The country singer and a five-piece band kicked off at Diggers last Thursday and will perform every day up until the end of the festival.

Now located in Sydney, Dan said the festival was a massive event in his calendar and he spent 12 months preparing for it.

“It’s the biggest festival, it goes the longest duration,” he said.

“This sort of sets me up for the rest of the year.”

This year, Dan said he had focused on performing more of his originals.

“The stories that I tell, people come up to me and say… ‘We went through the same thing’,” he said.

“I’m finding that there’s a common ground.”

Dan has been performing at the festival for about 12 years and has been given the opportunity to play with “the cream of Australian artists”.

“All the positive feedback I’m getting is not just from the fans, it’s from other musicians, who I’m in of awe of anyway,” Dan said.

“To get that positive feedback from your peers and respect is very cool.”

“It really gives you the courage to persevere and keep pushing the envelope,” he said.

“That’s the good thing about the country music scene – every one helps each other and supports each other. There’s not that [tall] poppy syndrome thing.

“The generosity and the camaraderie across the country music spectrum is amazing.”

Dan said the 12 shows he had played at the festival had been “off the Richter scale”.

“They’ve been brilliant. The interaction with the crowd and the connection with the original songs has been really good and a lot of people are buying my albums,” he said.

“It’s probably been the best year ever.”

Dan said despite struggling with confidence in his own songs, he had “the most fun in the room” when playing gigs, telling jokes and recalling the stories behind his songs.

A festival highlight for Dan was playing with American performer Redd Volkaert on Tuesday night.

“He’s an amazing guitarist. He’s legendary worldwide. Respected by every guitarist in the world,” he said.

Dan said his own band had been “playing out of their skins” and received a great deal of respect and appreciation.

“It’s still surreal. People come up to me all the time – the fans and that. I still struggle with any sort of recognition. People are very appreciative of what we’re doing,” he said.

“I count every day as a blessing,” he said.

“I never take any of it lightly.

“The fact that we’ve had full houses every show is very humbling. We certainly don’t take it for granted.”

With his most recent album Livin’ the Dream released in 2012, Dan is hoping to record another in the near future.

“I’ve got a lot of songs in the catalogue.” he said.

“The goal will be to do another album and keep the ball rolling.”

For a list of Dan’s shows, visit his Facebook page.