(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A special dinner to be held in Tamworth, Australia’s Country Music Capital, this month will pay tribute to Australian country music legend Smoky Dawson and his wife Dot.
Organized by the Australian Country Music Foundation (ACMF), the Smoky & Dot Dawson Salute will also be the first major fund-raiser for the proposed new Country Music Hall of Fame in Tamworth.
Smoky is renowned as one of the earliest pioneers of country music in Australia. But for a commitment to the band he was performing with at the time (the early 1930s), he might have been the first to record original Australian country music.
As it was, Smoky made his first recording in 1941, just five years after Tex Morton and two after Buddy Williams.
But in the following six decades, Smoky was to become a household name in Australia, even making an impact on Nashville in the early development days of the American country music industry.
Smoky was, in fact, the first artist to record for the famous Acuff-Rose Hickory label in the States and performed on the Grand Ole Opry in the early 1950s.
After returning home from America, the now famous Smoky Dawson Show debuted on Australian radio running for the next 10 years.
Smoky was elevated to the Country Music Roll of Renown in 1978 and was awarded an MBE for services to country music in 1983.
In 2004, Smoky and Dot celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Smoky, who is still recording (believed to be a global record in the music business, certainly in country music), celebrated 60 years in the business three years earlier in 2001.
Both Smoky and Dot have spent a lifetime in the radio industry (the couple first met while working in radio) and remain involved to this day in broadcasting.
The Salute Dinner will be held at Tamworth’s Quality Hotel Powerhouse on Friday, January 27, 2006. Tickets are $99 with all surplus funds raised going to the Hall of Fame project. Smoky has been patron of the ACMF since its inception in the early ‘90s.
Entertainment during the night will include a performance from Golden Guitar winner Reg Poole and a silent auction.
Further information, and tickets, can be obtained by telephoning the ACMF on 02 6766 9696 or by emailing info@countrymusichalloffame.com.au. Seating is being allocated on a first come first served basis.
