Inside Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede: An Interview with Artist & Co-Organiser Drew McAlister

From October 12 – 14^th 2018, Mick Kearney’s K-Ranch will turn into a hub of country music as it once again hosts the annual Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede. With an impressive list of artists including from Adam Brand, Adam Harvey and Jasmine Rae (to name but a few), it’s set to be an event not to be missed.

Recently, I caught up with award-winning musician, Drew McAlister (who helped organise the festival and will also perform) to find out what goes into planning an event of this size, new music and a charity single to support the farmers doing it tough.

Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede kicks off on October 12^th and runs through to the 14^th 2018. As one of the co-organiser’s (alongside Mick Kearney) for the event as well as an artist performing in the line-up, what made you want to get involved?

I’ve been mates with Mick Kearney for some years now, he came to me with the idea to put on a festival on his farm.  We sat down over a beer and came up with the ‘Mount Hunter Stampede’.

What goes into preparing for such an event, and how did your involvement in the festival compare to organising other tours and festivals you’ve been involved in?

There’s a lot to it, let me tell you! We put the festival on last year for the first time and kind of learnt as we went. We then had a blue print to organise this year’s festival.

You can’t put something on like this without a great team around you and that’s what we have now. Everyone has their roles and we have regular meetings and a working list that gets updated every week. It’s been a challenge but a great experience as well.

For those who haven’t seen you live before, what does a Drew McAlister performance look like?

It’s a pretty up-tempo and energetic sort of gig. I’m someone who gets bored very quickly, so that’s reflected in my show I think. It’s a non-stop “smash it out of the park” show!

In our last interview we discussed your latest album Coming Your Way and you said you prefer festival gigs over more intimate performances (largely because of the fun atmosphere of performing in front of such a large crowd). What can people expect from this festival as a whole, and how does it differ from previous years?

I do like the festival gigs and then the solo acoustics gigs still have something special about them too.

This festival is different because of the venue, I think. The K-Ranch is unlike any place I’ve played before. It’s set under two acres and completely enclosed, a huge equestrian centre. There’s also a Western Store with all sorts of clothing and apparel [and] a Saloon Bar in the venue. I think people can expect to be thoroughly entertained over the weekend with all the stuff that’s going on.

We obviously have the main acts on Friday and Saturday nights and we have the Maton Rising Star competition with a $10,000 prize pool to be won. We will also have day activities like Team Roping, Whip Cracking, Dog Jumping, Horse Breaking and Team Sorting.

 

How does Mick Kearney’s K-Ranch Arena lend itself to an event like this?

The beauty of the K-Ranch is its ability to host different things, not just horse related. They recently held a boxing match out there as well as other events non-equestrian related.

Does having been involved in preparations for this festival inspire you to become involved in organising other events like it?

Yeah, perhaps down the track.  I’ve certainly learnt a lot along the way.  We’ll see how this year goes and re-group when it’s all done.

What makes this festival stand out from other country music festivals (such as Gympie Music Muster – where you recently performed)?

I think, again, it comes back to the venue. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been out there and watched an event and taken it all in. It’s pretty epic and a great place to spend some time with the family. I’ve taken my girls out there numerous times now to just hang out.

 

It’s taken 10 months to organise the festival. What are the ups and downs of organising an event of this magnitude?

It’s the little things I think that are important when putting something like this on, from organising lanyards to parking passes to ticketing. Getting those things sorted well in advance is the key.

The line-up for The Mount Hunter is impressive, with performances from yourself, Adam Brand and Adam Harvey as well as Jasmine Rae, Christie Lamb and Taleisha Eade – who won last year’s Maton Rising Star Competition. How did you and Mick Kearney go about securing those artists?

I am fortunate to know all the artist personally and have worked with them all in the past. It was a case of picking up the phone, calling them to tell them what I was planning, and see if they were interested. They all said yes, thankfully. Then there was a process of getting all production specs organised so when they perform they are well taken care of and everything runs to plan.

Can you tell me a bit more about the Maton Rising Star competition?

The Maton Rising Star was Mick’s idea. When I first went to Gympie in 2003 I was fortunate enough to win the Maton Talent Search. I remember what a leg up it gave me and have tried to put that into our competition this year.

Since winning that competition I’ve had a long and wonderful affiliation with Maton, and they were gracious enough to come on board again this year. We have a senior and junior section and the prize includes a trip to Nashville, a Maton guitar, a sponsorship to the Academy of Country Music, K-Ranch merchandise pack and a cash prize as well.

How integral is it, in your opinion, for the music industry to continue to offer aspiring artists opportunities such as this?

I think it’s very important indeed. The industry is changing so fast these days it’s hard to know where to go and what to do and how to do it. Hopefully the winners of our comp can get some opportunities that perhaps they wouldn’t otherwise have had.

When listening to new or up-and-coming artists, what makes you sit up and take notice?

Lyrics! Country is always going to change and evolve – it has to. The lyric is what sets us apart from other kinds of music I think.

I’m always looking out for songs that say something different than perhaps other songs have said. That for an artist is, I believe, something to always look for when recording, writing and releasing songs.

Your latest single from your 2017 album Coming Your Way is  Kissing a Girl Goodnight, which is one of my favourite tracks. What was the inspiration behind this song in particular?

This song was one I found, actually. I’d love to take credit for writing it, but not this time round. As a rule, I usually write most of the songs on an album, but always find a couple I haven’t written.

This song was sent to me by my producer Andy Mak. I was amazed that no one had recorded it yet and jumped at the chance to put it on the Coming Your Way album.

What was it like working with your little girls, who feature in the music video?

It was fantastic! My eldest daughter Jessica asked my ages ago if Kissing A Girl Goodnight was going to be a single. I said, “Yes, I think it will be” and she asked if she could be in the clip. My wife and I had a long chat about it and decided that they could both be in it if they really wanted to.

 

How involved were you in the production side of the film clip?

When it comes to videos, I leave it to the professionals. This clip was shot by Tribal Apes and directed by Bruce Dawson. It’s the third clip I’ve done with them and am always blown away by how efficient, passionate and professional they are.

 You’ve also released Shout the Land A Drink – a song you’ve recorded as part of The Hay Balers (Matt Scullion, James Blundell, Tania Kernagan and the guys from Simply Bushed) to raise funds for farmers doing it tough in the drought. Why was it important for you to be involved in such a project?

Both my mum and dad came from farming communities around Moree and Garah. I felt it was important to do whatever I could to help the farmers out. This drought is just horrendous, and the flow-on effect will be felt for years!

How can Australians continue to help farmers through initiatives such as this, and support those going through tough times because of the drought?

The folks at Rural Aid are doing an amazing job! Both Charles and Tracey, along with their team, are the ones who get the funds distributed where it’s needed most and should be commended on the job they do every day.
If people want to donate and help out, they can go to this link.

Aside from the festival, what else do you have planned for the rest of 2018?

Getting back into song writing, booking more gigs and planning the next album.

Drew McAlister will be appearing at Mount Hunter Country Music Stampede on Saturday October 13^th 2018. To get your tickets or find out more, click here.

[Editor/Author Note: If you want to read more about Drew McAlister and his latest album, you can do so by reading this article.]