John Williamson | The Angels | Busby Marou
Troy Cassar-Daley | Shannon Noll
The McClymonts | McAlister Kemp
Sara Storer | Shane Nicholson | Felicity Urquhart
Hurricane Fall | Darlinghurst
Day Stage and On Ground Attractions Announced!
Like football, meat pies, kangaroos and the trusty ute, the Deni Ute Muster is quintessentially Australian and following some of the country’s toughest months, we’re sharing our plans for our biggest ever homegrown celebration full of music and mateship on 1 and 2 October 2021.
Tickets to the 2021 Deni Ute Muster have been off sale during the pandemic lockdowns and we’re thrilled to announce that they’ll be back on sale at midday today, as well as details of our All Aussie extravaganza and our plans for a fully cashless Muster.
Ready to turn up the volume on the Muster stage will be some of our most loved and respected country/pop artists including John Williamson, The Angels, Busby Marou, Troy Cassar-Daley, Shannon Noll, The McClymonts, McAlister Kemp, Sara Storer, Shane Nicholson, Felicity Urquhart, Hurricane Fall and Darlinghurst.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres, said the NSW Government was proud to support the Deni Ute Muster through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
“The Deni Ute Muster is one of Australia’s premier rural events, so to have it back on the NSW events calendar is fantastic news for the Deniliquin community,” Mr Ayres said.
“We know that regional events like these provide great entertainment, while creating jobs and injecting significant dollars into our state’s economy. I encourage everyone to get behind the 2021 Deni Ute Muster by purchasing tickets soon so they don’t miss out on this fantastic line-up and iconic celebration of all things Australian.”
Deni Ute Muster General Manager, Vicky Lowry, said today, “It is exciting to see the live music industry making a comeback. The Deni Ute Muster are proud to be supporting Australian artists for 2021. We look forward to welcoming back everyone to our 23rd year after only being able to celebrate our 22nd year virtually. Moving forward, the Deni Ute Muster will be guided by advice / recommendations received by the government with health and safety our number one priority whilst planning. Thank you for your support over the last 12 months, we hope to see you in 2021”.
John Williamson’s unofficial anthems, tributes to legends and unsung heroes and tender ballads have captured the spirit of the nation in song unlike any other. His honest and passionate songs are synonymous with the country that inspires him and connect him with his countrymen regardless of age, sex or creed. Add to this his ability to deliver unforgettable live concert experiences that combine the perfect blend of humour, romance and campfire stories woven together by his music. You can understand why he remains one of the most in-demand live performers in Australia.
With a music career now spanning close to fifty years, there would seem to be little more for John Williamson to achieve. Having been inducted into the prestigious ARIA Hall of Fame, the recipient of three ARIA Awards, twenty-seven Golden Guitars, three APRA Awards, MO Awards, countless Platinum and Gold album accreditations and album sales of in excess of five million, he has done it all but more than anything, John wants an audience to walk away feeling proud to be Australian.
Described by Jimmy Barnes as “A band that changed Australian music forever”, when it comes to great Aussie rock it doesn’t come much better than The Angels. Thirteen studio albums, eight Top 10 albums, 17 Top 40 singles … but that tells only part of The Angels’ story. It’s the relationship with the audience that means everything to the band, built via thousands of gigs. It’s an exhilarating exchange of energy. As co-founder Rick Brewster notes, “The hour-and-a-half onstage is what makes it all worthwhile”.
It’s been over four decades since brothers Rick and John Brewster co-founded the iconic band and penned some of Australia’s most anthemic tracks. The Angels are widely reputed for their killer live shows. With hits like Long Line, Marseille, Be With You, After the Rain, Shadow Boxer and Mr Damage to name a few, we can’t wait to have them back on the Muster stage for another massive singalong!
The overwhelming feeling that emanates from Busby Marou is joy – Tom Busby’s playful onstage presence combined with Jeremy Marou’s freakish instrumental ability has cemented their reputation as one of the most loved live bands to come out of Australia in recent times.
Busby Marou’s debut self-titled album was certified Gold in July 2014, while their follow up album Farewell Fitzroy debuted at #5 on the album chart. Postcards From The Shell House, released in 2017 was the band’s first ARIA #1 album and was followed by the critically acclaimed The Great Divide in 2019.
There’s a potent chemistry that drives Busby Marou, a bond struck between two mates years ago in the corner of Rockhampton’s Oxford Hotel, when they happily knocked out tunes for hours on end to anyone who would listen. And it’s that unwritten agenda, a simple intangible understanding between them, that they have come back to in order to shape their remarkable career.
Troy Cassar-Daley has come from a long line of storytellers and shares his musicianship with so many artists across different styles of music and has released 10 studio albums throughout his thirty years of making music.
His passion to pen stories about this land and what lies at the heart of it has been a driving force in his career. Troy’s natural authenticity is the bloodline of his music that endears him to his ever-growing number of fans from every walk of life.
