mind.
He was ridiculed in barrooms; he was laughed at in the streets,
    still searching for his friend across the land,
'Til someone found him dead one day 'neath a table in a park
    with a collar and a chain clutched in his hand.

Years ago, old Gilbert found a puppy by the roadside left to die,
Hungry and frightened, nearly frozen 'neath the frosty southern sky.
Gilbert picked him up and raised him and a bond of friendship grew,
    a friendship that was never known to bend.
Then one day Gilbert woke to find his old track mate was gone,
    and he began a search that only death could end.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Sep 12 - 12:59 AM

In the 60s and 70s at least, he was uncrowned king of the Northern Territory outback with his songs on every roadhouse jukebox. Country folk, stockmen and Aboriginal people loved his music. I recall a Gold Rush Folk Festival in Tennant Creek back in the 60s. The main concert was in the CWA Hall which had windows adjacent to the main street. An Aboriginal man shouted through a window 'Can you sing "Trumby"'. I always thought that the Aboriginal ringers' love of this song was ironic given that the song was essentially racist: 'His skin was black but his heart was white and that's what mattered most'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Shimbo Darktree
Date: 25 Sep 12 - 09:31 PM

One of Australia's greats (I'll leave the genre discussion for Hrothgar - he will enjoy that!). I have a DVD biography, released after his death, and have just finished looking for it ... gone! Taken by the Borrowers, no doubt!

But I digress. The comment I wish to make is that many, perhaps even the majority, of his songs were written by Stan Coster, who predeceased him. They were good friends, as I understand it, and Stan's songs gained a lot of popularity from Slim's performances.

Slim's major contribution (one of the questions at the start of this thread)was performing as himself, rather than as an imitation of others, thus preserving the Australian flavour (already mentioned by others earlier).

- Shimbo

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Allan C.
Date: 23 Sep 12 - 06:07 AM

I suppose we will never know the whole story, but it occurs to me that Slim might have fallen prey to the demands of the recording industry. Many other artists of the early part of his era were more or less forced to record what the industry thought would sell rather than the kind of music the artist originally preferred. I'm wondering here if Slim might have slipped into obscurity had he only sung bush songs and wonder whether the country music style was really his idea. Of course, whichever it may have been, it certainly paid off for him to get into country music.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 22 Sep 12 - 07:34 AM

Yes Slim was a national treasure to Australia. He'll probably be unfairly remembered for The Pub With No Beer. And it's a great song, but he was a great country singer and bush songs of course, fair I think to call it Australian Country/Folk as many of Slim's sounds were of the Oz countryside. Two I'd reccomend are When The Rain Tumbles Down In July, and Gum Trees by the roadside

Subject: Lyr Add: LIFE IS LIKE A RIVER (trad arr Slim Dusty
From: SqueezeMe
Date: 22 Sep 12 - 06:36 AM

Just brought to my attention is a song on Slim's Travelling Country Man album (1977). Called "Life Is Like a River", it is credited on the sleeve as "Trad, arr. Slim Dusty"

The words sound sort of familiar, but I can't find any trace of such a song in traditional sources, Australian or otherwise.

The only Google references I've found credit Slim Dusty as the writer.

Any one familiar with it?


Lyrics:

Now in this world I've gained my knowledge
And for it I've had to pay
Though I've never been to college
I have heard the poets say

That life is like a mighty river
Flowing on from day to day
Men are vessels launched upon it
Sometimes wrecked and cast away

So do your best for one another
Making life a pleasant dream
Help your weary worn out brother
Pulling hard against the stream

We never know what lies before us
So old ways be staunch and strong
Lift your hearts into this chorus
As we swiftly go along

There's many the right good hearted fellow
Many a noble-minded man
Finds himself in shallow water
Then boys help him if you can

So do your best for one another
Making life a pleasant dream
Help your weary worn out brother
Pulling hard against the stream

Yes, life is like a mighty river
Flowing on from day to day
Men are vessels launched upon it
Sometimes wrecked and cast away.


