Post Malone will headline Australia’s Strummingbird festival this October, the touring country event’s organizers announced Tuesday.

The Grammy-nominated artist tops a lineup that also includes Bailey Zimmerman, Cooper Alan, Cam, Sons of the East and a substantial supporting cast of international and Australian country acts across three dates in Ballarat, Newcastle and the Sunshine Coast.

Presented by Kicks Entertainment, Strummingbird 2026 will play Victoria Park in Ballarat on Oct. 10, Newcastle Foreshore on Oct. 17 and Kawana Sports Precinct on the Sunshine Coast on Oct. 18. Presale tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 13, with general admission on sale Thursday, May 14 via strummingbird.com.au.

Malone’s headlining slot follows the release of his country crossover album F-1 Trillion, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album and featured collaborations with Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll. The appearance follows recent performances at Coachella and Stagecoach Festival, marking his return to Australia three years after a sold-out run at Splendour in the Grass.

Zimmerman, one of country’s fastest-rising acts, joins as second-billed headliner behind a breakout run that includes his debut album Religiously. The Album. and its 2025 follow-up Different Night Same Rodeo, which featured a collaboration with Luke Combs. His cover of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” at Stagecoach earlier this year became a viral moment. Cooper Alan, the North Carolina singer known for “Plead the Fifth” and “Take Forever (Hally’s Song),” rounds out the top-tier international bookings.

The wider lineup includes LA-based country act Stella Lefty, Texan outfit Dexter & The Moonrocks, Cowboy Carter songwriter Cam, Cigarettes @ Sunset, CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2025 alumna Kaitlin Butts, rising Californian Noah Rinker and Brad Cox.

Australian contingent includes Sydney’s Sons of the East, back-to-back CMAA Female Artist of the Year Max Jackson, Central Queensland cattle station turned global streaming sensation Mack Geiger, Brisbane native and 2026 Countrytown Breakthrough Artist of the Year nominee Briana Dinsdale, and Sara Berki. Country DJ Willie Pake will headline late-night sets across all three stops, with line dancing sessions led by Maddison Glover.

Local artists Lewis Love (Ballarat), Gamilaraay artist Loren Ryan (Newcastle) and Sammy White (Sunshine Coast) will each perform at their respective hometown dates.

Malone first crossed into country territory with F-1 Trillion, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2024 and produced the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “I Had Some Help” featuring Morgan Wallen. The album marked a significant commercial and artistic pivot for the artist, who had previously dominated the Hot 100 across pop and hip-hop with hits including “Sunflower,” “Rockstar” and “Circles.”

Morgan Wallen was left hanging by some of his buddies during his Still the Problem tour stop in Las Vegas.

During his first of two shows at Allegiant Stadium on Friday (May 1), the country music superstar told the Sin City crowd that several celebrities flaked out on his now-traditional walkout.

“Y’all got some flaky a— people in this town,” Wallen is heard saying in fan-captured footage from the show. “I had like five different people lined up to do the walkout and they all bailed on me last minute.”

It was unclear at press time who Wallen had contacted for his walkout in Las Vegas. Billboard has reached out to his representatives for comment.

Since 2024, the “Last Night” singer has become known for his concert-opening walkouts, where he enters the venue alongside a local celebrity to “Broadway Girls” (Lil Durk’s 2022 hit featuring Wallen).

Wallen’s walkouts have evolved from simple solo entrances streamed on each stadium’s Jumbotron into highly orchestrated moments featuring a rotating roster of celebrity guests, ranging from acclaimed music artists like Drake and Kid Rock to superstar athletes including Patrick Mahomes and Barry Bonds.

Wallen returns to Allegiant Stadium on Saturday (May 2). The last time he performed at the venue in 2024, NFL legend Tom Brady and boxing icon Mike Tyson accompanied him during the walkout.

Wallen’s Still the Problem tour launched April 10 in Minneapolis and will visit stadiums in Indianapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Pittsburgh. He will perform two nights in most cities and will also play three major college football stadiums, including Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and Michigan’s Michigan Stadium.

The 19-time Billboard Music Awards winner is bringing a rotating lineup of openers, including Brooks & Dunn, HARDY, Ella Langley and Thomas Rhett as direct support.

