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Such an illustrious career has
earned Lindsay Butler, the title bestowed upon him, ‘The Master of Country Guitar’. If you ask Lindsay, there’s
still that shy edge about the Tenterfield Lad. He considers himself lucky to have spent his
life making a living out of something that he loves – simply playing his
guitar. However, there is an undisputed
determination and strength of character.
He’s a strong but gentle man, driven but loyal and above all stands for
what he believes in. He may well be one
of the nice guys in country music but he has never been a push over. There is very little that
Lindsay Butler hasn’t achieved within the Australian Country Music Industry
from all the major awards to working with the best in the business. He’s a capped producer, respected
personality, successful businessman and sought after musician. His story began in Tenterfield NSW, where Lindsay was raised on his families
dairy farm and according to his sisters, did all he could to avoid his daily
chores with the cows, to hide away and play his guitar. It’s a standard joke within the family that
his siblings covered for their baby brother on many occasions as they always
knew he was different. Lindsay was never
going to be a farmer or even remain in their hometown. Like many aspiring artists and
musicians of that era, he was invited to perform on the Athol McCoy show as it was passing through town. Lindsay was then asked to tour with Athol and
his wife Eileen in 1968. That tour went
all around In 1969, Lindsay joined the Buddy Williams Show as Buddy’s lead
guitarist touring all of NSW, Lindsay continued to tour with
Buddy until ’71, in which time he was invited to record an EP with Ross Murphy’s Opal Records label from A couple of years later, Lindsay
and good mate Norm Bodkin decided to
move to Tamworth to become regular session musicians for Hadley Studios and Opal
Records. It was at this time Slim Dusty came to On John Minson’s advice, Slim enquired about
the young Lindsay Butler and this was the beginning of several years, touring
and recording with Slim as a member of The
Travelling Country Band. During this period Lindsay
played on many of the great hits including Things
I See Around Me, Three Rivers Hotel,
Old Gilbert and Catchin’
Yellowbelly. Whilst on tour with Slim,
Lindsay released his first LP ‘Slim Dusty
Favourites’ and secured his first Golden Guitar
win with ‘Closest Thing To Freedom’. This track was adopted as the theme song for Nick Erby’s Country Music Jamboree which aired
nationally for many years. This album
was also the very first solo instrumental album to be released by an Australian
country guitarist. Lindsay also established a
concurrent career as a Producer alongside his career as a musician. In 1978, he became the in-house
producer at Ken Cameron’s CM Studio
in Dubbo where his debut production was Stan Coster’s
debut album ‘My People’. A short year later he returned
to It was also around this time
that Bill May and Lindsay designed
the Lindsay Butler special Maton ‘ During this period he formed
the ever-popular ‘Lindsay Butler Band’
with Harold Williams, Norm Bodkin, Geoff Clapson, Jazzer Smith and Stephan Bunz. The band
toured extensively throughout NSW and Qld providing
the backing for many important concerts including The Golden Guitar Awards and The
TSA National Salute Awards since its inception and continues to reform the
band annually for this show over 25 years later. In 1988, Lindsay folded the
band to join The Slim Dusty Bicentennial
Tour. This show was taken to every
major and regional city in Lindsay’s last tour with Slim
was 1989 and was also when he played on his final Slim sessions including ‘West of Winton’ which won Slim his last
Golden Guitar. That year Lindsay introduced
his LBS label to the country music scene and began devoting his time to
promoting artists including Brian Letton. This
union became highly sought after on the country music and club circuit for many
years to follow. Whilst touring with Brian,
Lindsay also continued to record albums in his new studio at Kootingal including a special instrumental album with
long-time friend Barry Thornton. The album ‘Buts
‘n’ Baz’ was one of the most popular country
instrumental albums ever to be released.
Lindsay and Barry later recorded one with guitar mate Charley Boyter
‘The Legends of Country Guitar’ also
for Selection Records and due to
public demand Buts & Baz reunited to record
Barry’s final album, released on LBS, appropriately titled - ‘Once More For The Road’. Lindsay continues touring
Australia annually with business partner and wife, Shaza Leigh, their musicians and friends Ashley Cook, Peggy Gilchrist,
Trevor Letton and young son, Though he has achieved so much,
his love is still the music, the travelling and his family and he still thinks
he’s a lucky man to make a living out of doing what he loves. We all think we’re lucky to
have known ‘The Guitar Man’ - Lindsay Butler.
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