He remembers playing at a Clermont B&S ball early in his career and making a very good night of it, only to be told in the morning that he had another gig at the recovery.

“Someone handed me a beer and said ‘good luck’ – I think my liver’s still recovering,” he said, enjoying the memory from afar.

It was something that came to mind as he discussed the upcoming western Queensland launch of his memoir, Things I Carry Around, at the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame on October 15, and hearing how much he was looking forward to getting back to that part of the world.

“I loved doing that drought relief gig with Paul Kelly last year, to take my wife and my daughter out and see Brian Young’s name in that place as a stockman – it meant so much to see him there.”

It was Brian, ‘The Voice of the Outback’, who gave Troy his first opening in the country music scene, taking him on a nine-month tour of outback Australia in 1990, an experience Troy said turned him from a boy to a man.

In 1992 he joined up with the Blue Heeler Band and saw Longreach for the first time, performing at the Diamond Shears Festival.

“They get a whole chapter in the book – they were the perfect band for me,” Troy said. “It was a real learning curve.”

One of his strong memories is of pulling up for a cuppa beside the road out of Longreach and being struck by the sense of space.

“I wondered then, what makes people tick in this part of the world.”

He says it will be wonderful to share the songs about the significant things in his life on October 15, and finally seeing people with smiles on their faces, but even more so he’s looking forward to raising money for local young man Jarryd Pemrose, who is struggling with cancer.

The night will be an intimate event in the theatre for 130 people. Tickets are $99 each and include canapés and drinks on arrival, the show and a copy of either the book or CD.

“People have championed my cause over the years – there was a time I was prepared to give country music away, when I was spending more time cutting fence posts than singing, and someone offered me studio space and told me I was good enough – and it will be good to leave Longreach with some personal goodwill.”

This is the man who has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in country music, including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kenny Rogers and Glen Frey, and who has four Arias, 32 Golden Guitars, two APRA Country Song of the Year awards, nine Deadlys and four CMAA Entertainer of the Year awards to his name.

There are few artists who can claim the kind of accolades Troy Cassar-Daley has amassed during his career.  A hugely successful artist, loved by country music fans across Australia, he is acknowledged as a true country superstar.

He has appeared in film and television and recorded in studios from Tamworth to Los Angeles and Nashville; yet through it all, he remains an unassuming man, deeply committed to his family and to his craft.

In Things I Carry Around, he writes candidly and with humour about the early days, revealing a fierce attachment to his family and his indigenous heritage.

While the path to success wasn’t always smooth, his irrepressible nature and determination ensured what others might have seen as obstacles didn’t slow him down.

With a dry wit and generous heart, Troy at last tells the story his fans have been waiting to hear – his own.

He writes and sings about what he knows with a purity that somehow makes his experiences universal. When he sings of cooking toast on a piece of wire, or the silhouette of girls dancing by a campfire, or of wattles in bloom, or of a broken heart, you are there with him.

His new album, also titled Things I Carry Around, is like opening up a large suitcase and having memories and family pictures and sounds all tumble out around you; a case full of life in all its variations.

It will be released on Friday.