If I allow my brain to filter out the twangy guitar, I can almost imagine the likes of the Copper family singing this in harmony; or maybe I just have a vivid imagination :-)

MC

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,Birdman585
Date: 02 Aug 10 - 08:56 AM

Sorry the link to the Slim Dusty lyrics is mp3lyrics.org . hope you find it OK now.

Birdy

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 10:03 AM

Zozimus, send me your email address to [e-mail] and I will happily send you any of the songs you are looking for as I have them all with the exception of about 4 or 5. By the way, Pub With No Beer was written by Gordon Parsons. Give me a list of the Titles you want and will forward them to you.

Birdy

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: zozimus
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 11:01 AM

Hi Guest 2 letters up. I have searched under MP3.org and have not found a link to Slim Dusty. Is that the correct link? I am anxious to try and get copies of him singing the songs/poems of Dan Sheahan. I know he recorded "The Valley Mail", "Pay Day at the Pub," and "When you're Short of a Smoke", all written by Dan. Dan, as you probably know, wrote the original poem "The Pub with No Beer". The actual pub/bar was the Day Dawn Hotel in Lannercost Street in Ingham. When Dan called in in the Summer of 1943 all the beer was sold out, due to a bunch of thirsty American servicemen being billeted there in their thousands after some Pacific Ocean engagements.
If you have any of these songs as MP3s, you might PM me or post a link.
                               Many thanks

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: kendall
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 12:32 AM

The Man from Snowier River is popular among some country singers here.
Also, he wrote Old Gilbert, the saddest dog song ever.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 11:43 PM

I first heard Slim Dusty when I was still a young boy and fell in love with his songs after hearing 'Saddle Boy' which was the flipside of 'Pub With No Beer' on the 45 rpm record. Since then I have been collecting all his songs and now have them all as mp3's with the exception of 4 or 5 of them. Another of his songs that is most enjoyable is "Along the Road of Song" in which he introduces many of the characters he has sung about in other songs. I and another friend have also been busy transcribing the lyrics of these songs and they can now be found at mp3.org and we have around 500 already done. It is not without good reason that Slim Dusty was jknown as the 'King od Australian Country Music'.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,warren fahey
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 02:35 AM

Slim was a complex individual. Born in the bush (on a dairy farm) he was no doubt inspired by early hillbilly singers who were, in turn, inspired by folk music. He recorded several bush songs but preferred 'country and western' styles and themes. Tex Morton, often referred to as the 'father' of Australian country music had an extensive repertoire of folk music and recorded many folk songs. Slim's role in the development of Australian folk music is an important one because he was never seduced (like so many) to roll with the American style of country. He also had the added advantage of touring when they were 'tent' shows. Not many Americans could claim that! By the way, Slim was one of the first to record Eric Bogle songs and wasn't much for 'labels' - he just knew good songs.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Hrothgar
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 12:17 AM

Always regarded as country, and sold himself as country, but I rate him as one of the greatest Australian folk singers. Don't know how he would rate as a folk song writer, because the issue is confused by the number of songs he sang that were written by other people.

What I always liked and admired about him was that, in a genre infested with more or less fake American accents, he retained his Australian-ness.

As far as I know he never attended a folk festival, National or other.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 09:13 PM

I saw his funeral as my office was behind the Cathedral - the Cathedral was full of invited guests, the square full of fans & the service was shown on large screens.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: GUEST,Robert Vaughan
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 06:31 PM

Slim was an absolute Australian country ledgend,,,from his old 78 reagal zonophone label hit ,,, THe pub with no beer,,,when the rain tumbles down in july,,,, to his massive hits in the 60,s such as trumby,,The return of the stockman,,,,middleton,s rouseabout,,,How will i go with him mate,,,,His big hit in the 70,s ,,,Lights on the hill,,(written by wife joy)His album ,,,Tall stories and sad tails,,,is a ripper,,,,,but over all the stories he told about australia,,,,the stockman the swaggy,,,the aboriginal peole,,,,the hardships,,,the battler,,,,,there was a genuine story in every song,,,,with a genuine country feel to all of his music,,,,I had the pleasure of meeting slim on 5 occassions and he always made you feel welcome,,,,it was a very sad day when he passed away,,,,I have had the pleasure of recording a lot of his music with my mate brad on accordion on youtube recently via ( bertosvids) which has been great to do,,,,,slim produced 108 albums which says it all,,,he will never be forgotten,,,a TRUE LEDGEND,,cheers rob

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 07:26 AM

Interesting that he has been far more successful in England than any English folkie, at least when measured by popular awareness. I was in a pub last year when the bitter ran out, and a rendition of "A pub with no beer" soon had the rafters ringing(or would have had there been any rafters).

