Ex-Gunnedah musician Dan Murphy is starting to get used to a full house.
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For 11 straight days, Murphy took to the stage at the Tamworth Country Music Festival to play to huge crowds, backed by his "smoking hot" band.
Murphy said while numbers at the festival were smaller this year, "our crowds didn't suffer".
"You can't get more full than full," he said.
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The singer-songwriter said a gig at West Leagues on Friday night was the biggest of them all.
"There were hundreds of people, no spare seats, people lining walls standing up, full dance floors and CDs and merch sales were very strong," Murphy said.
"At times I could see people hunting for seats ... it's the best compliment of the lot when it's full."
The keys to Murphy's success are crowd involvement, banter, lively sets, and plenty of originals.
"I try to get them involved, get them to sing along with songs they know, clap their hands ... the crowds engaged fully with the originals and I talked about what brought the songs about, how we wrote it or the story behind it," Murphy said.
"I had people in tears, in a good way, with my grandpa's song, and other covers I did.
"This year, I had a lot of people singing along to [originals] or even requesting them. I think that's the biggest compliment you can get.
"I think there were some people who followed us to every gig. There were quite a lot of dancers and they say we play the songs they like to dance."
Murphy said many times, festival-goers approached them at shows and said "we were best they'd seen at the festival.
"It was incredible," he said.
"We couldn't put a foot wrong and the band was just smoking hot. They're great musicians [and] they played the hell out of the songs. We had such a good vibe on stage. We had a lot of fun.
"I had a lot of people that looked me up in the guide for my gigs ... you can't ask for more than that."
Murphy has been playing at the festival for almost 15 years but says he's still learning.
"For me, it gets better every year because I'm learning how to entertain more; I'm becoming more comfortable with my own performances but also the crowds. I've developed a following that gets bigger every year," he said.
Murphy has also become more confident in including more of his originals in his set list.
"It comes with time and getting feedback from people I respect, musos and people in the industry, who say my originals hold their own and I should play them more often," he said.