Troy has been awarded numerous accolades including 37 Golden Guitars, 4 ARIA Awards, 2 APRA Country Song of the Year Awards, 9 Deadlys (Australian Indigenous Artist Awards), 4 CMAA Entertainer of the Year Awards plus 2 NIMAs (National Indigenous Music Awards). In 2017 Troy was honoured as the 50th inductee into the prestigious Australasian Roll Of Renown. He has had numerous gold and platinum albums and achieved a staggering 32 #1 chart singles.
Troy Cassar-Daley’s songs have been the soundtrack to the everyday triumphs, struggles and good times for Australians from our small towns to the big cities and we’re thrilled.
Shannon Noll’s everyman appeal lies in his honesty, he strikes a chord with legions of music fans, tapping into a pure emotion that’s both his own and instantly relatable.
His rise to fame as the first runner-up of the initial Australian Idol series in 2003 changed his life from farm hand in Condobolin forever. Since taking to the stage and commencing his successful recording career, Australia’s favourite son “Nollsie” has on to receive acclaim with certified triple-platinum sales, number #1 hits, five top 10 albums, has 17 platinum and three gold accreditations, and boasts a reputation as the only Australian male artist in national chart history to have ever achieved ten consecutive top ten singles.
Seven years since the release of his previous album A Million Sons, his latest album, Unbroken, is Nollsie declaring he’s still got the passion, the dedication and the voice that has made him one of the most successful male performers in Australian music history – an album of reflection and conviction, the former farm boy from Condobolin in rural NSW taking a close look at his roots, his fame, his love of Australia and his family and at the trials of getting older.
The McClymonts have enjoyed incredible success since the release of their debut EP in 2006 with over 250,000 album sales and 20 million track streams. They have achieved Platinum and Gold album sales accreditations and received thirteen Golden Guitar Awards, two ARIA Awards and an APRA Award all whilst becoming one of Australia’s favourite touring groups. Their latest single, I Got This, recently achieved the highest debut in the history of the Music Network Country Hot 50 Airplay chart when it entered the top 10 upon release. It is the first taste of their sixth studio album, Mayhem to Madness, which will be released on 12 June 2020.
Fans can expect to hear songs from the new album along with their trademark hits such as House, Forever Begins Tonight and Like We Used To, performed with their full live band when they hit the Deni Ute Muster stage for the first time in 3 years.
Country-Rock titans, McAlister Kemp made a triumphant return to the live arena with two huge shows at the Tamworth Country Music Festival earlier this year and they are ecstatic to be making their Deni Ute Muster main stage debut in 2020.
Consisting of Drew McAlister and Troy Kemp, McAlister Kemp are one of the most successful Australian country acts of the last decade. From the immediate breakout success of their debut album All Kinds of Tough in 2010 through to their parting in 2015, the pair earned their stripes as one of the highest selling and most exciting touring acts in Australia.
But it is not just the strength of their live shows that brought them acclaim, their three albums; All Kinds of Tough (2010), Country Proud (2012) and Harder to Tame (2014) are veritable classics of the genre packed with hands-in-the-air rockers.
The five year break has been rewarding for Drew and Troy individually with solo albums, hit singles, awards and touring and with a legacy as enduring as the McAlister Kemp catalogue, it was only a matter of time before the pair would unleash once again.
Writing from the heart and singing from the soul, surveying the people and land around you and letting stories inspire your creativity and guide your craft. That’s what makes a songwriter genuine and honest and 21-time Golden Guitar winner Sara Storer has consistently shown she personifies those qualities. In fact, she’s done that right from the start, nearly 20 years ago when she released her first album Chasing Buffalo, right through to her latest album, Raindance.
Born in the Mallee in country Victoria, Sara has studied in Melbourne, wrote her first song in Western Queensland, worked as a teacher in the Northern Territory and now lives on a rural property outside of Albury, NSW with her husband Dave and their four sons. The land, family and an innate and empathetic understanding of what it is to live in Australia are themes that run strongly through the songs on Raindance, the title track in particular continuing a tradition of songs about rain that feature on many of her albums.
Shane Nicholson inhabits a rare space in the music industry: songwriter, recording artist, producer/engineer, multi-instrumentalist, guitar pedal builder, whiskey-enthusiast, motorcycle-lover, and musical mentor.
Making his solo debut at this year’s Muster, Shane has received three ARIA Awards – most recently for his solo album Hell Breaks Loose as well as his hit collaborations with Kasey Chambers – Rattlin’ Bones and Wreck and Ruin. Sharing the shelves with his ARIAs are 10 Golden Guitar Awards, including 2018 Male Artist of the Year, and an APRA award.
Rolling Stone Magazine summed Shane Nicholson up perfectly saying “(he’s) is a uniquely compelling voice in Australian songwriting – it lives and breathes in the songsmith’s singular melodies, crooked humour, and short, pithy lines gently delivered”
Felicity Urquhart has long been one of the best-loved and most decorated singer-songwriters in Australian song, with a career encompassing seven studio albums, two EPs, and countless sold-out headlining shows and capacity festival appearances.
