Keen for a full band gig in Deni

Walker, who grew up in Echuca and returned there to live 10 years ago, is one of six artists who will perform at the new Play on the Plains Festival.

While it’s not his first time performing in Deniliquin, Benny said the timing does add a little extra excitement to this gig.

‘‘I did a gig with James Morrison in Deni once and I am keen to get back,’’ he said.

‘‘I moved back to Echuca about 10 years ago from Melbourne.

‘‘Last year was a bit different, but normally I have been touring so much it made sense to find a base where I wanted to be, and lead out from there.

‘‘There were not too many gigs last year, and I have a huge craving to get out and play.

‘‘Particularly this one which will be with a full band. It just adds to the environment; I can feed off the band, and that spills in to the crowd.

‘‘This will be my first full band show since before COVID, since March 2020.’’

While the past 12 months have been very different for the music industry, and the world, Walker still worked on his music throughout.

Like many other artists he gave a few livestream performances, and he even released a new album — ‘Chosen Line’.

‘‘I put an album out mid-COVID and I have not been able to tour with it, so it will be like going out with all brand new songs,’’ he said of the Deni performance.

‘‘The songs start to take on a life of their own once you play them live, and I am looking forward to doing that.

‘‘I will fill the set with quite a bit of new stuff, and a few singles that I have released over the last few years.

‘‘I have intentionally focused on high energy music — I have made a concerted effort to find more upbeat songs.’’

‘Chosen Line’ is Walker’s third studio album and was produced by Jan Skubiszewski and Pip Norman.

The album features co-writes with both producers along with musicians George Carpenter (Your Place) and Desmond Masé and Rachael Lia Carne (We’re Home).

The album showcases both sides of Walker.

All Ya Gotta Do Is Call and I Don’t Blame You are both strong blues bass tracks that have yielded Walker’s highest streaming figures to date, and current single We’re Home and title track Chosen Line showcase his more introverted soulful nature.

‘‘The title (of the album) represents my ‘chosen’ career path. I didn’t really choose it, I embraced it.

‘‘I come from a long line of storytellers and musicians, and they’ve all had a significant impact on the person I’ve become and the musician that I am. 

‘‘I’m a Yorta Yorta man and in our culture, we would call that my ‘songline’.

‘‘Both my grandfathers were musicians — Archie Walker was a pedal steel player and a country artist, and EJ (Elwyn) Anderson was a jazz saxophonist and a drum teacher.

‘‘My dad Rob was a guitar player too.

‘‘I played piano from the time I was eight and when I was about 10 dad showed me a few chords on the guitar and I took it up from there.

‘‘It is only in recent years I have gone back to the piano and used it in some of my music.

‘‘We are quite a musical family overall really — I have a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins who are musical too.’’

Walker will be sharing the Deniliquin limelight with Fremantle band San Cisco, Spacey Jane, Ruby Fields, WAAX, and Deniliquin artist Taylah King.

While he is familiar with most of their work, he said this will be the first time he’s ever shared a performance with any of the artists.

‘‘I’ve not performed with anyone else in the line-up before, so it will be nice to go out and watch the gig myself,’’ he said.

‘‘One of the great things as a touring musician is that you get to meet other like-minded people and see them put on a show.

‘‘Like in anything in life, when you surround yourself with high achievers it pushes you to be better too.’’

Play on the Plains will be held Sunday, March 7 at the Deni Ute Muster site from 1pm to 9.30pm.