WHEN Troy Cassar-Daley came up with the title for his new album, I Love This Place, he was thinking more about a state of mind than any place you can find on a map.

Much as he loves hanging out with his wife and kids, or throwing a line in on his farm an hour out of Brisbane, the much loved and respected Aussie country musician more wanted to share a blissful time and place in his life. Rather than having a midlife crisis and buying a Harley on hitting his milestone 40th birthday, Cassar-Daley realised he was exactly where he wanted to be.

"I really wanted people to see just how happy you could be in one particular stage of your life," Cassar-Daley says. "More people should just pull up and smell the roses sometimes."

After six studio albums, 14 Golden Guitars, three ARIAs, countless tours across our wide, brown land and two stints on the top-rating Channel 7 show It Takes Two, Cassar-Daley has good reason to be content and wants to share that positivity. Rather than dwelling on the tough times of life , a point reinforced on a recent trip to Whittlesea to play for some of those affected by the recent Victorian bushfires, Cassar-Daley wants to let people know there are good days ahead too.

Cassar-Daley, who also co-produced for the first time, had the luxury of taking a year off touring to craft his songs and with I Love This Place, he further establishes himself as a consummate story-teller and one of this country's finest and most evocative singer-songwriters.

Good mate Keith Urban suggested he try writing with a drum machine to take him out of his comfort zone and while the honesty and rawness of the traditional country he listened to in his youth remains his strongest influence, the spectrum of sounds on the album incorporating rock, pop, blues and folk is testament to his versatility.

"You can teach an old dog new tricks," says Cassar-Daley, laughing. "I have always been a purist when it came to writing with an acoustic guitar but this time I plugged the Telecaster into an amplifier and set the drum machine to a beat I enjoyed playing along to."

I Love This Place features an array of fine co -writers including Don Walker, Colin Buchanan, the McClymonts and Brisbane-based singer songwriter Mark Sholtez, but songs are unmistakably Troy.

But it was the outstanding group of musicians that Troy and co-producer Rod McCormack assembled for the recording that give the album its warmth. Including Bill Risby on piano, Mitch Farmer on drums, Clayton Doley on Hammond organ, Jeff Mc Cormack on bass, Rod McCormack on acoustic guitar, banjo, electric guitar, mandolin, lap steel & dobro, Camille Te Nahu on backing vocals rounds out the ensemble and naturally, Troy himself on electric & acoustic guitars & mandolin.

Whether revelling in his pride for his homeland and the marvels he has seen (Sing About This Country), celebrating the real-life larrikins and knockabout characters of the Aussie bush (bull riders Brian Young and the late Kenny Coleman on Chasing Rodeo, and outback boxing promoter Fred Brophy on the old-style country track of the same name) Cassar-Daley always sings from the heart and has the uncanny ability to transport listeners into songs, making them feel the heat of the sun, the texture of the earth, or the long miles of lonely roads.

And however far he has come, Cassar-Daley will never forget his roots. The Brisbane-based singer delves into his rich family history reminiscing about his upbringing in the north coast NSW town of Grafton on the haunting but hopeful This Town Is Me, then bringing to life in stunning the detail the days of toiling in the heat with his mother and aunt in Bean Pickin' Blues.

His fellow Graftonians Walker and the McClymonts were happy to answer the call too. The former Cold Chisel veteran pitched in to co-write Down That Road, which was initially earmarked for a Slim Dusty trucking album, and the irrepressible, all-girl trio bring their considerable talents to the Dolly Parton-Porter Wagoner inspired, he-said, she-said Ain't Gonna Change.

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