Heading bush to perform at the Queensland Music Trails in 2025 was a career highlight for young singer-songwriter Felicity Kircher. The 21-year-old Brissie girl loves the wide, open spaces and was on the bill at Charleville last year and is hoping she gets a gig again this year.
“I’ve done stuff at Tamworth and down south, but it was my first time out there,” Kircher says. “I really loved it. There was such a friendly open vibe.”
In January 2025 Kircher became the 45th winner of Toyota Star Maker, Australia’s most prestigious country music competition, a milestone that marks the beginning of what promises to be a remarkable career for this alt-country artist.
She was crowned the winner following her remarkable performance of her original songs Dear Rose and Ultimatum at the Grand Final concert, a highlight of the Toyota 53rd Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Kircher recently performed Dear Rose for Queensland Governor Dr Jeannette Young at a Queensland Music Festival event at Government House in Brisbane. Queensland Music Trails is a QMF initiative.
Chatting to Kircher after the event she said travelling to Charleville by road last year with her band was “an adventure”.
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“It was such a different landscape out there, particularly the red dirt,” she says.
Performers love Queensland Music Trails and The Outback Trails, and audiences love travelling the trails to see them. From Charleville to Mount Isa, the 2026 route charts a new course through nine iconic Outback towns, with music guiding a journey through country communities, cherished traditions and unforgettable landscapes.
In 2025, almost 4000 travellers followed the Trail, generating $1.94 million in regional visitor spending. With new towns joining in 2026, this next chapter is shaping up as the most spectacular one yet.
From April 24 to May 9, Queensland Music Trails – The Outback returns, offers a fully mapped 1163km journey from Charleville to Mount Isa, where live music becomes the backdrop to one of the most immersive lifestyle travel experiences in Australia.
Forget drive in, drive out festivals, The Outback Trail features sunset drinks in quaint pubs, luxe long-table dinners under star-strewn skies, heritage hotel and boutique regional stays, local bakeries, roadhouses and family-run cafés, and a soundtrack of Australia’s best country artists at every stop.
Tying everything together is an artist line-up featuring some of Australia’s finest country musicians – including Kaylee Bell, The Wolfe Brothers, Taylor Moss and Tori Darke performing across the Trail and at the Outback Sounds grand finale in Mount Isa. And this year there is a sweetener.
The Federal and State governments are inviting travellers to rediscover the wonder of Outback Queensland with the launch of a new tourism campaign: Outback Queensland. It’s Something Else. The campaign is delivered through Tourism and Events Queensland in partnership with Outback Queensland Tourism Association.
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The $2.14 million tourism recovery program, jointly funded through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, will support marketing and events initiatives in Outback Queensland following the Western Queensland floods in 2025.
Unveiled ahead of peak travel season, the campaign spotlights the region’s breath-taking landscapes, unforgettable characters and extraordinary experiences – inviting Australians to hit the road and reconnect with a place unlike anywhere else.
As part of the campaign, Australian country music legend Lee Kernaghan will join Queensland Music Trails for two major shows and deliver three pop-up gigs across Outback communities, bringing live music straight to the heart of the region. His Queensland Music Trails gigs will be in Charleville on April 24 and in Longreach on April 29.
Spirit of the Bush Community gig locations are Jundah on March 27, Quilpie on March 28 and Thargomindah on March 29.
QMF CEO Daryl Raven says the Outback Trail captures the nation’s imagination by blending music, travel and adventure in a way that feels distinctly Queensland.
“The Outback Trail is more than a festival, it’s an iconic Australian road trip,” Raven says. “At each stop, travellers can expect to swap city skylines for red dirt horizons, discovering unforgettable performances, heartfelt community moments and the kind of country hospitality that lingers long after the journey ends.
“The Outback Trail proves that music can be a powerful compass, guiding travellers into places they might never have ventured and creating moments they will never forget.”
Among the highlights, Charleville Saddle Up kicks off the adventure with a lively mixer under the stars (April 24); Tambo Bush Dance invites generations to swing and stomp at the Tambo Racecourse (April 26), transforming the track into the town’s biggest dancefloor; and Hughenden’s Music by the Lake: Festival of Outback Skies Finale presents a lakeside evening of performance, complete with a lantern parade (May 3).
The journey culminates in Outback Sounds in Mt Isa (May 9), a grand finale headlined by some of Australia’s biggest acts alongside emerging local talent.
Kaylee Bell and The Wolfe Brothers, who will headline the Mount Isa finale, with Taylor Moss and Tori Darke announced as 2026 Trail Ambassadors leading the journey across Queensland.
Moss, fresh from touring with LeAnn Rimes and serving as ambassador for the 2025 Outback Trail, is joined by Darke, who recently toured alongside Kernaghan and continues to carve her reputation in the Australian and international country music scene.
“These are just some of the moments awaiting Trail-goers on a journey where no two towns and no two nights are ever the same,” Raven says. “Beyond the stage, Trail-goers can embrace the joy of true Outback life, trying their hand at line dancing, cheering on chicken races, swapping yarns with bush poets or simply sharing a meal around a long table dinner with locals.”
To make the journey even more accessible, Queensland Music Trails has introduced the Trail Traveller Pass, starting from just $149 for first release. Capped at only 400 tickets, the pass bundles together key events across Charleville, Winton, Hughenden and Mount Isa, offering audiences the chance to experience the very best of the Trail in one easy itinerary.
Queensland Music Trails – The Outback Trail, From Charleville to Mount Isa, April 24 to May 9.
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