When speaking to him you could be forgiven for thinking he was not an Australian country music legend and instead a friendly neighbour who had just moved in next door, or a bloke you meet down at the local pub and chat to over a beer. 

But with 27 Golden Guitars, ARIA and APRA awards as well as gold and platinum records under his belt, Cassar-Daley is, of course, one of Australia’s most well-known musicians and will be performing in Merimbula this August as he tours for his new album, Freedom Ride. 

Speaking from his home in Brisbane, Cassar-Daley said his love of country came from his mother and father, and while his parents separated when Cassar-Daley was young they shared a love of the music.

“Mum still has a huge library of vinyl,” he said.

“She used to buy a new record every fortnight, so she built up quite a collection over the years.” 

With a Maltese father and an Indigenous Australian mother, Cassar-Daley described his heritage as an “eclectic mix”. 

The mixture of these cultures is shared with Cassar-Daley’s two children as well, as he has taken them to his father’s to learn how to make great tomato sauce and shown them how to dig for witchetty grubs. 

Cassar-Daley comes from a long line of storytellers, and he remembers sitting around the campfire when young while his aunts and uncles told lots of great yarns.

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He reflects on his Indigenous heritage in his new album, as in his song Since You Left This Town he sings about a black man and white woman falling in love, and the title track Freedom Ride is about the 1965 tour of NSW by University of Sydney students who wanted to point out the discriminatory barriers between Indigenous and white Australia. 

“What draws me to Australia first of all is the people,” Cassar-Daley said.

“I also love the landscape.

“What I tried to do with my new album is use these 12 songs to paint a picture of the different landscapes that I’ve seen while travelling, which no one gets to see on a daily basis.” 

Freedom Ride has collaborations with two well-known names in the industry: Paul Kelly on the title track and Jimmy Barnes on the rock tune Two Weeks On, Two Weeks Off.

“Coming up with material for new songs as you get older becomes harder and harder, and you find you have to do some collaborations with other people,” Cassar-Daley, who has been making music for 25 years, said.

But he enjoyed working with his friends Kelly and Barnes, and was pleased to get them on the record.

For the deluxe version of Freedom Ride, Cassar-Daley recorded some extra songs with his wife Laurel Edwards and their children, aged 14 and 17, which he described as one of the most gratifying things he has done in a long time.

“It just makes you really proud as a dad.

“And they [his children] got $100 out of it, so they were pretty happy,” he laughed. 

Music is strong in Cassar-Daley’s family, as he and his wife have been known to sing with each other while cooking dinner and sometimes he has to drag his son away from playing guitar to come to a meal.  

When Cassar-Daley lays down his instruments to take a break from performing he enjoys hanging out with his children, wife and their Jack Russell, as well as going fishing.

Troy Cassar-Daley will play at Club Sapphire, Merimbula on August 16 from 8pm supported by Pete Denahy.

Tickets are available from the club on 6495 1306 and are $35 for adults and $15 for children. 

The story Troy Cassar-Daley: 'What draws me to Australia is the people' first appeared on Bega District News.