OLD TIME COUNTRY HALLS

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I have a tremendous respect for the late Slim Dusty, who made a point of bringing music to the folk of the outback, even if it meant singing in tents and from the backs of trucks.

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From Wikipedia:

Slim (1927 – 2003) 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.

Slim Dusty:

- released more than a hundred albums, selling more than seven million records and earning over 70 gold and platinum album certifications

- was the first Australian to have a No. 1 international hit song, with a version of Gordon Parsons' "A Pub with No Beer"

- received 38 Golden Guitar and an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) award

- was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and Australian Roll of Renown

- at the time of his death, at the age of 76, had been working on his 106th album for EMI Records

- during his lifetime, was considered an Australian National Treasure

- performed "Waltzing Matilda" at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

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The following link is to a clip of Slim Dusty singing about the disappearing old time country halls, - take the time to have a look and listen, the images are poignant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLEQWFZ_Lc

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Lyrics:

As I pick up my guitar to sing another song

I hear the walls of this old hall - you've done this thing too long

You know you've been around for years, I guess you've shown us all

I talk like this when I reminisce with an old time country hall

I joined a tent show as a kid with a dream and an old guitar

The Silvers All-Star Cavalcade and Dandy was the star

He taught me lots about the game, today I understand

He was a great magician, Dandy was a fine old man

I'm a howlin' cattle-hand crooner

I'm an old time dinosaur

Hey, let me sing where the rafters ring

In an old time country hall, that's right

I've been on the road for thirty years but Dandy could double that

And you'll find his faded poster still in some hall way out back

I like to go back stage and dream sometimes and just recall

The shows I've had, the good and bad, shared with these country halls

Take the old Town Hall Kalgoorlie with it's old time charm and grace

And your mounting million complexes never will replace

All glass and steal and concrete, some large and some too small

So let me sing where the rafters ring in an old time country hall, hey

We showed last night in the school of arts and the town was real run-down

You'll find so many towns like that today as you move around

Yeah, the wind of change is blowin' up such an economic low

The old time shows we used to know will soon be off the road

I'm a howlin' cattle-hand crooner

I'm an old time dinosaur

Hey, let me sing where the rafters ring

In an old time country hall

In an old time country hall

In an old time country hall

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Some YouTube reader comments at the above video:

This song could never get old

I'm glad I grew up listening to slim dusty thank you Dad for making me listening this legend

Legend! Respect for this music art of yours! RIP mate.

God bless you slim, soundtrack of my childhood and every road trip of my life. Hope your resting in peace old timer

Another era? Some songs never age. Dinosaur

What a song