Community
10 September, 2024
Christine finds her voice on stage
Despite some nerves, Christine Doyle drew on her years of experiences at the Outback at Isa concert.
Christine Doyle has been singing Slim Dusty since she was a little girl – but she had only ever sung karaoke in public until last week.
While admitting to some nerves during the rehearsals, when she took the stage at the Looking Forward, Looking Back concert at Outback at Isa last week, a lifetime of preparation in her musical craft culminated in a single night.
She sang along to two famous Slim Dusty numbers and also sang two of her own original works – a song about the Min Min lights leading her family home to Boulia and another about the familiar grin her husband of more than 40 years gives whenever he sees Christine start playing guitar.
Christine admits to having been unimpressed with Slim Dusty songs for many years, mostly because her husband played the country legend too often.
But through a year of reacquainting herself with a love of musical storytelling through the Looking Forward, Looking Back workshops, which encourages Indigenous Australians to explore their lyrical abilities, she said she had rediscovered her interest in his music, which returned Christine to the formative years in her life.
She told North West Weekly that her earliest memories were of her father twanging his guitar along to country gospel songs by the night campfire.
Her father also taught her how to play some notes on the guitar before she was old enough to even go to school.
He would also teach others in Dajarra how to play.
She remembers her father’s strumming and the emotion in his voice as he sang.
“Those country gospel songs tell a story, and you can hear things in the words that might be similar to things happening in your own life,” she said.
“There is a lot of emotion in those words.”
Christine said she can also remember Slim Dusty’s famed caravan convoy rolling into Boulia when she was a little girl.
Slim was always generous with his time – that was one of the reasons the townspeople loved him – he would invite the older men and women to sit with him and share a cup of tea while he told stories from his road trips and signed autographs. Slim would encourage the Boulia kids to wander around the caravans and look at the instruments.
When show time came, Aboriginal families would enter the hall and pay their 50 cents for a seat on the floor at the front.
Christine remembers that seeing an Indigenous singer on stage playing alongside Slim was always a highlight for her.
At a time when there were still complicated relationships between people from different cultures, Slim stood on stage as an example where white and black could share a common bond through country music and love of the countryside.
“Slim didn’t bring those people on the road with him because they were Aboriginal,” Christine explained.
“He brought them along because they were talented. And he wanted the rest of Australia to see their talent.
“I remember watching these Aboriginal country singers on stage and thinking that if they could do it, then any of us could do it too.
“There is a great love for Slim among Aboriginal people. He never forgot about us.”