2020 saw Felicity shine at the 48th Golden Guitar Awards taking out five awards from her eight nominations for Frozen Rabbit including Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. She took home a sixth award for Sing Me A Song, a song co-written and recorded by Luke O’Shea, taking her impressive Golden Guitar Award tally now sits at fourteen.
A constant presence on Australian screens and airwaves, Felicity has hosted ABC Radio’s flagship country music variety show, Saturday Night Country, since 2010 as well as serving as the face of Tourism NSW’s nationally broadcast Heart of Country NSW campaign.
Hailing from Newcastle, Australia, Hurricane Fall, are living proof that raw talent, ambition and honesty can still prevail in today’s music industry and they do it the old fashioned way, touring constantly and winning fans at the gigs with a performance style.
Hurricane Fall’s sound is a modern but earthy fusion of their country roots, and the classic rock heritage of the Steel City where they reside. This combined with a pop sensibility in their songwriting suggests a wide range of influences from classic country like Garth Brooks to Aussie rock legends Cold Chisel, and modern contemporaries like Brothers Osborne in between.
2020 saw the band release their first full length album, Ain’t Leavin, was launched at the Tamworth Country Music Festival earlier this year and we look forward to the boys playing it to us this October.
Darlinghurst is a band of individuals who bring their experience in music together to create a contemporary Country Music sound that has a unique fingerprint and whatever and wherever they perform, Darlinghurst are creating a buzz and garnering a positive reaction.
The band’s first single, Sorry Won’t Get You Back, went #1 on The Music Network Country Music airplay charts for an incredible five weeks, a feat only four other Australian artists [Morgan Evans, Amber Lawrence, The Buckleys and Lee Kernaghan] scored in 2019.
The Deni Ute Muster Day Stage hosts back to back music across the weekend and 2021 will see the return of some family favourites as well as some great, new local talent. Confirmed to take us from sunrise to sunset are Deni Bush Poets, Deni Youth Band/Deni Uke Muster, Zac and Eliza Spalding, Ruby Saltbush, Pete Denahy and Band, The Weeping Willows, Homegrown, Hayley Jensen, Zara Lindeman, Sammy White, Ruby Gilbert, Duncan Phillips Band, Matt Joe Gow, Danny Phegan and the Turk Tresize Band.
As well as a full music program, the Deni Ute Muster boasts a full program of activities for all ages and 2021 includes the return of family favourites including the Rock Climbing Wall, Peter Hodge Camel Rides, the Brophy Bros Circus, Whipcracking, Wood Chopping, the Bullride Spectacular, Circlework, Barrel Races, Show n Shine, Go-to-Wo, Isuzu Ute Iron Summit and Hay Bale Hustle, Mini Muster Mobeel, Carnival Corner, Tradie Challenge and the Trackless Train to take you where you need to go.
We also have some new adventures for the young, and young at heart, including Dinkum Dinosaurs, Big Putts Mini Golf, the Rescue Dog Extravaganza, the hilarity of the La Petite Grand players, Farmer Darryl’s Animal Farm, a 4-lane 12m high Superslide and Twisted Science workshops.
In 2021, the Deni Ute Muster will be fully cashless with RFID wristbands top-up stations on site and the opportunity for online top-ups prior to the festival. When the festival is over attendees have the option to head to the top-up station or retrieve their funds online.
The Deni Ute Muster is one of the top ‘bucket list’ events in Australia and annually attracts close to 20,000 people of all ages to celebrate all things Australian and, of course, the iconic ‘ute’. The Deni Ute Muster has amazing community support with more than 1,000 volunteers mobilising each year to help put on the event which donates close to $100,000 back to community groups.
Back in 1999, a group of community minded locals came together with the aim to start a rural themed festival to bring visitors to Deniliquin, a beautiful vibrant town on the edge of the outback, which was struggling with a crippling drought.
The first Deni Play on the Plains Festival, as it was known at the time, took place in October 1999, on the flattest, natural, open plains on earth, and with “ute culture” being an intrinsic part of Deniliquin, it was unanimous that it would play a major part of the festival and hence the Deni Ute Muster burst into the national psyche.
In its first year, the Deni Ute Muster had approximately 5,000 patrons and set a new Guinness World Record for the most number of legally paraded utes at 2,839 – a record which still stands today. Since 1999 the Deni Ute Muster has become the region’s biggest tourist drawcard and a celebration of all things Australian.
The Deni Ute Muster is proudly supported by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
All Early Bird and Muster Adorer tickets are SOLD OUT. General Admission tickets are available at deniutemuster.com.au/.
Deni Ute Muster
Conargo Road, Deniliquin NSW
Friday 1 October and Saturday 2 October 2021
#DeniUteMuster