Still the Problem is inspired by Wallen’s I’m The Problem album, which was released in May 2025 and spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200.

Kacey Musgraves returns with her new album, Middle of Nowhere.

Across a baker’s dozen collection of tracks, Musgraves explores the range of emotions that come with post-breakup solitude and finding oneself embracing a solitary life stage.

“This album period coincided with me getting more comfortable being alone,” Musgraves recently told Texas Monthly, adding, “not as isolation, but as sovereignty.”

The album also nods to traditional Western music styles, and weaves in Mexican music elements as well, paying homage to its long-reaching influence on and connection to country music. Throughout, the album features washes of accordion, acoustic guitar and pedal steel, while embracing Texas dancehall percussion.

She also teams with artists including Willie Nelson (“Uncertain, TX”), Miranda Lambert (“Horses & Divorces”), Billy Strings (“Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy”) and Gregory Alan Isakov (“Coyote”).

The new album is the successor to 2024’s Deeper Well, which was her fifth to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Deeper Well‘s song “The Architect” also won a Grammy for best country song.

As she releases Middle of Nowhere, Musgraves is also gearing up for her Middle of Nowhere Tour later this year. The trek will launch Aug. 21 in Chicago, and will wrap Oct. 27 in Seattle. The tour will feature openers including Carter Faith, Midland and William Beckmann.

Musgraves also recently performed a set during Coachella, and debuted music from the new album, which Musgraves produced alongside her longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.

She will also perform during the 61st annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will air live on Prime Video on May 17.

Stream Musgraves’ new album below:

LeAnn Rimes apologized to fans on Wednesday (April 29) after postponing two dates on her 30 Years of Blue tour at the last minute due to what she described as “severe illness.” In an Instagram Story the singer, 43, wrote, “due to severe illness, I am unable to travel & perform this week,” she wrote, without detailing the illness that had laid her low.

“I’m sorry to share that the upcoming shows in Spokane and Seattle will be rescheduled … also, good news as we will be seeing you very soon.” The reworked dates will push the show scheduled for tonight (April 30) in Spokane to May 31 and the Seattle show originally slated for May 1 to June 2 on the tour that kicked off on April 19. Rimes told fans that ticket holders will be notified directly soon, with all tickets remaining valid for the rescheduled dates, or refunds available at point of purchase.

“I am truly heartbroken to have to reschedule and I am so very grateful for your kindness, and continued support as I recover,” she wrote. “I look forward to being back on stage and seeing you very soon.”

At press time the next scheduled date on the tour celebrating three decades of the singer’s 1996 major label debut, Blue, is a May 8 stop in Waukegan, Ill.

According to E! News, in an Instagram Story on April 28 Rimes posted a photo of her under the covers in bed surrounded by three boxes of tissues. “I don’t know exactly what I have, but it’s BRUTAL!” she wrote. “Haven’t left the bed.” 

The news about the tour hiccup came less than a week after Rimes shared a bittersweet Instagram post featuring a picture with husband Eddie Cibrian celebrating their 15th anniversary. “we got to step away for 3 days amidst work and some very tense, heart wrenching things happening at home with family. it’s been a different anniversary, one filled with tears and worry, but in between, there were moments of laughter and deep gratitude for this love of ours,” Rimes wrote alongside a series of pictures of the couple smiling on the beach and one of a candle-lit hotel room arrayed with flower petals and candles, including a floral heart on the bed.

“day by day, we walk hand in hand through the rollercoaster of life… and god, i’m so grateful that it’s with each other,” she continued. “we’ve been through so much in our 15 years as husband and wife. we know how to ride the waves 🌊, hold each other in times of need, mend what needs mending. i’m so proud of what we have created together. 15 years is just the beginning.”

Rimes made headlines last month when she posted a video of what was called a “deep jaw release” in which Human Garage founder Garry Lineham placed his hand inside her mouth and manipulated her jaw, causing the singer to cry and then laugh. When some commenters suggested the reaction was fake, Rimes reacted in a livestream that she couldn’t have faked it if she tried.

