The Den Tapes Explained

The Den Tapes
Type:compilation
Artist:Slim Dusty
Cover:The_Den_Tapes.png
Released:15 November 2015
Recorded:1990s
Genre:Country
Length:32:14
Label:EMI Music
Prev Title:The Son of Noisy Dan
Prev Year:2013
Next Title:Prime Movers
Next Year:2016

The Den Tapes is a compilation album released by Australian country music singer Slim Dusty. The album features all previously, last known unreleased recordings by Slim Dusty. The songs were recorded on cassette by Dusty in his small office 'den' at his home. The album was released in November 2015 and peaked at number 27 on the ARIA charts.

The album was released to coincide with the opening of The Slim Dusty Centre and Museum in Kempsey.

Background and release

Sometime in the late 1990s, Slim begun recording and collating these private recordings of his favourite songs from his youth. These are traditional Australian songs which he grew up listening to back on his family farm, they are songs which inspired and shaped his own future musical direction. Slim's longtime producer Rod Coe discovered this personal collection of solo recordings on a single cassette by sheer accident when looking for something else. Slims wife and songwriter Joy McKean said "The songs you have here are some of those he heard and learned from the radio and the old portable gramophone when he was just a quiet country boy up in the isolated Nulla Nulla Creek."[1]

Track listing

  1. "Move Along Baldy" (Tex Morton) - 3:14
  2. "Good Old Droving Days" (Tex Morton) - 3:39
  3. "Rocky Ned" (Tex Morton) - 3:30
  4. "Old Boko & Me" (Tex Morton/Lance Skuthorpe) - 3:11
  5. "Rover No More" (Louis Lavater) - 3:03
  6. "Where the White Faced Cattle Roam" (Buddy Williams) - 3:07
  7. "You'll Never Be Missed" (trad.) - 3:30
  8. "Just Plain Folk" (Maurice Stonehill)- 3:13
  9. "My Old Pal" (Elsie McWilliams/Jimmie Rodgers)- 2:43
  10. "Murrumbidgee Jack" (Frances Coughlan)- 3:04

Release history

RegionDateFormatEdition(s)LabelCatalogue
Various13 November 2015 [2] StandardSlim Dusty Enterprises, EMI Music4736243
Australia15 January 2016[3] VinylEMI Music4736241

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Den Tapes – Slim Dusty's final album of unreleased material...his parting gift to Australian Country Music fans!. Slim Dusty Music. 30 September 2019. 5 April 2020.
  2. Web site: The Den Session DD. Apple Music. 6 April 2020.
  3. Web site: The Den Tapes (Vinyl). JB HiFi. 6 April 2020.