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 06:20 AM

Slim Dusty has the rare distinction of being in the Top Ten list in Uk twice with a twenty year gap ! 'Pub With No Beer' first . and then 'I like to Have a Beer With Duncan' ! Not bad for an Aussie Country singer with good folk credentials

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 10:10 PM

I've only been going to folk festivals for the past 13 years, so don't know if Slim has attended them, but he's not represented on the double CD "The National - 35 years of the Australian National Folk Festival"

I've always known of him as a Country singer, and as modern Country music has a different sound/beat to the music I like, I don't follow it, tho I certainly know some of his songs as they made the Top 40 lists. He set a number of Henry Lawson's poems to music & they are included in Chris Kempster's Songs of Henry Lawson and sung by folk singers. So he is certainly influential in the folk scene.

The Slim Dusty Story starts back in the 1940s on a remote dairy farm in the hills behind Kempsey, NSW, when a 10-year-old boy dreamed of being a country music singer. His name was David Gordon Kirkpatrick ... he called himself "Slim Dusty" and began to live that dream.

But even the most optimistic farm boy would never have imagined the life that was to unfold... a life that would establish Slim as the voice of the nation, the chronicler of Australian history in song.

As the world enters a new millennium, Slim is as strong as ever, still building, and living, the dream.

Slim has managed to hold on to those early visions of writing and singing about the bush because during his lengthy career, he has kept in touch with his audience. And he has done this in a very real and meaningful way, so much so that his fans would feel that Slim is one of their mates and his songs "just a good yarn you might hear from a mate at the pub, around a camp fire in the bush or at a back yard barbie".

He describes his music as "songs about real Australians. I have to be fair dinkum with my audience. I can't see any other way of doing it," he says. "You have to believe in what you are singing about."

To quote a London Country Music People magazine review: "Three things are certain in this life. Death, Taxes... and Slim Dusty. This man has been making music and epitomising the spirit of Australia for 50 years. Although he had a massive worldwide hit with A Pub With No Beer in the late '50s, few outside his home country are aware of the continuing popularity and reverence in which Dusty is held Down Under, not only by the public but by his fellow musicians and artists, including those who hang their hat under the New Country sign."

Slim Dusty was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record (still the only 78 rpm gold record in existence in this country), the first Australian to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space (in 1983, astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played Slim singing Waltzing Matilda from the space shuttle "Columbia" as it passed over Australia).

His amazing career spans six decades, has him holding 35 Golden Guitars (an achievement as yet, and unlikely to be, unequalled), more Gold and Platinum Record Awards than any other Australian artist, ARIA Awards (Australian Recording Industry Awards) including induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, video sales Platinum and Gold Awards, an MBE and Order of Australia for his services to entertainment, and he was one of the earliest inducted to the Country Music Roll of Renown.

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 09:32 PM

This is my favourite and one that I often sing:

Pub With No Beer

Subject: RE: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Tangledwood
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 08:11 PM

Boundaries between music genres are blurred but I think Slim Dusty is more usually identified with country music rather than folk music.

Subject: Slim Dusty and Australian Folk Music
From: Big Ballad Singer
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 07:43 PM

I have read and heard that Slim Dusty is (was; I know he has gone walkabout) "THE MAN" of Australian folk music, and while I do not know much of his music, I would have to agree that he is very much a celebrated figure in Oz, if the 'Net is any indicator.

Who has favorite songs or albums of his?

What has his greatest contribution to the musical and folk culture of Australia been?

Looking forward to learning more about this interesting and colorful character.

Regards,

BBS