“The people were commenting on [the post], being [like], ‘Of course the camera was on, she was gonna cry.’ I’m like, ‘I can act, but I am not that good,’ ” the singer said according to People. “I am not that good. I’m not Meryl Streep. That’s just real, and I feel like the older I get, and it’s been probably the last decade of my life, I feel like the more honest I can be. People finally get to see me, and there’s no pretense about that.”

In the original livestream, Rimes said the unconventional jaw release therapy treatment was one of the methods she’s tried as part of the “perimenopausal, menopausal journey I’m on … I’m starting to see new things show up in my body. And so I want to be able to maintain a level of performance on stage, a level of health and wellness in my own personal life and a sense of ease in my body.”

In June of last year, the country-pop singer abruptly left the stage during a show in Washington when her front dental bridge unexpectedly popped out of her mouth. Then, in January, Rimes took fans along with her to a Nashville clinic where she was getting a $10,000 plasma exchange to help “clear micro-toxins, such as mold and microplastics” and to encourage “overall repair” of the stem cells.

“listening to my body and choosing what feels supportive for this season of healing, especially after a very busy year of filming [9-1-1: Nashville] and touring,” she wrote. “i demand so much from my body and it’s incredibly important to me to take the best care of it i possibly can.”

David Allan Coe, a standout in the pack that was country music’s outlaw movement in the 1970s, whose music reached a loyal following that has grown into something bordering on cult status, has died at 86, according to various published reports.

The controversial artist wasn’t a prolific mainstream hitmaker, but he played to the beat of his own drum. With a sound that blended country, rock and blues, he landed eight singles in the Top 40 on the Country Singles chart, and is remembered for such songs as “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile,” “The Ride,” “If This Is Just a Game,” “Waylon, Willie, and Me,” “Long Haired Redneck.”

Coe’s checkered past made him headline material, from his marriages, to incarceration in his native Ohio Penitentiary, time spent in a hearse parked outside of the Ryman Auditorium, and the release of his infamous X-rated albums, Nothing Sacred and Underground Album, after which critics denounced him as a racist and misogynist, accusations he strongly denied.

Born in Akron in 1939, Coe was raised in a broken home, and by the age of nine was sent to a reform school. His was a life “full of bad luck and misadventure,” reads a biog on the songwriter, published by Sun Records. As a songwriter, he was gifted, and as a performer, charismatic.

Coe would spend the next two decades in and out of various correctional institutions, for crimes including possession of burglary tools and auto theft. Music came to him when he was locked up. In 1967, Coe was a free man and travelled to Nashville to pursue his dream in music. 

In the years that followed, he would earn a reputation as one of the more mysterious artists in the genre’s history. Coe could litter his throaty baritone-fueled output with profanities, and with tales of excesses. He was an in-demand songwriter, penning tunes for Billie Joe Spears, Tanya Tucker, and in 1977, Johnny Paycheck bagged a hit with his version of Coe’s song “Take This Job and Shove It,” a song that would soundtrack the 1981 feature film of the same name. 

As time marched on, the solo hits dwindled, though Coe was often the subject of colorful stories in the press. In the 2010s, he was in the news for being ordered by the IRS to play more than $980,000 in restitution for obstructing the tax agency. When he was unable to pay, the unverified story goes, Coe sold his house and lived in a cave. Then, in March 2013, he was involved in a vehicle crash in his adopted home, Florida, but after several months shrugged off internal injuries and broken bones and headed back out on tour.

Coe was a constant presence on the road, and at the end of the ‘90s formed an unlikely tandem with Dimebag Darrell, the late guitarist with metal legends Pantera, from which an album was recorded, alongside bassist Rex Brown, and drummer Vinnie Paul. Rebel Meets Rebel didn’t see the light of day until 2006, after Dimebag’s murder. Coe’s rebel spirit caught the attention of Kid Rock, who namechecked the veteran artist in the song “American Badass,” and who invited the veteran musician to open his 2000 concert tour. The friendship became a collaboration. Coe contributed to “Single Father,” housed on Rock’s self-titled 2003 album.

In 2017, Coe appeared in both the song and the video for The Moonshine Bandits’ release “Take This Job,” which he wrote. For the clip, Coe was happy to return to the penitentiary where he was incarcerated. “He had to walk three or four flights of stairs in that creepy old prison. He had to put in a lot of work to make this thing happen. It was just cool,” the Bandits told Billboard at the time. “The relationship we built with him has been so meaningful. I get text messages from him out of the blue. The night before the video, we were in his hotel room sipping on whiskey, and listening to him tell his stories.”

