Gabriel Laidler-Burns
From her debut Gympie Music Muster playing with Kasey Chambers to the spotlight on the main stage, Ashleigh Dallas fulfilled her dream of playing on one of the biggest stages in Australia as she stepped onto the Optus Hill Stage on Thursday 22 August.
“When you come as an artist to these festivals, you leave with dreams and for me, the dreams has been to showcase my own set of music on the biggest stage that I can and the hill stage is one of those stages,” she said.
“To be up there in my own right, I feel that, I feel the weight of that, but honestly I am so ready for it.”
As a Muster veteran, this year’s festival is Ashleigh’s ninth time playing with an honourable mention to her strong connection from her father and grandfather Brett and Rex Dallas, who are both Golden Guitar winners, playing at the very first Gympie Music Muster in 1982.
But for Ashleigh, the highlight of the festival isn’t the spotlight, it’s the community that makes it.
“I think my biggest highlight when I think about the Gympie Music Muster is actually the muster mates,” she said.
“The community that operates out here, it feels like it operates like a little city.
“You drive out, you come into that beautiful forest canopy and you escape the real life for a few days.”
During her mainstage performance, Ashleigh used the opportunity to share new music from her upcoming album, Setting Suns, due to release on 13 September.
“In our set I’m taking a big leap, I’m playing some new things because I am just so excited about this next chapter of music,” she said.
“Setting suns, it sort of feels like a bit of a sunset on the music that everyone’s followed me on.
“It feels right to share this music here, it feels like the audience, everyone is warm and friendly, we’re just ready to leave all our heart out on that big stage.”
