SMOKY DAWSON – A LIFE is the updated story of the great showman who died in 2008 at the age of ninety-four. It is published in memory of a true-blue Aussie icon and his amazing wife Dot, his cherished partner in life and love.
Smoky was the most amazing, adventurous and versatile star in Australia’s history. As Jimmy Barnes, his one-time duet partner, says on the cover: “Smoky Dawson never stopped entertaining us until the day he died.”
Smoky was a trailblazing singer, songwriter, recording artist, poet, radio and TV celebrity and actor. An Outback rodeo and tent-show performer, horseman, stuntman, knife-thrower, axe-hurler and whipcracker. A raconteur, a rancher, and a revered mentor. A supreme showman and a 20th century superstar who created the magic persona of Australia’s very own singing cowboy.
Smoky was the most amazing, adventurous and versatile star in Australia’s history. As Jimmy Barnes, his one-time duet partner, says on the cover: “Smoky Dawson never stopped entertaining us until the day he died.”
Smoky was a trailblazing singer, songwriter, recording artist, poet, radio and TV celebrity and actor. An Outback rodeo and tent-show performer, horseman, stuntman, knife-thrower, axe-hurler and whipcracker. A raconteur, a rancher, and a revered mentor. A supreme showman and a 20th century superstar who created the magic persona of Australia’s very own singing cowboy.
This edition of SMOKY DAWSON – A LIFE adds a deeply researched biographical chapter to the reproduction of his own autobiography released in 1985, modernising Smoky’s legendary status and cultural imprint, up to the present day. It is replete with new facts and anecdotes, insights and tributes, plus a treasure trove of more than 200 historical and contemporary photographs, images, and illustrations by his great mate Pro Hart.
The author of the new chapter, The Final Round-Up, is Glenn T., a versatile writer, accomplished character actor, award-winning production designer and playwright who penned An Audience with Smoky & Herb, the one-man play that explored the inspiring story of his childhood hero. Glenn was a constant companion and confidant to Smoky and Dot in their later years, and no one else could match the revealing microscope he has applied to the lives of this extraordinary couple. Click here to read an excerpt from Glenn's introduction.
The author of the new chapter, The Final Round-Up, is Glenn T., a versatile writer, accomplished character actor, award-winning production designer and playwright who penned An Audience with Smoky & Herb, the one-man play that explored the inspiring story of his childhood hero. Glenn was a constant companion and confidant to Smoky and Dot in their later years, and no one else could match the revealing microscope he has applied to the lives of this extraordinary couple. Click here to read an excerpt from Glenn's introduction.
Tributes to a Legend
JIMMY BARNES KEITH URBAN |
Keith Urban and Smoky Dawson 1991 Tamworth Festival time
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IAN ‘MACCA’ McNAMARA
Host of Australia All Over on ABC Radio
Smoky Dawson was a gentle man. Nothing brash or aggressive about him, and one was always comfortable in his presence. You often find that in people who were brought up in another era, and as you read his life story you’ll understand the circumstances that made Smoky the man he was.
I was always bumping into him. One hot day in the city, who should I meet, walking up the hill towards Kings Cross, but Smoky and Dot, both of them at the time well into their eighties. ‘Where are you two off to? I enquired. ‘Well,’ said Smoky, ‘we’ve just been to a function to launch a new meat pie, and I’ve written a song for it.’ He then proceeded to sing me the song in the middle of the street. ‘Oh come on,’ said Dotty, in her usual insistent way, to keep Smoky moving – otherwise he’d stop and talk for an hour. They of course were on the way to another appointment. A delightful, unforgettable couple, a team who complemented each other.
Above all else, Smoky made you smile, made you feel better about yourself and life. A rare gift and a friend to all who knew him.
MAX ELLIS
Co-founder of the Tamworth Country Music Festival who coined the term ‘Country Music Capital’
Countless people, including many young artists, can attest to Smoky and Dot’s kindness, while their circle of genuine and loving friends encompassed people from the most exalted in the land to the most humble. Smoky Dawson was a good man admired for his humility and his infectious good nature. He revelled in the spotlight, sharing his achievements with enthusiasm and joy, spreading laughter and happiness wherever he went. He was always optimistic and all who knew him were influenced and uplifted by his generous and effervescent spirit.
LEE KERNAGHAN
Winner of thirty-eight Golden Guitar Awards
What an honour it was to know you, Smoky. What a wonderful man. What a brilliant career. You gave so much to so many.
