THERE will never be enough records made in the world to sate the thirst Stuart Coupe has for music.
Ever since he was first turned onto the magic emanating out of the radio in the '60s, the esteemed journalist, author and radio host has lived and breathed music on a daily basis.
He's practically been involved in every level of the industry, bar performing himself. Coupe has written books such as The New Music (1980), The New Rock 'n' Roll (1983), The Promoters (2003), Gudinski (2015), Tex (2017) and Roadies (2018), and at one stage he managed Paul Kelly and The Hoodoo Gurus.
After more than four decades in the industry - a period of existential change to both journalism and music - the 66-year-old remains as passionate as ever.
"I wake up every day thinking, 'what can I hear today that I haven't heard yesterday'," Coupe says.
"That will be on any given day. There will be a whole stack of new things people have sent me for radio shows, things that friends or industry people - the ones I listen to - have told me to explore.
"Then I might find this great funk record from Nigeria and then fall down some rabbit hole of old dub reggae or pull out some British folk record from 1965."
This weekend that passion will lead Coupe to the Hunter Valley for the seventh Dashville Skyline music festival.
It's been three years since the alt-country and Americana-themed festival was held in its traditional October long weekend slot, due to COVID-related cancellations. Although Skyline was held in February this year.
Coupe will be at Skyline to share his musical knowledge and insights as the special guest of the Morning Constitutional on the Porch panel discussion on Saturday with colourful Dashville MC and former Newcastle Herald journalist, Ben Quinn.
The laid-back panel will explore the history of Australian music and feature contributions from Skyline performers, as Coupe shares stories behind the 60-image photography exhibition curated for the festival.
Images were taken by renown music photographers Tony Mott, Wendy McDougall and Phillip Morris, and range from the Sunbury Pop Festival in the early '70s to the Big Day Out in the '90s.
"I told Magpie [Dashville promoter Matt Johnston] that, 'you're part of a continuum of Australian outdoor music festivals'," Coupe says.
"I think it would be interesting, particularly for young people, that we're here, we're camping outdoors, we're having this quintessential festival experience, praying it doesn't rain, praying there's no thunder storms.
"This is what people in this country have been doing since the 1960s."
Coupe has long held a passion for Americana music, first fostered by artists like The Flying Burrito Brothers, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Crosby Stills & Nash, Emmylou Harris and The Band, who he describes as "the grandparents" of the music Dashville Skyline promotes.
In the late '80s and early '90s Coupe promoted the first Australian tours of US heavyweights Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash and Guy Clark.
Coupe says as "a songs person" he's drawn emotionally to the story-telling at the heart of the genre.
"I've always been taken by the songwriting, the story-telling, the pathos, the poignancy, the insights," he says.
"Sometimes it's just the combination of that with some great rocky attitude that comes with that music."
The alt-country and Americana music scenes continue to grow in Australia, particularly in inner-north Melbourne and inner-west Sydney.
Many of the genre's leading Australian artists are performing at Skyline, including Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, Andy Golledge, Freya Josephine Hollick, Henry Wagons and the Hunter Valley's William Crighton.
Coupe remains connected to the scene through his two-hour radio show, Dirt Music, and regular contributions in Rhythms magazine.
"It's very close to my heart," he says of Australia's Americana scene. "It's solid and it is growing, but kind of slowly.
"The sort of stuff Dashville supports and promotes is the stuff that I love, but it's still a little niche-y.
"I'd like to see it have a bigger audience than what it's got at the moment. Partly it's because these artists struggle to get widespread media attention.
"It's healthy, and you can see from this weekend's line-up it's healthy, and it's full of really good people.
"But probably in my world, there's a lot of people who are playing Dashville who deserve a much bigger audience than they actually do have."
Dashville Skyline runs from Friday to Sunday at Lower Belford. Tickets are available from dashville.com.au.
Line-up:
Friday - William Crighton, ThornBird, Grace Cummings, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, Skyscraper Stan & The Commission Flats & more.
Saturday - Andy Golledge, Frazey Ford, Henry Wagons, Gabriella Cohen, The Pleasures, Albi & The Wolves & more.
Sunday - The Black Sorrows, Melody Pool, Steve Smyth, Frank Yamma, Freya Josephine Hollick, Lady Lyon & more.
