The free festival hits the Gold Coast in July
The Gold Coast is on a roll, music-wise, at the moment.
Not only is the city's third Gold Coast Music Awards ceremony looking to be up to 10 times as big as its predecessor when it returns next year — at the beach — but the lucky music fans who live there will also be treated to a free-to-attend event in July when the Broadbeach Country Music Festival makes its reappearance on the scene.
Lucky, yes — but, given the details and drawcards afoot, it's highly likely it won't just be locals that will have to contend for gig-going space come next year.
In 2017, those who waltz into the festival's grounds for the meagre price of nothing at all will be treated to a whole smorgasbord of heartfelt, home-cooked country-and-surrounds artists, including soft-rock legends, '70s dreamboats and festival headliners America, as well as local icons Kasey Chambers and Troy Cassar-Daley, among others.
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America, as if you don't know this, are responsible for a litany of mid-late-20th-century hits that you absolutely know and love, even if you don't know that you know and love them (but, like we said, you really do). Songs like A Horse With No Name, Ventura Highway, Tin Man, Don't Cross The River, Lonely People and more, all of them testament to the band's prodigious use of vocal harmonies and chilled vibes that look you in the eye and say, rather calmly, "Don't harsh me, maaaaan".
God, it's good stuff.
Neither should Chambers nor Cassar-Daley be strangers to anyone with a even a passing interest in Australian country music; both are decorated singer-songwriters with decades of experience and just a ludicrous number of accolades behind them, including an impressive 54 Golden Guitar Awards between them.
Their presence on the bill is a naturally welcome inclusion and sure to please even the most hardened of country fans.
"We are very proud to release this stellar line-up, and are sure that these incredible performers will entice people to travel to the Gold Coast from all over Australia and overseas to attend the Festival in July next year," Broadbeach Alliance chief executive Jan McCormick said in a statement.
"The Broadbeach Country Music Festival presents people with the perfect opportunity to see international acts like America, as well as home-grown talent like Kasey Chambers, in a world-class destination."
Also up to play the event are multi-award-winning troubadour Shane Nicholson, ARIA-nominated songstress Fanny Lumsden and ascendant #1 hitmaker Travis Collins, with further additions yet to be announced in the lead-up to next year's festivities.
The 2017 Broadbeach Country Music Festival will return to the Gold Coast from 28-30 July.
For more information, see the event's website.