Smoky and Lee Kernaghan let it rip at the Tamworth Country Music Festival
MELINDA SCHNEIDER
Six-time Golden Guitar winner
The most beautiful memory I have of Smoky was a private dinner we had for him in Tamworth. There were about eighty people in attendance and Smoky was up the front entertaining everyone so well. He was about ninety at the time. He sang the most beautiful song I’d ever heard and dedicated it to “Dottie”. It was a song he’d written called Sunshine Girl. That’s what she was to him. I remember sitting in the audience with tears rolling down my face, thinking how beautiful it was and wishing I could find a genuine love like that (glad to say I eventually found it). They had a love like no other.
KEVIN RUDD
Prime Minister of Australia 2007-10 and 2013
Smoky was a true Australian icon – a pioneer of Australian country music. He did it all in his legendary career, recognised with an unmatched breadth of industry wards, as well as membership of the Order of Australia and the Order of the British Empire. It is testament to the dedication that Smoky had to his profession that he was still producing music into his nineties.
PAUL KEATING
Prime Minister of Australia 1991-96
Smoky Dawson was one of our national institutions – a legend. Over the years he brought much joy to Australians, but particularly to our kids. Through a profound generosity of spirit, he freely gave his time and services to raise funds for children’s medical research.
JIM HAYNES OAM
Writer, entertainer, broadcaster, humorist, songwriter, historian
When Smoky Dawson died my generation of Aussies lost a hero and I lost a friend. For more than six decades, Smoky and Dot made a wonderful contribution to the Australian entertainment industry and to the community.
Smoky tried many things before music, farm work, rough riding, working in a tannery and even cycle racing. In 1933 he met Dot, a very clever woman who had a successful career in radio and understood how the new medium worked. After they married they set about creating the legend that became Smoky Dawson, the yodelling, whip-cracking, knife-throwing, singing cowboy.
I recorded a duet with Smoky in 2004, when he was ninety-one, for a song I wrote about him, Smoky On The Radio. When I picked him up from their home to go to the studio, I told Dot I didn’t know how long it would take. Dot, who was ninety-seven at the time and sharp as a tack, just looked at me and said slowly: ‘Jim, keep him as long as you like!’
MARY SCHNEIDER OAM
Australia’s Queen of Yodelling
What can I say about Smoky? A true and cherished Australian legend. I remember enjoying all his wonderful Smoky Dawson Radio Shows and comic books during my childhood and I consider myself very fortunate to have been a close friend of Smoky and Dot throughout my lifetime. Many happy memories. He was a beautiful man who was so full of compassion for the needy and gave so much of his time to helping others. Such a gentleman! God bless you, Smoky. You were loved by so many people.
Smoky with Laurie Minson
Smoky with Jack Thompson and Lawrie Minson at the ARIA Hall of Fame dinner
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LAWRIE MINSON JACK THOMPSON AM |
JOHN LAWS
Legendary radio broadcaster
He taught us peace . . . and any man who can say they taught another man peace has really achieved something in life.
JOHN E. MINSON AM
Presenter of Hoedown on Radio 2TM for over twenty years and one of the visionaries behind Country Music Capital
Smoky may have ridden off into the sunset but he left us with a smile and a song.
BECCY COLE REX DALLAS |
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JOHNNY TAPP
Famous racecaller
Smoky Dawson was a wonderful warm Australian, fiercely proud of his nation and all its heritage – and he sang about it everywhere, from a wayside inn at the back of Bourke to Nashville, Tennessee.
PAUL HAZELL
Country music writer/broadcaster, presenter of Paul Hazell’s World of Country on www.uckfieldfm.co.uk
Smoky and Dot were a loveable double act, in public and at home. I recorded a one-hour show with Smoky in which I interviewed him about his life and his songwriting. We played some of his own recordings and several of his songs by other artists, which were exceptionally beautiful. But he was never self-promoting, never boastful. Smoky just loved life, people and Australia. It came over in abundance when he spoke and it was there in his songs too, vivid pictures in words and always perceptive about people.
Smoky in full flight on Flash the Wonder Horse, the prince of palominos
Glenn T.
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I was too young to hear Smoky’s exciting exploits on the wireless and never was a proud “Deputy Sheriff”. I had to wait many years to listen to crackly recordings of those dramatic radio serials, Jindawarrabel and The Adventures of Smoky Dawson. However, I did grow up watching Smoky and Flash the Wonder Horse on the Super Flying Fun Show with Miss Marilyn and Marty Moreton on Channel Nine. And at the age of seven, in the early 1970s, I waited for hours, with my parents and sister, to catch a glimpse of the legend and his trusty palomino in the annual Waratah Festival Parade through the heart of Sydney.
