Tamworth Country Music Festival 2023: Troy Cassar-Daley loves surprising country fans

When people ask the 40-time Golden Guitar winner what he gets out of performing to crowds for free, he says, "that's how I started, and I love it."

"I love the look on the artist's faces that we get to hang out with, and I like the look of the crowd," he said.

"You're never too big for the Tamworth Hotel. You're never too big for a beer garden at the Longyard."

His memories of his first few visits to the NSW north east city for the Tamworth Country Music Festival include watching artists like Tommy and Phil Emmanuel, Rod McCormack and Jeff McCormack get out of the crowd, and jam with people.

READ MORE: How an airport worker became a hero for Cassar-Daley and his guitars

"Everything else aside, that unity that we have in our community of musicians is something that I think I hold pretty much dearest to my heart," he said.

"It makes your festival, it makes it complete."

The name of Troy's festival show, The Golden Road, on Thursday, January 19, was inspired by his record-breaking win at the festival in 2022.

All the songs that will be played have been either Golden Guitar winning songs, or been on a winning record.

"I think what people will see is almost like a music book of my career," he said.

"And I thought, it has been a golden road, this town has been beautiful to me."

Growing up as a young Indigenous kid in Grafton, Troy got sucked into the stories told through country music. And the sadder, the better.

"I loved country music because of its melancholy nature, and a lot of it reflected the history of Indigenous Australia," he said.

"It's actually pretty easy to write sad songs when you've got such history. And it's beautiful to be able to share it with everybody as well."

Troy has tried to sell reconciliation, bring people together, and be inclusive throughout his career.

"If it's 40 Golden Guitars later that I look at the numbers and still get very, very surprised and almost embarrassed at winning that many," he said.

"But it means that you've been on the right path, people see what you do as being something that's positive."

He sees his role as being an educator on Australian history.

"A lot of it is very sad," he said.

"But I feel inclined, that if we've arrived on our grandparents' and our parents' shoulders, you need to become one yourself when we lose them.

"And that's probably my goal now, is to be a good role model for the next generation of Indigenous, non-Indigenous kids coming through."

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He's planning to make a record in his late mother's old house. To sit at the country record collection that he played when he got lonely waiting for his mum to come home from the trains.

Before speaking with ACM, Troy was stopped in Tamworth by an Indigenous woman asking him to sing with her on film, to show her family. She played a song that Troy knew.

"It just made my heart flutter, and that's what you need. This town's got a habit of doing it," he said.