Coe died just after 5pm on Wednesday, April 29, his representative confirmed to PEOPLE in a statement. “David was a Country Music treasure and loved his fans,” his rep said. “Most importantly, he was a true outlaw and A great singer, songwriter, and performer.”

Morgan Evans is set to return to Australian stages in a rare, stripped-back setting, with Nova Entertainment announcing the country star will perform at an upcoming Nova’s Red Room event in Sydney.

The ARIA Award-winning artist will take the stage on May 15 at a secret location for an invite-only crowd of just 150 guests, marking one of the most intimate performances of his recent career. Known for his high-energy live shows, the Newcastle-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter is expected to deliver a more personal set, blending new material with fan favorites.

“Nova’s Red Room shows are always special,” Evans said in a statement. “This one will be a small room, stripped back versions, with probably too much talking in between … new songs, old songs, let’s go!”

The event forms part of Nova’s long-running Red Room series, which has hosted more than 350 artists across its history, including major international names such as Ed Sheeran, Lizzo, and Billie Eilish, alongside Australian acts like Tones And I and The Kid LAROI.

Evans’ upcoming performance comes amid a busy period for the singer, who released his latest album, Steel Town, in March. The project continues his trajectory as one of Australia’s most globally recognized country exports, following the success of tracks like “Kiss Somebody” and “Day Drunk,” which have collectively helped him surpass 900 million global streams.

Following the Red Room show, Evans will embark on a wider tour across Australia and New Zealand, beginning May 21 in Perth. The run will see him perform at major venues including Melbourne’s Forum, Sydney’s Enmore Theatre and Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall, before heading across the Tasman.

Nova’s Red Room continues to position itself as a premium live music platform, offering fans access to exclusive performances in intimate settings while giving artists the opportunity to showcase a different side of their catalog.

Fans can enter to attend the Sydney event via the Nova Player, with winners gaining access to one of the most in-demand tickets of the month.

After Lainey Wilson‘s headlining Saturday night (April 25) set was delayed an hour or so due to the Stagecoach grounds being temporarily evacuated because of strong winds, she made a triumphant performance on Stagecoach’s massive Mane Stage, blending heartfelt ballads, energetic barn burners, and vivid musical spectacle.

“Thank you so much for sticking out the wind,” the five-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topping artist told the packed crowd of concertgoers who had braved the winds and evacuation to make it to the set. “Hopefully you sat in y’alls cars for a bit and drank some tequila,” she said, adding, “We came to Stagecoach to have a d–n good time, and that’s what we gonna do.”

Back in 2022, Wilson played an early afternoon set on a tiny stage at Stagecoach, when the singer-songwriter had just earned her first hits. But Saturday night, she headlined the country music festival’s biggest stage.

Two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Wilson, clad in her signature bell bottoms, commanded the stage, playing songs including the funky “Ring Finger” and the tender “Good Horses Come Home,” as well as “Bell Bottoms Up,” “Road Runner,” “Hang Tight Honey” and “Country’s Cool Again.” Her songs touched on love, heartbreak, betrayal, work ethic and ambition. A massive horseshoe was centered on the stage, while large cactuses dotted the perimeter of the stage, which was often drenched in warm, sunny lighting that added a cozy ambience to the evening desert vibe that night in Indio, California.

Her fiddle player offered up an elegant melody of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” then Wilson launched into her lovely hit “Somewhere Over Laredo.” She later offered up an older song from her catalog, with the supportive, uplifting 2018 song “Dreamcatcher.”

When the evacuation took place Saturday night, it forced singer-songwriter Riley Green’s set to be nixed. But Wilson surprised the crowd by welcoming Green and Little Big Town (who had performed their own set on the Mane Stage earlier in the evening) to the stage during her own show.

“Y’all like Merle Haggard, right?” Wilson asked. “Oh, yeah!” Green replied before launching into a bit of Haggard’s 1980 Billboard Hot Country Songs chart-topper “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” with Little Big Town lending their own superb vocals to the rendition.

