REX DALLAS

Rex Dallas was born Frederick Amos Doble in 1938 at Wallerawang, a small mining town near Lithgow, New South Wales. Like many a country boy before him, Rex began his career as an entertainer at local dances and made his first radio appearance at the age of sixteen. Rex's story in his own words "I love the old bush ballad songs. That was the title of one of my many albums, and how true and part of me those words are! In my childhood, I would rise early to listen to the 5.30am programme Hillbilly Trail on the old hometown radio station, 2LT Lithgow''.

 ''Later in my youth, I was to co-host this programme with my old radio announcer mate, Jack Griffith. We changed the name to Early Morning Country Sounds and ran the programme five days a week." "It was during this early part of my life that my love for the bush, its characters and the songs written about them, grew." "It was a sad day when my family moved away to take up residence in Sydney. I sang around the city hotels and the few and far between country and western concerts for little or no money. Times were hard for the boys from the bush, and many fine writers and performers fell by the wayside."

"Then came the clubs, and with them, the promoters and agents with work for those who could adapt to the new scene, so I changed my act to the demanding variety performance that the clubs required. I successfully auditioned for Ted Quigg, who eventually became one of country music's greatest promoters. At that time, Ted was running shows on 2SM Sydney and 2KA Katoomba in conjunction with hall shows in the city and suburbs. A host of hopefuls - like Frank Ifield, Rick and Thel, and Tim McNamara - were all on those shows. It became a golden era for country music in Sydney!" "About this time, I recorded "Bicycle Wreck" for Festival Records, and the song reached the pop charts."

Dallas recorded a significant amount of music during his career. Over 20 albums and many singles were recorded on the Festival, Columbia, Hadley, Troubadour and Selection labels. In 2000 he was inducted into The Australian Roll of Renown at the Country Music Awards of Australia in Tamworth. His other awards include Winner of the EP of the year 'Old Wallerawang' in 1975. In 1982 "His Spurs Are Rusty Now" (with Colin Dallas) won APRA Song of the Year. In 1992 "The Western Main" won the Heritage Award and in 2001 Rex Dallas won the Songmaker Award at the Tamworth Songwriters Awards.

During the 1980's, Rex Dallas and his band the Dallas Cowboys were the featured backing band on The Happy Hoedown Show every Sunday afternoon at the Shortland RSL Club (Newcastle NSW). The country music package show was produced and compered by Phil Mahoney and had an eight-year run. The Happy Hoedown Show was a first for Newcastle audiences, playing to a packed auditorium every Sunday and featured a local country guest artist each week, as well as a Talent Quest and lots of great classic songs by Rex Dallas. Rex is Australia's only country artist to win a Golden Guitar for a yodeling song, "My Lancashire Yodelling Lass" in 1976. Rex also went on to win several more Golden Guitars during his long and successful career. The show also featured the brilliant young lead guitarist Brett Dallas with fantastic instrumental hits.

SINGLES 
''Bicycle Wreck / That's My Love'' 1960 Rex 
''Just For You / A Picture And Memories Of You'' 1964  Columbia 
''Australian Bush Crawl / I'm Crying In My Beer'' 1964 Columbia 
''Yodel And Smile / I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen'' 1967 Columbia 

''Ellenborough Falls / Starlight Serenade'' 1967 Columbia
''Love In The Hot Afternoon / Lit up And Seeing Double'' 1976 Hadley
''The Coloured Lad / I Went Back To Dodd's Hotel'' 1977 Hadley 
''Our Buddy's Gone Home / The Engineers Don't Wave From The Trains Anymore'' 1987 Briar Records 

EPs 

'Bicycle Wreck' 1961 Festival
'Rex Dallas' 1971 Troubadour
'The Australian Hot Meat Pie' 1973 Hadley
'Old Wallerang' 1974 Hadley

ALBUMS 
'The Harry Torrani Yodelling Album' 1975 Hadley
'The Harry Torrani Yodelling Album Vol.2 1975 Hadley 
'In The Days When I Was Me' 1976 Hadley
'I Love The Old Bush Ballad Songs' 1977 Hadley 
'Yodelling Songs Of Harry Torrani' 1978 Westwood Recordings
'Here's to the Song Writer' 1979 Hadley Records 
'Yodelling Mad' 1979 Hadley Records
'Old Wallerawang' 1979 Hadley Records 
'Buckjump And Saddle Tales' 1981 Hadley 
'Mothers Flower Garden' 1982 Hadley
'Remembering Those Hillbilly Hits' 1982 Hadley 
'Easy Lovin' 1984 Hadley
'Born To The Saddle' 1984 Hadley
'For Valour' 1985 Hadley 
'Harry Torrani Classics Volume 3' 1986 Briar Records
'Duelling Yodellers' [with Owen Blundell] 1988 Selection 
'We Dig Coal' 1990 Checked Label Services
'Heart Land' 1994 Hadley 
Aussie Yodels' 1995 Music World 
'Songs Of My Country' 1995 LBS Records
'Working Man' 2004 Briar Records 
'The Old Bush Ballad Songs' 2005 Bellbird Music
'Memories For Sale' 2012 Briar Records 
'Country Legend' 2015 Kross Kut Records
'Show Boat Kalang' 2018 William Osland Consulting
'40 Years Down The Road' Briar Records
'Big Old Land' Briar Records 

 

References

http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com.au/Hands/Dallas_Rex.htm