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) and the second, a new album titled Sign Of The Times by Amos Morris, an exciting 19 year old bush balladeer from Slim’s hometown of Kempsey.
Current releases on the label...
Amos Morris - Sign Of The Times
Now available on Nulla Records through EMI Music Australia at all music retail stores
Amos Morris spearheads the new generation of Australian bush balladeers, giving the ballad a fresh new sound while retaining its integrity, essence and strong roots in the Australian psyche. Susan Jarvis Capital News
The first time I worked live with Amos Morris I could see something unusual was happening. He had the audience spellbound. No tricks, just a deep rapport. He was talking their language, and they were music to his ears. He seemed to grow taller. I've only ever seen that sort of connection once before, and it led to an unparalleled career. Rod Coe (Slim Dusty's Music Producer and T.C.B member/band leader for over 20 years)
Amos Morris has shown with the release of this album that the future of traditional Australian Country music is in safe hands. Amos has given us a record that has traditional values but is still fresh and new. Must be the best Bush Ballad album of the year. John Nutting (ABC Radio's Saturday Night Country)
Amos Morris....is one of Australia's fastest rising stars and Sign of the Times is an excellent album... a giant step toward a bright future! Peter Coad (Australian Bush Balladeers Association)
His new album Sign of the Times would be enjoyed by traditional county audiences and is highly recommended to a younger generation. This is a must for anybody who currently has a Slim Dusty, Lee Kernaghan, Adam Brand or even the Dixie Chicks EP in their collection. Jason Dougherty... Sunshine Coast Daily
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
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