With my twenty-six cartridge Kodak Instamatic camera at the ready, I saw the white Stetson waving high in the distance and could hardly stand still with the excitement. I held my breath as Flash pranced closer and the nation’s most famous and adored cowboy put his hat back on and reined him in, right there in front of me. Flash tucked a hoof under his belly and took a bow. “Click” went my camera. Then, with another wave of the hat and a huge cheer from the crowd, Smoky was off down Elizabeth Street, followed by the Sydney Water Board’s “Water Babies” float. That childhood encounter was over in a moment, but it left me with the photograph I treasure to this day.
It would be almost twenty more years, 1990, before I met my childhood hero in person when our mutual friend and colleague, Lance Smith, introduced me. I was the picture of calmness on the outside – but inside I was that expectant little boy with his camera again. Like everyone who met him, I was instantly taken by the thoroughly genuine nature of this unassuming, larger-than-life celebrity. Moreover, Smoky seemed sincerely pleased to meet me. As another country music legend, Mary Schneider, later recalled: ‘Smoky simply loved people and was always genuinely delighted to meet someone new.’
With my twenty-six cartridge Kodak Instamatic camera at the ready, I saw the white Stetson waving high in the distance and could hardly stand still with the excitement. I held my breath as Flash pranced closer and the nation’s most famous and adored cowboy put his hat back on and reined him in, right there in front of me. Flash tucked a hoof under his belly and took a bow. “Click” went my camera. Then, with another wave of the hat and a huge cheer from the crowd, Smoky was off down Elizabeth Street, followed by the Sydney Water Board’s “Water Babies” float. That childhood encounter was over in a moment, but it left me with the photograph I treasure to this day.
It would be almost twenty more years, 1990, before I met my childhood hero in person when our mutual friend and colleague, Lance Smith, introduced me. I was the picture of calmness on the outside – but inside I was that expectant little boy with his camera again. Like everyone who met him, I was instantly taken by the thoroughly genuine nature of this unassuming, larger-than-life celebrity. Moreover, Smoky seemed sincerely pleased to meet me. As another country music legend, Mary Schneider, later recalled: ‘Smoky simply loved people and was always genuinely delighted to meet someone new.’
In the years that followed I got to know Smoky and Dot very well. We’d travel on coach trips, and I’d sit in their living room sipping tea from a duck-egg blue Johnson Bros teacup and saucer, listening as Smoky regaled me with his amazing tales while Dot passed around the Scotch Finger biscuits on a matching plate. One afternoon he pulled a copy of his autobiography from a shelf in his study, wrote this inscription in it, and handed me the book. It read:
To my old Pal Glenn
From Smoky
With warmest wishes for a happy,
Healthy and Prosperous life on the Road & Tomorrow
1913-2001
From Smoky
With warmest wishes for a happy,
Healthy and Prosperous life on the Road & Tomorrow
1913-2001
I often said to him, ‘Why don’t you republish your book, write another chapter, release an updated version? I’ll help you.’ After all, SMOKY DAWSON – A LIFE came out in 1985. ‘Yes, I should,’ he’d respond, as regularly as I’d make the suggestion. ‘I was seventy-two when I wrote that. I didn’t think for a minute that I’d have another twenty years to go, or I might have waited a bit longer!’
As it happened, Smoky had another twenty-two years left in him and we never did sit down together and pen that final chapter. So it is with enormous pride and humility that I now have this opportunity to complete the job in his name.
As it happened, Smoky had another twenty-two years left in him and we never did sit down together and pen that final chapter. So it is with enormous pride and humility that I now have this opportunity to complete the job in his name.
Smoky's Music and More
Significant dates
13 February – Anniversary of Smoky’s passing (2008) aged 94, nearly 95
13 March – Smoky & Dot’s Wedding Anniversary (1944)
19 March – Smoky’s birthday (1914)
12 October – Dot’s birthday (1906) 2006 – turned 100
27 October – Anniversary of Dot’s passing 2010, aged 104 years
13 March – Smoky & Dot’s Wedding Anniversary (1944)
19 March – Smoky’s birthday (1914)
12 October – Dot’s birthday (1906) 2006 – turned 100
27 October – Anniversary of Dot’s passing 2010, aged 104 years