The inaugural Country To Country Australia festival is just days away.
The indoor arena spectacular takes place this Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney before heading to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday.
Tim McGraw and Kelsea Ballerini head the list of international mega-stars playing at the event.
While The McClymonts and Travis Collins head a great list of home grown talent on the festival line-up.
And then there are a bunch of international acts making their Australian debuts that are ready to make their mark on highly excitable local fans.
So before you head to the festival this weekend, here is your opportunity to get properly acquainted with the six artists playing in Australia for the very first time.
Midland
Hailing from Dripping Springs, Midland (pictured above) lead the list of exciting artists performing in Australia for the first time this weekend.
Along with the likes of Luke Combs, they are also helping revive and bring the 90’s country sound to a new generation of fans.
Rolling Stone once said, “the Texas-based band blend their voices to produce country music that recalls a mix of George Strait, Urban Cowboy and Seventies yacht rock.”
With their unmistakable moustaches and mullets, they look like they could have all opened the bowling with Denis Lillee during the World Series Cricket era.
In fact, before being in the band, lead singer Mark 37-year-old was an underwear model for Calvin Klein.
Their debut #1 single ‘Drinkin’ Problem’ earned the band their first Grammy Awards nominations for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance earlier this year.
Midland was also named New Vocal Group of the Year at the 2018 ACM Awards.
And they are nominated for three upcoming CMA Awards including Vocal Group of the Year, Single of the Year for ‘Drinkin’ Problem’ and New Artist of the Year.
Their sophomore album, Let It Roll (released in August) recently debuted at #1 on the Billboard’ s Top Country Albums chart.
And their Reboot version of Brooks & Dunn’s ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ has proven to be very popular!
In summary… these guys are simply a total HOOT!
Check out ‘Drinkin’ Problem’ by Midland
Blanco Brown
There was huge excitement when Blanco Brown was surprisingly added to the C2C bill only a couple of weeks ago.
And unless you live on another planet, or just tune out to pretty much everything, you’ve most definitely heard his song ‘The Git Up.”
It’s arguably the biggest song in Country music across the globe right now.
Blurring the lines between Country and hip-hop music, Brown makes a southern sound that he proudly calls “TrailerTrap”.
It’s a boundary-breaking, multi-colored genre of his very own — which draws upon the rawness and storytelling abilities of his two biggest musical influences, Johnny Cash and Outkast.
Are you ready to do ‘The Git Up’ with Blanco at the festival?
Check Out ‘The Git Up’ by Blanco Brown
Lacy Cavalier
If you watched Barney and Friends (that show with the purple dinosaur) as a kid, you may not realise that you may have already been introduced to Lacy Cavalier.
Since being on that show as a nine year old, the now tall and glamorous Louisiana native has spent the last five years writing music in Nashville.
She’s already had the opportunity to play shows with the likes of Morgan Wallen, Chase Rice, Kane Brown, Eric Church and Dustin Lynch.
And her singles ‘Cheating On U,’ ‘Get Away With It’ and ‘Blue Suede Couch’ have help her achieve over 7 million.
She’s also earned praise from Rolling Stone who say she has “poppy pipes and elastic melodies.”
Check out ‘Get Away With It’ by Lacy Cavalier
Jess Moskaluke
Singer/songwriter Moskaluke has been a dominant presence in Canadian Country Music since performing covers on Youtube and then being discovered on CMT Canada over 10 years ago.
She was the first Canadian female country artist to have a song in the Top #5 Canadian country music singles chart since 2008, when her single ‘Drive Me Away’ peaked at #3 in 2017.
She is also the first female Canadian country artist since Shania Twain to achieve Platinum single status, with ‘Cheap Wine and Cigarettes.’
Moskaluke cleaned up at the 2018 Canadian Country Music Awards, winning six awards (including Album of the Year).
She also won the 2017 JUNO Award winner for Country Album of the Year.
So Canadian award show voters clearly love her. But so do fans. Her youtube videos have been viewed over 23 million times!
Check out ‘Save Some Of That Whiskey’ by Jess Moskaluke
Reverie Lane
I must admit, we don’t know a lot about Reverie Lane as yet, beyond the very exciting fact that one half of the duo, Presley Tucker is the daughter of the legendary Tanya Tucker!
Their debut Australian market single ‘Good At It’ has all the sass of a classic Tanya Tucker song as well.
So on that alone, it’s going to be super exciting to check them out this weekend.
Raelynn
Finally, Texan Raelynn is a two-time ACM New Female vocalist nominee who has toured with the likes of Garth Brooks and Keith Urban, as well as Maren Morris earlier this year.
Her debut album WildHorse debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart and Top 10 on Billboard’s All-Genre Albums Sales Chart.
Even more significantly, she’s achieved over 300 million audio streams to date and is one of the young female acts on the rise in Nashville right now.
Check out ‘Queens Don’t’ by Raelynn
Gates open at 12pm and Main Arena Doors open 3.30pm local times for both venues this weekend.
Jody Direen gets the entertainment underway on the Big Entrance Stage on both days at 12:30pm.
While The McClymonts kick-off the main stage proceedings at 4:00pm.
Here are the stage times for all acts:
And if you are planning to go this weekend and haven’t got your tickets yet, don’t wait too much longer.
It’s very possible the SOLD OUT signs could go up at both venues later this week.
