THERE was a time when owner and promoter Matt "Magpie" Johnston had grand designs to grow Dashville Skyline, and following bumper 2018 and 2019 editions, the potential for the "cosmic country weekender" seemed endless.
Of course, then the pandemic tore across the world creating an existential threat to the music festival model which remains ever present.
Just recently we've seen established music festivals such as Newcastle's This That and Festival Of The Sun in Port Macquarie cancel due to rising costs and a gluttony of events competing for talent, staff and patrons.
"There's so many festivals and tours cancelling because there's a lot of uncertainty with the economy and competition with other things happening," Johnston said.
"Everybody who's been able to take that hit, they've exhausted that now, so it's a very volatile industry."
Despite these challenges Skyline returned for its seventh edition over the weekend, and the first time back in its traditional October long weekend slot since 2019.
The rescheduled 2021 Skyline was held last February.
Skyline 2022 might have lacked the mainstream pulling power of 2018 headliner The Waifs, but it zeroed in on the festival's strengths - namely authentic alt-country and Americana music rooted in community spirit and family-friendly vibes.
"I've made a decision to work within our means for a while," Johnston said. "That was a conscious decision we made two years ago when everything was fairly uncertain.
"Advertising and increasing our audience isn't on the table, it's literally about convincing people to come back, our existing patrons, and people will do that when they're ready and comfortable."
A crowd of around 1000 turned up for the three-day festival, with some punters travelling from as far as Burnie, Darwin and Auckland.
Dashville's appeal extends beyond the music. For many it's become a social gathering for families and friends to catch up in unpretentious and natural surrounds.
The petting zoo, skate half-pipe and children's free-play areas were all popular, as was the Morning Constitutional talks.
Early-risers were treated with the opportunity to sit and listen to renown music journalist, author and radio host, Stuart Coupe, spin yarns with Dashville MC Ben Quinn about his time managing The Hoodoo Gurus and interviewing legendary rock roadies for his recent book.
MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
OF course, the music remains the main event and there was plenty to be enthralled by.
Skyscraper Stan and his Commission Flats returned to Dashville on Friday evening armed with a batch of new tunes and a reworked sound featuring greater synths and a soulful saxophone.
Sydney's Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys have become one of the card-carriers for new-wave Americana and naturally drew a large audience.
Harnett's vocal was weaker than usual, but with songs as charming as 5am and All My Friends Are Dancers, the positives outweighed the negatives.
Fresh off his European run with Midnight Oil, Bellbird's William Crighton was in psych-rock mode as he cycled through a set dominated by his latest album Water and Dust.
Crighton was joined by his brother Luke (bass), CJ Stranger (guitar), Reuben Alexander (drums) and wife Julieanne (backing vocals) in a performance that buzz-sawed off any folk and country edges he once possessed.
During the Saturday afternoon session Newcastle's Catherine Britt and Melbourne's Lachlan Bryan showed off their new band, The Pleasures, and whet the appetite for their forthcoming debut album.
The gothic-country waltz, Every Story Has Two Sides, is the most thrilling track heard from Britt since her Boneshaker album.
Skyline favourite Henry Wagons kept the crowd entertained in a show heavy on country-rock cabaret, as the charismatic Wagons strutted in sunglasses, a leopard print shirt and leather pants.
There's a fine line between showmanship and parody, and while Wagons might have pushed close, he never crossed it.
If you attended the 2016 Dashville Skyline you couldn't have missed Andy Golledge.
The Marrickville via-Tamworth singer-songwriter was almost in the front row for every set across that weekend, shaking his booty and waving his cowboy hat, as he and his crew raucously voiced their approval.
Golledge and his band were there to party after performing one of the music festival's earliest sets.
Six years later Golledge brought the party to Dashville as the Saturday night headliner and delivered arguably the performance of the weekend.
Golledge's band featured the majority of Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, including the frontwoman herself of banjo and backing vocals.
The whole band just exuded fun. They constantly shared smiles and goofed around as they tore through tracks from Golledge's 2020 EP Namoi and debut album Strength Of A Queen, released earlier this year.
As good as Golledge's records are, his live shows reach another plain. Led by the rollicking treble twang of his band, the music blends heartland rock with a heavy dose of honky tonk seasoning.
Tracks like the soaring Blue and Texas dive-bar stomping Rescue Me brought Dashville to life as Golledge climbed on a brave mate's shoulders and was haphazardly guided into the adorning crowd, all the while singing.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
IF Golledge's set was all about connecting with the audience, in comparison, Canadian songstress Frazey Ford's performance felt detached.
As Skyline's international headliner much was expected, but her soulful grooved-based sound felt ill-suited for an evening slot.
Ford's set focused on her 2020 album U kin Be The Sun, but she was unable to replicate the record's hypnotic energy live.
NEW DISCOVERIES
BACK in 2017 Skyline introduced fans to the soul-rock beauty of The Teskey Brothers, who it's fair to say, have kicked on.
A new name on many people's lips after her Friday night set was Victorian folk-rock artist Grace Cummings. She might be small in stature, but she possesses the voice of a caged lion.
Cummings transfixed Dashville with a sound rooted in the voodoo rock mysticism of Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin.
Passion and visceral emotion was etched on Cummings' face as she ripped through beefed-up renditions of her latest album Storm Queen.
Saturday night also unveiled another future star in Brisbane-raised artist Gabriella Cohen.
Elements of indie-pop, New Orleans jazz and country soul were blended together in Cohen's sound that was akin to the summery vibes of a tropical fruit salad.
