Editing Slim Dusty (section)

==Family and career==
===Childhood and early career===
David Gordon Kirkpatrick was born on 13 June 1927 in Nulla Nulla Creek west of [[Kempsey, New South Wales]], the son of a cattle farmer. His childhood home, "[[Homewood, Bellbrook|Homewood]]", survives and is now heritage-listed. He was known by his middle name, Gordon. He wrote his first song, "The Way the Cowboy Dies", in 1937 and adopted the stage name "Slim Dusty" in 1938 at age 11.<ref>"Senior Australian of the Year", 1999 award by the Australian government. Retrieved 10 March 2008.</ref> His earliest musical influences included American [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], New Zealander [[Tex Morton]], and Australia's [[Buddy Williams (country musician)|Buddy Williams]]. In 1945, Dusty wrote "[[When the Rain Tumbles Down in July]]" and released his first record that year at age 18. In 1946, he signed his first recording contract with Columbia Graphophone for the Regal Zonophone label.<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/21/1063625259334.html "Slim Dusty: The boy who lived his dream"], ''The Age'' (Australia), 21 September 2003</ref>

===Influential wife, and children===
[[File:Cunnamulla Fella.JPG|thumb|Statue of the "[[Cunnamulla Fella]]" erected as a tribute to songwriter [[Stan Coster]] and Slim Dusty]]
In 1951, Dusty married singer-songwriter [[Joy McKean]] and, with her help, achieved great success around Australia. In 1954, the two launched a full-time business career, including the Slim Dusty Travelling Show. McKean was Dusty's wife and manager for over 50 years. 

McKean's sister Heather, half of the McKean Sisters music duo that preceded Joy's association with Dusty, was married to Australian country singer [[Reg Lindsay]], before separating and later divorcing in the 1980s, whereupon the McKean sisters re-started their music duo.

Together Dusty and Joy McKean had two children, [[Anne Kirkpatrick]] and David Kirkpatrick, who are also accomplished singer-songwriters.<ref name="slimdusty.com.au">{{cite web |url=http://www.slimdusty.com.au/news.html#joytributeconcert |title=News |publisher=Slim Dusty |access-date=10 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430142753/http://www.slimdusty.com.au/news.html#joytributeconcert |archive-date=30 April 2012}}</ref>

===Dusty hits written by Joy McKean===
McKean wrote several of Dusty's most popular songs, including "[[Lights On The Hill]]", "Walk a Country Mile", "Indian Pacific", "Kelly's Offsider", "The Angel of Goulburn Hill" and "[[The Biggest Disappointment]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://store.countrymusic.com.au/store/item.inetstore?id=343 |title=The Country Music Store – Slim Dusty Sings Joy McKean |publisher=Store.countrymusic.com.au |access-date=10 April 2012 |archive-date=30 August 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020830034755/http://store.countrymusic.com.au/store/item.inetstore?id=343 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Other songwriters' contributions===
Although himself an accomplished writer of songs, Dusty had a number of other songwriters, including Mack Cormack, [[Gordon Parsons (singer-songwriter)|Gordon Parsons]], [[Stan Coster]], and Kelly Dixon, who were typically short on formal education but big on personal experience of the [[Australian bush]]. Drawing on his travels and such writers over a span of decades, Dusty chronicled the story of a rapidly changing postwar Australian nation.

===First megahit===
Dusty's 1957 hit "[[A Pub with No Beer]]" was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, the first Australian single to go gold and the first and only 78 rpm record to be awarded a gold disc.<ref name="Guardian-obit">Dave Laing, [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/sep/20/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries "Slim Dusty: Country singer famous for A Pub With No Beer"], ''The Guardian (UK)'', 20 September 2003</ref> (The "Pub with No Beer" is a real place, in [[Taylors Arm, New South Wales|Taylors Arm]], not far from Kempsey, where Slim was born.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mynrma.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/mynrma/hs.xsl/north_coast_pub.htm|title=North Coast: The Pub With No Beer|publisher=[[NRMA]]|access-date=13 June 2008}}</ref> In 1959 and 1960, Dutch and German cover versions of the song became number one hits (even evergreens) in Belgium, Austria and Germany, brought by the Flemish country singer-guitarist and amusement park founder [[Bobbejaan Schoepen]].
In 1964 the annual Slim Dusty Australia-round tour, a {{Convert|48280|km|mi|0}} journey that went on for ten months, was started. This regular event was the subject of a feature film, ''[[The Slim Dusty Movie]]'', in 1984.

===Contributions of other songwriters===
Dusty recorded not only songs written by himself and other fellow Australian performers but also classic Australian poems by [[Henry Lawson]] and [[Banjo Paterson]], with new tunes to call attention to the old "bush ballads". An example is "[[The Man from Snowy River (poem)|The Man from Snowy River]]" by Paterson. The 1980 album and songs ''The Man Who Steadies the Lead'' and ''The Pearl of Them All'' were the works of Paterson's rival for the title of Australia's bush balladeer, Scottish-Australian poet [[William Henry Ogilvie|Will H. Ogilvie]] (1869–1963). In 1970, Dusty was made a member of the [[Order of the British Empire]] for services to music.<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1084733 It's an Honour] – Member of the Order of the British Empire</ref> In 1989 Slim recorded 'Murray Moon' by fellow Aussie [[Reginald Stoneham|Reg Stoneham]] with vocals by his daughter Anne Kirkpatrick.