Former Gunnedah musician Dan Murphy will be back for another taste of the Tamworth Country Music Festival this year.
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The festival veteran has been performing at the festival for more than 13 years and is once again booked in for a solid 11 days of gigging from January 18. He will be accompanied by Gunnedah locals Steve McCauley and Trevor Stacey.
Dan has become a festival favourite, once again locked in by South Tamworth Bowling Club months in advance. He will perform at the bowlo four times and will double as an emcee for Anthony Taylor at his album launch on January 24.
The singer-songwriter will also take to the stage in the Diggers Courtyard, Fanzone, the Longyard, and the Legends Lounge.
Dan said they were “prime spots” and he didn’t take the offers lightly.
“The bowlo, Diggers and Wests, I reckon they're the premier places for the festival for them to contact me and ask me to play is just the nicest tip of the hat, really,” he said.
“It’s just a nice compliment to receive.”
The musician said he has been working on his set list for the last few days.
“I’ve been doing up some pretty cool songs,” Dan said.
“I’ve got this problems where I’ve got too many cool songs that I want to sing. I’m actually doing up a couple of medleys.”
Dan said the festival was a good opportunity to share ideas with like-minded artists.
“It always gets the creative juices going and quite often you’ll sit down with other artists in the off-time in between gigs,” he said.
This year, Dan said he was aiming to release more music.
“My music studio has been a bit quiet. It’s been calling out,” he said.
“I need to release more music, even the stuff I’ve already recorded - that’s what my next goal is.
“People are screaming to buy the songs and I just haven’t released them in a format. People are saying, ‘Put them on vinyl’ because there’s a massive market for vinyl.”
One song in particular, Mississippi Memphis Blues, is at the top of the list for release.
“We’ve been playing it live and there’s people asking, ‘Where can we buy it?’,” Dan said.
The musician wrote the song in Nashville three years ago and recorded it at Sun Studio in Memphis, along with Don’t Leave the Leaving.
Dan said the experience still stayed with him, knowing that music greats such as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley had recorded there in the past.
“The sound in that studio is still unique,” he said.
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