Slim Dusty, AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon, referred to universally as Australia's King of Country Music 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.
At the Golden Guitar awards in Tamworth
Statue of the "Cunnamulla Fella" erected as a tribute to songwriter Stan Coster and Slim Dusty
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.
Slim Dusty, who was the best-selling domestic country artist
Early country star Johnny Ashcroft
A 1905 collection of old bush songs compiled by Banjo Paterson. Australian country music is heavily influenced by American country music, but grew also out of an Australian tradition of Bush ballads and poetry.
Country singer Reg Lindsay and Joan Clarke on the Hour of Song radio program, 2UW Radio Theatre, Sydney in 1954