“Good times and good country music,” Wilson said, leading the audience in taking a celebratory drink. As Little Big Town and Green began to exit the stage, Wilson called Green back to center stage.

“I know how excited all of you were to see Riley Green tonight, so I think you need to do a song,” Wilson said. The crowd started chanting Green’s name. With just a guitar, Green performed his 2019 hit “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”

Green and Little Big Town weren’t the only guests Wilson welcomed that evening. During her rendition of “Things A Man Oughta Know,” she also briefly paused to carry on a tradition her shows are known for, as she honored one young girl in the audience as “cowgirl of the night.” Welcoming the girl to the stage, Wilson told her that being a cowgirl isn’t about boots or a hat, but “about grit, about fire, about independence, about a girl that can be wild and grounded at the same time.”

She wrapped her show with two of her biggest hits, “4x4xU” and a song that embodies that sense of having grit and passion, “Heart Like a Truck.”

“I hope you’ve had the time of your life like we have,” she thanked the crowd as her set came to a close, later adding, “Thank you for making my dreams come true right before my very eyes.”

Ella Langley’s second album, Dandelion, has been leading the Billboard 200, and she brought plenty of the songs from that album to her Stagecoach performance on the Mane Stage on Friday night (April 24).

As the sunset over Coachella Valley, Langley sauntered onstage, wearing a flowy dress and red boots that fit the setting’s chill vibe perfectly. She proceeded to easily command the crowd’s attention with her slate of songs from an album that has clearly resonated with fans.

She opened with the album’s breezy title track. From there, she treated the crowd to more songs including “Bottom of Your Boots,” and “Broken.”  Before singing “I Can’t Love You Anymore” — the new collab she just released with Morgan Wallen — she was frank with the crowd, cautioning them that her collaborator Wallen would not be joining them at Stagecoach that evening.

“He’s on dad duty,” she said, noting that Wallen was spending time with his young son that weekend.

Langley still managed to bring one of the biggest surprises during night one of Stagecoach by welcoming comedian and podcaster Theo Von to join her on “You Look Like You Love Me,” her hit collab with Riley Green. Langley had previously appeared on Theo Von’s podcast a few weeks ago. After she reeled through the intro of the song, Von joined her onstage, pointed to Langley and said, “And that’s when I realized she was every cowboy’s dream come true.” The pair sang together on the stage, circling one another often and after the collab ended, Langley told the crowd, “Bet you didn’t expect that! Keep ’em guessin!”

Throughout her show, she stalked the stage with confidence, twirling and bringing an accessible, sultry charm to her stage show. She continued with her seven-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Choosin’ Texas,” as the entire massive Stagecoach crowd swayed and sang along. She closed with “Weren’t For the Wind.”

With “Born to Die,” Shaboozey saddles for up for his outlaw era.

Ahead of his new album release The Outlaw Cheri Lee & Other Western Tales, due out July 31 via his record imprint American Dogwood in partnership with EMPIRE, Shaboozey fires off the first song from it.

“Born to Die” drops today, April 24, a thigh-slapping, country music party pressed into 2 minutes 45 seconds, and the first taste from his forthcoming concept project.

The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales is a portrait of the wild west, meshing country with Americana, hip-hop, and pop to “tell a tragic, mythic story of vengeance, love, and transformation,” reads a statement. It’s said to unfold like a Western film, told in chapters with narration, skits, and cinematic transitions.

The main character is Cheri Lee, a woman shaped by violence and driven by loss. On her travels, she falls for an outlaw, which provides her with entry into the world that she’s trying to destroy. It’s complicated, and the story takes a bloody turn, leaving our hero with some big calls to make.

Shaboozey will celebrate with a pop-up saloon experience on the grounds of Stagecoach, April 24-26, where fans can take a stroll inside a saloon that’s inspired by the album’s narrative.

The new album follows his 2024 breakthrough project Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, which featured his smash hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” a single that reigned over the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks. Last year, following the release of the album’s expanded edition, he collected the Grammy Award for best country duo/group performance for “Amen” with Jelly Roll.

“Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going was a journal entry and an opportunity for the world to get to know more about me as a person,” Shaboozey comments in a statement. “That album changed my life. I never expected people to connect with the album and enjoy it the way they did. But now I want to show the world who I am as an artist and storyteller.” 

