Troy Cassar-DaleyAs part of NITV’s annual Always Was Always Will Be slate of January content, country music icon Troy Cassar-Daley will take fans inside his childhood home and give audiences a glimpse of a highly vulnerable period while grieving the loss of his mother and recording his most personal album to date.
A Journey Between Two Fires is a unique and compelling documentary that sees Cassar-Daley and his band return to his childhood home on Gumbayngirr Country in Northern NSW in September 2023 in order to record an album surrounded by the nostalgia of his childhood and memories of his late, beloved mother.
The resulting 2024 album, Between Two Fires, explores Cassar-Daley’s personal experience of grief, sadness, and pull of living between two homes: his old family home in Northern NSW and his current family home in Brisbane.
The album and accompanying documentary are the ultimate testament to the legend’s heartfelt songwriting, healing, and the transformative power of returning to Country.
When Troy chats to The Music, he’s just woken up at his late mum’s property in NSW. Unfortunately there’s been a blackout, and there’s not a whole lot he can do besides sip a cold coffee and reminisce. But he’s enjoying the peace.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“This is where I grew up, and it’s where the noise stops,” he says. “I’m building a shed at the moment. I’ve always been semi-handy, and being physical and connected to Country is a great healer.”
The sprawling old bush house on the property is full of colourful art painted by Troy’s mother, a talented creative and cherished member of the local community. It’s hard not to feel inspired when you’re so thoroughly surrounded by visual reminders of her influence, Troy tells us.
“I just look around the house and it’s an obvious place to make art and music. My taste was very much formed here. Mum loved music, and was one of the reasons I fell in love with country music.
“We also painted stuff for each other all the time, which is why I always try to still paint something for Support Act to auction off – it’s a great cause. It’s a thrill to take a bit of mum with me into her painting.”
Cassar-Daley’s mother adored her home, her Country and community. She also loved spending time by herself on the sprawling lot.
“Her dream was to pass away in this house, which she did,” Troy recalls.
“And she was an incredible guiding light in the community. Every time I go shopping, someone has a story about my mum and the impact she had on their lives. They hug me and cry. And while these stories are being shared with me I feel proud, and it makes me feel touched.”
Storytelling is at the heart of all of Cassar-Daley’s creative projects, whether they are musical, written or filmed.
In 2016, he released a highly-praised memoir and a companion album, both titled Things I Carry Around. The book and album intertwined to tell the story of his life and career, with the songs directly relating to the chapters in the book.
Now the documentary film A Journey Between Two Fires seeks to do the same, except this time it tells the story of the loss of his mother and healing process on Country.
“I think we all take grief in different ways,” he explains.
“But I would like people to know this was my small take on how I dealt with it. My Indigenous family have worn grief very heavily my whole life and I’m just a product of that. It’s a journey I was willing to take but I was also very very lucky that I was able to do so.”
NITV Producer and Director Belinda Miller had worked with Cassar-Daley previously, and was also a long-time family friend, so working with her once again on a project that required such trust and sensitivity was a bit of a no-brainer.
“Belinda was never a pain in the arse as a person to be around,” he laughs. “She was so seamless around the process of making the project, I never felt like she was getting in my way. That’s a skill.
“I’ve done things before where they’ve asked me to repeat things three or four times and I hated it. I’m happy to do interviews every morning, but can we just do one take? We don’t have to keep thinking about things. When you just get one take, it’s off the top of your head and straight from the heart.”
With authenticity at the core of everything he does, this ‘straight-from-the-heart’ approach was the perfect fit for down to earth Cassar-Daley and the intimate nature of the project.
“It’s not gonna be every day you can record in your childhood home,” he states.
“I just thought to myself ‘This will happen, and no one will ever know what happened here, they won’t even know the detail.’ I wanted to share the detail of what it was like. You know? This is where I picked up a guitar for the first time in this house, and where I learned to play music. And it was a big call to allow a team to be such a special part of my journey here as a kid.
“You’re always trying to deepen the pool for people to dive into,” he adds. “You’ll never have seen me writing on this old table of mum’s before. Or going through a lyric on the verandah and breaking down. Being able to share it is something that I will forever cherish, and it’s an incredible legacy to leave to my kids and grandkids.”
Despite being the most awarded Australian artist in the history of the Golden Guitars (his current tally sits at 45), Cassar-Daley remains one of the most humble creatives on the scene, and admits to being a lifelong sufferer of Imposter Syndrome – a term he only learned recently from his daughter, singer-songwriter Jem Cassar-Daley.
“I still feel like a guts when I hear those numbers come off the bat,” he chuckles.
“If the Golden Guitars had been around when Slim Dusty started, he would have had well over a hundred. And his wife Joy McKean, who’s one of the best songwriters we’ve had, won the very first one ever.
“In the same night I equalled and then beat his record, and it didn’t sit right with me. But I had a chat with Joy in Tamworth, and she was so gracious and lovely. She said that if anyone was going to break this record, the Dusty family would like it to be me.”
Troy’s voices shakes, and he pauses and clears his throat. “I cry at the drop of a hat these days, I’ll tell you, I’m a bit of a sook,” he explains.
“But I was okay about it after that, because I had the family’s love and support. It helped me to put it in perspective.”
When Cassar-Daley lost his mother, there were two fires burning in his life. He came down to his childhood home to light a fire there in honour of the extraordinary woman who touched so many lives and helped to set him on the path he has since followed. And at the same time he had the fire of his little family burning up in Brisbane.
Through the power of storytelling and never-before-seen footage, this incredibly intimate and vulnerable period in the life of one of Australia’s most treasured musical artists will be laid bare for all to see, when NITV commences its Always Was Always Will Be content line-up this January.
Troy Cassar-Daley: A Journey Between The Fires airs on Sunday, January 18th, 8:30pm, on NITV & SBS On Demand.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
