It has been a career dream of Walker's to play at the festival and he's thrilled to bring his new material to the south-west.

"I've wanted to do Port Fairy for so long, basically since I started touring," he said.

"Now even more so to play some new music I have coming out.

"When I write and record I always try to evolve in some way and adding things to the toolbox and I'm always trying to improve as a guitarist and stretch my voice and see where I can take it.

"For this album I consciously made the decision to write more upbeat stuff. I feel like my default sometimes is to go to the slow ballads in the minor key and then I get to a live setting and I really miss those up beat ones.

"There was definitely a focus on that when I was writing and in the studio to give things more of an edge."

Rooted in blues, Walker adds whispers of rock and country to his tracks.

Traditionally a king of the ballads, the singer-songwriter has given his latest album, to be released in April, a new twist with energetic melodies for his live performances.

"I've never felt confined to any one genre and I feel like I wrote an album that very clearly shows that," he said.

"It's definitely classed as a blues-roots record but I think there's elements of all the other musics I love like rock and country music. There's even things about pop music I love like the catchy choruses.

"I try to take the elements of all the things I love and write like that."

Announced on the first release of the 2020 Port Fairy Folk Festival lineup alongside a stack of accomplished artists, the proud Yorta Yorta man believes Indigenous artists are holding their own within the music industry.

"I think the first announcement goes to show you could hold a festival of Indigenous artists and not necessarily say it's an Indigenous festival but rather it's a music festival and all these artists just happen to be Indigenous," he said.

"The organisers didn't make a point of saying 'here's the Indigenous artists we've got', they just made an announcement.

"I think that just shows the strength and calibre of the artists."

Walker and his six-piece band are busily preparing for their two performances at the folk festival alongside many of their friends, which Walker said makes the experience even more enjoyable.

"Knowing other artists on the lineup just adds to the excitement," he said.

"Most of the time you cross paths with other artists when you're out on the road or at a festival and you don't really get to just hang out with each other.

"Tom Richardson and I are really close and we talk a couple of times a week. It will be great to see him and Uncle Archie Roach, Emily Wurramara and The Little Stevies; these are people I've met through touring and playing festivals and you just create these amazing relationships like no other I have outside of music.

"Saturday is showing off some of the stuff we've been touring already, which does have a couple of the songs we've just released.

"But on Sunday I'm going to do an album preview show where I'll play most of the new album and at the end of the set throw in a couple of the older singles in."

Benny Walker will perform in Saturday, March 7 on the Shebeen stage at 4pm and on Sunday, March 8 on the Ocean Stage at 4.30pm.

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