Troy Cassar-Daley Receives CMA Global Country Artist Award
Robert L. Doerschuk
July 15, 2008
From its opening outside a small wooden church on a dusty prairie to the hand-clapping, swaying, blue-robed choir whose harmonies soar through the final moments, the video for "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" summons powerful images from deep within America's cultural memory.
Yet this scene, the song and the man who delivers it with a sweet, soulful emotion - all of it is Australian in its conception and spirit. Troy Cassar-Daley, the man before the camera and behind the writing and performance, has been a pillar for years in the Australian Country Music pantheon. And on the evening of June 2, during the annual CMA Global Artist Party at The Stage on Nashville's Lower Broadway, he became the latest recipient of the CMA Global Country Artist Award.
The honor is fitting for Cassar-Daley, whose story might provide a perfect lyric for a Country song or, more likely, a concept album. The son of an Aboriginal mother and a Maltese father, he was raised to the tune of Country Music in a single-parent household. "My mum and me loved music," he said. "We had Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams [albums], and then in the '80s came John Conlee, Randy Travis and Keith Whitley. They all had an impact and got me interested straight away."
Moving away from home in his youth, growing up with a fascination for railroads, he began paying dues as a pre-teen busker. His renown spread from the streets to the stage when his first album, Beyond the Dancing, catapulted four singles into the Australian Top 10 and earned an Australian Recording Industry Award (ARIA) for Best Country Record.
Since then, Cassar-Daley has established himself as one of his country's most beloved entertainers. His vocal sound might be compared to that of Merle Haggard in its blend of artful melodiousness and dusty realism, which made him a natural choice to open on Haggard's Australian tour in 1996.
In a career that spans 20 years, he has earned an abundance of honors, including multiple ARIA, Golden Guitar and other awards, and recorded six albums. In 2007 he released Born to Survive: The Best of Troy Cassar-Daley, which includes 13 No. 1 songs and chronicles a career that dates from his teens to several duets he performed as a participant last year on Australia's popular duet-vocal reality show, "It Takes Two."
No stranger to the States, Cassar-Daley has recorded and written extensively in Nashville. But as he took the spotlight at this year's CMA Global Artist Party, he stretched his renown even further than the shores of his home country.
"It's a huge thrill for me to win the CMA Global Country Artist Award, as it was not expected at all," Cassar-Daley said. "My mum will be really proud, and so will my wife and kids. And it'll be great to have some catch-up time with old friends in Nashville. I hope to fish for some large-mouth bass, go out for some American ribs, which I love, and find some time to shop for guitars. I've always loved Nashville, so any excuse to get back is taken up."
"Troy is one of the most respected artists in the Australian Country Music scene," said CMA Board Member Jeff Walker, President AristoMedia/ Marco Promotions. "He has always had a love of the format and never strayed away from his musical roots. His list of credentials is impressive and he has spread the word of Country Music throughout his native Australia and in the United States through opening for guitar great Tommy Emmanuel. He is well deserving of this award."
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
Yet this scene, the song and the man who delivers it with a sweet, soulful emotion - all of it is Australian in its conception and spirit. Troy Cassar-Daley, the man before the camera and behind the writing and performance, has been a pillar for years in the Australian Country Music pantheon. And on the evening of June 2, during the annual CMA Global Artist Party at The Stage on Nashville's Lower Broadway, he became the latest recipient of the CMA Global Country Artist Award.
The honor is fitting for Cassar-Daley, whose story might provide a perfect lyric for a Country song or, more likely, a concept album. The son of an Aboriginal mother and a Maltese father, he was raised to the tune of Country Music in a single-parent household. "My mum and me loved music," he said. "We had Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams [albums], and then in the '80s came John Conlee, Randy Travis and Keith Whitley. They all had an impact and got me interested straight away."
Moving away from home in his youth, growing up with a fascination for railroads, he began paying dues as a pre-teen busker. His renown spread from the streets to the stage when his first album, Beyond the Dancing, catapulted four singles into the Australian Top 10 and earned an Australian Recording Industry Award (ARIA) for Best Country Record.
Since then, Cassar-Daley has established himself as one of his country's most beloved entertainers. His vocal sound might be compared to that of Merle Haggard in its blend of artful melodiousness and dusty realism, which made him a natural choice to open on Haggard's Australian tour in 1996.
In a career that spans 20 years, he has earned an abundance of honors, including multiple ARIA, Golden Guitar and other awards, and recorded six albums. In 2007 he released Born to Survive: The Best of Troy Cassar-Daley, which includes 13 No. 1 songs and chronicles a career that dates from his teens to several duets he performed as a participant last year on Australia's popular duet-vocal reality show, "It Takes Two."
No stranger to the States, Cassar-Daley has recorded and written extensively in Nashville. But as he took the spotlight at this year's CMA Global Artist Party, he stretched his renown even further than the shores of his home country.
"It's a huge thrill for me to win the CMA Global Country Artist Award, as it was not expected at all," Cassar-Daley said. "My mum will be really proud, and so will my wife and kids. And it'll be great to have some catch-up time with old friends in Nashville. I hope to fish for some large-mouth bass, go out for some American ribs, which I love, and find some time to shop for guitars. I've always loved Nashville, so any excuse to get back is taken up."
"Troy is one of the most respected artists in the Australian Country Music scene," said CMA Board Member Jeff Walker, President AristoMedia/ Marco Promotions. "He has always had a love of the format and never strayed away from his musical roots. His list of credentials is impressive and he has spread the word of Country Music throughout his native Australia and in the United States through opening for guitar great Tommy Emmanuel. He is well deserving of this award."
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
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