Troy Cassar-Daley celebrates his greatest hits in country music

TROY Cassar-Daley will have just wrapped up the rural Victorian leg of his national tour next month when he celebrates his big five-zero.

Golden years: Country music legend Troy Cassar-Daley is touring country Victoria ahead of his 50th birthday. Picture: Tim Hunter.

TROY Cassar-Daley will have just wrapped up the rural Victorian leg of his national tour next month when he celebrates his big five-zero.

“I’m at peace with turning 50,” says one of Australia’s most popular country music singers.

“I think I had my midlife crisis at 40, when I bought a V8, and I don’t particularly feel like an old bloke. I still muck around, play pranks and do the odd fart joke.

“Once I’ve finished in Victoria I’ll go back to Mum’s and my family in Grafton, and have a quiet celebration. I haven’t had a social drink in over two years so I might break the drought.”

Celebrations, he admits, are also muted because his father passed away suddenly in early April.

“I had the choice to cancel my tour, but I feel I want to keep busy and I don’t think Dad would want me to walk away from my commitments.”

Troy didn’t plan it this way, but this year is turning into a year of reflection.

Missed: Troy Cassar-Daley and his late father, Tony.

Last October he released the Greatest Hits double CD set, which looks back at his 30-plus year career in the industry. Some of the CD’s 42 songs performed in his current Greatest Hits tour.

The tour includes Mulwala on Friday, followed by Wagga Wagga on Saturday, the Yackandandah Public Hall on Sunday, then the Bairnsdale RSL on May 9 and the Wonthaggi Workmen’s Club on May 9.

“I wanted to make the CD and tour reflective, not because of the fact I’m turning 50, but more about what legacy is behind me,” he says.

“It’s a comma, not a full stop, before I release new work.

“I still feel like I have got a lot to say and you never know where it’s going to end up, it’s an adventure. I look forward to seeing where the next project takes me.”

Most poignantly, Troy — who lives in Brisbane — is joined on the tour by his 18-year-old daughter and keyboard player, Jem, who performs professionally for the first time.

“I never imagined one of my children would come on the road with me. Jem has been wracking her brains at school for 12 years and so rather than go to university, she’s taking a gap year to travel around Australia with her dad,” Troy says.

“Both my children perform because they love it. It’s organic.

“We always played a lot of music around them and it’s still part of the family ritual.”

Son Clay, soon to turn 21, performs piano and guitar and has a breakfast show on Brisbane indigenous radio station 98.9FM.

“Jem heard me record one of my acoustic songs on the new album and she cried, because she said it sounded exactly like Clay,” Troy says.

Next gen: Troy Cassar-Daley with his daughter, Jem.

Troy — born to a Maltese-Australian father and an Aboriginal mother — says he was a bit younger than Clay’s age when he recorded his first songs. Remarkably, he was just 12 when he travelled from his home in Grafton with his older cousins to busk at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

“I was very shy and it wasn’t about ambition, but passion. We just loved country music and found our tribe in Tamworth,” he recalls.

At 16 he and his band, Little Eagle, toured NSW and he made the top 10 in Tamworth’s Star Maker quest.

The performer, songwriter and guitar player has since earned numerous gold and platinum records, as well as a total of 37 Golden Guitars, equal to Lee Kernaghan and one award behind Slim Dusty’s record.

Troy’s longevity in the industry can be seen when three generations of a family follow his music.

Looking ahead: Troy Cassar-Daley. Picture: Tim Hunter.

He admits the industry has changed in three decades, but adds success has come despite not chasing commercial success.

“Electronic downloads has definitely changed the industry and affected record sales,” he says.

“But live music is the big saviour and the younger generation of performers now goes to caravan parks and town halls to perform. Kudos to them — it’s the way Slim did it too.

“If I didn’t have a record label I’d be doing the same thing. It’s a wholesome way to keep in touch with fans.

“Like with Jem now, I’ve always had support acts to encourage the next generation.

“It’s a slog, but when I started it was a slog too. You have to work hard. I was broke and had a car that barely ran. But I never complained, or did it for the money, or saw it as a job, it was an adventure. I play music, regardless.”

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