Pete Murray is on his acoustic Blue Sky Blue tour.
After an astonishing amount of success that came quickly on the back of his first studio album, Australian musician Pete Murray retreated from the limelight somewhat.
Eight years ago he left his busy city life behind and moved to Byron Bay to embrace its iconic, laid-back lifestyle. He quickly settled into a life revolving around music, surfing, family and the local community.
The relaxed lifestyle suited the easy-going musician who had never intended on a career in music, let alone in the spotlight.
From a young age Murray was obsessed with sports. In his time at St. Joseph's Nudgee College in Brisbane he excelled in rugby union, as well as swimming and athletics. However his love for sports was tarnished somewhat when at just 18, his father died while he was competing in a 400-metre event at the Australian championships.
While he went on to be picked for the Queensland Sevens side in 1993, his rugby union career quickly came to an end after a number of serious knee injuries.
It was while he was recovering that the then 22-year-old fell into music. At the time he was studying sports medicine and living with friends, one of whom decided to take up guitar lessons. Murray said he thought it sounded "cool" so he decided to take lessons, too.
"I actually learnt and he didn't," Murray laughs. "He saw the funny side of that when I was playing and he wasn't."
He began to play music in front of friends and with their encouragement decided to start playing small gigs. He was joined on the road by flautist Col McIntyre, with whom Murray eventually formed a band that included keyboardist Ben McCarthy.
After years of independent releases, including the album The Game in 2002, Murray moved to Melbourne to take his music to the next level. He signed with Sony BMG in early 2003 and quickly got in the studio to record his first studio album Feeler.
"Feeler was funny because I finished that album and I just didn't think it was good enough," he says. "When you're so close to it, when it's your own music, you can feel like that."
Murray says to his surprise "Feeler took off in a hurry". The debut single of the same name scored plenty of airtime and pushed the album into the ARIA top 50 album charts and eventually into the No. 1 position.
The album went on to score two ARIA award nominations, reach platinum record status and sell more than half a million copies.
With the success of the album Murray went on a nationwide tour and looking back now says it was unusual for an artist to be the headline act so early on in their career.
"In Australia I've never supported anybody; they've always been my shows. I think that's kind of rare," he says. "In a way it was kind of nice to have success for the first one - it made life a lot less stressful for sure."
Demand grew for Murray's first major tour and the venues grew with it.
He added an extra nine dates after shows quickly sold out.
The success of Feeler continued on to his next two albums - See the Sun and Summer at Eureka - both reaching the top spot on the charts. And while his fourth studio album Blue Sky Blue was another success Murray recently made the decision to revisit it and infuse it with a Byron-vibe.
Growing up in Brisbane, he says he had always wanted to live in Byron and thought it was an amazing place.
"Once it [Feeler] was established and off and running I didn't need to be in the city anymore and do shows," he says. "I wanted to get out of the city and go to the beach.
"I love it here. It's home for me now."
Murray quickly became ingrained in the town. His two young sons go to school there and he regularly plays with a band of locals.
"It is a great place for musos," he says.
Surrounded by so much musical talent, he was inspired about 18 months ago to re-record Blue Sky Blue with the help of some friends. He says the idea came from regularly jamming with other musicians and playing around with each other's songs.
He put out the word to locals and musicians he had come to know while in Byron. The result was some of Australia's most recognised musicians collaborating on the one album. Byron locals Bernard Fanning, Scott Owen from The Living End and blues musician Ash Grunwald were joined on the album by the likes of Katie Noonan, Fantine and the up-and-coming group Busby Marou.
"I've known them for a long time and they're good friends so it wasn't hard to get them on the album," Murray says.
The album re-interpreted songs he says he loves, but with a relaxed and stripped back feel that reflects his home.
"It was just made for fun, it wasn't made for commercial success," he says. "I think having those other artists gives it a really unique feel, too.
"I definitely like a lot of the versions more on this album."
Now, because of the modest nature of the album, Murray is able to take the music around the country on an intensive national tour. He says performing primarily solo is much cheaper than touring with a band so he has been able to get to many more venues than he normally would and tour to places he doesn't normally get to play.
The tour brings him to Canberra for an intimate show at The Abbey, but interest in Murray's new direction allowed tickets for his one and only Canberra gig to sell out months in advance. So the closest many Canberrans will get to the much-loved musician is listening to the new album and letting the coastal sounds wash over them.
WITH: Nathan Kaye
WHERE: The Abbey, Gold Creek
WHEN: April 11
TICKETS: Sold out
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