Slim Dusty

Today's Google Doodle honours Slim Dusty, the original Slim before 'Slim Shady' who is considered the “father of Australian country music” - but who is Slim ...

"He was granted permission to keep his hat on, as acknowledgement of how much the hat was a part of Slim Dusty," the [Slim Dusty Centre](https://slimdustycentre.com.au/) said. His daughter said: “That was the dream of an 11-year-old kid to become Slim Dusty, a kid of immense raw talent and drive who met a kindred spirit in my mother. In Slim’s later years, he wrote on the front cover of a book of Henry Lawson poems he called his Bible of the Bush that was gifted to him by his wife, “All my dreams and ambitions are basically fulfilled”. He was also inducted to the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988 and has a coin pressed in his honour by the Royal Australian Mint. [Kidney cancer](https://www.scotsman.com/health/kidney-cancer-diagnosis-standards-falling-short-charity-warns-3559981) at the age of 76 on September 19, 2003. [Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-slim-dusty) commemorates the late but ever-great Australian country singer Slim Dusty.

G. oogle Doodle is honouring the late Australian country singer and songwriter Slim Dusty, 22 years after he won the Outstanding Achievement award at the ...

This led to him being awarded the first Gold Record in Australia. Almost a decade later of performing at venues, rodeos and local concerts, he wrote and recorded songs that became known as Bush Ballads. There were performances by country stars Troy Cassar-Daley and Kasey Chambers. This eventually led to him signing a recording contract with Columbia Graphophone Records. Dusty was an award-winning Australian singer and songwriter. At the time of his death, he was recording his 106th album

The prolific artist who recorded more than 100 albums, and whose trophy cabinet is equally impressive, is immortalized with a Google Doodle.

In pioneering terms, first he made country a musical form that was viable in Australia – it was Australian country music; and, second, he laid some of the foundations of building and sustaining a career for all who followed, by heading out and playing to people all over the country.” Dusty’s life and his annual Australia-wide tours were the backbone of the 1984 biopic The Slim Dusty Movie. He clocked up more miles than some airlines, touring his own Slim Dusty Show in which he and his wife [Joy McKean](https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/joy-mckean-ted-albert-award-2021-apras-9556796/) were supported by guest artists including Chad Morgan, Johnny Ashcroft and Gordon Parsons. At the time, it was considered the best-selling song recorded by an Australian, and Slim was awarded the first gold record presented in Australia. Dusty’s 1957 recording “A Pub with No Beer”, written by his friend, Gordon Parsons, was a top 10 hit in the U.K., peaking at No. By the age of 15, Dusty had made his first self-funded recording.

Here, Australian country legend Slim Dustyperforms a brilliant rendition of 'On The Road Again' alongside America's own Willie Nelson.

Written in a flash of creative energy, the song came while Nelson was dealing with a bout of airsickness during a flight with Jerry Schatzberg, the director of the Honeysuckle Rose movie, and its producer Sydney Pollack. By the 1980s, Slim had been adopted by American country fans. By 15, Slim was a seasoned performer and taking his first steps into recording. Around the age of ten, he heard an aborigine song called ‘The Drunkard’s Child’ and became fascinated by music and songwriting. His early days were spent on the family dairy farm, where he learned to love music through his father, a fiddle player. The best of it, many would argue, was written or performed by one Slim Dusty.