The period between 1980 and 1985 proved to be a particularly productive period in Slim Dusty’s career. Just within these few years, while continuing his extensive touring of Australia, Slim astonishingly still managed to record 14 albums, star in a major feature film on his life and then squeeze in the formation of a recording company.
It was in 1981 that Slim and Joy McKean decided to create this new Australian country music label which they named Nulla Records. Their new label was intended to provide a recording opportunity to some talented Aussie bush ballad singer/songwriters and musicians… the likes of Stan Coster, Buck (Kedron) Taylor, Slim and Joy’s daughter Anne Kirkpatrick, as well as Slim’s Travelling Country Band.
The talented TCB line-up (Mike "Fettler" Kerin / Lawrie Minson / Mick Reid / Alan Hockley) would also end up providing much of the musical backing for the other Nulla recording artists. A few years later, Nulla also released two albums by the legendary McKean Sisters (Joy and Heather).
In 2006, over a decade after the last release and three years after Slim’s passing, Joy decided it was time to reactivate the historic label. This time it was with the express purpose of supporting two new and exciting album projects. The first was Showman’s Daughter by Anne Kirkpatrick (2006). Releases since then have included the Amos Morris album Sign Of The Times, Lou Bradley's La La La Not Listening and the latest, Anne Kirkpatrick's "Best Of" album Annethology.
Current releases on the label...
Anne Kirkpatrick - Annethology
Almost 40 years since cutting her first, tentative "solo" single, and three dozen years after crafting her acclaimed debut album, comes the Annethology album… Anne Kirkpatrick's long-awaited "Best Of"album.
This definitive new collection features two brand new recordings (including Here We Are, the duet with Bill Chambers) together with 21 of Anne's classic tracks, selected from her 13 album releases from 1974 through to 2010.
The Annethology album will be released August 28 on CD and Digital Download on the family label Nulla Records (via EMI Music).
* For a limited time only the Annethology CD will be available in a special 2 CD Bonus Pack which includes (at no extra charge) Anne's multi-award winning Out Of The Blue album.
Track listing...
| 1. Grievous Angel |
13. You Can believe In Me |
| 2. Here We Are |
14. Many Mothers |
| 3. Born for the Night life |
15. Old Sunlander Van |
| 4. Honky Tonk Girl |
16. Bury me Beneath the Willow |
| 5. Travellin Still..Always Will |
17. Eastbound Train |
| 6. Out Of The Blue |
18. All He Did Was Tell Me Lies |
| 7. Bottle of Wine and Patsy Cline |
19. Still coming Down From You |
| 8. Feel a Whole Lot Better |
20. Safe in the Arms of Love |
| 9. Ain’t Goin Nowhere |
21. Peppimenarti Cradle |
| 10. Sin City |
22. Showman’s Daughter |
| 11. Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes |
23. Last Drive |
| 12. Come Back Again |
|
Lou Bradley - La La La Not Listening
Lou Bradley, the self-proclaimed hippy from Mullumbimby on November 6 (2009) released La La La Not Listening, the follow up album to her ARIA and CMAA nominated debut Love Someone.
In this memorable collection of original songs, Bradley evokes the high lonesome spirit of the hills of Kentucky made famous by The Carter Family nearly a century ago as accurately as she identifies and explores the joys and difficulties of modern life in Australia.
Her first release on Slim Dusty and Joy McKean's Nulla label, La La La Not Listening, was recorded earlier this year at The Sound Hole, the home studio of Shane Nicholson and Kasey Chambers. The Nicholson-produced album contains 13 tracks including outstanding lead single Uluru, a song inspired by Lou’Äôs visit to the famous landmark as part of her magical mystery tour of Central Australia (with 24 family and friends!) made possible in part by a grant from the John Butler Seed.
There's also One Way In One Way Out... a co-composition between Bradley and Bill Chambers. The gently driving Now or Never was inspired by a chance meeting with American roots superstar Jack Johnson and the elegant Bad Manners shows the utter beauty of Bradley's voice. All emphasise the continuing growth of an important voice on the musical landscape.
Bradley is a fearless writer who delivers her material in pure, sweet tones. She creates songs of the land and of the heart that are an intoxicating mix including a little folk, a little country and a little rock that she happens to call "Bohemian country".
With a crack team of musicians, including Bill Chambers, Mick Albeck and Mark Collins in support, Bradley and Nicholson have created a sparse sound that allows her unforgettable stories to unfold slow and easy and always truthfully.
The new single - Uluru - is at radio now!
Anne Kirkpatrick - Showman's Daughter
Now available on Nulla Records through Compass Brothers at all music retail stores
Anne Kirkpatrick, daughter of Slim Dusty and Joy McKean, hasn't made a record since 1997. She is too significant, too innovative and too gifted to be allowed such a long sabbatical. Still, we shouldn't complain. This is, quite simply, the most important Australian country album since Kasey Chambers's The Captain.
Kirkpatrick, with a fine understanding of the most interesting experiments on the outer edges of American country, has created an album that, while distinctively Australian, draws on the hardcore trad of contemporary talents such as Iris DeMent and Gillian Welch.
There is a gorgeous, timeless, sepia toning to the album. It is both ancient and modern; both Dusty and Troy Cassar-Daley, Chambers and Joy McKean. The title track's bluegrass gothic feel is worthy of Welch. Kirkpatrick's version of Don Walker's Silos of Home is hauntingly beautiful and her interpretation of Dusty's When the Rain Tumbles Down in July is revolutionary.
Review by Bruce Elder… Sydney Morning Herald
Amos Morris - Sign Of The Times
Now available on Nulla Records through EMI Music Australia at all music retail stores.
"Although Amos is no longer a Nulla Records artist, we have his Sign Of The Times CD available through our label," said Joy McKean.
"Amos has just released his new album independently and we wish him the greatest success with it and in his future."
© Copyright, Slim Dusty Enterprises