The Outlaw Cherie Lee is a project that’s been several years in the making and has gone through many iterations, the Woodbridge, VA-born artist explains. “It’s a western about revenge told continuously through every song, centered on the character Cherie Lee. It explores so many themes, as many timeless westerns have: revenge, redemption, and romance, through the eyes of a protagonist looking to challenge everything she once thought true about her world.”

Shaboozey insists he has “poured all of myself into this and I hope people become as immersed in the world and the journey as I have. This album was a promise to myself and something, no matter what, I had to keep. It pushed my songwriting and storytelling to new heights, and I couldn’t be more proud to say it’s done and almost yours.”

On release day, he’ll perform live in New York City as part of the Citi Concert Series on TODAY.

Stream “Born To Die” below.

Keith Urban has identified his rising star.

The Australia-raised country music superstar taps Ethan Calway as the inaugural recipient of the Keith Urban Rising Star Scholarship, a new initiative with the Tamworth Country Music Festival that spotlights domestic country talent that should make international waves.

Urban and Co. started the national search earlier in the year, to find one rising Australian country artist ready to take the next step internationally, an exportable act.

Calway stood out from a “strong field,” reps say.

“Ethan has something really special,” says Urban, who broke the good news with a Zoom call. “There’s a rawness and honesty in what he does that really connects. I’m excited to see what this next chapter brings for him and to be part of that journey.”

As the first recipient, Calway will receive career-changing opportunities in Nashville, including the chance to perform, write, record, and connect with key industry figures and enjoy dedicated recording time at Urban’s studio, The Sound.

Hailing from Warragul, in country Victoria, Calway possesses electrifying guitar skills, a raw, emotive vocal style and an authenticity that signals strong global potential, say organizers of the scholarship, with a knack for blending country, rock and storytelling. Indeed, he has been compared to a young Keith Urban.

He’s not coming in from the cold. Calway was a grand finalist in the 2023 Gympie NAB Talent Search and a top 10 finalist in the 2024 Toyota Star Maker. Then, in 2025, he presented his stuff to the nation on The Voice Australia, where he enjoyed a four-chart during the Blind Auditions, after which he joined Richard Marx’s team.

“His artistry reflects both lived experience and a clear creative vision – marking him as one of Australia’s most exciting emerging voices,” reads a statement following his scholarship win.

To celebrate, Calway drops the new single “Better Tomorrow.” Stream it in full below.

“What an incredible opportunity – I’m beyond grateful to be chosen for something like this,” enthuses Calway. “To learn, write and record in Nashville, and to have that kind of support behind me, is something I’ve always dreamed about. I can’t wait to get over there and make the most of it.”

Look ahead, the Tamworth Country Music Festival and Urban’s teams will work closely with Calway as he soaks up the scholarship experience.

“The response to the scholarship has been extraordinary, and Ethan is a truly deserving recipient,” comments Peter Ross, executive manager of the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

“This initiative reflects the shared values of the Festival and Keith – creating meaningful opportunities for artists to grow and reach new audiences,” Ross continues. “Keith is the living embodiment of the Tamworth pathway to success, and together we are proud to support the next generation of Australian country artists as they take their music to the world.”

A four-time Grammy Award winner, Urban has stayed true to his Australian roots. He has collected six ARIA Awards (in addition to hosting, and performing at the annual event) and won 15 Golden Guitar Awards. In 2025, he was inducted into the Roll of Renown at the Golden Guitar Awards, the highest honor in Australasian country music.

Before he made it big in the United States, Urban cut his teeth busking on Tamworth’s Peel Street, performing in local venues, and won the Star Maker competition at age 22, a moment that provided a launch pad for his career.

Country music is going gangbusters in Australia. “Step Into Country,” a 30-page report from Live Nation, published in July 2025, reinforced that Australia is the third biggest market for the genre, behind the United States and Canada, respectively.

In the previous three years, the volume of country music streams in Australia had lifted by 115%, according to Spotify data detailed in the document, while some two-thirds of respondents were found to follow at least one country music artist on social media.

Almost 80% of Australian music fans said that country music is now “mainstream.”