BIOGRAPHY

Singer songwriter Anne Kirkpatrick seemed destined to be a performer, being the daughter of country music legends Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.

During a career that started at the age of ten in her parents' travelling country show, Anne Kirkpatrick has been described as "a true revolutionary" and "the godmother of Australian new country".

Her 1991 release Out Of The Blue was heralded as a watershed album in Australian country music and her latest album Showman's Daughter was declared by Bruce Elder of the Sydney Morning Herald to be "a remarkable achievement that keeps Australian country music in the hands of the nation's first family"

There's been myriad accolades along her way six Golden Guitars, a couple of Mo Awards and, honoring Out Of The Blue as Best Country album, a coveted ARIA Award (in a year when she edged out the top male stars of the day Keith Urban, James Blundell, Graeme Connors and John Williamson). Early this year she became the 39th artist (since the great Tex Morton in1976) to have been listed on the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown.

With this new Annethology release, one is held in thrall by the artistry of a woman with an innate understanding of the essential qualities which can render truly great country music emotionally overwhelming.

Latest Album Annethology an album 36 years in the making!

Almost forty years after cutting a first, tentative solo single, three dozen years after crafting an acclaimed debut album, Anne Kirkpatrick, has painstakingly drawn together, as Annethology, the essence of her impressive and admirable body of work - a long-awaited Best Of ranging across a wide musical terrain. Selected from her 13 album releases from 1974 through to 2010 Annethology will be released on the family label Nulla Records on August 28.

A recording artist since the age of 12 Anne, daughter of revered Australian country music pioneers Slim Dusty and Joy McKean, staked her claim early as a woman of distinctive voice. Her albums, beginning with 1974's earthy Down Home and proceeding through to what music historian Glenn A. Baker described as the creatively courageous Showman's Daughter album (of recent times) have demonstrated a gradual, comfortable evolution and her own light on the hill to aspiring female country performers.

The natural tones and the empathy for the material, both old and new, which consistently astounded reviewers and observers, was forged in a crucible of fairgrounds, showgrounds, town halls and rodeos over decades of touring as a part of the Dusty Family Show. As far as growing up and learning the ropes Anne recalls "The Slim Dusty Show was a great show in the grand old tradition. Dad's was a music show, but there was also always variety, like a juggler, a whipcracker, a comedian or a strong man (a real one named Samson from Greece!). I graduated to my own spot in the show in my early teens after starting with a song or 2 in my Dad's bracket. Dad and I recorded a series of father daughter duets round this time as well. Because of the family's nomadic lifestyle, David and I later went to boarding school, flying back to join the show every holidays".

Emerging from within the First Family of Australian country music to claim her own identity and her own following, Anne paved the way for a broader grasp of the varied components that make up the gestalt that is contemporary country music. "My root influences are people like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings and Dad of course!" she has revealed. "I'd rifle through Mum and Dad's collection at home and listen to all this great stuff like the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. I really loved Wanda Jackson, and the Beatles too."

She also soaked up like the proverbial sponge the then-radical country-rock sounds while a university student and campus folk/blues club member in Sydney in the early 70's, with enthusiasms for people like Maria Muldaur, the Dillards, Linda Ronstadt, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Byrds and the Eagles. In time, songs from Gene Clark, John Sebastian, Gram Parsons, Paul Siebel, Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Neil Young would find their way onto her albums alongside hauntingly pure bush laments from the pen of her mother Joy McKean, one of the nations finest tunesmiths.

Anne's deep affection for that on which she was raised was obvious in her fine renditions but, at the same time, rock (country or otherwise) didn't intimidate her like it did so many others in the close, tradition-bound community. She recorded Daddy Cool's Come Back Again as a 1987 album title track, as well as songs by Russell Morris, Paul Kelly, Bob Dylan, Don Walker, Kim Carnes, and 80's British new waver Mickey Jupp.

On Annethology the two worlds meet seamlessly, sometimes with the assistance of comrades who appreciate the same textures and share the same passions notably her family, Troy Cassar-Daley and also Bill Chambers (who contributes as a writer and duet partner on 2 new recordings included in the package).

The initial release of Annethology is specially packaged with a limited edition bonus disc containing the complete, multi- award winning, long-out-of-print and long-demanded 1991 Out Of The Blue album. I had just signed with a new record label and had something to prove is Anne's reflection on that watershed album a couple of decades on. It was important to me that I found my own musical voice.

There's been myriad accolades along her way six Golden Guitars, a couple of Mo Awards and, honoring Out Of The Blue as Best Country album, a coveted ARIA Award (in a year when she edged out the top male stars of the day Keith Urban, James Blundell, Graeme Connors and John Williamson). Early this year she became the 39th artist (since the great Tex Morton in 1976) to have been listed on the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown.

