Australian country music artist Casey Barnes stops off at Bowlo Sport & Leisure Yamba for the fourth concert (Friday March 11) of his national tour.

Barnes is touring his sixth studio album, Light It Up, featuring two #1 country songs and his most recent track, Get to Know Ya – an album promoted as “a prodigious collection of anthemic, stadium-ready country-pop, focusing on everything from small town romance and larger than life love, to facing hardship head on, getting knocked down and forcing yourself to get back up again”.

“In 2019, I went through the gruelling, stressful and somewhat expensive process of getting approved for the 01 Visa,” Barnes says, “which would have meant I’d be in the US right now.

“When COVID stalled those plans, it was a massive blow. But, when life deals you lemons, you’ve gotta make lemonade. You’ve gotta roll with the punches. And I’m so glad I did.”

Barnes locked himself in a studio outside the Gold Coast, embarking on an almost two-year journey of self-discovery, experimentation and growth.

“The silver lining of the pandemic was that it backed me into a corner I’d never been in before and forced me to take some personal risks I never would have taken. I played different types of shows, I wrote differently and most importantly I really took stock of who I was as a person, as a husband, as a father.

“In many ways, having the rug pulled from under me was a blessing in disguise. It allowed me the chance to start fresh and attack this album with everything I had.

“I didn’t want to leave anything on the table this time, and I think I’ve come out the other side with a body of work I couldn’t have dreamed of eighteen months ago.”

Barnes attracts 502,212 monthly listeners on Spotify and his two most popular tunes are God Took His Time on You (3.34 million plays and highest position on Itunes chart: #17, 25 Oct 2021), and Come Turn Me On (2.98 million plays).

Tickets are on sale through the Yamba Bowling Club website.