With this new Annethology release, one is held in thrall by the artistry of a woman with an innate understanding of the essential qualities which can render truly great country music emotionally overwhelming.

Now Available the ANNETHOLOGY 2 CD bonus pack

For a limited time only the bonus pack includes Anne's classic album "Out Of The Blue"

Her first solo album

Anne released her first solo album, Down Home, in 1974 , while at university in Sydney. The album blended her traditional country upbringing with newly discovered musical horizons from country rock acts such as The Flying Burrito Bros, Linda Ronstadt and Gram Parsons as well as bluegrass.

After university, Anne hit the road with the family show for the next couple of years, releasing another solo album, Let The Songs Keep Flowing Strong And Naturally in 1976. Then, in the late 70's Anne and a few like-minded musicians from her fathers’ backing band formed the Anne Kirkpatrick Band. Playing the inner city pub circuit in Sydney, they gained a strong mainstream audience and consolidated a loyal country audience. Shoot The Moon, the album she recorded with that line-up, won her Best Female Vocal at the 1979 Tamworth Country Music Awards with the track "Grievous Angel".

Other solo albums followed - the 1980's greatest hits collection Annie’s Songs and Merry Go Round Of Life (1982). Anne took a short break to raise a family and reappeared in 1988 with a new album, Come Back Again. Produced by Mark Moffatt, Come Back Again saw Anne nominated for Best Country Album at the 1988 ARIA Awards and also for Most Popular Female artist, alongside performers Jenny Morris and Kylie Minogue.

Two Singers - One Song

In the following years Anne played both with her own bands and the Slim Dusty Show. She released a duet album with her father in 1989, Two Singers - One Song, which took out Highest Selling Album at the Australasian Country Music Awards in Tamworth in 1990, and was also an ARIA finalist for Best Country Album.

Out Of The Blue

In the same year Anne recorded a number of tracks for ABC Records 0-9 series of children's albums, which subsequently led to a signing with the newly formed ABC country label. Her first album for ABC Country was released in 1991. With Out of The Blue Anne melded the traditional country influences of her formative years with the contemporary feel she had grown to love. The result was an exquisitely crafted, passionately presented album that went on to win all the major awards for 1991, including ARIA Best Country Album, two Golden Guitar Awards in Tamworth for Best Album and Best Female Vocal and a Mo Award.

Game of Love

Anne followed up in 1993 with the album Game of Love, the title track winning Apra Country Song of The Year for writers Heather Fields and James Gillard.

Game Of Love received similar praise right round the country and won Anne another Mo award, at which stage Anne decided to take a bit of a back seat for the following year, returning with Anne Kirkpatrick and Friends Live recorded early in 1995 at the annual Country Music Festival held in Tamworth. It was an album celebrating 21 years of solo recording for Anne. It included duets with friends from the industry such as Lee Kernaghan, Troy Cassar-Daly and Jane Saunders and was also a wonderful celebration of Anne's unique musical heritage with tracks recorded with Slim and Joy and also her brother David.

Cry Like A Man was released in 1997, the same year that saw Anne tour England and Ireland as support artist for her father Slim Dusty.

Travelling Still... Always Will

Travelling Still...Always Will, was released in 2001 and features the title track that Anne wrote as a tribute to Slim and Joy and their remarkable pioneering life together.

It is a very special album for Anne as it was a collaborative effort with her father Slim Dusty, featuring a number of duets as well as solo tracks from both Anne and Slim. It was to be their last recording together as her beloved dad passed away in September 2003.

As a way of coping Anne began writing and working on other projects, one of which was recording a duet with Tracy Coster, daughter of the late Stan Coster. It was a nostalgic session for them both - recording "Back To The Saltbush Plains" which was the first song of Stan's that Slim recorded, back in the 60s. They were good mates and Slim went on to record many more of Stan's songs. Tracy and Anne won Vocal Collaboration of The Year at the 2005 CMAA Awards in Tamworth.

Showman's Daughter

From her writing came Showman's Daughter. Released in 2006, it's an album of raw authentic performances and insightful and at times deeply personal stories.

The writing credits read like a branch of the Dusty family tree with contributions from Anne, her mother Joy McKean, her late father Slim Dusty and her son James Arneman. Also featured are songs from writers who have enjoyed long associations with the family, such as Cold Chisel’s Don Walker.

"The most important Australian country album since Kasey Chamber’s The Captain" wrote the SMH's Bruce Elder.

Anne won her 6th Golden Guitar Award at Tamworth for Bush Ballad of the Year in 2007 with the Joy McKean-penned track "Peppermint Cradle" from the album.

Kirkpatrick's latest recording project,released April 2008, is the Slim Dusty Family Reunion album, featuring 3 generations of the Dusty clan. Anne toured extensively in 2008 as part of the Family Reunion Tour.